Monthly Archives: December 2004

Shopping Experience

If you are in Riyadh and thinking in shopping, you would probably be guided to the two most famous shopping malls, Kingdom Mall and Faisaliah Mall.

Both of them are fancy and classy. The time interval between the openings of the two malls was short due to the skyscrapers race between Kingdom Group and Faisaliah Group, which you may also call it the “royal race” between Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal and the sons of King Faisal, to build Riyadh’s most recognizable landmark.

When it comes to shopping experience, I would recommend Faisaliah Mall over Kingdom Mall. Even though it has more brands and shops, Faisaliah feels much cozier than Kingdom. The restaurants arena at Faisaliah is bigger and it offers more choices. Moreover, if you feel like eating in the sky, you can try the 360° Restaurant inside the golden ball at the top of the tower.

Kingdom also offers a nice view to the capital through its bridge. It will cost you SR 25 (US$ 6.66) to buy a ticket for going up there. However, you are not allowed to take food or camera with you.

Finally, here’s a little secret tip. There is a little gift shop at Faisaliah mall which offers a special service. Buy your gift, and then go to this shop to wrap it and keep it in its “saves.” Take the number of the save and tell the salesman the name and phone number of the person that you want to give the gift. Tell the person the number of the save or just SMS it, and he can go there, tells the salesman his name, phone number, and number of save, and the salesman will give him the gift. Most boys in Riyadh use this way to give gifts to their secret girlfriends. “Just leave it there, and anytime she comes to the mall, she can pick it up!”

What would you do if you caught your daughter list…

What would you do if you caught your daughter listening to Um Kulthoum’s romantic songs? Marry her off. In her words: “I was 16. I was in the kitchen listening to Um Kulthoum and singing along with her loudly, when my brother came in. He told my parents. They asked me if I was in love with someone, and I told them I was not but they did not believe me. A month after that, they married me off to someone I never knew and never loved.” Now, eight years after that insane marriage, Noura has two daughters, and she is getting divorced.

Don’t Panic!

You are sitting at your favorite coffee shop. Drinking coffee, smoking, and watching TV. Nothing serious, really. A bearded man will enter the place, turn off the TV, tell you to stop what you are doing, and start lecturing you about your Muslim brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also may suggest that you should leave the place and go to do some jihad somewhere. I suggest “Don’t Panic!” You are in Riyadh. Just keep that in mind, try to ignore him, and wait till he leave. When he’s gone, pretend that nothing happened, and try to continue whatever you were doing.

The Big Screen

Why there are no cinema theaters in Saudi Arabia? No one exactly knows. “There are no rules banning cinema theaters,” Badr Kurraiem, member of the Shoura Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Unlike satellite channels, movies can be easily censored to suit the conservative minds of Saudis. However, this is not the problem. “It is not about the content. It is about mixing of men and women,” a sociologist said. “But I think time is changing, and it is possible solve the problem now,” he added.

Okay, but what about the Islamists? “Even if men and women were separated, I won’t let my children go there,” a consultant to the minister of Islamic affairs, said. “I would let my children go, provided that I go with them.” However, the man eats his own words. You know, “I’m a bearded man, adhered to Sunnah. It is a shame on me to go there and set next to someone who smokes or laughs out loud,” (!!) he added. “I avoid places like that, and therefore I would like my children to do so,” he said. He thinks that locations of youths’ gatherings “must be under strict monitoring.”

Director Hayfaa Al-Mansour says she noticed a lot of Saudi boys who go to Bahrain to watch movies. Actually, I’m one of those boys. I occasionally go to Bahrain to enjoy the latest movies. Do I expect to see cinema theaters here? Not sure, but I think eventually there will be. I’m jut not optimistic that will happen anytime soon.

Alley McBeal? What was I Thinking!

Remember that stupid hospital thing? A similar stupid thing happened to me today.

This morning, I went to the court to sign some papers. I was supposed to meet my little brother there. I arrived earlier, and when I tried to enter the building, the soldier on the entrance told me he can’t let me in because I’m not wearing a shmagh. I was just like “are you serious?” “I’m wearing a thobe, what the shmagh is for?” I asked him. He told me “these are the rules.”

While I was cursing the rules and the people who put them, my brother arrived from college, wearing a navy pair of jeans and a lab coat. I told him what happened, and when he turned his face toward the soldier, and before saying anything, the stupid soldier with his stupid cold smile told my brother “you can get in.”

I could not believe it. “He can get in but I can’t because I’m not wearing a shmagh?” I asked the soldier, and he said “yes!” I did not want to go back home just to put that ugly piece of clothes on my head, so I borrowed one from another man. It was really unpleasant to have someone else’s shmagh on my head, but I was so angry to think about it.

I never have been to the court before. I was thinking about something like Alley McBeal. However, the real image was shockingly different. It was an old, dirty, smelly, small building. The walls were filled with strokes of blue ink from people dirty enough to clean up their fingers on the wall after they used them to stamp the papers. In addition to that, some girls shamelessly wrote their names and phone numbers on the walls. What kind of a girl that is looking for love in such place?

I was there for only 40 minutes, but it was an awful experience. I hope I’ll never need to go there again.