Saudi Wedding Extravaganza Part 2

The first part of the Saudi wedding experience post left us foreigners still sitting at the table in amazement of the goings on. Read that post here. The main event of the Saudi weddings is of course the arrival of the bride. Like I mentioned before the bride actually stays hidden from the guestsRead more

The Move From Hell-How NOT To Move House in Saudi Arabia

Apologies for being away from the blog so long. But I had a good excuse! We were finally able to move into our new place in the Diplomatic Quarters in Riyadh. For the move we were planning to hire a moving company. Last time we moved the company destroyed many precious items I had brought fromRead more

10 Activities For Women in Riyadh

I meant to post this on earlier but what stopped me was the Move From Hell which we experienced this week! Believe it or not we were sleeping on the floor in the new house, while our beds and foods were being held hostage overnight in the moving truck by the greedy and totally unprofessional movingRead more

Stuff That Annoys Me. Only in Saudi Arabia

I’ve noticed myself pretty annoyed lately. Lots of stuff going on last week. Some things in Saudi just tip off my irritation. I’m going to have to rant to let some steam out. If you’re easily offended and don’t have a sense of humor, stop reading now PLEASE. What really getsRead more

Saudi Wedding Extravaganza

So I attended my first big wedding party (walimah) here in Riyadh! What an amazing experience! The second part of the wedding party celebrations can be read here. Weddings are the most important social gatherings in Saudi. Often costing hundreds of thousands of riyals, this is the time SaudiRead more

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

This Tuesday Ten will be a light-hearted post to balance out the recent heavy topics that have been discussed on Blue Abaya :) I got this meme from a fellow Finnish expat blogger Heli who currently resides in Norway. Thank you Heli! Her Norwegian Diary blog (in Finnish language) can be foundRead more

The Princess Souk in Riyadh

The Princess Souk in Riyadh! Sounds like a souq for Saudi princesses right? Glamour, glitter and gorgeous gowns? Not exactly. This is actually a second hand souk located in Riyadh’s Batha, the infamous “ghetto” of Riyadh. Princess souk is like a huge open area marketplace,Read more

11 Ways to Cure the Dreaded Sandpit Boredom

Dear Riyadh, or ___(insert any city in Saudi Arabia here). We love you but you are so boring! There is nothing to do. No cinemas, no bars. What else is there to do anyways?   Does this sound familiar to anyone? Life in Saudi Arabia is of course different to what most are used to back home, butRead more

Saudi Road Trip Part One: Riyadh-Abha

Saudi-Arabia is a country full of beautiful places to visit for those willing to make the journey to get there..While there are regular flights from Riyadh to Abha, we wanted to show my visiting mother as much of the largely unknown countryside as possible, so we decided to go on a road trip aroundRead more

Recycling The Saudi Values

Recycling, preserving the environment, conservation and green thinking are all mostly alien terms in Saudi-Arabia. Wasting, exploiting the environment, littering and materialism are the way of life in the Kingdom. “The GCC has the world’s highest levels of domestic waste, after the USA,Read more

I See Pink, People

Pink houses, pink villas. Pink trousers on fellas. Pink in the bathroom pink in the garage. Pink at the mosque, is this a mirage? Pink at the gas station! Is this a pink nation? Men with pink shoes, shirts and jeans,  can you tell me what all this means? Is there pink in masses, or is it just myRead more

Top Ten Restaurants in Riyadh

Here are my top ten restaurants in Riyadh. There are so many good restaurants it’s not easy to pick only ten! I am always amazed to see restaurant reviews on sites like Tripadvisor and others. They have stuff like McDonalds, Chilis and TGI Fridays and various average burger and pizza placesRead more