Hello, Riyadh!

Hello everybody,

just a little fact in case u dont know, after completed with my asasi last 2 week approximately, im staying in Riyadh with my parents! Alhamdulillah

Living in Riyadh is a new chapter in my life, i thought of sharing it with the readers :)

honestly this is my first time staying out of country more than a week which explains why my curiosity level is exploding. so a few weeks before, i spent some time doing 'research' how does riyadh looks like etc (poyo) so here is my travelog :-)

Riyadh is a busy city but im staying out of the town. There werent much buildings in that area in living in. So it is a wonderful place to chill from the busy city. As expected, they dont have much green scenery here unlike Malaysia. pasir everywhere.

9th April 2017

Departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 3PM Malaysia time. I took Saudia Airlines to Riyadh. Very highly recommended (from my pov) because

1) they recite supplication before departing
2) they literally pixelized/censored women and men with exposing clothes in movies.

Aint that cool?

Honestly, travelling by plane makes me a nervous wreck. lagi-lagi an 8 hours long flight, phewww. Because i've encountered turbulence before, so it triggers me. to cope with the nervousness, i plan out beforehand on what to do/what to bring etc on flight.

Here is my 5 in-flight essentials :-

• Earphones - provided headphones aren't cool haha so i brought along my own earphones in case crying babies kill the comfort :p
• Journal + pen - wajib! i practised this since i was young, wrote everything happened on that particular day so that by the end of the year i can look back what i've been through that year :-) and of course as a blogger, it is a lot easier for me to write a new entry from the highlighted place/names that i've wrote down.
• Tissues : u never know when will u need this.
• Sweater/Hoodies - i dont know about you guys but i never travel without my hoodies. Saudia Airlines provided me with a blanket but nawwh thank you
• Books - to kill the time, i brought along my all time favourite series; DIAgnosis. Bought DIAgnosis Fobia few weeks before my final exam but i resist myself from reading it yet because i know i will be bored in flight. 

credit : google image

Arrived King Khalid International Airport around 11:00 PM (Malaysia Time) . Alhamdulillah it wasnt so hectic as I expected. It only took less than half an hour to go through the immigration checkpoint + picking up our luggage.

Initially we planned to take the London Taxi to my parent's house but the akhi(hehe) asked us to wait for another half an hour. We haven't prayed Maghrib at that time yet, so we decided to take a random taxi available atm. We are staying in the university compound but due to some privacy reasons, i cant tell which uni peace yo :D

I wasnt prepared and kinda kalut that night unfortunately didnt have the chance to take pictures of the airport. Plus the security guard is kinda....scary haha. But as far as i can remember, it wasnt as luxury as Dubai International Airport, simple but nice.

Since i learned arabic before dari form 1 sampai form 5, i can understand some of the billboard and direction signs throughout the journey home.

Language barrier isnt really a problem because most of the people here knows how to speak in arabic especially workers. plus they usually use basic arabic words, so its not really that tough.

Took a walk with my younger sis to the nearest mart that night. Temperature on that particular night was still chilly and cold, plus minus 20 degree except for its ZERO HUMIDITY. So my body can still tolerate with the new surrounding. But oh god, the next morning it rises to 38 degree i cant even 😐 😐  Lowest temperature during my stay here is 19 degree but only at night T____T

but dont be surprised, i wear winter clothes all the time at home because it is fully air conditioned inside the house.

night view

As soon as i enter the mini mart, i saw this cute minimal coca cola drink. SO LIT!

It have a looooot of food which takde dekat malaysia. Variety brand of ice creams T___T I love this place. 

10th April 2017

My first day, jet lagged ofcourse!

Slept at 12 AM and woke up at 3 AM (Malaysia Time : 8:00 AM). The time difference is 5 hours late from Malaysia, so basically the only time i got to chat leisurely with my friends is around 11-5 riyadh time (sad lyfe)

Nothing much on my first day. Sat at home and eat! p/s: i discover new drink :p Here is my new favourite drink in the list.

Almarai Strawberry flavoured yogurt. 10/10

The amount of dairy food brand here is no joke. and very very affordable. Kalau dekat Malaysia, 1 litre of fresh milk is around RM7, but here u can get 2 litre of fresh milk for the same price. Ah-may-zing.

And due to that, we literally drink yogurt every single day, yes. EVERYDAY. 

11th April 2017

Sent my mum to her workplace that morning! The weather is perfect for a walk around the campus.

The lighting is on point, the view is on point. Every single angle of the campus is instagram worthy. If only i'm wearing different kind of clothing everyday when i go out, i would probably took my ootd picture every day XD

In case you dont know, women over here wears Abaya/Jubah whenever we are out of the house. So it wasnt very fancy and tabarujj. Majority of the abaya will be in black but there are some teenagers in earth color abayas.

Also, we are required to wear niqab/purdah here. It wasnt really a wajib thing, but since every women are wearing that, people be looking at you like a creature from outers pace if u are exposing yo face :')

And guess what, we have Starbucks Cafe, Baskin Robins and Sugar Sprinkles inside the campus :')

Now tell me how am i suppose to maintain healthy and fit. haha

Lets jump into my first weekend in riyadh, my parents brought me to Riyadh Gallery mall which located quite far to our apartment. So here is a little overview of the interior of the mall.

The mall here is so luxury! All kind of high end brands are available here. Gucci? Michael Kors? Chanel? Dolce&Gabbana? Burberry? U name it, they have it. Tauke minyak like them can go and shop every weekend. for average people like me, the only shop that we can afford is H&M, Forever 21 and Red Tag 😂 😂  but takkan nak beli baju every week? haha

Some of my friends asked the price difference between Malaysia and Riyadh. Well, i can say some of it are way more cheaper but some are not. The food here is overpriced. honestly speaking, even ordinary fast food restaurant like Mcdonalds. 22 riyal (RM25.85) per set of spicy mcchicken :') Boleh jatuh muflis kalau mcm ni dekat Malaysia 😂 

One thing i love being here is how they really jaga women's right. We have our very own lane for ordering food. We have women section to eat and lepak with our friends (and yes, guarded by security officer) They also have family section in restaurants. So for bujang guys, they have to eat at the open spaces of course with proper table and chairs. haha

BUT SAHABAT-SAHABAT... the gadget here is wayyy cheaper than Malaysia. which explains why almost everyone here are an apple user. LIKE LITERALLY EVERYONE. Bukan calang-calang iphone, they are using iphone 7 mannnn. *gulp*

and here is what i bought that day :D It cost me 98 riyal(RM115.01) for the whole set. For me its cheap for the whole thing. U cannot get this huge complete set of make up in Sephora with that price. It was originally 200+ but it is on sale. hehe

I am not someone who are keen with make up but why not? My feminine side is back haha

I also went to Granada Mall and Jarir Bookstores last week but i forgot to take pictures (again) Nothing much difference except for the size of the mall. 

credit : google image

Tengokla bookstore dia besar macam mana :') it is an upgraded version of Popular Bookstores. Aside from books, they have arts and office supplies, laptops, gadgets, telco services and starbucks+baskin robins!!! 

Overall, riyadh is 6/10. because there is no place like home, obviously :( I kinda miss home but lets live my life to the fullest while im still here. 

So i guess that is all for this post! Will continue writing about my whereabout last week in a new post :-) p/s: i will try my very best to snap photo every single place i went. 

Regards,

sara.