{"id":692,"date":"2017-10-14T14:11:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T14:11:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2017-10-14T14:11:20","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T14:11:20","slug":"22-things-you-never-knew-about-saudi-arabia-11-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/riyadh\/en\/news\/feature\/22-things-you-never-knew-about-saudi-arabia-11-1\/","title":{"rendered":"22 Interesting And Odd Things You Probably Never Knew About Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From our royal family, great food, energetic atmospheres of Riyadh and Jeddah- and many more. A lot of people are familiar with Saudi Arabia’s history, customs and cultural tidbits but perhaps, not ALL of it.<\/p>\n

You probably didn’t know these other things about Saudi Arabia, check it out:\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Non- Muslims aren’t allowed to step foot in Mecca and Medina<\/h3>\n

Because they’re Islam’s holiest cities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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A post shared by \u0627\u0644\u0647\u0646\u0648\u0641 \u0628\u0646\u062a \u0639\u0628\u062f\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0632\u064a\u0632 (@alhnoo_20)<\/a> on

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2. Magic and sorcery is strictly forbidden in the Kingdom<\/h3>\n

They’ve even banned the Harry Potter books<\/p>\n

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3. Fresh water is more expensive than oil<\/h3>\n
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4. They’re building the world’s tallest building, (taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa) called the Kingdom Tower<\/h3>\n

Yep, the Kingdom Tower will take place of the world’s tallest building by 2018 in Jeddah. It will reach 3,281 ft, compared to Burj Khalifa’s height of 2,717 ft.<\/p>\n

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5. Saudi is the largest country in the world… without a river!<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Lovin Saudi | \u0644\u0648\u0641\u0646 \u0633\u0639\u0648\u062f\u064a (@lovinsaudi)<\/a> on

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6. The camel industry in Riyadh is BOOMING, they sell around 100 camels per day\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

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7. Around 80% of the Kingdom’s labour force is not local<\/h3>\n

According to Al-Arabiya<\/em>, the entire workforce of the Kingdom is at about 8.412 million, and 6 million of those workers aren’t local.<\/p>\n

8. The Arabian Oryx, once thought to be extinct, was reintroduced in Saudi Arabia\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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9. One of the Arab world’s richest men is from Saudi Arabia\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Amongst all the others on Saudi’s ‘richest’ list, Prince AlWaleed bin Talal, is worth more than USD 18.7 Billion!\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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A post shared by \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0644\u064a\u062f \u0628\u0646 \u0637\u0644\u0627\u0644 (@alwaleedbin_talal)<\/a> on

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10. The Ghawar Oil Field has so much oil, it can fill up over 4.7 MILLION Olympic swimming pools\u00a0<\/h3>\n

WHOAH.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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11. Women were prohibited to drive\u00a0<\/h3>\n

But not as of last month, when King Salman announced a royal decree<\/a> that lifts the ban and will now allow women to drive by June 2018<\/p>\n

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12. Almost half of Saudi’s population is below 24 years old!<\/h3>\n

13. More than 3 MILLION people went on Hajj in 2012\u00a0<\/h3>\n

And according to sources, this is the total population of both Phoenix and Philadelphia in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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14. 45% of Saudi’s GDP comes from the petroleum sector<\/h3>\n

No surprise there. The GDP is estimated to be around\u00a0 $335, 372 Billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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15. Compounds are a common place for foreigners to live in Saudi where some of the Saudi rules do not apply<\/h3>\n

Like women driving or wearing traditional clothing<\/p>\n

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16. It actually snows there sometimes<\/h3>\n

Rarely, but it sometimes will rain of hail or snow in areas like Tabuk- and when it does..<\/p>\n

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17. Camel meat is a common dish\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Often served as a burger or with rice..<\/p>\n

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18. Over 95% of Saudi Arabia is desert or semi-desert\u00a0<\/h3>\n

It’s also home to one of the largest deserts in the world, the Al Nafud Desert.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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19. Prince Sultan bin Salman became the first Saudi, first Arab, and first Muslim to travel in space\u00a0<\/h3>\n

He rode aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery in 1985.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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20. Every shop in Saudi Arabia will close immediately during salat <\/em>(prayer time)\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Don’t be surprised, it’ll open immediately after.<\/p>\n

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