When you visit Saudi Arabia

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

When you go to Saudi Arabia....

King Fahad bridge which connects between Bahrain and the East coast of KSA

so excited about changing scene..and looking forward to doing some shopping..and more window-shopping..

border takes around half an hour when no crowd is there, but at weekends if you risk going to KSA or coming to Kingdom of Bahrain you might take 2-3 hours :O

As you are so concentrated in one of the shops in a mall, beside trying to keep your children under your eyesight and control....

yes you can't see those faces..

suddenly, you are asked in a polite way to leave the shop, as they will be closing in few seconds for the prayer time...

So you find somewhere to sit and wait...and the roaming-non-praying guys enjoy staring at your uncovered face...

and you wait....

pictures of faces were not taken to protect mommy's identity and to remain anonymous to some degree (lol)

and wait....

and wait....

till you are rescued by one of the shopkeepers who finished off praying (or just smoking a cigarette which is so popular as it seems)..and opens the shop.....

and you are back...just make it fast so you won't be caught in the situation again...:D

Don't get me wrong, I love the principle behind stopping any work at prayer time...this also gives us shoppers the break to go and pray and remember our Creator...it is wonderful in general...I have to ramble about what I have experienced many many time..

And You still get cafes open and some restaurants to sit in if you are non-Muslim or just can't pray or will pray when you are back home during these closing hours..

I hate one thing; shops being opened at 10 am..and closed by 11:30 pm..and opened again at 4-4:30 pm..I can't see the sense behind the closing hours in the afternoon..I don't like shopping at night,,simply because my kids sleep early,, plus I don't like the over-crowded malls at night....

In general, I love the Saudi Market, so vast, contains everything of both West and East,, you can't leave there without finding what you want and even better than what you wanted..you can find anything you want whether you are looking for the cheap, moderate, or expensive designer products...Home/house designs and retailers are great as well...night gowns/party dresses are another thing...I can go on and on about the shopping there...

Moreover, the same shops can be in Bahrain or Oman or Dubai,, but well in Saudi their collection/stock is just different and other places' collection are way behind what you find there...!...So till my next visit to Dammam/khobar...etc...have a nice day :)