Saudi Arabia Photos

The City of Al-Khobar and the Corniche

Assalamu Alaikum (Peace to you)
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA, is divided into three regions: Eastern Province, the Central Region (Najd) and the Western Region. Riyadh in the middle of the country, and in the central region, is the capital of the country and has a population of around 4 million. In the Eastern Province you find the large city of Dammam, over 1 million people and the smaller sister city of Al-Khobar. The Western Region has the port of Jeddah, the garden city of Taif and the holy cities of Madinah and Makkah. Muslims from all over the world travel to Makkah in order to perform the Haj, which is the Islamic pilgrimmage - part of the teachings of Islam.

Halfmoon Bay, The Beach

The western spellings of the city names vary because there is no direct translation or mapping from Arabic to English, so spelling has been defined by customary usage, although there are naturally debates as to the "best" way to spell particular words.

Alternate City Spellings for Saudi Cities:

Mecca, Makkah, Mekkah, Makkah-tul-Mukarramah
Jiddah, Jeddah
Medinah, Medina, Madinah

Note: The alternate spelling for the pilgrimmage Hajj is Haj.

Dammam Corniche, The Desert

These pictures are mainly from the North-Eastern part of the country, near the Arabian Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf). The corniche developments of Dammam and Khobar are particularly spectacular. The date palms of Hofuf are very fertile and produce some fantastic dates, due to the underground springs in the area. Even in the searing summer temperatures, near Hofuf you can find cool caves. The gulf water is fairly warm all year around, and the gulf is very salty due to the high rate of sea evaporation. From the sea you can catch a lot of different things to eat including "hamour", which a tasty white fish, not unlike cod.

Pics of a House

A Compound

Inland, much of the country is dry, although the desert takes many different forms - not just the rolling sand dunes which is the traditional view of the hot desert. It can reach 50 degrees centigrade at the height of summer, so it is critical to know where the nearest water supply is at all times. To the South and West of the country you will find the famous "empty quarter" which is a particularly inhospitable place due to it's remoteness and dryness.  Camels are a fairly common site.

Nice Hotel - Le Meriden in Al-Khobar

Women in Saudi Arabia

Women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia generally wear the abaya when in public places and mixed company. The abaya is a modesty garment, usually black, which is intended to divert male eyes from the female form and decoration. An abaya is a loose fitting garment which covers the body from the shoulders down to the floor. The extent of modesty garments tends to be up to the particular family, and also the community in which the family live.  In some cases, full covering will take place, with a head scarf and veil being worn. In other cases, just wearing the abaya alone is deemed emough to preserve a sense of modesty.

Food in Saudi Arabia

Kapsa (or Kabsa as p and b are the same in arabic) is a dish made of meat and rice. It has an amazing aroma. The meat is usually lamb, although it can be other meat too. The meat is fried with onion and spices and cooked with the rice. It contains cinnamon, lime and cardamom. Cracked wheat is also commonly used, known as Jareesh, to produce a white pureed dish which is served with chicken.



It is a most unfortunate reality that media reporting of life and events in Saudi Arabia is rarely done without some political motive involved. In recent years, much focus has been placed on a single individual, Usama (or Osama) Bin Laden, but in reality, things are more complicated than that. So if you want to find out about the country, you need to read a lot of different sources, and try and understand the history of the region.

The Arabic News is one newspaper for getting news about happenings in the Arab world.

It provides a viewpoint a little bit different from most of the western media, so allows for a bit more balance on events in the middle east, as quite often some western media organisations have an interest in providing middle eastern stories with a "spin" on them:
Arabic News Web Site



Here is a map of the country. It borders the countries of Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt and United Arab Emirates. The modern history of Saudi Arabia started back in the 18th century when uprisings against Ottoman rule occurred in the Najd region.