Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The view of Riyadh from SkyBridge



It’s been 3 years and four months since I first stepped into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I’ve visited the Red Sand, Hidden Valley, Ostrich Farm, most of the malls and just last Ramadan Al Khobar and Dammam.

There’s a lot more I wanted to see but we only have 37 days left until our last day of work here.

Since it’s the Christmas season and it’s something they don’t celebrate here, we decided to go to the Sky Bridge.

Where’s the Skybridge? It’s the top of the Kingdom Centre.

Daddy Jun holding the Kingdom Tower



Carmina with her Mother


Here are some facts from the Center’s website http://kingdomcentre.com.sa/kc/

Located in Riyadh city the capital of Saudi Arabia & the Region's largest economy and most important financial centre.

Its strategic location coupled with unmatched distant visibility distinguishes Kingdom Centre from any other building in the Region. It has transformed the landscape around Riyadh's fastest-growing business and commercial district, crowning Olaya's emergence as the new centre of Riyadh, as its glittering icon rise from the district's highest and most strategic location; at the crossroads of King Fahad Expressway, Olaya Road and Orouba Road, a central location giving it unrivaled accessibility, visibility and prestige.

The Kingdom Centre was built on 94,230 square meters of land with a total built up area of 300,000 square meters. It contains a highly prestigious shopping mall anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue and Debenhams, offices with the most advanced information and telecommunications capabilities, fully serviced internationally managed Reguss Business Centre, business suites, luxurious residential apartments, the 5-star Four Seasons Hotel with a modern celebration hall, complete fitness club facilities and a variety of the finest international restaurants.

And the Sky Bridge?

Extending 65 meter in length, the Sky Bridge which is a steel structure weighting about 300 tons sits on top of the 300 meter height tower, rising 918 meter above sea level and overlooking the whole of Riyadh, its unique position gave it the advantage of being one of the most important attraction point for tourism in KSA.

The trip to the sky bridge passes through two elevators, first elevator will take about 50 seconds to reach the height of 180 meter to the Transfer level, and second elevator will take less than 40 seconds to reach its final destination the Sky Bridge.


It’s winter season so the view outside is a little full or fog. The floor of the bridge is shaking due to the wind outside, you’ll feel dizzy if you’re not used to walking in curved paths.

My Chloe was a tough one, not afraid of heights; she is even running along the bridge and peeking close to the windows while pointing at the buildings down there.

They only allow cellphone cameras, my canon ixus 960i is of no use that time. We have to pay SAR20 for every shot from their poor quality Nikon camera.

After looking through the city sunset from the foggy view till it turned pitch black with all the lights, we decided we had enough and we have to go down before somebody gets dizzy.

Window shopping for some time then bought the souvenirs. A replica of the Center inside a musical snowglobe. The snowglobe was playing “Arabian Nights”.

We had dinner at the foodcourt. McDonald’s as usual.

It’s still early so we hopped to the nearest CityMax. There’s an ongoing sale so we were able to get some fashion boots for my Chloe and her Ate Lenlen.
Ate Len-len's boots
Chloe's boots

At 11:00 pm we had enough for the day and headed to KFMC to drop of my sister and friends.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Goodbye and Thank You!
January 10, 2009

Today is the last day we'll ever ride this car. The first car Jun and I had as a couple, the car that fetch me and Baby Chloe from the hospital.
Our buddy to see places here in Saudi Arabia. Now it is time to say goodbye....

Memories will forever be treasured and hope your new ownr will take care of you.