Once upon a time you wake up in the morning, and there is Riyadh out there. Yeah.
Sometimes so monotone, that it is worth checking if you are still napping.
The city is thinly spread and non-walkable.
Everyone apart from women drives; women are still not allowed to. In some of the city taxis a woman cannot even sit in the front.
Overall, they say the quality of driving improved significantly over last couple of years when multiple red-light cameras and high fines for rules-breaking were introduced.
There are almost no cyclists and motorcyclists.
Everyone apart from women drives; women are still not allowed to. In some of the city taxis a woman cannot even sit in the front.
Overall, they say the quality of driving improved significantly over last couple of years when multiple red-light cameras and high fines for rules-breaking were introduced.
There are almost no cyclists and motorcyclists.
Some signs are in English. Qaaba sign is a standard marker.
But the majority of signs are only in Arabic.
Many of taxi drivers are from India and Pakistan. When they need to go
to a new place, they call their "operator" (more knowledgeable friend)
and ask for directions, using shop names as markers. Also, most of
the drivers are not used to using maps and haven't seen a GPS system, so
you can make their day by showing them a map on a mobile device, however it may not help you to get where you need to go.
The dominant landmark point, the bottle-opener, is one of the major attractions and is self-advertised inside.
From its sky bridge groups of schoolchildren and shopping mall visitors enjoy the views over neat orthogonal grid of the city.
Barely visible from the sky bridge, but here's something that is everywhere in Saudi -- the palms.
Had not realised how they bend, dying.
They are part of road planning.
And also a part of recreation parks.
They create the coziness of courtyards.
And compete with towers.
If this is not Arecaceae, it has been planted with high spent of resources.
Palms occupy supermarkets.
Otherwise, large shops look like everywhere.
Do they also clean out middles of aubergines everywhere?
In fact, lots of things resemble the U.S.; the brands, the low-rise, the police cars.
When you see people though, you won't mistake this for California.
Traditional dress for men is popular, but not obligatory.
Museums and public places have women- and family only hours / days. Men are waiting for their families outside the zoo.
All women, including visitors are expected to wear abaya. A hair cover is optional, but it's polite to wear it.
For home dresses, colours compensate for the black.
Images of female don't appear in the ads. No women in
business future, too.
If you suddenly encounter something emotionally intelligent, that's
a hello from Japan.
Otherwise the depiction is plain cheerful. (Reads RIYADH THE CLEAN CITY).
Taking this super-secret picture in the airport helped me
to jump over a 100-persons line to the passport control, as I was
expedited through it by a friendly military officer.
Signs are beautifully detailed.
Don't collect wood here, I guess.
Organisations names are fascinating. General presidency of the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vices.
Existence and placement of some signs is puzzling.
Next beautiful thing in Riyadh are the doors.
Modern houses are not that lucky.
Let's see what's around here, in a middle-class neighbourhood.
Sending paper letters is not popular.
Here are the stairs, doors and a placeholder for lighting.
One unusual feature of the houses is how they are lighten-up at night.
