this episode right here is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus
hey geograpeeps
so I know you are all waiting for the country episodes
the next one will be up next week
but until then I kinda wanna address a little issue that
you guys have brought up in the past
as you know a while back for geography go I went to
the Middle East countries of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE
and Qatar or for those of you who are verbally challenged
QATAR
but the videos that got me the most response were the Saudi Arabia episodes
and a lot of people specifically people who have never been there
seem to have a lot of opinions about Saudi Arabia
so in this video I'm just gonna kinda explain the experience and talk about the things I noticed
and a few misconceptions I had that were dispelled
this was a little nerve racking. As you guys know
I took the King Fahd causeway across from Bahrain into Saudi Arabia
getting the visa was a little bit of a strenuous process
like in order to get it I had to get a commercial visa
which meant I had to be sponsored by someone living in Saudi Arabia
there's a lot of paperwork
and even at the bottom of the paperwork it said
I could still be denied upon entry for any reason
when I got to the border I had to turn off the camera
they brought me to a building
I had to get my thumb prints and they took a picture of me
then I had to get prints of my other 4 fingers
the guy stared at me
he looked at my passport, looked at me
he looked at my passport
and then finally STAMP
you're in
I'm so happy and grateful that Laith my Bahraini friend was with me the whole time
he was helping me out he was speaking Arabic
plus he was like bigger and more jacked than all the Saudi guards
so I don't know maybe having a big Arab friend helps
now of course no surprise Saudi Arabia is a lot more traditional and religious than other gulf states
however they're also very metropolitan and urbanely developed
or at least Riyadh the capital city that I visited
the whole city is loaded with skyscrapers
however they're only allowed to build them adjacent to one road in the city
virtually every western food franchise you can think of
is in Riyadh like McDonald's, Burger King, Subway
which by the way Subway sells a Halloumi sandwich
even the Canadian ones like Tim Hortons are in there
they love their fast food just like anybody else
however there is a law that says that any foreign franchise that enters into the country
must be managed and operated by a Saudi citizen
who becomes the primary beneficiary of the business
and also I had seen this in pictures and videos before
but I finally witnessed it
when you go to any like mall or big department store area
anytime when there's like a picture of a model
their faces and necks are always blocked out
this is because of the modesty laws which brings us to
this is probably what shocked me the most because I assumed that Saudi Arabia
was incredibly rooted in Islam
therefore the modesty rules would be like in full force
like I thought all women would be like in burqas or niqabs with just like the little slit to show their eyes
or like the mesh
although all women are required to wear abayas you know that loose fitting flappy gown thing
typically comes in black although I heard in Jeddah
they can change up the colors
most women don't even cover their faces
and actually a lot of women mostly expats and foreigners
don't even cover their heads at all
it's totally okay for women to do that in Saudi Arabia
I didn't know that
actually I remember one night I even saw a girl
like her head was shaved
like she had like a buzzcut and she was smoking
with her other girlfriends on the street
like that was probably the most interesting sight I ever saw
now I already knew that women could wear whatever they wanted in the household
but what I didn't know was that they could also wear whatever they wanted in the presence of a guest
who wasn't part of their family like me
so when I went to my host's house
his daughter and his wife and her friends
were all there and they greeted me
and they were just like wearing typical western jeans and T-shirts
I was like oh...okay
the funny thing is they asked if they could take a picture with me
at first I was like yeah sure
but then I had to like pause for a sec
I didn't wanna like infringe on any like social taboos
you know here in the west we typically like side hug each other and smile
but I didn't know if that was appropriate to do in Saudi Arabia
so I literally just like stood next to each of the girls individually
and I smiled and pointed at them
like I figured that was a safe bet
then there's the whole women can't drive thing
that's kind of technically not completely true
some women can drive if they apply for a special government issued permit
that proves that they need it
this especially applies to women in the rural outskirt areas
or the countryside where they might not always have a man to drive them far distances
also this kind of applies to all the gulf states
but you'll notice that in the gulf there are more men than women
this is partially because of the high expat ratio
that really distorts the gender balance
in Saudi Arabia you will see women on the streets
however they typically travel in packs of women
like with lots of other women around them
very very very few times did I see a woman walking by herself on the streets
otherwise it's just men men men men men
so now we move onto
...and outside religions or world views
this is what kinda threw me off guard a little bit
because here in the west we're kinda taught that Saudi Arabia unless if you're an Islam devout Arab man
you have no freedom
you will be killed in Saudi Arabia if you are not a Muslim
this is just simply not true I mean
I'm not a Muslim I'm a Christian and I went there and came back just fine
you will not get killed for just being a self professed non-Muslim in Saudi Arabia
there's already communities of non-Muslims living ins Saudi Arabia
like Christians and Jews that have lived alongside their Muslim neighbors for centuries and generations
the only 2 places that non-Muslims are technically banned from are
Mecca and Medina even though non-Muslims have gone there in the past
what is taken seriously though is any kind of open public proselytizing or evangelism
of anything outside of Islam
that is taken seriously
speech and press are still restricted in that regard
you know churches temples and synagogues are not allowed to be built
literature is not allowed to be published
however you know people still kinda get around that with you know printers
and pretty much all worship is confined to the home
however just being a self professed non-Muslim
is not illegal
it might not be particularly advantageous in certain circumstance but
nonetheless not illegal
however piggy backing off of that
apostasy is taken very seriously
a Muslim converting outside of Islam
and especially a Saudi citizen is taken very seriously
it's kind of not only just socially unacceptable but also
kind of legally
Saudi Arabia does follow a Wahhabi interpreted version of Sharia law
which does kind of has strict repercussions for apostasy
which brings us to...
if anything crazy happens it's underground
now Saudi Arabia is interesting because it's kinda like another country in which the people still
have the same dreams and desires
it's just they kinda have to find a different way to achieve them
Saudi Arabia is a country that holds tight tradition
everyday you have to adhan or to call to prayer
everything shuts down until the call is over and then reopens
many buildings and public settings are segregated between men and women
images of the King and his family members are everywhere
water costs more than gas
summers can reach about 50°C
and the citizens here are just used that literally everyday of their lives
now the thing is on the surface Saudi Arabia does kinda look like this
heavily restrictive strict theocratic society
driven by centuries-old customs and values
and to some extent that is kind of true
however when you talk to the people in the country you'll realize
they're actually kind of very clever and creative when it comes to bypassing all the regulations
you have no idea how many in the Middle East have
VP and proxy servers to side step internet restrictions
for TV they either buy satellites or they stream and screen share from their servers
you want that new band pop song from Germany
yeah just download it and hide it under a layered folder
women are technically not allowed to take part in organized sports
however some underground gyms and facilities have opened up and
the government is actually kind of starting to become a little bit more lenient towards it
I mean in the end as time goes on
Saudi Arabia starts to realize that in an age of ever advancing technology and global communication
they can't help but see a population aspired for newer and greater heights
so therefore they're kind of like always trying to figure out a system that
reconciles both historical culture and modernity
it's gonna be interesting to see what the future looks like for Saudi Arabia
and before we go just like last time
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and with that being said thank you so much Geograpeeps for not only your patience
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so I'm gonna get back to editing some videos and
more country episodes coming up next week
and weeks after that following
stay tuned stay cool