Job Discussion Forums

cidadaodomundo · Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 8

Greetings!

Looks like I might be taking a job in the Land of Sand shortly. It'll be in Riyadh, which I've heard makes Jeddah seem like Sodom and Gomorrah. Are my prejudices justified in any way? What is there to do in the way of recreation so far from the sea?
As far as accommodation goes, is there a great difference between the cost of renting an apartment downtown and living in a compound? Any advice on doing either, and how much it'll cost, would be gratefully received.

Chin-chin!

trapezius · Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:32 pm Post subject:

If you care at all about "recreation", which you seem to do, stay in a compound.

cidadaodomundo · Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 8

I spent a few years in Jeddah a while back - don't know how different the scene is in Riyadh but I found the compounds (and we were in very small ones) a touch claustrophobic!

trapezius · Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:18 pm Post subject:

You mean the apartments were small? Yes, they can be small. For SR. 30,000 you can get a fully furnished 1 bedroom apartment in a big compound, or you can get a bare 2-3 bedroom apartment for 15-20,000 outside.

In the compound, you have access to pools, tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, pool/billiards, gym, small shop, and possibly a restaurant and hairdresser. Heck, some large ones even have bowling alleys!

All these things can be bought if staying outside, but the one thing you can't buy outside is clean orderly streets, foliage/shade, and civility. Not to mention, when you come out of your apartment in a compound, you are not really "out", so you could be wearing shorts, a nightgown, or speedos if you prefer ( Very Happy

), and could just lounge about the pool to tan, enjoy fresh cool air at night, work on laptop, read, etc. You can't do that if living outside.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

I lived in Riyadh for four years from 1991 to 1995. I paid SR15,000 for an unfurnished two bedroom 80sqm apartment in a nice middle class residential district just off Olaya. Riyadh has expanded considerably since then.

There were plenty of trees, flowering bushes, the streets were clean and people were perfectly civil. Trapezius either keeps less salubrious company or is showing his anti-Saudi prejudice yet again.

If you live in a compound you can kid yourself you're really in small-town America, though as plenty of people would never want to live in the real version, and as it will cost you round about double for the 'privilege', it is up to you to decide where your priorities are.

In your position I'd be applying for jobs in Dubai.

cidadaodomundo · Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 8

Thanks for the replies - both situations will have their good and bad points I guess

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:56 pm Post subject:

There are compounds and there are compounds. Some consist of a few 1980s vintage villas with a small swimming pool and maybe tennis court in the centre. Others are virtual towns in their own right, with every imaginable facility - however, these are well above the budget of most ESL teachers. Many of these compounds will aspire to an ersatz "Western" lifestyle - often thanks to blatantly discriminatory policies which would likely be illegal in the very "Western" countries they claim to be emulating. Other compounds, however, will have a more varied mix among their residents, including many middle-class Asians and Arabs along with the "Westerners".

One thing that can be said about compounds in general is that accommodation in one will be a lot more expensive than comparable accommodation elsewhere. Obviously, as in any other major city, rental prices in Riyadh vary considerably from location to location. Also, while most compounds will offer a more relaxed environment than street-side housing will, some find the security restrictions for both guests and residents to be tiresome.

cidadaodomundo · Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 8

Thanks for all your observations - one final question - Riyadh or Jubail? Which would you go for and why?

Cheers

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:43 pm Post subject:

Riyadh, of course.

Who would not choose to live in the capital city - however dull - rather than a far duller small provincial town?

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Depends on the job.

Jubail is OK if you have a wife and young kids. You've got the beach, all the trees, parks and football fields, and the sports facilities. It is deadly dull. I lived in Riyadh and thought it the dullest place in the world. Then I lived in Jubail and thought of Riyadh as a fun destination for the weekend.

cidadaodomundo · Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 8

Thanks again for all the responses - had no idea Jubail was quite so dull. I guess I have to weigh up the packages offered, too - in Jubail I'd be on a compound with all that that entails, while in Riyadh I'd be finding my own accommodation with 4000 SR a month. It sounded a lot until I got onto this and other forums!

trapezius · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:49 am Post subject:

4000 a month is enough to find a place in a good compound with all the imaginable facilities. 1 bedroom places start at 30,000 a year in the smaller/cheaper compounds, and go up to 45,000 a year.

Arab Strap · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 246 Location: under your bed

A compound in Jubail?

Where would that be?

I left there in June and compounds were few and far between. In fact the few that there were, were situated in the old town.

I know that they've been building some compounds in the industrial city but these are luxurious, beach side condos with rents running in at about 140,000SAR per year.

If it's JIC, JUC or JIT you'll be working for and you're getting single accommodation you'll be placed in the shoeboxes on the JIC campus (next to the students��..not a good idea I can assure you).

They had just finished a small compound at the back of JIC but I was told that the houses there were for employees of the Royal Commission only.

I was paying 45,000SAR per year for what amounted to a Porto cabin on a compound in Jubail old town. I was paying about 10,000 out of my own pocket for this.

I had a chance of taking one of the apartments in the Royal Commission Area but I didn�t fancy the idea of having the Mrs stuck indoors all day waiting for me to get home from work, my car being scratched and stoned by the �local� kids or my own kids not being able to play outside (in the cooler months) for fear of being run over by clueless 9 year olds driving Baba's Caprice or bullied by the cheeky little scamps��.

The accommodation problem and the polluted air are the main reasons I left Jubail.

Things might have changed since I left, but then again things don�t move that quickly in the Magic Kingdom��..

I�d still take Jubail over Riyadh though. You�ve got the bright lights of Khobar 50mins down the road, the sea and of course Bahrain just across the causeway for a bit of weekend haramity

I found Riyadh to be very oppressive, boring and soul destroying. There�s a dreadful atmosphere around the place which you don�t have in Jeddah or the Eastern Province (I�ve lived in all three).

I left Riyadh back in 2002, just at the point the proverbial hit the fan. In fact the compound that I was on was hit by a suicide bomber not long after I left so maybe I�m a bit biased.

They�ll be plenty of dissenting voices to follow me here on this topic if my experience of the Saudi page is anything to go by. Each to his own, this is just my 50 halala�s worth

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

If you have family with you I think it has to be a compound.

running dog · Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 37

I suppose it all comes down to how you define "dullness" If you're stuck teaching in a technical school in the middle of Leicester, or Detroit, say, I wouldn't imagine your "quality of life" is much better than Riyadh or Dharan. But that's what Saudi does to so many people who go there: "If only I were somewhere else, Life would suddenly turn into a bowl of cherries". Ain't so. You can enjoy yourself anywhere. If you've got enough vim and spark.