Shopping Experience,Kingdom Centre,Riyadh KSA

Shopping here in Saudi Arabia is also a very one of a kind experience.It is very different from the Philippines that everybody is allowed to enter the mall like in Glorietta,Greenbelt or any SM super malls.

Here in Saudi Arabia there are malls where only families are only allowed to enter and bachelors are not allowed especially the Saudis or any Arab nationalities but for some expat like to Filipinos,Americans and British or European nationalities security guards give considerations for them to do shopping.Before going to mall phoned first the customer service if bachelors are allowed to enter for not to waste time and effort.All people working in shopping malls from cashiers, sales people are all males and don't be surprised if there is no females that will assist you.Store hours also must be observed in shopping because as we all know KSA is a conservative Muslim country so prayer time is strictly followed and during prayer time all showrooms,boutiques and all establishments are closed .Five or so minutes before the prayer call customers are asked to leave the shop,the staff also exit closing the shutters and failure to do so religious police or the Mutaween also known as the Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will catch the staff and the customer for disciplinary measures.

This affects shoppers particularly at Midday or Dhur, prayer start between 11:30am and 12:30 pm,it is worthwhile checking if the shop will re-open after prayers, as many stores and malls close between midday and 4:00pm or after mid afternoon or Asr prayer , because during that span of time the temperature is at its highest so its is a siesta time.Shopping malls open from 9:00am until or before midday prayer time. Also during Sunset or Maghrib,prayers start between 5:30pm and 6:30 pm and last prayer time of the day the Isha or dinnertime prayers start between 7pm and 8pm and re-open until 10 or 11pm.

This mall the Mamlaka or Kingdom Centre (Arabic: برج المملكة‎) is very closed to my apartment only a block away when i was assigned working in Riyadh and it is my landmark for not to get lost in the city.Kingdom Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Saudi Arabia, somewhat resembling a modern bottle opener. With a height of 303 m (992 ft), it is the 24th tallest building in world.

The tower is host to the highest mosque in the world. The Kingdom Centre is owned by Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a prince of the Saudi royal family. It is also the headquarters of his holding company: Kingdom Holding Company. The total cost of the project was 2 billion Saudi Arabian Riyals and the contract was taken by Saudi Arabian El Saif and the Italian Impregilo S.P.A. Kingdom Centre is situated in Al-Urubah Road between King Fahd Road and Olaya Street in the growing business district of Olaya in Riyadh.

Kingdom Centre was the winner of the 2002 Emporis Skyscraper Award, selected as the "best skyscraper of the world for design". A three-level shopping center, which also won a major design award, fills the east wing. The large opening is illuminated at night in continuously changing colors. Besides the shopping mall, the Centre includes a Four Seasons Hotel and state-of-the-art apartments. The 56 meter long skybridge atop the skyscraper contains a public observation deck and a view of the entire city of Riyadh.

The Shopping Mall contains 170 prestigious stores.The first and second floor is open to both gender and third floor is stictcly for females only where they can freely remove thier veil or abayas.If you feel hungry during shopping and if you want to eat,the wide array of choices of local and international fast food chains is located in ground floor ,also the Family and bachelors section is stricly followed.Enjoy Shopping.

pictures of saudi arabia

Enjoy watching the beauty of Saudi Arabia

Polvoron

Almost two months now when Mark and Egay arrived here in Saudi Arabia from the Philippines, special polvoron of goldilocks was the pasalubong for me and today i ate the last piece of yummy polvoron.I love it and i will miss it.

Polvoron is a special blend of toasted flour, milk, butter and sugar, cooked and then molded. Available in special and these flavored variants - cashew, peanut, crisped rice (pinipig), marble and cookies and cream.

Polvoron. So simple. So yummy. So reminds-me-of-my-childhood fun. There’s a game we used to play when we eat polvoron. The contestants put a piece of the treat in their mouths, and the first one who can produce a whistle wins.

ninoy in me

Just this morning as i open my television the program aired on TFC is Boy and Kris.The show gave tribute to the 25th year death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino.Watching it awakened the spirit of being Filipino in me to love and give honor to my beloved country. I felt the Ninoy Spirit within me.I am a hero.I do what I believe is Right.I do what I believe is Good.I fight for Justice.I fight for freedom.I am a hero.In a big way,In a small way.In my own way.I am Ninoy.I am mightyDacz.I am an OFW.Mabuhay ang mga bigatin saang sulok man ng mundo.Ninoy keep on smiling eventhough your heart is breaking.Mabuhay........

one hundred years of solitude

Alas!!!Finally I'm done reading this book.This is my reaction until reading the very last page of this book because I misplaced this book and i don't know where did i put this when i moved to my new apartment,until last week i found it mixed up with my unused clothes in my luggage.

Here in Saudi Arabia the more i develop, I love and appreciate the hobby on reading novels.Reading became my past time here,maybe because I don't have any options aside from blogging because here is very different mind you there is no public cinema here very different from the country i came from and watching movies with my friends is one of my hobbies before.I am an occasional reader and it depends on the book that i read, sometimes too lazy to finish reading a novel.But this novel is a must to be read book,highly recommended by my writer friend in the Philippines.

There is only one bookstore here in KSA that carries English books on there choices and that is Jarir Bookstore and copies is very limited thats why you have to phoned them so that they will reserved a copy for you. I am lucky i get one.What inspired me after reading the book is to make a family tree for my clan to trace my roots.To all my friends this is a magnificent novel please do read and enjoy the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad) is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that was first published in Spanish in 1967 (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana), with an English translation by Gregory Rabassa released in 1970 (New York: Harper and Row). The book is widely considered García Márquez's magnum opus, metaphorically encompassing the history of Colombia or Latin America.

The novel chronicles a family's struggle and the history of their fictional town, Macondo, for one hundred years. García Márquez acknowledges in his autobiography

Living to Tell the Tale that Macondo was based on the towns where he spent his childhood. Like many other novels by Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude crosses genres, combining elements of history, magical realism, and pure fiction.

One Hundred Years of Solitude does not have a plot in the conventional sense of the word. Instead, Marquez uses the novel to explore a literary conceit, to wit: that it is vitally important for people to remember their history, otherwise they will suffer for it. Taking this as his theme, Marquez illustrates it repeatedly throughout the novel in a number of seemingly unconnected incidents which make up the narrative.

By using different incidents to illustrate the same theme throughout the novel, Marquez is able to disconcert the reader with significant changes in the emotional tone. For example: in the whimsical case of Remedios the Beauty's assumption into heaven, one is led to think that the lack of memory for history leads to the innocent blurring of myth and reality. However, this is then contrasted with the incident of a violent massacre, which is effectively covered up by the authorities, leading one to question whether Marquez does not intend the novel to be a biting criticism of terrible human rights abuses which may have happened in Colombia, and Latin America generally.

Tellingly, the village of Macondo is completely destroyed at the end of the novel, along with all traces of its existence: implying that its inhabitants have failed to make any lasting impression on history, and that there is now no longer any method of determining whether any of the events in the novel might be true or not.

McArabia

Dining at fastfood chain is the big solution and a big help to satisfies my hunger here in Saudi Arabia because I'm too lazy to cook for myself at home.The best way to do it is to eat at McDonalds and my favorite here in there menu is the Chicken McArabia,beef is also available.The only difference of McArabia to burgers that they served is the type of bread that they used. Grilled chicken McArabia is served and dressed in Arabic flatbread with black sesame seeds.There is no Mc Spaghetti, rice and chicken served here in KSA unlike in the Philippines.Dining also here is different, bachelors and family are not allowed to eat together so there is a special section for the family and bachelors.This practice of dining is observed to all fast food chains and restaurants.

Saudi Arabia 101

Some facts about my host country,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Cats

Hello to all, finally i made it again to update my blog.I found some difficulty to log in to blog spot due to poor connection of internet here in our new apartment.So anyway I'm so thankful today.I will re introduce my pet.Actually im not the real owner of these cats my Brazilian friend named Rudy who is on vacation now is the owner, since nobody will take care of his cats he left it with me.I gave the name Shobe and Ditch to the kittens and Meowie Taylor for the mother, sounds like a sexy actress in the Philippines.Right meow?Rudy instructed me on how to take care of these cats.In the morning put them all in a box full of pebbles so they can pooh and peeh.Feed the cats three times a day.Twice a week give them a shower and last on the list especially instructed to me don't kill the cat just to make them siopao because they know how to fight i taught them capoira Rudy said to me.LOL.Meowi e the mother is not an ordinary cat,one time when she escaped to Rudy in the apartment and when she came back to the house she is now pregnant to shobe and Ditch the father is an unknown strange Saudi cat.

Video of my cats

Another reason that made me busy is by taking care of my new pet.This is the video of my cats meet Ditch and shobe.Dedicated to Meow D of Mundi.

I'm back.

Finally I'm back to blogging again.Welcome back to me and it is so nice to update my page again for after a month of absence here in blogspot,so exciting.Sorry for the inconvenience and for keep on waiting for the updates about me especially to Meow and Bob,hello to both of you.The only reason why i cant make it to update my page is that I moved to a new apartment,my new accommodation here in Saudi Arabia.That's what made me busy and there is no internet connection ready yet.Obviously right now i do have now my internet connection,thank you to Joener for sharing the wi-fi connection.I missed my fellow blogger and i want to say hello to all like to Laura Stone,Sheila Catalan,Meow,Mel,Ms kalidadis,Ms Babette and to Kit Zulueta.Thank you.