Kingdom outside KAUST campus
So far I was able to see two biggest cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jeddah which is about 80 km away from KAUST and Riyadh where I have spent 5 days visiting headquarter of my company. Riyadh is completely new city, in last 50 years its population grew from 300 k to over 5 millions. Almost all roads and buildings are brand new.

here is second highest building in the city with golden globe near the top. The globe house very expensive restaurant. 

And here globe close by and few pictures from the top.

the most known building in Riyadh is Kingdom Tower, gigantic bottle opener.

 

Tops of the building are connected by the viewing platform.

Both Jeddah and Riyadh are very crowded (gas is so cheep, about 15 cents per liter)  and traffic problem is compounded by crazy drivers. 

 only one way to stop them to go right way on one way street is to keep street packed with cars or to use

And I think that this picture says it all. It is hot there. Picture was done on August 25 and I spent all my late afternoons walking around Riyadh alone. Nobody walking on the street except yours truly.