Things to do in Riyadh # 1

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

With Riyadh temperatures soaring to 50 degrees celcius and more in the summer months, families have to find indoor activities and you will find that the vast majority of Riyadh's numerous shopping malls will have children's play areas incorporated. The one pictured below is at the fairly new Hayat Mall in Riyadh and has a good variety of games for children of all ages - merry-go-rounds, trampolines and trains for the littlies, a decent roller coaster and ice rink for the older children among other things. It all makes for a welcome afternoon out together. Better to go in the afternoon and leave by isha prayer as isha is when the malls and play areas become particularly busy.



My 12, 10, 7 and 4 year olds all enjoyed having a go at the sand art where you choose a picture and piece by piece peel off the backing paper to reveal a sticky section on which to apply different coloured sands.

The food court and prayer rooms are not far off as usual so it is easy and convenient to pause to pray maghrib and to take a break for food. An array of different fast food choices including the ever present McD's, Chinese, Lebanese, Pizza and a very nice new Spanish food outlet selling filled baguettes. Our choice was chicken and Brie.... yummy all round!

And of course, the children always like to finish off the outing with an icecream so yay for Baskin' Robbins! Of course there are also the doughnut vendors such as House of Donut and the newly opened Krispy Kreme as well as cafes for the grown ups to sip on a Latte - noone is left out. :)