Job Discussion Forums

[MoonMonkey]

Hi everyone,

I would like to hear from people living and working in Saudi about the level of safety.

I have read there was terrorist acts in the past, and the idea of living on compounds affirms there are potential risks.

How do you feel living and working there? Is it generally safe, or are there certain cities or areas to avoid?

Anyone have any stories to tell?

Many thanks

[veiledsentiments]

Right now, most Saudi posters can not come on and reply as they are blocked from this section of Dave's. Some are traveling right now and may show up.

I am not there, but I would say that you are safe... until you are not. The same as in New York, London, or Madrid... or or or. There have been attacks and there may very well be more in the future. That said, my friends who live and teach there don't spend much time worrying about it.

Saudi has always put many, if not most of its Western expat workers in compounds. It has been more convenient for both the expats and the locals. That fact has ZERO to do with terrorism. The expats who have died in the last few years were both on and off of compounds.

Probably best to avoid the Yemeni border... but other than that... you go where you can find the job.

VS

[newyork]

I have lived in KSA for almost three years and have never had any major worries about safety. I would say that safety is one of the few positive aspects about living in KSA.

[gibon]

I wasn't on a compound and always felt very safe in Jubail. Crime rates are apparently low and the people are polite.

[scot47]

I left after an atrocity a few km from the place I lived and worked, Went back in 2005. I tend not to think about abductions an d decapitations. That makes sleeping easier.

[Sheikh N Bake]

If you're a westerner you can be asking for trouble if you spend too much time in Buraidah. Certainly, our Saudi military employers would never allow us to live there, and that's for security reasons, not convenience. Some foreign Muslim employees live in Onaizah and Buraidah.

[MoonMonkey]

That last point is what concerns me, for example, I have an Indian friend who worked in Saudi and never had any problems. But I wonder if white skinned westerners (like myself) are more likely to be targetted.

[veiledsentiments]

[Bebsi]

In Saudi, if you venture out at all, you will have thousands of psychopathic maniacs coming at you from all directions, with tons of lethal hardware at their disposal. No matter what side-street you slip into, you cannot hide, they will be there waiting for you. There's no escape.

The situation is worst on weekend nights, when you are advised not to go outside your door. Even then you are not safe as some nutcase could come crashing through your door, or even your wall, if you live on a lower level.

If they get you, the result could be violent death, maiming, decapitation, and /or dismemberment. If you survive, you could be left with very serious scars for life and even crippled.

However, terrorism is really not a problem any more, and hasn't been for some time now.

What? Nooooo, I was talking about the driving!!

[zippy2k]

Bebsi nails it there on the head - the biggest threat to your safety is the maniacal driving in the KSA!

I'm in my second year here having arrived with lots of scary stories playing on my mind. Living in Riyadh all the time I've found it very safe. I have had one incident - a bottle was thrown at me as I was out jogging one night, presumably for being white and wearing shorts in public but other than this I have had mostly courtesy and kindness shown by Saudis.

I chose not to live in a compound as it stands to reason (and experience shows) the first place an "anti-western"terrorist is going to attack will be the place they congregate, i.e. a compound!! I feel more secure living on an Arab street, making friends with my Arabic neighbours, learning and speaking Arabic and wearing a thobe/ghutrah/shades if I really want to "blend in"...

I have it on good authority that Al Qaeda have been severely incapacitated in the last few years across the Arab world but particularly in the KSA. But that's not to be complacent - last week some of my colleagues were caught up in a gun battle at their local McDonald's but that's the first gun battle I've heard of since here.

[Sheikh N Bake]

It's not uncommon here in Qassim for cars to be coming at you on the wrong side of a divided highway. This is usually because the errant driver is too lazy to go even 100 meters--yes, I mean that literally--out of his way to make a proper U-turn. The other day I had to contend with one wrong-way car coming at me and a wildly weaving pickup truck in front of me, simultaneously. Hollywood come to life, and in a miserable place, too. Though I suppose it doesn't matter if it's Switzerland or Qassim when you're dead and mangled. I never drive here at night unless absolutely necessary. This is a night-owl culture, after all.

[Bebsi]

[posh]

I was on my bike and a young guy drove his car at high speed straight at me. I didn't look but he must have missed the back wheel by a few inches. I think he was 'having fun' trying to scare the foreigner. After he went by he had to swerve to miss a car coming out of a side road, ended up skidding a good 70 metres up the street and came to a halt by smashing into a tree. The front of his car was totalled. I checked to see if he was dead, but when he got out and staggered around, I went home.

[Bebsi]

Could have been just bad driving, and nothing at all intentional!

Yes, I remember that happening sometimes, some of the shebabs driving at westerners, not with any desire to hit, just as a 'scare' prank, thinking it's funny. On the occasion you describe, the laugh was on him.

I know that ours is not to reason why, ours is just not to do or die, but why are you on a bike in Saudi Arabia? Being in a T34 tank hardly offers enough driving protection, never mind a bicycle.

Unless you're a member of the 1,000 Club, in which case cycling is de rigeur, although you are allowed a new machine. If you're a member of Club 500, you must either acquire it second-hand, or 'inherit' it.

[posh]

Hehe No, not a member of the 500 club as the bike, a Huffy mountain bike, cost 800 big ones! Where I live, believe it or not, is great for biking. There's a corniche that extends for about 18 km that is completely car free with only one or two bigger roads to negotiate before getting on to it. That night when I almost got killed I was crossing an empty street but the guy came round the corner and stepped on the gas like Schumacher in Monte Carlo. Having said that, some poor guy was knocked off his scooter and killed yesterday nearby my place of work. The tea-boy also told me that when he rides his Honda it's not unusual for young locals to lean out of their car windows and beat him with sticks or shoes.

But I've gotta say that my bike is a bit of a chick magnet , Saudi style, as there are often adventurous girls strolling on the corncihe or having picnics who shout out, "Hi! How are you?" Obviously nothing has developed, but it's always nice to hear. I usually give them a "How you doin'?" reply, a la Joey from Friends and laugh off the enraged looks from the local mullahs.