Al-Khobar, My Favorite City!. Review on Al Khubar

Al-khobar is one of the twin cities of Saudi Arabia. The other city is Dammam. Both the cities are quite near each other and hence they are called twin cities. There is one major difference though. You will find new residential complexes, new buildings and new shopping centers in Al-khobar, while Dammam is an old city, where you can see lot of old buildings. Saudis and expatriates affectionately call Al-khobar as Khobar.

Before I begin with my review, let me tell you something. This is not going to be a traveling guide for people who are looking out to visit the place. As you may be aware of, Saudi Arabia is a country, where you cannot just go for a visit or for sight seeing. You need a work visa to enter the country. My uncle always boasts that he has visited all around the globe except for Saudi Arabia!

So folks, I hope this review of mine will enlighten you so much so, that who knows, some of you may be working on finding a job in Saudi Arabia after reading my review, to be able to see this lovely city. Good luck to those who try!

Well, I lived in Al-khobar in Saudi Arabia for thirteen years with my family. Though I am not there now, I still remember the beautiful city. People from different nationalities live here. To mention a few, -Indians, Pakistanis, Koreans, Ceylonese, British, Americans and Bangladeshis.

Here there are lots of apartment buildings with elevators. You will find International communities living in those apartments. We lived in the second floor. As our neighbors, we had an Egyptian family, two Saudi families, a Bangladeshi family, and two families from Bangalore! I should say that we had a gala time. All the members were friendly with each other. What treat we used to get, especially during the month of Ramadan! Gone are those days, but the happy times we had with one another are still cherished. It makes me feel happy to dwell in those memories once in a while, as I am doing right now by sharing my experiences.

Okay, read on…..Al-khobar has broad neat roads. Along the sides of the road, you will find lots of gigantic monuments, with inscription from the Holy Quran. You will also find greenery with blooming flowers on some road junctions. Though Saudi Arabia is basically a desert land, Saudis are trying to cultivate it to make it greener. Being a desert place originally, you can also see many palm trees and cactus plants.

There are lots of big as well as small supermarkets. Food is very cheap. They sell a kind of Arabic bread, which is called khobus. You can get a pack of Khobus (about 6) for just a riyal. It resembles our Chapatti to some extent but is thick in texture. It is tasty to relish with any vegetarian korma or with chicken curry.

There are lots of video rental shops in the streets of Al-Khobar. There are no theatres in Saudi Arabia. The only way to enjoy seeing them is by renting them out. You can rent a videocassette for five riyals. You are allowed to keep for a week. They have English movies and movies in Indian languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. The people who worked there were all keralites in most of the video rental places.

Near our building was a big mall called Johra Mall. It had everything from clothing, electronics and there were also many ten riyal shops. You will find many different brands of perfumes in attractive containers just for ten riyals each. When we were there before five years, a riyal was equivalent to twenty-five rupees. There are lots of gold shops in Al-Khobar. Saudi women buy gold in kilos and our expatriate people buy gold coins, as I understand they sell them for more price in their respective countries.

You can get fresh fruits and vegetables in wholesale markets, if you wish to save some money. We used to buy everything in bulk and share the cost with the other families.

The shops and supermarkets used to be closed five times during the prayer times. All Saudi Arabians are Muslims. Along with other expatriate Muslims, they used to travel to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, which is called Hajj. Friday is the holy day of the week, when men attend noon prayers in the mosques.

Buses are very few in Al-Khobar. Very few people use the bus service. Most of them have their own cars. You can see lots of taxis. Many Indians work as taxi drivers.

Dhahran Airport is in Al-Khobar. It is a grand Airport.

From Al-Khobar, you can visit Bahrain. It takes just three hours to reach Bahrain by car, from Al-Khobar. We went to Riyadh, when we had to go the Indian Embassy Office. It takes about five hours to reach there by car.

Another thing which I am reminded of while talking about Al-Khobar, is the Gulf war! Yes, we were there during the gulf war.Our cat Kitty, who was with us also saw the gulf war with us. When we heard the sirun warning us of Saddam Hussein's scud missile attacks, Kitty, along with my husband, our two sons and myself would rush in to take shelter in our bedroom. We all wore gas masks and waited anxiously for the all-clear siren.

We enjoyed our life in Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia, though our freedom was much limited. For example, women cannot drive there, which is by law. I had to learn driving and get my license in Canada! Anyway, no regrets, I think, that was a different experience what we had in Saudi Arabia. I am sure, people who are driven by ambition and succeed in finding a job there will enjoy the same memorable experiences, which we had.