Collage Week

All that's nice and beautiful!
We're going to give you the details we love for the week. For the first part, we're just going for the clothes, shoes, and accessories... but we'll be incorporating food or books, or just about anything that will make our week fun, fun, fun! We're hoping you can share yours too.

1. Solids and Pastels
2. Bling Fest
3. Substance and Style
4. Chill Out
5. Corporate Appeal
6. Our Tribute to a Great Woman
7. Berry Romantic

Life Line

SOS?!
The how-tos and tips in living a fab life in Saudi Arabia! We can't say what specific topics we'll post because er, we're the spontaneous kind of people. Hehe. But we'll make sure they'll be beneficial to you or your loved ones and friends in Saudi Arabia (or soon to be here). For the record, we are not (professionally) experts on these topics. We're basing it on experience! Haha. Enjoy!

1. How To Celebrate Valentine's Day in Saudi Arabia
2. How To Make A Long Distance Relationship Work
3. Queer Eye for the Wrong Guy (How Not to Fall for the Wrong Guy)
4. The Basic Dont's (How to Survive in Saudi Arabia)
5. How To Land in Riyadh Fashionably
6. The Five A**holes You Meet on the Road
7. How To Exercise Your Right to Vote
8. An Expat's Guide To Ramadan

Inside Our Closet

Take a peek!
We're widening the scope of INSIDE OUR CLOSET. Although we non-celeb girls don't have Paris Hilton's closet, we still have enough stuff to show off various looks which will make us equally Paris Hilton-hot. For this category, were introducing sub-categories. We'll add more as we go along. ;)

Style Cocktails: The original Inside Our Closet concept is to grab clothes, accessories, and cosmetics from our closet and dressers, throw them in a pile and see which works with what. And then finally, assemble a set which will create a "look" that we want to try and we want you to try with your own version. Mix and match!
Spend vs. Save: Every fashion magazine has this section and we have ours too. Spend is splurging while save is pinching pennies (pagkukuripot;). So what are you? A couture fashionista or a recessionista? We're on the same dilemma so help us decide! Oh, why can't we go for both once in a while?
Off the Pegs: "Pegs" are photos from magazines or the Net used by magazine editors to come up with poses and styles for a fashion shoot. And since we like getting our dose of style notes from others, we'll be featuring looks which catches our fancy and we'll make our own version of it!

Start getting high with style!

1. Sweet Valentine (Style Cocktails 1)
2. Sunny Days (Style Cocktails 2)
3. 50's Doll (Style Cocktails 3)
4. Topshop vs. Citymax Origami Blouses (Spend vs. Save 1)
5. MNG vs. Citymax Butterfly Tank Top (Spend vs. Save 2)

Scene In Riyadh

Know Riyadh through the lens of our cameras! Entries here feature our collection of photos taken all over Riyadh (and places in Saudi Arabia too!). We're sure they'll fascinate you the way they caught our attention when we first saw them. Besides, you just don't know how much of a hassle it is for us to take these photos because er, it's not encouraged here to take pictures in public. It's even prohibited to take photos of government buildings! So yeah, effort kung effort 'to! ;P

1. Funny Words
2. The Globe Visit
3. I Saw The Signs

Out of Town

There's life outside Riyadh (and Saudi Arabia)!
Travel with us when we leave the city of Riyadh, or the country of Saudi Arabia! We'll take you to places we've been so you'll have an idea where to go when you'll be taking your leisure days, whether for your weekend/holiday getaway or for your annual vacation. If you fancy going to a place we've featured, just ask us anything about it and we'll get back to you! Of course, we'll be featuring places in our home country, the Philippines! Happy travels!

1. Jeddah's Best
2. Eyecandy in Jeddah
3. White Sand? We Have Red!
4. Experience in your Eyes
5. Dammam Here We Come!
6. The Pink Tarha Goes to Dammam

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

SAUDI ARABIA At A Glance
al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya
Capital (and largest city): Riyadh
Holy cities: Mecca and Madinah
Other popular cities: Al-Khobar, Dammam, and Jeddah
Currency: Riyal (SR)
(for the Pink Tarha blog's purposes, SAR1=PHP12.6)
Religion: Islam
Government: Monarchy (King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz)

What do you know about Saudi Arabia aside from what wikipedia tells you? While most of the information about Saudi Arabia's geography, history, government, economy, and culture are true, half of the information you need to know must be experienced here. You should be in the Kingdom to know it. The most interesting bits and pieces are not the facts you can read anywhere from books to online encyclopedias. It's the experiences of the Arabs and expats that matter much.

Like, did you know that the Filipinos are only second to Indians when it comes to the largest expat population in the country? So if we Filipinos are planning on world domination through migration, then we're still being beaten by the Indians (and the Chinese). Did you know that a liter of gas here only costs 50 halalas (equivalent to PHP6.00)? Did you know that it only rains here twice or thrice a year? Did you know that restaurants are separated into a single section and a family section? Oh, what do you really know?

Yes, Saudi Arabia is a country that pumps irony as much as it pumps oil. A Filipino who lands in the Kingdom will experience culture shock to the nth level if unprepared and clueless. What you read in the newspapers about abuse and human rights violation in this country? Probably true but... there is another side to the stories. Let us enlighten you a bit. The Pink Tarha girls will tell you everything they know about this country, its culture, and its people based on their experiences. Here and now.

Girls, what can you say about Saudi Arabia?

Eyecandy23 says Culturally for me, Saudi Arabia is pretty much like any other dysfunctional family. You have the stern, authoritative father, the conservative but tolerant mother and the eager, rebellious children. As time passes, I can only dream that the family can grow and meet in the middle.
Maryhadalittlehump says Saudi Arabia is my second home.
Sundrenched says Saudi Arabia is a country that can make or break you. But which country cannot make you feel this way? This country is pretty much like any other country outside your own. You just have to adapt and get used to it.
Shoegarfreeruby says

Of course, we do not know everything! Feel free to comment and share your own experiences in this desert. For your specific questions, contact the team at thepinktarha@gmail.com.

The Pink Tarha Team

The Pink Tarha Team is composed of four twenty-something Pinays who started one blog to chronicle their lives in the vast desert of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They are the daughters of Overseas Filipino Workers who came to Saudi Arabia during the migration influx of the late 1980s. They are currently living a simple and fabulous life in the ironic city of Riyadh.


Shoegarfreeruby spent all her childhood days (embroidering instead of climbing trees or running barefoot) in the beautiful province of Pampanga. She's the eldest of three beautiful daughters of an accountant father and a teacher mother. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the Angeles University Foundation, she arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as encouraged by her father who has worked in the Kingdom for 25 years. Coming here without any work experience and adjusting to the culture was a bit tough at first, but she found Saudi Arabia to be the perfect place of solace she needed at that time.

Shoegarfreeruby is the silent type. Her weird sense of humor is mostly known by her sisters and close family and intends to keep it that way. She loves to think, dream and analyze almost anything. A known and self-admitted shoe addict, shoes are part of her monthly budget, like groceries.

She is purpose-driven and whimsical; a GOOD LISTENER, a DREAMER, and a SHOE-HOARDER.

*****

Sundrenched came to Saudi Arabia last May 2008. She grew up in the coastal province of La Union, Philippines but spent her college and working days in the busy district of Makati. She finished her bachelor's degree in Journalism at the University of Santo Tomas in Espana, Manila. She quit her editorial job in the Philippines to live in the Kingdom with her father, an engineer who's been in the country for almost 20 years. She admits that she expected the worst and that she prepped herself bigtime before landing in the Kingdom. Let's forgive her for being a worry wart. She's been like that since childhood.

Sundrenched looks mataray and suplada sa personal but she's not a WYSWYG kind of girl. She's talkative even though she doesn't look like it. She's very very stubborn... and she's in denial about a lot of things. If you have a very good sense of humor and is madiskarte, you'll hit it right off with her. Good luck.

Sundrenched is a COUCH POTATO, a DESSERT LOVER, a PACK RAT, and a CAMWHORE.

*****

Maryhadalittlehump is the eldest among the three beautiful daughters of an Oracle technical support father and a teacher mother. She grew up in Bulacan, the northern gateway to Manila, and her life pretty much revolved in the province but she spent her summer vacations in Riyadh. After graduating college with a degree in Computer Science and Information System from the Centro Escolar University in Malolos City, Bulacan, she immediately went to Riyadh to be with her family and work in one of the Kingdom's largest hospitals.

Maryhadalittlehump is a funny gal who loves her family. She likes to sing (a belter when it comes to videokes), watch movies (recently smitten by Slumdog Millionaire), and shop with her kikay sisters. It doesn't take much to make her laugh but once she retaliates, be ready to laugh your heart out. Do not eat and drink when she's talking! Also, she can beat you to a fastest crossword puzzle solving competition anytime! Sorry guys but she's currently in love with the man of her dreams.

Maryhadalittlehump is a HOPELESS ROMANTIC, a CHOCO BABY-HOLIC, and a CERTIFIED BUFFON.

*****

Eyecandy has lived in Saudi Arabia since she was 4. When she turned 16, she casually took an entrance exam for the University of the Philippines just for fun. Little did she know then that it would change her life forever. Apart from experiencing culture shock in her own country, living in Los Banos, Laguna for the rest of her college years taught her more lessons in life than she could have ever imagined. Upon graduating, she returned to Riyadh on a working class status.

Eyecandy theorizes that she is highly manipulated by the monthly travesty of her hormones and that if Jude Law were to converse with her for a whole day, she would deem her life overly blessed than it already is. She owns two pets: a dog named "Bush" and a cat named "Petra". Socio-cultural behavior, politics and relationships are things that highly interest her. If there is anything that she is truly passionate about, it is LOVE.

Eyecandy is a BOURGEOIS BOHEMIAN, a SPICY FOOD ADDICT, an INTELLECTUAL and whose mantra is: "WHO AM I NOT TO BE BRILLIANT, GORGEOUS AND TALENTED?"