Reflections on Riyadh

It's about 1am here in Riyadh, and instead of trying to use the "Deep Sleep 101" DVD in my hotel room to fall asleep, I thought I'd write down some thoughts while they were still relatively fresh in my mind... this is our last night in Riyadh.

Three observations on Riyadh and Saudi Arabia so far...

1. Arab hospitality is alive and well here in Saudi Arabia: I have to say that I've been pretty blown away by how much our hosts have gone out of their way to give us a good time. Though clearly evident in our 5 star accommodations and incredible buffet lunches, the hospitality we've seen is best experienced in the interactions with our hosts. For example, all of us went to visit King Saud University earlier today, the 2nd largest university in Saudi Arabia. The men and women of our team split up by our respective genders, and visited the gender-appropriate sections of the university. The guys in our team were treated like celebrities... stopped constantly to take pictures as if we were visiting dignitaries on a high-profile diplomatic mission. My favorite part of the day was an opportunity for us to sit down with some of the students of the Communications School and ask questions of each other. I left with a feeling of true connection and got the impression that, despite differences in dress, religious belief and culture, students in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia had a lot more similarities (like idealism and passion for the truth) than differences... we only wished we had more hours in the day to keep the dialogue going.

2. Non-alcoholic beer/wine and mocktails are hit-or-miss: Given that alcohol is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, we've had the pleasure (in most cases, at least) to try out the local potables. "Holsten," a German brewery, makes a nice non-alcoholic beer. I've always frowned at an O'Douls, but a non-alcoholic Holsten isn't half bad as a substitute for its less-Islamic friendly counterpart. The fruit mocktails are also almost uniformally amazing... however, I'd recommend staying away from a non-alcoholic Cabernet Sauvignon. I didn't have the guts to try it, but judging by Ale's and Vanessa's face as they did (and Julia's mostly full glass at the end of the meal), I'd just say stay away.

3. Saudi Arabia is more progressive than you might think: Sure, Riyadh is a very conservative city. But Saudi knows that it needs to create jobs, diversify its economy and prepare the country for an inevitable post-oil world. After visiting King Saud University, we all went to SAGIA, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. They showed us some pretty impressive plans... believe it or not, Saudi Arabia ranks #13 in the world (ahead of Japan, Germany and Korea!) in the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" rank:

http://www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings/

On top of that, Saudi Arabia plans on hitting the top ten by the end of the year. SAGIA is also helping to oversee the development of new economic cities, the scales of which are both impressive and daunting. I'll let SAGIA's website do the talking for me, so here's the link that discusses the economic cities:

http://www.sagia.gov.sa/en/Why-Saudi-Arabia/Economic-cities/

These are just the tip of the iceberg of progressive reforms going on all around the country. Riyadh may still be very different from DC, London and Hong Kong, but not taking notice of these reforms would not do justice to the progress this country has been and is making.