Saudi nationals play at the indoor snow theme park Snow City in the Al-Othaim Mall Rabwa, in Riyadh. (AFP Photo)
Riyadh: Having to wear ski jackets in Riyadh is unheard of, but a new snow park in the Saudi capital has made them a must, despite outside temperatures exceeding 45 Celsius.
Saudi women wearing the compulsory traditional abaya that covers the body from head to toe are now donning thermal coats and cosy boots as they sit on sledges to scoot down the slopes of 'Snow City'.
Stretching over 5,000 square metres (53,800 square feet), the entertainment project does not have proper ski pistes as such, but its modest indoor slopes still manage to provide frosty fun in a country that is mostly desert and searing heat.
"I've never touched snow," says Ali al-Ajmi, 40, who has never travelled out of the Arabian Peninsula.
Dozens of people throng the front counter to gain access to the play area which opened in mid-July after four years of construction work costing some 100 million riyals ($26.7 million, 24 million euros).
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