{"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 Oct 12, 2017 at 6:07pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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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 Oct 14, 2017 at 4:21am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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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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A post shared by UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc) (@emirates_for_you)<\/a> on Oct 13, 2017 at 9:17pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\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 $\"Screen$ <\/figure>\n
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 May 15, 2014 at 9:14am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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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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A post shared by \u26aa\u0648\u064e\u0630\u064e\u0643\u0650\u0651\u0631\u0652..\u23f1\ufe0f (@w_athakker)<\/a> on Oct 13, 2017 at 8:58pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\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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A post shared by \u0645\u0633\u0633\u0627\u0621 \u0627\u0644\u063a\u0644\u0627 \u2764\ufe0f (@merag112)<\/a> on Oct 8, 2016 at 12:44am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\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
\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/shopping-fAhOtxIzrTxyE\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>21.\u00a0Sidewalk skiing with 4X4 vehicles is definitely a Saudi thing!<\/h3>\n<p>Only they can do it best\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content__image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"234\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2017 10 14 At 4 38 43 Pm\" src=\"https:\/\/cloud.lovinsaudi.com\/images\/uploads\/2017\/10\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2017-10-14-at-4.38.43-PM.png?mtime=20171014143723\"><\/figure>\n<h3>22. Ibn Saud, who is considered the Father of the Saudi Arabia and first king, was knighted in the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth of England in 1935<\/h3>\n<p>How cool!<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content__image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"281\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2017 10 14 At 5 07 45 Pm\" src=\"https:\/\/cloud.lovinsaudi.com\/images\/uploads\/2017\/10\/_blogWide\/Screen-Shot-2017-10-14-at-5.07.45-PM.png?mtime=20171014150619\"><\/figure>\n<p><\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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. You probably didn’t know these other things about Saudi Arabia, check it out:\u00a0 1. 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