Ouch!!"

The sand stung as it hit your exposed face and hands.

All of a sudden you understood the appeal of the customary Saudi garb -- gowns in white or black from neck to toe, with accompanying headgear. How sensible, in this country where the wind occasionally whips sand at painful velocities. You think you remembered mention of these sandstorms, called "shamals," from your travels in MF Wildcat's Oil and Gas Industry area.

By now, readers might be imagining you struggling to make your way over a sand dune, lost and in desperate trouble. But in fact, you were merely walking from your Land Rover in the Al-Rashid shopping mall to a local shwarma establishment. You were there to meet some whispering stranger who had called you and told you about a great stock. His voice was very hard to make out, so you had asked to meet him in person.

You hadn't been back to Saudi Arabia in over 20 years. What you remember as a sleepy little neighborhood had become the Greater Dhahran Metropolitan Area. Perhaps Dhahran and Al-Khobar could now even be considered the Twin Cities of the Eastern Province.

You were back as a consultant, working in Hofuf for the Dial-A-Camel Corporation. Ever since Datsuns infiltrated the country many years ago, camel sales had been slipping. Now, with multi-laned highways and even a causeway to Bahrain, the case for buying a camel had grown weaker yet. Dial-A-Camel was convinced that by making camel purchases easier, sales would increase. In addition to telephone ordering (fulfilled by a woman named Fatima sitting by a phone at the Imhof Gardens office), Dial-a-Camel wanted to get on the World Wide Web. That's why you were called in.

But back to the Al-Rashid Mall. You entered Faisel's Shwarmateria and sat at a table in the back, next to a ficus tree. Just as you had been directed to do. You ordered a falafel special. (The hoarse voice on the phone had given you freedom to order whatever you wanted.)

When your mouth was full of deep-fried mashed chick peas, the whispering voice emerged from behind the ficus tree. "Have I got a stock for you. You know how everyone loves to gamble, right?"

You nodded and chewed faster.

"Well, here's your golden opportunity to get in on the ground floor -- no, the basement -- of Saudi Arabia's first gambling enterprise! It's going to be a glorious, enormous casino, set in the Rub' al Khali. We're calling it The Oasis! Cool, eh?"

You noticed that the whispering was getting kind of loud.

"No need to look over any financial projections,my friend. This is a sure thing. Not only will people flock to this centrally-located casino, but even bedouins passing by will be able to play the slots. The only thing is, you've gotta pay up now. This is a private investment opportunity, and I'm outta here soon."

You had to admit, it sounded very tempting. You reached for your wallet but before you could take out your wad of riyals, you heard the jingling of bells. All of a sudden, there before you, dressed inconspicuously in a white thobe and red and white gutra, with bells tied to the fringes, was none other than... Motley Fool!

"I say, Whisper! I think you better make like a shamal and blow. There's going to be no sale here!"

"Oh yeah? Why not?" hissed the Whisper.

"Simple."

What reason did Motley Fool give for not investing in The Oasis?

1) Location, location, location. The Rub' al Khali is a gigundo desert, with little traffic.

2) Chipmunks are cute, but they can disrupt a garden.

3) Islamic law prohibits gambling and Islamic law is very big in Saudi Arabia.

4) 1 and 3.

The answer is:

4) 1 and 3.

Most folks in Saudi Arabia cling to the Eastern or Western coasts, with some staying in Riyadh in the middle. But in general, the Rub' al Khali, one of the Earth's largest deserts, is known as "the Empty Quarter" for a good reason.

Reason 3 is something that Motley Fool might have picked up in MF Parlay's Gaming Industry area. Or when he earned his Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies. Gambling is a no-no according to the Islamic laws and a casino would have as much chance of being built in Saudi Arabia as a brewery.

The lesson here? Even in cases less extreme than this (and, admittedly, most cases are less extreme than this), investors should take local customs, laws and mores into account when considering any foreign investment possibility.

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