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zzgal05
Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 6
Location: KSA
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 Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 4:27 pm Post subject: Life in Jubail |
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Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could tell me about Jubail.
I have lived in Jeddah and of course, the shopping, the crowd, the food is there.
But what about Jubail? Can I expect the malls, restaurants, etc.? Supermarkets? Furniture stores? Or is it just this "Industrial City"? What is there to do as far as recreation?
Is there much of this or do people do shopping in Dammam?
Also, if you live near the universities, what is rent like and the size of apartments? I would need at least 3 or 4 bedrooms.
Any and all info on Jubail life would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks. |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| LIfe in Jubail -- an oxymoron? |
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Arab Strap
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 246
Location: under your bed
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Can I expect the malls |
There's one major (sic) mall, Fanateer. This is for families only and off limits to single males. Nothing on the scale of Jeddah, Riyadh, Al Khobar or even Hofuf.
None that I know of, certainly no IKEA or Habitat.
There are some in Jubail balad (old town-15km away) for your standard, heavy, gaudy, Arabic furniture.
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| Is there much of this or do people do shopping in Dammam? |
No and yes, or in Bahrain
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| What is there to do as far as recreation? |
Horse riding, quad biking, fishing, joining a gym, making home brew, reading, dvds, internet, counting your money, staring at the wall, driving around aimlessly like 99% of your students and so on.
| Quote: |
| Also, if you live near the universities, what is rent like and the size of apartments? I would need at least 3 or 4 bedrooms. |
Depends, most come unfurnished, anything up to 40,000SAR, compounds are a lot more expensive than elsewhere due to limited supply and high demand.
There is only one university and they will either provide you with accommodation (not too bad) or give you an allowance (should just about cover it, but you'll have to shop around and don't forget you'll also have to buy furniture from your allowance). University accommodation is limited but new flats are being built.
Problem is that as Jubail expands (phase 2 and 3 already underway) the availablity of accommodation is not keeping pace.
I know some lucky people (not teachers alas) who've been put up, full board, at the Intercontinental Hotel for over 2 years.
As you near Jubail, especially at night, you'll see it lit up like a Christmas tree. The first time I went there I thought I was heading towards a mini Las Vegas......................it then changed to something like a scene from Bladerunner, all twisted metal towers and burn off flares from the chemical factories.
You'll smell Jubail before you see it! |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| There's one major (sic) mall, Fanateer. This is for families only and off limits to single males. |
That's only on certain days and in the highly unlikely event a single westerner isn't allowed in by a security guard just try another gate.
As far as shopping goes you can buy pretty well everything you want, apart from books in Jubail; however you may well have to drive around between the industrial city and the old town.
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None that I know of, certainly no IKEA or Habitat.
There are some in Jubail balad (old town-15km away) for your standard, heavy, gaudy, Arabic furniture. |
Plenty of furniture stores in Jubail old town (twenty or thirty or more in one area that also includes hardware, electricians, plumbing and paint stores). As Arab Strap has pointed out they do tend to sell furniture that their customers want, so don't expect continental elegance to be easily available.
In other respects Arab Straps description is accurate. The flares in the factories normally happens when the factory is on shut down and burns off the gas it normally uses. In general the Industrial City is almost odorless, and certainly much less polluted than the typical Asian big city. |
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zzgal05
Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 6
Location: KSA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for the info.
It was greatly appreciated.
zzgal. |
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italianstallion39
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Changwon National University, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:48 pm Post subject: thanks |
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| Thank you for the helpful information. |
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MixtecaMike
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 643
Location: Guatebad
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:47 am Post subject: |
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Apart from Fanateer Mall, Huwaylat Mall is slowly filling up with shops. Albeit not particularly exciting ones, but the Jarir Bookstore there is fairly good.
The city doesn't smell, if you live in the Industrial City and don't run off to downtown to save a few pennies on rent. There are nice sea breezes some of the time, and not-so-nice dusty winds from inland at other times, but smelly industrial odors are a very rare happening.
For a three-bedroom villa, about 250 m2, I paid 40,000 this year, which was with a "discount" for paying the rent 3 months earlier than it was due. Most people I know with similar accomodation are paying mid-40s, and it goes up every year. More company accomodation for foreign workers is being built (apparently) but only the most optomistic of us really believe there will much ready in the foreseable future.
Khobar is only about 80 minutes away for all your shopping needs, but the local supermarkets (Panda & Farm) have everything I need except Heinz pickle and Vegemite, which I got from Tamimi in Dammam (60 minutes drive away).
If you are a family person (probably so, as you need a 3-4 bedroom house) there are lots of green areas for your kids to run around in or go swimming, at least during the cooler 6 months of the year. |
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Markemark
Joined: 08 Jun 2009
Posts: 82
Location: ksa
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:58 am Post subject: |
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| Jubail has a pathetic fakeness that adds to its dullness. Flower dispays, pristine streets, manicured lawns, all a mere gloss. You can spray paint a cage's iron bars in cheap gold paint if you wish, but you're still locked in and will probably end up wandering the corniche- walking the mile in humid Jubail- bored senseless out of your skull. Jubail is utterly lacking in character. It is also a 'dangerous' with a stabbing and a recent gun attack against teachers. Saudi tearaway teenagers like to speed around looking for people to knock over. Jubail- the very word is an obscenity. |
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sugardaddy22
Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Posts: 11
Location: Al Ain
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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