My first day in Saudí. My Actifit Report Card: December 3 2023

A day spent in the office and an evening walk. My impressions on my first day in Saudi:

• my project manager is covered in a black burka head to toes. I recognise her only when she is sitting in her office
• generally, local women can be divided into “black robes” vs “colourful robes”. The latter don’t cover face. I guess this dress code must mean something but I haven’t asked yet
• similarly, men fall into two groups “white robes” vs “sandstone-colour robes” and few in black. The first group most often wears head scarfs
• this is an IT thing, so no surprise here: office open spaces are filled with people with every possible skin colour. The language on the floor is English. My command of two Arabic phrases- “Salam Alaykum” and “shukran” is more than expected here
• Riyadh is like Las Vegas - broad long streets and posh buildings alongside. The city centre looks like freshly built
• the city is not designed for pedestrians. Nice pavements along the main streets but just venture out of the avenues and walking becomes difficult- construction sites or parked cars block passage
• red light is a suggestion for pedestrians, they feel free to walk between cars. Drivers are disciplined in that matter. However, when a car turns right and pedestrians cross (both with green light), the notion of giving way to the pedestrians is rather alien here
• bus stops are air-conditioned booths !!!
• my work colleagues warned me against “evening chill”. Well, I find +23° C rather pleasant. Still, I was the only one wearing t-shirt on the streets
• food in the office canteen was half the price of what I would have to pay in Poland. On the other hand, prices in the restaurants along the main streets are very high to me. I will check some backstreet places tomorrow
• Riyadh gives me the impression of being safe and friendly, and stumbling on uneven pavements outside of Main Street doesn’t change the first impression

• the city is enormous, looking in any direction from my office (which is near the central Kingdom Tower), I see only Riyadh sprawling around

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Daily Activity,Walking