Anyone been out to Saudi?

[Moscow Mule]

Take your own bog roll.

[Moscow Mule]

Don't show anybody the soles of your shoes.

[EC4N]

Don't tell me, the left hand is used for winking so would be disrespectful to use the same hand to eat or pass things to others with?

It's more to do with religious emphasis and requirement on personal hygiene and ensuring all traces of impurity are removed from one's body when visiting the loo including preventing any drops of urine from touching the clothes. Hence the use of water.

[Churchill]

Don't accuse them of sponsoring terrorism - it may be true but hey, it would be most impolite.

[vetran]

You sure thats not the tail wagging the dog?

Many religious observances have a sensible basis on medical grounds. Avoiding pork, ritual animal slaughter (priest is experienced in detecting bad meat). etc.

[Moscow Mule]

Don't accuse them of sponsoring terrorism - it may be true but hey, it would be most impolite.

To be fair, the Sauds don't sponsor terrorism. They were the main reason Bin Laden got upset in the first place.

[threaded]

Don't show anybody the soles of your shoes.

Good point. Some people like to sit cross legged and waggle their foot or leg, or twist their foot around and abouts for exercise. Try not to. It can be taken by a person who thinks you're using your foot to point at them like someone giving you a two finger salute.

[gingerjedi]

Shouldn't the Saudis just accept that people from a western culture behave differently to them instead of getting all uppity?

[OwlHoot]

Sight-seeing: Well I'm a camel head, so blasting about the desert on anything with an enormous hump is great for me.

FTFY

[EC4N]

Shouldn't the Saudis just accept that people from a western culture behave differently to them instead of getting all uppity?

Quite true. I'm still curious as to why holding a shoe in your hand and showing it to someone is viewed as being deeply offensive.