Leaving aside the fact that living in Saudi Arabia offers a person to perform unlimited Hajj and Umrahs, most people find Saudi Arabia an extremely unappealing place to live in mainly due to the fact that the attitude of locals is not good with foreigners and of course the high temperatures throughout the year.
Nevertheless Saudi Arabia has got its charms and here are five reasons why Saudi Arabia would give any aspirant expat worker the perfect chance to live and prosper in.
- The Money: Most foreign expats come to Saudi Arabia for one reason: Money. Saudi Arabia offer its foreign workers perks that they back in their home can only dream off. Generous tax-free salaries, luxurious housing, paid education for kids, free tickets back home, and the minimum standard of 30 days paid vacation are all benefits offered to foreign workers. Though perks for unskilled laborers could be a little less lucrative The cost of living here is pretty reasonable as well, and considering that for most expats, housing and transportation are a part of their salary packages, very little money needs to be spent to live here. In fact food, entertainment and shopping here might be the cheapest in the world.
- Travel and Tourism: Leaving aside Hajj and Umrah and the opportunity to perform them regularly which could be the main attraction for many foreign workers heading off to Saudi Arabia there are several other sites worth seeing as well. Dir’iya, the original home of the Al Saud family, offers a look into what life was like when the Kingdom was first born. Mada’in Saleh, an ancient city of buildings carved into cliffs, similar to Petra, is a look back in time to the country’s pre-Islamic history. Saudi Arabia also offers spectacular scenery when you venture out into the deserts beyond Riyadh, the mountains of Abha, or the beaches along the coast of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
- Food: If you are a fast food lover than Saudi Arabia is the perfect place for you for here with just a paltry sum of 15 riyals (a petty sum for people working in Saudi Arabia) you can buy yourself an amount of food that might cost you a few thousand rupees in a Hardees and McDonalds in Pakistan. Amazingly the general impression in the Kingdom is that fast food is a poor man’s diet (shocking for a Pakistani no doubt). The local food too is good. The national dish of Saudi Arabia is Kabsa, a dish of rice with meat or chicken served on a huge platter. Traditionally it is served on the floor with everyone sitting around the platter, taking rice and meat with their hands. The experience is offered not only in homes, but also in traditional restaurants. It’s an experience that you probably won’t find anywhere else, and one you’ll miss when you leave.
- Diversity: If you love to live with and make friends with different groups of people from all corners of the globe, than Saudi Arabia is the place for you. Riyadh, the country’s capital has a mostly foreign population. People come here from all over the world to earn a living and to build lives. If you’re bringing your family and children with you to Saudi Arabia to live, this is a great place to teach your family about differing cultures and ways of life.
- And the locals are crazy: Where else in the world would you find a whole nation doing nothing and simply living off its oil money. Where else would you find people keeping the latest high speed cars along with high priced camels side by side in their homes? Where else would you find fountains and KFC’s in the middle of the desert! These things are only available to the lucky few who have ventured into the desert kingdom. Every day is a new adventure here. New people to meet, new languages to learn, new foods to try. Even the challenges one faces while living here end up becoming funny little tales to talk about at home.