An Englishman In Saudi Arabia

Last weekend I spent an hour quad biking under the baking sun. As is the English tradition, by mid-afternoon the sun had turned my face a de...

It’s a shameful fact that the English-speaking world takes a perverse pride in speaking only one language, whilst expecting everyone else to...

You Failed Your Driver's Test You only got 3/10 correct. If you have a driver's license, it needs to be revoked! Are You a Good Driv...

The transparent commercialism of Valentines Day bothers me a bit. It's nice if you're single and have your eyes on someone special, ...

Early one morning during Eid we were in Hyperpanda getting some shopping. There was probably twice as many staff than customers, so it was a...

I' ve lived in countries where you are made to feel like a leper for requesting a plastic bag in the supermarket. “This is a customer a...

I don’t know whether it was intentional but a paper I read in Bahrain reported two different stories about Saudi Arabia on the same page. Th...

We spent this last weekend in Bahrain . It was nice to get out of Riyadh for the weekend and let our hair down a little bit. There is a buz...

Here’s a nice article on Sand Gets In My Eyes that describes the various uses of the ghutra. Tea towel jokes aside, it is a dapper item of ...

As ever the media has a lot to answer for. The only Saudi images I ever saw in the West were of rich people and palatial settings. All I was...

Some of these are so stupid they don’t need stating, but it is a common belief that because of the harshness of the law, there is (practical...

A few nights ago we ate out with another married couple and two single guys. Upon leaving the restaurant we were standing outside next to so...

I cannot remember if I read this on an informational Web site or in the Lonely Planet: “Second-hand cars are expensive in Saudi Arabia becau...

Bloody hell. I hope this one’s a myth. Certainly what most concerned my parents when they heard we were moving to Saudi Arabia was the thoug...

When we told people we’d decided to move to Saudi Arabia the general reaction was one of shock. “Why on Earth do you want to move there?”, “...