Maureen Dowd's 'Girls' Guide To Saudi Arabia'

from National Public Radio

"A Girls' Guide to Saudi Arabia" is the provocative headline splashed across a story in the new issue of Vanity Fair.

The author is the often provocative Maureen Dowd, a columnist for The New York Times.

Dowd recently spent 10 days in the kingdom -- playing tourist, seeing the sights and pushing the limits of Saudi hospitality.

While there, she had to wear an abaya which is a loose, usually black robe worn by Muslim Women, and accompanied with a headscarf.

Dowd says the abaya "makes you look like a mummy and feel like a pizza oven."

About her time there, Dowd writes, "It's the most bewitching, bewildering, beheading vacation spot you'll never vacation in."

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, July 6, 2010