1st Arrival In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Not As Expected)

1st Arrival In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  (Not As Expected)

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I am at the airport in Dubai about to board a  flight to go to Riyadh Saudi Arabia it's going   to be my first time in Saudi Arabia and I will be  spending the next few weeks traveling around the   country tourists have only been allowed there  since 2019 and some people believe that Saudi   Arabia is a very strict country and tourists  might not feel welcomed but of course I want   to see it for myself to see what it's really  like the plan for today is to hopefully arrive   stressfree then figure out how to get to my hotel  and then get some first impressions of Saudi Arab   I'm also quite excited to try authentic Arabian  food later today I'm sure it's going to be an   exciting day so join me and let's go to Saudi  Arabia Saudi Arabia is not really a popular   tourist destination for Western Travelers so it's  actually no surprise that I am the only Westerner   on this flight and touching the plane for good  luck as usual and yeah I feel excited now but to   be completely honest I also feel nervous because  I'm just not sure what to expect in Saudi Arabia   I grew up with reading so many negative news  about the country and if you only read negative   things about a certain country basically all  your life then that makes something with your   head unfortunately I have to say but usually I  especially like to go to these countries to yeah   challenge my mindset challenge my uh beliefs of  a country that I have based on what I saw on the   media and I'm excited to see what the reality is  really like there but yeah I'm not sure how strict   it's actually going to be I'm not even 100% sure  if I will be allowed to openly film there but yeah   we're going to find out later today I guess and  yeah the flying time for this flight is about two hours and I have just arrived in Riad Saudi  Arabia let's see what the arrival process will   be like here and flying over the country was also  pretty interesting basically the whole country is   just desert that looked really nice actually yeah  let's see how quick I can get through immigration   I could apply for the Visa already online it  was quite an easy process and then I got the   Visa approved literally 5 minutes later but it was  also quite an expensive Visa I paid $100 for the   Visa and yeah when I checked in for the flight  earlier today I also learned that I could have   also gotten a visa on arrival here and I am in the  country and that was literally I think the fastest   immigration process I ever had zero rating times  and then I just had to show my passport I scanned   my passport they took my fingerprints took a photo  of me and then I was in the country and in case   you're wondering it's actually very common that  countries at least in Asia take your fingerprints   and the photo of you when you the country I can't  think of a country in Asia that doesn't do that   so that's nothing unusual and I was actually a  bit surprised that almost all of the immigration   officers were women I'm not sure why but I was  not expecting that to be honest so already the   first surprise right up on arrival here and to  be honest I'm quite impressed from leaving the   plane getting through immigration collecting my  suitcase was like less than 10 minutes now and   here we are and I see a sign Metro already that's  where I'm heading to ah dear passengers using the   authorized Transportation available at the airport  guarantees you a safet Journey sounds like maybe   they also have problems with some non-legit taxis  here maybe but I do see taxis green taxis waiting   outside already there and here we have welcome  to Riad that is actually a nice gate to enter   the country oh the first thing I see here is the  Tim hton which is a Canadian brand I think and   yeah I'm looking for an ATM first and there's  one right here okay let's see if I can get cash   here so let's see if that works yeah that's  always the exciting moment when you enter a   new country will I be able to get cash here there  were some countries in the past where I had some   problems with getting cash check it out they  even have a sanitizer here right next to the   ATM so you can sanitize your hands here before  touching everything or after touching everything   transaction cancel due to a technical problem  that means I need to find another ATM or we are   going to have the same situation as in Pakistan  if you remember in Pakistan and Karachi there was   only one ATM at the airport and that one was not  working so let me have a look if there's another   ATM okay second try let's try it again you can  even choose here which currency you would like   to get I want the local one of course 500 oh and  that's the sound I like to hear and here is the   cash okay so this is what the cash is looking like  we have I think this is the king of Saudi Arabia   on the money here and yeah this is 500 which is  roughly $33 us and yeah1 equals to about 3.75   Saudi wheels at the moment so I can roughly just  divide all the prices by four and then I have the   rough amount in USD okay and first time smelling  the air here in Saudi Arabia I have to say the   temperature actually feels very nice we're having  about 15° at the moment which I kind of like to   to be honest I'm actually looking for the Metro  I know there's a Metro somewhere excuse me do   you know where the Metro is metro metro inside oh  okay thank you this is also pretty well organized   here right so you can just follow the lines here  on the floor and they have different taxi Ealing   apps here bolt Jenny which I've never heard  of before Uber and kareim kareim I also used   before in Pakistan so looks like you have several  choices here if you want to get an Ealing taxi   but I actually want to take the metro and I see a  sign Metro right over there so to my knowledge the   Metro just opened a few months ago so everything  should be very new and hopefully well organized   excuse me I'm looking for the Metro upstairs okay  thank you oh but also my first impression here of   the airport seems to be well organized no chaos  here so I think the airport here is pretty nice   there's a friendly atmosphere here I would call it  and here we have a sign for the metro and here's   another gate they seem to really like Gates here  welcome do I see it in German somewhere on there   no I can't clim to find German but we have salamat  dang Bahasa welcome which is Dutch I think ban Vu   France but no German on the sign that makes me sad  ah I think the metro station is another building   over there so I'm passing the bridge here now from  the airport terminal over to the Metro terminal oh   looks like there's also a huge mosque right next  to the airport oh I feel very excited now to be   honest I always love this feeling of arriving  in a new country for the first time that is   probably my favorite feeling when traveling and  I'm really looking forward to spend the next few   weeks traveling around this country oh wow look  at the station it actually looks brand new hello I   can buy tickets here yeah you oh okay so I need to  buy a card and then I can use it later again yeah   I would like to do that can put it to English here  buy a new cart okay oh with five real I can drive   for 2 hours everywhere oh that's very interesting  you don't pay by station you just pay by time   okay thank you very much for your help and  wow look at the station that looks really   welld designed and modern so we're are starting at  the first station at the airport and we're going   here now which seems to be the final station of  this line and then I have to switch to the Blue   Line let's see how long the total journey is  until I arrive at my hotel which is quite in   the city center to be honest I see not a single  person here wearing just a t-shirt so now I'm a   bit unsure if that's because everyone here feels  a bit cold or if maybe wearing a t-shirt is a bit   inappropriate I'm not really sure about that now  to be honest because yeah I heard that the country   is very strict also when it comes to clothings I  heard for example that you should not wear short   pants here I'm also wearing long pants right  now but maybe I'm also completely wrong with   that if anyone of you watching this is from  Saudi Arabia please let me and the others   know in the comments that would be great and here  is the train and I'm reading first class here I'm   not sure if that's everywhere let me just get  inside here excuse me can I just sit anywhere   anywhere anywhere so also it says first class  here that's why I'm was confused I can use it   okay that's good okay looks like uh I have a  free choice of seats but that looks actually   pretty beautiful here I have to say it's also  nice temperature in here now I have to say so we   are started here at the airport which you can see  on the map is quite outside of the city and this   is the city center area where I'm heading to and  I think the first station should be around here all right and that was the first train right  that was about half an hour and now I have to   change to another train here as you can see it's  gotten quite busy here the closer we got to the   city center the more people got into the train  of course okay we have a signed their yellow   line purple line where's the Blue Line excuse me  how do I get to the Blue Line Blue Line yeah up   on the other side St see so straight and then  up there okay thank you very much to be honest   I'm also getting quite hungry and I'm really  looking forward to a proper Saudi Arabian meal   later today which is going to be my first time  trying Arabian food but first let me get to my   hotel and then we find some food and there are so  many people here to help yes looking for the Blue   Line blue blue line Blue Line south or uh South I  think South yeah upstairs upstairs here okay thank   you very much actually I also heard that many of  the workers here in Saudi Arabia are foreigners   especially from Pakistan India and the Philippines  so whenever I'm speaking to someone working here   now I'm always thinking is he a local or she or if  she or he is from abroad so far I couldn't really   judge it and here we can have a look at all the  lines by the way so as far as I know all these   lines only opened a few months ago and we just  took the yellow line from the airport we are now   here kfd and I'm taking the Blue Line south but  actually there are quite a lot of lines stretching   all over the city so I think the city is already  quite connected with the Metro I'm actually a bit   surprised that the Metro here only opened a few  months ago I would have expected that such a huge   City like Riad has a metro line already for  many years and by the way there are 7 million   people living here and that I have to say my first  impression here of the people uh quite nice I have   a overall friendly first impression here it's  a very friendly atmosphere if that makes sense   and yeah maybe you noticed that at the airport I  was not trying to get a local SIM card you know   that's usually one of the first things you do when  you arrive in a new country because yeah you want   to get connected to the internet and you probably  notice when you're arriving in a new country you   just want to get out of the airport as fast  as possible get to your hotel then it can be   quite annoying to start searching for a SIM card  but to be honest I didn't even saw a shop there   selling SIM cards but yeah luckily that's not a  problem for me because I started to use eims a   while ago and using eims is really a game changer  for everyone who likes to travel and if you don't   know what an eim is it's basically a digital  SIM card that you can install to your phone   even before you start the journey so I already  downloaded and installed my my eim yesterday and   then I was able to connect to the internet right  away right after I landed so literally while I was   still sitting in the plane I was already able  to access the internet and I'm getting my eims   from a company called Holly and what I really  like about Holly is that it's not only easy   and simple to install but I also really like that  they have many options for unlimited data plans so   for example I'm having an unlimited data plan for  my whole time in Saudi Arabia now so I don't have   to worry about how much data I've used already  poly has over 200 destinations available world   right and if you want to check out hly as well  there's a link in the description on the pin   comment and if you use that link you can even get  an exclusive discount and you can also get that   discount by using the code can abroad when you  purchase the Holly eim on their app or on their   website just make sure that your phone actually  does support eims but most phones nowadays do   okay I just noticed there's a sign family here  can I go in here or no family that's family I   go over there okay single class single class ah  ah here single oh thank you okay thank you very   much so they have the class here for families and  for single Travelers and let me just double check   that my station is here station in Arabic now STC  that's where I want to go so I think 1 2 3 four   stations oh wow look at the building here that  looks quite cool all right and here I am and that   was a total jour only time of 15 minutes now in  this train so together with the first one about   45 minutes to be honest I would have expected  that there will be one class in the train just   for females so we have the single class we have  the family class but I don't see a class just for   women I already have the feeling that some of the  thoughts that I had about this country might not   be really true so now I feel even more excited to  explore this country in the next few weeks by the   way if you're new here feel free to subscribe to  the channel to follow the journey but yeah you can   that the favorite clothing color here is  definitely black so I feel like I am standing   out a lot now with the right t-shirt and the lady  I spoke to when I bought the ticket said that I   can keep the card and then recharge it later to  be honest I really like this system actually that   you're not paying by stations you're paying by  time so I can use this card now to go anywhere   in the city for 2 hours and I even see my hotel  already on the sign here sherian Hotel I know I   was hoping a little bit for some uh food stalls  here like some snakes that I can buy because I'm   really hungry but looks like uh food stalls or  any shops inside the metro station uh it's not   a thing here oh looks like they have these E  Scooters here as well probably you can scan   an app yeah I see a QR code here you scan it  and then you can cruise around the city with   these but yeah the streets here looking clean the  traffic so far what I've seen looks organized no   crazy honking going on good first impressions  here excuse me where's the entrance to the the   Shan over there right yes okay thank you very  much oh and what I'm seeing right now have   a look at that do you see the building in the  background over there that is probably the most   famous building here in the country the Kingdom  tower I think is it called very iconic building   that you have probably seen before on photos oh  I always love these moments when you are seeing   famous buildings for the first time wow definitely  going up there in one of the next videos and yeah   hotel prices here in rard seem to be a bit higher  compared to other countries in Asia so I'm paying   about $200 here per night in the Sheran hotel  now let's find out what that gets us yeah the   Sheran Hotel belongs to the Marriot brand a hotel  brand I really like to be honest and wow that is a   great entrance hall here we have pictures of the  king up there I think I would like to check in   I have a reservation for Ken okay I checked into  my hotel but before I'm going to show you my room   I'm actually really hungry so I want to grab food  first and also collect some First Impressions and   then afterwards I'm going to show you my room okay  so I can also use the Uber app for example but I   want to see if I can maybe just hail down the  taxi here I saw some green taxis driving around   here before so let's see hello is it easy to get  a taxi here can I get a taxi here yeah I just   do like this yeah okay and uh let's rate here a  taxi Drives By it's a color green the green color   that's the taxi right green green color okay thank  you so much done okay let's see if a green car is   driving by that I can flag down I think there's  also a park over there that I'm curious to check   out maybe we are doing that later when I return  oh there's a there's a green car coming you yeah   yeah sure sure you you were here first yeah he's  waiting for a taxi too I think so I don't want to   steal his spot no oh hello can you drive me to  a restaurant yeah you don't want no okay looks   like I'm not stealing his car then ah hello good  afternoon I want to go a rest Al Romania Romania   yeah this one okay and yeah we're losing the  meter yeah meter right yes yes okay my first   time in Saudi Arabia I just arrived here Egyptian  you're from Egypt oh okay also nice country I'm not really sure what you mean I don't speak  Arabic unfortunately no Arabic no Arabic no I'm   from Germany almania almania almania that's how  you say Germany in Arabic almania I learned that   Mercedes Mercedes yeah you know Mercedes cars  yeah very popular all around the world but in   Saudi every taxi use the meter always meter yes no  meter no money no meter no money oh okay okay that   sounds good that's very tourist friendly you don't  need to worry when you get into a taxi if the taxi   driver is using the meter or not some countries  around the world are a bit different let's say it   like that and then you have to worry if uh you're  going to get a fair price or not so let's see how   much I have to pay for yeah about 10 minutes in a  taxi here how many years are you in Saudi already   14 14 years yes oh long time already 14 oh and is  it good here do you like it taxi good good taxi   good good business uh yeah get show show okay  okay I just noticed it's explained here on the   window that the journey is free if the meter is  not operated and we also have the prices here per   kilometer the night rate and the day rate so seems  like the taxis here are really highly regulated   so yeah my first impressions here based on what  I can see from the window out of my car now it   looks like a very modern and clean City reminds me  a bit about Muscat in Oman where I have been about   2 months ago and also so far all the buildings I  can see here are in this like brownish sand color   design which looks very typical Arabian style to  me and what I also notice here is that many of   the shops we are driving by also have English  names so there's always the Arabic name and   underneath in smaller letters there's often also  an English name so that is very convenient from a   tourist point of view and I think we have arrived  I think the restaurant is over there Roman Romania   yeah and yeah that was about 10 minutes and the  price is 25 25 wheel for 10 minutes on the taxi   just give me a 20 change just 20 is okay okay  tip for you thank you very much you byee nice   to meet you nice to me take care okay have a good  day thank you so much all right and that was my   first taxi ride and we at Saudi Arabia and yeah  now let's try Saudi Arabian food for the first   time this is the AL Romania restaurant which has  been recommended to me hello hello hello I'm from   Germany oh welcome welcome to sa are you from sa  yes oh I want to eat some food here is this a good   place yes best place best place yes okay my first  time trying Arabian food really you will enjoy it   I hope so this in YouTube I make a YouTube videos  yeah really can we have your channel sure sure and   Tik Tok as well Tik Tok or YouTube better it's  called can abroach subscribe my friend my first   subscribers in Saudi Arabia oh that was a loud  yeah I just arrived here my first day you will   enjoy in I hope so okay nice to meet you guys  nice to meet you okay bye-bye bye-bye oh that   was a friendly welome here to the restaurant um  families and dine in so I think you can get it for   takeaway but I want to eat here oh we have lots  of fruits here that looks delicious already W I'm   definitely going to try a fresh fruit shck then  okay need to figure out the system here it looks   like if you want to order for takeaway you say  downstairs if you want to dine in you go upstairs   and there's an area for families over there this  is seems like they're really separating families   and the single areas same as we saw before in the  Metro I would like to have the smallest portion   okay do you bring it or do I have to pick it up  you bring it okay okay thank you okay looks like   they're bringing it to R table I wasn't sure if I  maybe have to pick it up how much did I pay now I   gave him 120 and I got four change that means  I paid 2016 whe oh and what's actually really   interesting I don't want to film inside because  there are people in there but you see these little   boxes here and inside there's no table but  people are sitting on the floor to eat the   food so I guess that's probably the traditional  way of eating looks like I'm getting plastic uh   cover for the table and this is the first dish  this is a yish okay this is what I order with   on the side a water and this is the main dish  okay I think I'm starting to understand why the   price was pretty high but it says M Meat rice for  one person let's see what under the cover are you   kidding me this is for one person this looks like  it's going to feed a whole family do I eat with a   hands you eat with the hands right hands yeah yeah  you have gloves okay yeah just wanted to make sure   that uh you really eat with a hands here and I'm  not looking like a stupid tourist all right so   I'm not sure where to start let's start with the  the juice pomegranate juice oh yeah immediately   when I walked in and I saw the selection of fresh  fruits down there I knew I had to get a juice here   freshly squeezed pomegranate juice very good then  I'm having this dish on the side which I will come   to at the end first uh let's talk about this huge  plate in front of me now with lamp meat so this is   called Mandy and I think Mandy style means that  the meat is baked a lemon on the side so usually   when there's a lemon on the side you're supposed  to squeeze it over and then let's try with the the   rice we have yellow rice here oh the rice is very  very flavorful tastes very different compared to   regular r Rice I'm actually not sure what this is  it looks like a mango but I'm not really sure if   there would be mango in here let me try it tastes  like a potato could be a potato I don't think it's   potato but it tastes similar like potato if you  know what it is let me know in the comments but   yeah then of course I'm really looking forward to  the meat I'm a huge meat La so this is lamp meat   let's try that oh it's melting in my mouth it's  very soft I don't really need to chew it oh wow   this is actually delicious my first inversion  when I saw the meal I thought this is made   going to be a bit dry because there's no sauce  or anything no gravy but no the the meat itself   is so juicy that I'm really not missing a sauce  or gravy now and also the rice itself is just   really flavorful so the combination of the rice  and the meat in my mouth oh it's just perfect and   then for some reason there are also a little bit  of spaghetti noodles on the side it's just like   a like a tiny portion on top of the rice and the  rice also contains these which I'm not sure what   it is looks a bit like a nut yeah could be a nut  I think it's a nut and then I'm also having this   which is called yadesh which is made from crushed  meat that is slow cooked with sometimes meat or   chicken yogurt and spices and it has a creamy  porridge light consistency so I'm not sure if this   is supposed to be a main dish or just something on  the side maybe it's also Sweet let's give it a try   no definitely not sweet it reminds me a bit about  porridges you can find in Southeast Asia kongi for   example similar consistency but different taste I  would describe the taste as typical Middle Eastern   taste they put these typical Middle Eastern spices  inside I think I have to say it's quite delicious   but it's also super super filling so I'm not sure  if that was the right thing to order on the side   next to this huge dish already but I can imagine  this is great as a breakfast as well if you're   watching this and you are from Saudi Arabia let  me know what time of the day you usually eat this   all right I'm feeling very very full now in case  you're wondering I was not able to finish all the   rice but that was a really good first meal here  in Saudi Arabia I'm actually curious how much   you pay here for a liter of gasoline because  yeah Saudi Arabia is a very rich country with   oil so I would guess that the prices of gasoline  here are very very low but I can't really see a   price there if I come across another gas station  I will let you know but I will be curious to know   the prices here and yeah because I'm feeling very  full now I'm going on a little walk now you know   to uh Walk It Out and at the same time I like to  have a walk when I'm somewhere new so that I can   get first impressions of the city and yeah I  can can share with you what I'm seeing right   now so it looks like we have a highway up there  and then underneath here is the the city road and   yeah have a look everything looks very clean  so far I haven't seen a single piece of trash   somewhere looks very nice here is hello hello  oh what are you having here oh you have a fire   you have a light oh dangerous man hello hello  iy am sorry sorry no problem no don't worry   thank you shukran thank you very much okay have a  good afternoon bye-bye okay I took an Uber right   back so taking Uber is also no problem here but it  was almost double the price compared to the taxi   earlier all right so I'm in this beautiful park  now right next to my hotel and I want to share   something with you so earlier today I posted a  story on my Instagram account saying that I am   going to Saudi Arabia and I asked my followers to  uh share what they know or think of Saudi Arabia   and I got plenty of answers here and I have to  say most of them were positive many people for   example mentioned Islam that they know that  Saudi Arabia is basically the birth place of   Islam Mecca is there and to be honest when I'm  thinking about Saudi Arabia there are two things   that are coming to my mind right away and that  is oil and Islam because yeah Islam originated   here we have Mecca here which is the holiest city  in Islam and this is also a very oil rich country   Saudi Arabia exports a lot of oil so most of  the the comments that I got from my followers   on Instagram we positive but I want to mention the  negative comments now because these are the types   of comments that I want to challenge throughout my  series of videos here in Saudi Arabia for example   one comment ask woman can't drive is it okay to  film those public places or did I need permission   they don't respect human rights it's a country  be careful around them some of them are a bit   racist one guy ask is it safe there for Western  people no rights for women somebody asks if it's a   friendly country so as you can see some people  have quite negative thoughts about Saudi Arabia   and I can't judge any of these opinions or  thoughts right now I can just share with   you what are my first impressions after literally  just entering the country and yeah my Impressions   here are that it seems to be a very modern city  so far I saw plenty of women already even many   women working for example most of the immigration  officers early we women and I also saw women here   not coverage like some women are not even very a  hijab they are not cover it at all so far I didn't   have the impression that I'm not allowed to film  somewhere so I don't really have the feeling so   far that this is a strict country that you only  see men on the streets not at all so yeah I'm   trying to uh challenge the negative thoughts that  some of my followers on Instagram have about Saudi   Arabia so I'm very excited now to spend the next  weeks traveling around this country and yeah to   be honest this would not be the first time that I  am in a country of which most people have negative   opinions about and then I am going there there  for myself and I see that the reality is a bit   different so I would be more than happy to also  be positively surprised here in Saudi Arabia and   yeah if you are not following me on Instagram  yet feel free to also follow me there I'm also   called kabro on Instagram but yeah let's head  over to my hotel and I'll show you my room so   I got upgraded to a room on the sixth floor which  seems to be the highest floor there's even a club   Lounge here where you can get snacks all day okay  my first time in a hotel room in s Arabia this is   what you can get here for $200 a night the bed  is very comfortable feel like heaven and then   also a big desk area a seating area and overall  quite a spacious room this is the bathroom here   a big sink area a bathtub the toilet right here  and then we have a little chargeable mini bar   we can get some snaks here and what's interesting  there's even German beer here Holsten from Hamburg   but yeah since this as far as I know is a dry  country this beer has 0.0% so overall this is   not a bad room not at all quite the opposite  I really like it to be honest especially   The View that I'm having here right to the  most famous building of the city so like I   said I'm very excited and very happy to be here  feel free to subscribe to the channel to don't   miss out on the next videos from Saudi Arabia and  if you haven't seen my previous video in which I   traveled from Germany to Dubai including saying  goodbye to my family then feel free to check out   the video right here stay healthy stay positive  and then see you in the next episode ciao guys

2025-02-01 18:29

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