I always look forward to business travel to countries that I have never visited before, so when an opportunity came up to travel to Saudi Arabia as part of a business trip to to Middle East, I had a mix emotion of excitement and apprehension.
Excitement because it an opportunity to see a country which I never thought I would ever travel to and apprehension, because I knew unlike other countries in the middle east like United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia was culturally a more strict country and ensure that I was fully aware and respect the local customs as a visitor.
I touched down in the capital Riyadh in the evening and things did not go smoothly as planned...
Firstly there was a delay with the immigration due to my visa having an incorrect date of birth printed. The immigration staff saw the humourous side to the incorrect date of birth printed (which would make me travelling toddler!) and corrected this in the their system and let me continue.
The second hiccup was mix up at the hotel. For security reasons a well known taxi driver was pre-arranged in advanced, who drove me to the hotel.
At the hotel check in, the hotel could not find my reservation and after few minutes going to through the paper work, it turned out the reservation was at another similar named hotel!
A quick call to the driver and a 20 minutes wait, I was back on the road and on my way to the correct hotel.
The hotel was quite traditional but comfortable.
It was fairly late in the evening, but I decided to go and explore the grounds, given I will be checking out next morning, hence was going to be short stay.
The other patrons at the hotel appeared to be locals, either having dinner or socializing over a shisha.
I unknowingly strayed near the pool area which was designated for families and ladies, where I was politely stopped by the security guard and directed to a different walkway.
Not much to say about the views from the hotel room, other than it reminded me strangely of scene from an Indiana Jones movie.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, other than at breakfast, where a a local couple demanded the hotel to make provision for a folding screen around them, so that they can have breakfast with some privacy. This was quite unusual sight, but again I understood and respected that this may be a local custom.
I went about attending the business meetings for the rest of the day, in a business park complex complete with water fountains and fancy walking paths.
A full day agenda of meetings meant that there was no free time to go and explore down town Riyadh, which was a shame as I don't know if ever will come back to this part of the world again.
Nevertheless the 24 hours in Saudi Arabia was definitely memorable and I was glad that I got the opportunity to see a little bit of this country.