My experience in meeting women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
This article is taken from the book “Double Your Relationships” by Fonze Viera, you can find it here: link —
When I moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2013, it was like moving to a different planet. For example, Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world where it was illegal for women to drive a car. If any woman was caught driving a car, she would be fined and taken to jail for violating the law. On the 25th of June 2018, for the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia, a law was passed for women to drive in the Kingdom.
Also, Saudi women nationals were not allowed to travel outside the kingdom without permission or a legal guardian — their father. If a Saudi woman national is going to the airport to travel, a text message is sent from the airport to the legal guardian (if the woman is not married) or husband (if the woman was married) to inform him that the woman is about to travel. The legal guardian or husband has the right to contact the airport and stop her from traveling. Women’s rights did not exist in the Kingdom until late 2018 when the new government took over under the leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
When going out in public, women of all nationalities in Riyadh and across the Kingdom must wear the black abaya, which is like a black cloak over their clothing. Women must wear modest clothing under the abayas that must cover below their knees. It was illegal for women not to wear an abaya when going out in public. Wearing the abaya was mandatory by law for all women regardless of their nationality or ethnic background.
At the shopping malls in Riyadh, all stores close at prayer times. Since there are five prayers in the day, early morning, noon time, afternoon, sunset, and evening, it means that during the date, the shops will close at the exact prayer time for 15 to 20 minutes for the prayer time. Restaurants and cafes are also included, so you must order your food and have it delivered to you before or after prayer times. It was very common to see people standing outside the store waiting for it to open so they could do their shopping. Again, this all changed in 2018 when a new law was passed to allow stores to stay open during prayer times. Before 2018 this strict lifestyle was the norm in Riyadh and the rest of the kingdom. Nevertheless, people living in Riyadh became accustomed to the lifestyle. And one last thing, there were no cinemas in Saudi Arabia at the time. Cinemas were banned by law since they contain scenes against the Islamic principles of decency. At the time, Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim country in the world that was operating in extreme enforcement of Islamic rules.
At shopping malls, single men were not allowed to enter the malls even if they were Saudi citizens. I cannot possibly imagine that a citizen of their own country, as a single male, could not enter the mall by himself; he would have to be accompanied by a family member. However, there were ways around this which I will cover in this chapter.
The authority of Islamic religious policy, who are escorted by military officers, was given the green light to roam the malls to ensure all the rules are being followed by the public. If it was prayer time and any store was open, they would be fined. They would be chasing people to go and perform their prayers for the Muslim and Arabic communities.
At shopping malls, single men were not allowed to enter the malls even if they were Saudi citizens.
When I moved there, I thought that approaching and seducing women would be impossible. To my surprise, I found out that the Saudis had creative ways of approaching and attracting women; I will cover some of the accidental ways I discovered how to approach women in Saudi Arabia under such strict conditions.
I was assigned the role of Senior Project Manager for one of the major banks in Riyadh. My typical day would start around 8.30 am when I arrive at my office at the bank. I start answering emails, and then I would have a meeting at 9.30 am with my team; we review the activities planned for the day, then have a check-out meeting at 4 pm towards the end of the day. Throughout the day, I would have meetings with the bank’s project manager and some of the stakeholders on the project.
When I moved there, I thought that approaching and seducing women would be impossible. To my surprise, I found out that the Saudis had creative ways of approaching and attracting women
Of course, all the staff that work at the bank are men. There was a women’s section in the bank, but it was in a separate building, and no men were allowed into that building. In fact, even the security guards that work at the women’s building are women. In our section, there was no women’s and men’s room, and there was only a means bathroom. Interestingly enough, the bathroom did not have a sign that it was a bathroom since there were only men using it. People would just tell me it was the grey-colored door. All grey doors on the floor were bathroom. As I mentioned earlier, it was like moving to a different planet.
The next day I decided to visit Starbucks coffee at 8 am before heading to my office. The closest Starbucks was in the Kingdom Tower mall, at Kingdom Holding offices. Kingdom Tower is an iconic building in Riyadh, and it resembles the skyscrapers in New York City and Las Vegas. It is owned by Prince Al Waleed bin Tala Al Saud, who is also a royal family member. At some point, he was one of the richest men in the world and was usually published in Forbes. He owns Kingdom Holdings, which is an international investment corporation that has a portfolio of company shares across hotel chains, banks, property holdings, and technology ventures.
I walked into the Starbucks in the Kingdom Tower shopping mall on the ground floor. There was only one register; since it was early in the morning, they were usually understaffed. I discovered that there were about six women standing in line at the same register I was at to place their order. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to open. All the women were wearing the black abaya (black cloak that covers the whole body), and some of them wore the burqa, which is the veil that covers their faces leaving only their eyes exposed. The women’s eyes are always wearing full eyeliner and eye shadow, making the eyes look like something out of a makeup magazine. The women wearing the face covering are usually Saudi citizens. You cannot blame them, though, for wearing heavy makeup around their eyes; it is the only thing they can be fashionable about.
In my experience, the most effective way to approach women in a coffee shop is at the sugar station, or where you pick up your coffee. If you are a beginner, never open and approach a woman at the register when she is about to order or if she is waiting in line. The reason is all the people waiting in line will be able to hear your opener, and you cannot engage them since they are not part of the girl’s group; it will be awkward. Approaching a woman at the pickup station of the sugar station is more private and allows the woman to be more comfortable. Here is what I did at Starbucks.
After the woman who was an HB8 (Hot Babe 8 out of 10) on the attraction scale and looked like she was in her early twenties, she ordered in front of me, then I placed my order, paid, and went ahead to the coffee pick-up section. She was already there waiting for her drink.
Me: “Hey, good morning.” (I say it in a statement, not like a question.)
Woman: “Good morning. “
Me: “Quick question, it will only take a minute. Maybe you can help me with something.” (I say it like a statement with a deep, slow voice).
Woman: “Sure, yes,” (her tone was curious, interested in what I wanted to ask.)
Me: “Is there another Starbucks around here, instead of walking inside the mall here? Another one close by?”
Woman: “I’m not really sure; I always come to this one because it is close to where I work.”
Me: “Oh, you work close by? Whereabouts, which company?”
Woman: “I work at the Mobile telecommunications company Cellutel.”
Me: “Oh, that is nice; you look like you’re in marketing or maybe public relations?”
Woman: “I’m in HR. Actually, I manage talent acquisitions, although I like PR a lot, maybe a career I can get into in the future.”
- The above is an excerpt from the book “Double Your Relationships” by Fonze Viera. You can find a sample of the book here on this link. This is special limited time discount on the book. If you want a free sample of the book you can find it here
Here is a free sample of the book “Double Your Relationships” by Fonze Vierra that you can download for free — Link
Here is a link to read the benefits of the book, Link.
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Have a great day and thank you for reading this far :-)
