Saudi Arabian equivalence of some Philippine places

Miss ko Pilipinas. Kahit ano, kahit sino na makakapagpaalala sa akin ng "touch of home"....salamat.

Sa paglabas ko,

may National Bookstore rin sila = JARIR bookstore 

may Shangrila Mall for its "sosyal" atmosphere or perhaps Mall of Asia in  size = Hayat Mall

may SM Hypermarket din sila = Panda Supermarkets

may Quiapo rin sila = Batha ...no need to have a link....when you have gone to our Quiapo, you have seen Batha...so much like it talaga...with the addition of other South Asians like Sri lankans, Indians, Celonians, Indonesians, etc. The place where we all go for Pinoy foodies :-)

More equivalence coming........ 

Sending Money from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines

Bank to Bank transactions work best for me.

I bring my "Riyals" to a bank that has a remittance center (example: Al Rahji Bank Tawheel) together with my IQAMA card and apply for a Remittance (Tawheel) account. Fill up the form making sure that remitter and beneficiary details are correct, with the correct beneficiary bank and its branch address. Oh, and don't forget to indicate if your beneficiary account is a Peso or a Dollar account.

By the way, this is on a presumption that before you left the Philippines, you opened a savings account and that bank is recognized by this Saudi bank you have gone to. 

The money arrives in the Philippines in 15 minutes. But there are many factors that may delay the arrival in your account in the Philippines. Consider the time and day you sent the money. safe to say that it will be in your beneficiary's bank account in 2 days, 3 days if over the weekend or holiday either in KSA or the Philippines.

Important to understand the following. However much RIYALS you send, there is a standard service bank fee of  SR16-18 (P184 - 207 if sr1=P11.50).

example:

1. Sending SR 1,000.

2. 1000 - 18 (service fee can be deducted or you can give it separately so your beneficiary receives full SR1000 value) = SR982 = P11,293 (SR1=P11.50)  this is the amount that will leave KSA

3. P11,293 - P200 (This is the beneficiary Bank's service fee, actually ranging from P200-250) = P11,093 this is the amount which your beneficiary will FINALLY RECEIVE.

Important for us to note that whatever amount we send there is actually about P400 - 450 service fee we pay however much we send.

What? That's not clear?

I mean, if you send SR1,000 or SR10,000.....bank service fees remain P400-450.

So what?

Better for us to send a bigger amount, like allowance for the next 2 months to save on bank fees.

Ano na ba ang nabibili ng P400-450...aba 3 kilos na rin yan na manok di ba (at P150/kilo)? hehehe  

Happy sending :-)