Saudi Arabia - to go, or not to go

[Duke]

A project in Saudi Arabia that has come up as a possibility, and my first instinct was that I'd sooner go to Singapore. Singapore is near the top of my "will never go to" list, alongside North Korea and much of the middle east.

I did some searching on the internet, and there are apparently some travel warnings, a whole lot of religious police looking for excuses to stick people in prison, any number of ways to get arrested, and many more to be stuck in the country without much hope of ever getting out. I haven't yet had a chance to contact my "Arab consultant," but as I said, I'm leaning more than Michael Jackson in the Smooth Criminal video toward not going. About a year ago I was afraid of going to Mexico, but I'm thinking that this fear is more well founded.

Now, I don't know how bad it really is over there for someone like me, so was wondering if anyone in this forum has ever been there, or knows anyone there, or lives there (pretty unlikely I'm guessing). Any and all advice is welcomed, and hopefully this thread can limit itself to the actual security concerns for someone who could never pass for a local, given the current global climate. Politics is a different forum.

Assuming it's a game of Russian roulette, how many chambers have bullets in them? Assuming you make $500 a day normally (this is not my real number, but I figure most people can relate to that), what would it take to get you to go? Am I an idiot for even considering it?

[Bill Murphy]

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A project in Saudi Arabia that has come up as a possibility, and my first instinct was that I'd sooner go to Singapore. Singapore is near the top of my "will never go to" list, alongside North Korea and much of the middle east.



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What's wrong w/Singapore? I'd go there in a heartbeat, tho ya gotta cut that hair. Musta been a typo on your part.

As for Saudi Arabia, our dear friends and allies in the global war on terror don't allow booze, gambling, or sex on their holy soil. I had a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years. Made good jack, but they rushed him & his family out w/everyone else before the Iraq war started.

For the money they'd have to pay me, I'd be gone after the third paycheck. F'em.

Dubai now, hell, yeah.

[Duke]

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A project in Saudi Arabia that has come up as a possibility, and my first instinct was that I'd sooner go to Singapore. Singapore is near the top of my "will never go to" list, alongside North Korea and much of the middle east.



[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong w/Singapore? I'd go there in a heartbeat, tho ya gotta cut that hair. Musta been a typo on your part.

As for Saudi Arabia, our dear friends and allies in the global war on terror don't allow booze, gambling, or sex on their holy soil. I had a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years. Made good jack, but they rushed him & his family out w/everyone else before the Iraq war started.

For the money they'd have to pay me, I'd be gone after the third paycheck. F'em.

Dubai now, hell, yeah.

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Yeah, I was kinda wishing that they could just bring all their stuff to Dubai, and I'd gladly meet them there to do my thing.

EDIT: And Singapore, well, their draconian laws have me afraid of ever going there. I figure I'd get put away for life for spitting some gum out or something.

[XXXNoahXXX]

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A project in Saudi Arabia that has come up as a possibility, and my first instinct was that I'd sooner go to Singapore. Singapore is near the top of my "will never go to" list, alongside North Korea and much of the middle east.



[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong w/Singapore? I'd go there in a heartbeat, tho ya gotta cut that hair. Musta been a typo on your part.

As for Saudi Arabia, our dear friends and allies in the global war on terror don't allow booze, gambling, or sex on their holy soil. I had a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years. Made good jack, but they rushed him & his family out w/everyone else before the Iraq war started.

For the money they'd have to pay me, I'd be gone after the third paycheck. F'em.

Dubai now, hell, yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was kinda wishing that they could just bring all their stuff to Dubai, and I'd gladly meet them there to do my thing.

EDIT: And Singapore, well, their draconian laws have me afraid of ever going there. I figure I'd get put away for life for spitting some gum out or something.

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maybe you've talked about this in the past, but mind sharing what "your thing" is?

[Duke]

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A project in Saudi Arabia that has come up as a possibility, and my first instinct was that I'd sooner go to Singapore. Singapore is near the top of my "will never go to" list, alongside North Korea and much of the middle east.



[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong w/Singapore? I'd go there in a heartbeat, tho ya gotta cut that hair. Musta been a typo on your part.

As for Saudi Arabia, our dear friends and allies in the global war on terror don't allow booze, gambling, or sex on their holy soil. I had a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for a few years. Made good jack, but they rushed him & his family out w/everyone else before the Iraq war started.

For the money they'd have to pay me, I'd be gone after the third paycheck. F'em.

Dubai now, hell, yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was kinda wishing that they could just bring all their stuff to Dubai, and I'd gladly meet them there to do my thing.

EDIT: And Singapore, well, their draconian laws have me afraid of ever going there. I figure I'd get put away for life for spitting some gum out or something.

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maybe you've talked about this in the past, but mind sharing what "your thing" is?

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Computer stuff for an oil company, in this case. And it'd be a 2 week deal. If that's relevant, then sweet. I figured that the safety concerns would apply to pretty much everyone.

[jaffa]

I think if you respect their various cultures and mannerisms you'll be fine. Saudi Arabia isn't a nice place, but it's not iraq either, you should be fine. Its not a touristy destination, but you're going for work, so that shouldn't be a problem don't plan on having much fun though.

Say you're Canadian just to be on the safe side.

Edit: 2 weeks, thats quite a while to be stuck in a pretty strict and serious country. Its really a case of how much you value the money you'll be getting + any future career prospects from the work.

[Duke]

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I think if you respect their various cultures and mannerisms you'll be fine. Saudi Arabia isn't a nice place, but it's not iraq either, you should be fine. Its not a touristy destination, but you're going for work, so that shouldn't be a problem don't plan on having much fun though. How long are you over there for?

Say you're Canadian just to be on the safe side.

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Well, if I agree, it would be for 2 weeks. The internet has scared me as far as the number of ways that I could get stuck there, or imprisoned. The need to have both exit and entrance visas seems pretty sketchy.

[MtnDave]

I worked there for two weeks (computer related) before the war. It was OK for me (I don't drink), but I would definitely NOT recommend it for women.
1) I stayed in an American enclave - even had a mixed-sex beach with women wearing bikinis [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]
2) I always traveled with a company rep who had been there a while and knew the ropes.
3) Always carry the "standard bribe" in cash with you at all times.
4) Be respectful of the religious police - they are the worst. Be sure not to be too obvious during prayer times. (We were at a restaurant and had to eat in the kitchen during prayers so as not to be visible from the street.)
5) Local food is OK. Egyptian onions are very hot.
6) Go to Dubai for fun.
7) If you drive (we had to) be VERY careful. They drive like maniacs (left turns from right lanes when light goes green, for example) and if you get in an accident with Saudis, you are screwed. We had a big Toyota Land Cruiser and that was OK.

[theBruiser500]

based on my experience i think it will be safe. every place is supposedly dangerous, but when people actualy go there it turns out to be okay. my roomate studied in france last semester, i asked him how the anti american sentment was... he said there was none, the people hate american policies not american people. and france is notorious for being anti american.

[BigBadBabar]

france and saudi arabia are not anything alike, one is a western secular country and one is basically a monarchy/dictatorship without equal rights and all that jazz we take for granted...