Meshary Alruwaih

I just opened The Kuwait Times web site to check if Meshary Alruwaih (the writer who wrote "How To Survive 10 Days In Riyadh") had any other articles about Saudi Arabia, and i just found out that he has an article "Saudi Arabia...I'm Sorry."

I felt waay better knowing thaat he didn't mean all the things he wrote earlier and I am sorry for calling you A Racist...

Here is the article he wrote quoting it from the newspaper's site:

"You know how sometimes you joke with a friend by teasing him or trying to be sarcastic about the way he looks or behaves? Usually you mean no harm, and certainly you didn't mean any disrespect. Still your harmless humour can end up causing discomfort to your close friend to the point that you see it through his eyes. Suddenly you realise how silly your remarks were, and you swiftly apologise.

I would like to apologise to Saudi Arabia.

A few months ago I wrote an article titled "How to survive 10 days in Riyadh" describing how boring my visit to Riyadh was, and making 10 basic rules to help me survive the boredom and depressing atmosphere of that city.
At the time it was published it did not really draw a lot of attention. But about a week ago, my article was all over the net sent to people as an attachment and posted on many forums.

I started getting tons of emails from Saudi guys, slamming my article. Some were respectful, others could not control their temper. But all agreed that the piece was offensive to their city of Riyadh and to the whole kingdom.

For that, I am sorry. In no way do I hold any negative feelings toward their country, the kingdom is dearly held in the hearts of many Kuwaitis, including mine, and its role during the Iraqi invasion is never forgotten and will always be appreciated.

Let me tell you something, writers love attention, they love their articles to be talked about, whether positive or negative, it does not matter as long as their names are mentioned and their ideas are being circulated, clearly that article achieved just that for me.

But I don't want to be known as the guy who talked ill about Saudi Arabia, I hate to have my name associated with any offences toward the capital of our big sister, if attacking the kingdom is the way to popularity, then I do not want it.

I see writing as a career, not something that I do when I have spare time so I'm aiming big, I dream and I aim for a future in this career, And believe me I do not want to be remembered one day as the guy who assaulted his neighbours.
So, yes, I do regret writing that article, still I do not regret the experience that taught me many lessons including the need to apologise when you offend a person or a society.

Apologies are not easy to make as they involve dignity and pride. But when you are wrong you are wrong, and when you apologise to your brothers they understand that your apology is not because you are weak. On the contrary, it's because you have the strength to come out publicly and say I'm sorry.

And certainly I do not regret the opportunity that allowed me to get to know a few Saudi guys who kindly explained to me how hurtful my words were and even invited me to Riyadh to see its good side and change my idea about it, very kind and generous invitations indeed. But I do know the good side of Riyadh and the kindness of its people. Maybe next time I'll visit Riyadh I'll come up with a new article titled 'How to enjoy 10 days in Riyadh.' "

You Are A Racist

ok i just read your article "How to survive 10 days in Riyadh" and please read my comments

1- "you will end up watching animal planet" am pretty sure that the TV channels you get in riyadh are the same ones you get in kuwait, so if you end up watching animal planet then i think you enjoy it.

2- "spend long hours in your hotel room" if you don't have friends to go out with then that is also a problem with you. Try to be more interesting. As for going out, tell me where do you want to go:
Cinema: buy a movie and watch it in your room as you said.
Clubbing: Riyadh is in KSA and KSA is an Islamic country.
Cafes & restaurants: Riyadh has millions of cafes and restaurants.
Malls: there is all kind of shops in Riyadh.
Unless of course looking at girls in the mall is something you enjoy.

3- There are lots of people who go to Riyadh, so please don't generalize...and Kuwait isn't a really hot spot for travelers in case you haven't noticed.

4- You always have a near death experience when you drive, goo take driving lessons. All countries have stupid drivers and good drivers.

5- PRAY!! you should pray everywhere...and riyadh doesn't have any temptations, that is actually the first nice thing you said about Riyadh so thanks...as I said KSA is an Islamic country so if u accept that the same country that accommodates Makah and Medina, accommodates clubs and alcohol, you have another problem.

6- This one you just wrote to make the article look longer. It’s useless.

7- You are a MAN. You smoke 30 cigarettes a day. Something you want to show off.

8- Well Riyadh tries to be shisha free, whats wrong with thaat. It values its citizen’s lives.

9- You Italian men mashalla 3aleekom...this one show that you don't even qualify a writer since you don't like God’s creation.

10-"flawless" i won't say anything more because am not a racist and i accept that each country has a good side and a baad one.

I have to saay that after knowing that a newspaper could publish such article written by an obviously untalented writer is just something wrong. And this is not the first time, what about the Aprils fool prank...is thaat a newspaper or a comic book and to post it on the first page...mashalla. If u dont have something to fill your pages please reduce the number of pages then. Don’t fill it up with crap.

We Need Them...

ok you will notice that am really bored...i was going through wikipedia and now am searching the keyword "saudi" in the Time Magazine site...i found this article named "The Devil We Know" by Peter Beinart...to be honest i didnt really understand what he wanted to say, am not into politics at all but i found this interesting sentence...

"The U.S. can't completely distance itself from the Saudis--in our weakened position, we need their help."

if anyone understand the main idea behind this article then please tell me...

The People of Saudi Arabia

These are TV commercials airing in the United States, paid for by the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington.

The theme is “The People of Saudi Arabia: Allies Against Terrorism”.






[Via Ad Blog Arabia]

Saudi Arabia Did it at Lynx...

TV/Cinema Category:
Gold: GPS - Abdul Latif Jameel - Toyota Land Cruiser.

Print Category:
Silver: Smoke Detector - Goody - Hot Sauce.
Direct Straw - Pepsi International - Diet 7Up.

Bronze: Pool - Pepsi International - Pepsi.
Dots - Henkel Arabia - Persil.

Outdoor Category:
Gold: Pool - Pepsi International - Pepsi.

Direct Category:
Bronze: Gillette M3Power - Al Naghi Proctor & Gamble - Shaving Razor.

For the full winners list visit Dubai Lynx...

Saudi Cars

Makkah to Get World’s Tallest Clock Tower

MAKKAH, 14 March 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered the largest clock tower in the world to be built in Makkah, according to a statement issued by Makkah Gov. Prince Abdul Majeed yesterday.

The clock is set to be placed on the fifth tower of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project at a height of 380 meters and could be seen from all sides. The name of Allah will be inscribed on each of the four clock faces. Two of the clock faces including the inscription will be 80 meters in height and 65 meters in width, and the dial diameter will be 39 meters.

The other two clocks will be 65 meters in height and 43 meters in width while their dial diameter will be 25 meters. Two lifts will take visitors to a balcony with a width of five meters below the clocks. The landmark edifice will also carry intricate Islamic decorative artwork.

The Makkah clock tower when completed will be the tallest in the world — taller than Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science in Poland, London’s Big Ben, Rajabai Clock Tower in Mumbai, India, and the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, US.

[Via Arab News]

The Kingdom

I was surfing the net a while ago when I found out that there is a new movie called "The Kingdom" which is going to be about the attacks that happened 2 years ago in Saudi Arabia...and as usual, in the movie, USA will come in and save the day as if Saudi Arabia couldn’t do anything for themselves...

Its just frustrating to see that in all American movies, they always show that all countries are helpless and they are the untouchables…but when u look back 5 years ago where were the untouchables when the attacks happened on the twin towers…am not happy about what happened, it was a tragedy and I felt sad about it because all the people who died were innocents…I just don’t like how they are presenting their selves as the perfect nation…

I saw the movie’s trailer; it’s full of stars such as Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Chris Cooper…in my opinion it just seems like a stupid movie about a pointless thing…

The World's Billionaires

Al-Walid Bin Talal #13

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