Time Zone Saudi Arabia is eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Customs - Travellers may not carry alcohol, firearms, pork products, religious items, or items deemed pornographic into the Kingdom. On occasion catalogs and videos deemed appropriate in the West are confiscated if they show men and women socializing together or in revealing dress. It is advisable to carry prescription drugs in their original labelled containers. The penalty for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia is capital punishment.
Women traveling alone normally are unable to rent a hotel room.
During Ramadan devout Muslims abstain from food and drink during daylight hours. Office hours are shortened and shifted to the evening, and people may be affected by the fasting and customary late night social gatherings. During Ramadan business travelers should not drink, eat, or smoke in public during daylight or in the presence of fasting Muslims. Hotels offer special daytime food services for their non-Muslim guests. In 1998, for example, Ramadan started in late December 1997 and ended just under a month later, in late January 1998.