After Tunisia in 2015, we moved to Saudi Arabia. Actually, Darko went straight to Arabia, and Nina and I went back to Serbia to get our visas for Arabia. It took us three months to get visas.
I don't know how much you know about Saudi Arabia, but this is a very conservative country. There is no tourist visa, and you can only enter this country for work or if your spouse work there, and you are going to visit him/her. It is a very religious country, and it is known as the birthplace of Islam. Both, Meca and Medina are located in the Saudi Arabia. The entire country is run by Sharia law ( it is derived from the religious precepts, the Quran and the Hadith).
The country is very rich, since they are very famous for oil producing. They are world's largest oil producer and exporter. The climate is not the best. At least, I didn't like it. It is too dry, too hot, and too much sand. Arabian Desert is dominating in Saudi Arabia's geography, so the dryness, hotness, and the send kind of make sense. :)
When it comes to women... They do not have too much freedom (in my opinion) over there.
They must (it is the law) wear abaya every time they go out in public. Saudi Arabia women must cover their entire body, head included. Most of them wear
hijab or
niqab. But, I also saw few women wearing
burqa. Foreign women do not have to to cover their head, but they do have to wear abaya.
 |
| My abaya and Nina being wild |
At the beginning, wearing abaya was very interesting to me. I would leave the house in the pajamas under the abaya, and nobody would know. But, after a while I got bored, even annoyed. I felt like in a cage. You dress up and then you have to put the abaya on. Uhhh... Also, women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. I don't think I should comment this one. Another thing, it is not appropriate for woman to go out by herself. She should always be accompanied by her husband.
Women are not allowed to go to the sports events. I couldn't go to any of the Darko's games.
Some good things...
The food is very good. They eat lots of rice and chicken, but they do have Italian, Lebanese and other cultures restaurants. It is very tasty.
 |
| Can't go wrong with pizza :) |
They have very nice malls, and beach resorts. But everything is divided for women and men. Even in the restaurants, there is the single section (only single men are allowed here) and the family section (for the families).
 |
| One of the malls we visited |
 |
| Happy place :) |
Visiting and living in this unique country was a very special experience. It was not a bad experience, but very different than any other country we visited before. I am very glad we had a chance to go over there. But if you ask me if I could live there for a long period of time, my answer is no. If you ask Darko, he would say yes. :) He really enjoyed his time over there. Well.. There is no any special rules for men.
 |
| Beach resort we visited |
 |
| I wasn't allowed to swim, but to sit in abaya next to the pool |
 |
| Nina celebrated 17 months |
The more we travel, the more we learn. The world is a beautiful place, and we should try to see as much as we can.
Hope you have a wonderful day/night/afternoon! :)
Jelena
Comments
Post a Comment