Ok, so let’s talk about shopping in a bit more detail. Compounds inhabited by western expats usually have plenty of women with not that much to do during daytime when husbands are at work and children at school, so most compounds arrange shopping buses. Shopping buses are minibuses that depart compounds in the morning, drop the ladies (and occasional men + children) to a shopping mall and then pick them up a few hours later and bring the ladies back to the compound. Shopping buses also get women around the problem of not being able to drive themselves. Yes, you read that right. Women are not allowed to drive in Saud Arabia. The reason? Well, because they are not men.
But anyways, back to the shopping arrangements. In the compound that we live in there are 3-4 shopping buses every day. Usually two in the morning, one in the afternoon and one late in the evening. Bus schedules are such that you don’t run into any prayer time closings. Shopping buses are also a bit of a social gathering place. Indeed, it’s the perfect place to start talking to fellow expats since you have about 20min each way to spare.
All shopping buses are unmarked for security reasons. So that means that there is no big text on the side of the bus saying “Compound X”. Rather, all buses are white and have darkened windows. The thing is, you need to be very careful about which shopping bus you get onto when done with shopping. There is one lady in our compound who wasn’t so careful and ended up in the wrong bus and as a result to the wrong compound. Not to worry, it wasn't the end of the world and she is fine. It's just annoying because then you need to arrange a taxi to take you back to your own compound, which might be far away and the driver might not know where it is. If you're new to Riyadh and the taxi driver doesn't speak English that well then it might turn into a bigger problem.
But anyways, back to the shopping arrangements. In the compound that we live in there are 3-4 shopping buses every day. Usually two in the morning, one in the afternoon and one late in the evening. Bus schedules are such that you don’t run into any prayer time closings. Shopping buses are also a bit of a social gathering place. Indeed, it’s the perfect place to start talking to fellow expats since you have about 20min each way to spare.
All shopping buses are unmarked for security reasons. So that means that there is no big text on the side of the bus saying “Compound X”. Rather, all buses are white and have darkened windows. The thing is, you need to be very careful about which shopping bus you get onto when done with shopping. There is one lady in our compound who wasn’t so careful and ended up in the wrong bus and as a result to the wrong compound. Not to worry, it wasn't the end of the world and she is fine. It's just annoying because then you need to arrange a taxi to take you back to your own compound, which might be far away and the driver might not know where it is. If you're new to Riyadh and the taxi driver doesn't speak English that well then it might turn into a bigger problem.
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