The Sweet Southwest of Saudi

In March for my spring break I decided to see the southwest part of Saudi Arabia.  This year the government decided that the type of visa I was on could not be renewed outside the country so I was restricted to traveling within the country.  So I went to the very far corner to a town called Jizan which is the jumping off town to the remote Farasan Islands.

I went with my friend Jessica and we lined up to get tickets for the free ferry out to the islands.  I guess the men decided the women's line was shorter so it took a bit longer than we thought to get tickets. 

 Despite what most people think, the men usually treat the women here with respect.  I've seen men move completely out of the way or even off the sidewalk when they see me coming into a small store and some men will look at the ground or look away while talking to a women which is a sign of respect that he isn't trying to stare at her.  But sometimes it goes too far such as when a man walks down the street with his wife, his friends will not greet him in case the man accuses him of only stopping to chat in order to check out his wife.  And of course women still have a long way to go to be equal.  I'm not sure what this window sticker meant, but it reminded me of the status of women here.

When we got to the island we found a guide at the port that spoke some English to drive us around and show us the island.  It was time for lunch so our guide took us to the fish market to get some local food.

I guess I didn't realize exactly what 'local food' meant and we found ourselves negotiating with an old fisherman for a bit of his daily catch.

I was a bit worried about sanitation and was quickly losing my appetite but we made our choice and took it over to a guy that could cook it up for us. The end result was actually quite tasty.

 The next day we went out to the beach but it wasn't the kind of beach that was blocked off and restricted to just foreigners like most of the good beaches in Saudi Arabia.  So we had to keep our abayas on and we even swam in what people call the 'burk-ini.' 

Jessica and I saw lots of coral and even a sea turtle but we quickly got out when we started to see some big jellyfish.  Don't worry, I wasn't as close to touching it as it looks in the picture.

That evening we wandered around the small town and tried some street food.  We also found the historical part of the town where there was a complex of houses with some amazing carvings all over the buildings.

There are some incredible historical sites in Saudi Arabia that haven't really been discovered or restored and this was one of them.  This was the interior of one of the buildings.

That evening we also found a little tourism office and asked about renting a boat to go out snorkeling.  The guy called his friend to come translate and we met Osama, the local boys' English teacher who was interested in getting into the tourism business.  He helped organize a boat and some snorkeling gear and we set out the next day.

Our first stop was an old Ottoman fortress on an outlying island that was a strategic point in the Red Sea.  Outside the fort were piles of broken sea shells that the locals use to decorate their houses and pathways.

Then we went to another island and went snorkeling.  I couldn't get many pictures of this part but at one point a pod of dolphins were swimming a long side the boat and one place we stopped we were in the water while they were passing by.  I was a bit nervous because dolphins have been known to come over to 'play' with humans but they can be quite aggressive and cause bruising with their noses.  They didn't get that close to us, though.

The Farasan Islands are still very new to tourism and most people who do come here mostly just want to spear the fish instead of look at and appreciate them.  Someday people will discover the islands and tourism will boom.  But meanwhile, the people are still very friendly and surprised to see foreigners.  We made friends with some of the kids down at the docks.

With help from Osama, an old fisherman told us stories of spear fishing and pearl diving without the help of an oxygen tank.  He gave us some of the huge shells he has found through his many years of diving.

When we got back to the mainland we got bus tickets for our next destination of Abha.  Abha is a city up in the mountains and I had no idea Saudi Arabia had mountains as big as this.

After we checked into a hotel we went to the top of 'Green Mountain' which had great views of the city.  It was rainy and cloudy which I didn't mind after months and months of hot dry weather in Riyadh.  Soon the clouds lifted and we got a good view of the city.

It was so nice to see plants and greenery as we wandered through the city.

 We found a driver to take us around and one of the sites I wanted to see was a place called Habala, which was a village hanging on the side of a cliff.  A long time ago a man committed murder and ran away from those who wanted revenge.  He used a rope and some ladders and started a little family community where the water seeps out of the cliff.  Now it is a historical site that can only be reached by cable car.

It was an interesting place and almost had a different culture from so many years of isolation.  Jessica and I tried on some of their hats, which reminded me of the Bolivian bowler hats.  You can see a picture of the old family on the wall behind us.

As we drove through the mountains we saw the herds of baboons that live there.  Most of them now hang around the dumpsters or wait for cars to stop and throw food.  We got some old smashed fruit from a local vendor and watched the poor creatures fight for food.

We also had to stop when we found the famous local beekeepers and honey sellers.  They were all decked out in their traditional dress complete with the yellow flowers from the mountain. 

The honey in Abha is the most delicious I've ever tasted.  Jessica bought some but I thought it would be too difficult to transport home without everything getting sticky.  You could even buy pure honeycomb in bulk.

It was a nice break to get away from Riyadh and see some nature for a week.  It was also the last trip I took in Saudi Arabia until my long awaited trip home in July.  So now I'm finished with another chapter of my life and moving on to the next adventure!

Rub al-Khali: The Emptiest Empty Quarter on Earth

I first learned about the Empty Quarter in my Mideast geography class in university.  It seemed like such a stark area with sand dunes the size of ships and no water except for a few oases.  It's the largest stretch of pure sand desert in the world.

When Meteb (my Mada'in Saleh guide) organized a tour to the Empty Quarter I knew I had to go.  He had never done a tour there or even been there before so it was a new experience for all of us.  On the way out I asked if he was nervous since we were all putting our lives in his hands and those of the Bedouin guides he had hired.  He admitted he was a little nervous.  We drove for a few hours southeast of Riyadh to the end of the road and the edge of the desert to make camp for the first night.

Riyadh is in the middle of the desert anyway but we said goodbye to the smallest of shrubs and dried twigs that were clinging to life.   The next morning we started driving through the Empty Quarter and I could see where it got its name.

It was very disorienting to have no frame of reference except the sun to know which direction you are going.  Luckily we had the Bedouin guides with us in the lead car and all the cars stayed within sight of each other.  Meteb said that the Bedouins were way better than any GPS system.

Soon off in the distance we saw a little tin shed.  We approached it, parked, and looked inside.  It turned out to be a well and one of the few sources of water for miles (besides our large stock of bottled water we were carrying with us).  I kept trying to ask how they are able to figure out where the water is when it's underground and the guide just said, "The Bedouin have their own ways of knowing how to find water."  I thought it was pretty amazing.

We continued driving and every now and then would stop to play on the sand dunes.  Even the drivers and guides had a good time.  Fun for Saudi men always seems to involve dangerous car stunts.

We found a guy herding camels but they didn't feel like sticking around to be in all the tourists' pictures.

Soon it was time for lunch and off in the distance we could see an oasis.  Each oasis is owned by a family and I liked to wonder how a particular family would come to 'own' an oasis.  Did somebody stumble upon it way back when, or was there bloodshed involved?  

This oasis had a big water storage container so they could water small crops and keep livestock.  We all got to taste the water that came straight out of the ground.  It tasted alright but I splashed most of it on myself instead of drinking it because it was so hot.  Notice the little patch of grass that grows where the water drips out.  I imagined how different the landscape would be with just a little bit of water.

The family that owned this oasis welcomed us there for lunch (prearranged by our guide, Meteb) but then they got into a little argument because the tour group had brought its own sheep to slaughter for lunch.  The poor little lamb was laying down in the back of one of the trucks and had no idea why it had been brought on the journey.  The guy who owned the oasis wanted to be able to show us true Arabian hospitality and slaughter an animal from his own herd to feed us.  He had his best camel picked out for the occasion but luckily he was eventually convinced to let us cook the lamb we had brought with us.  We relaxed under the trees while lunch was cooking as the men poured Arabic coffee and passed around sweet dates.  Notice none of the women are wearing the black abaya.  There are no religious police out in the desert and it was very relaxing.

Meanwhile I thought about the lamb and felt grateful for it.  I've never been able to fully commit to vegetarianism, but in Islam food and drink are to be treated with respect.  There are very strict rules about slaughtering animals and one is that the animal should be calm and not have any reason to suspect it is about to die.  The person must come at it from behind and slit the throat with one quick movement.  This is quite different from American slaughterhouse practices and although I didn't care to witness the actual slaughter, it was interesting to see the respect they gave to the animals that they consume.  But before we could eat, the noon prayer call was heard and we waited while some of the men prayed nearby.

I didn't get any pictures of the lunch but it was the traditional dish of lamb kabsa and I was impressed by the men's cooking skills.  They have to be good cooks out here because the women usually don't come out very often once the family has moved to the city.  After lunch we went on our way but the oasis owner volunteered to come with us and make sure we didn't lose our way while we were in his territory.  So we got to see some more sand.

At that point I just took my shoes off and didn't put them on again until the tour was over and we were back in the city.  The sand was so soft and warm.  It was still winter so it wasn't scorching hot yet.  In the evening we found a place to camp next to some huge dunes.  They were fun to climb and watch the sunset but with the wind blowing I didn't want my camera to get sand inside so I didn't get any pictures.  Then we sat around the campfire and cooked shish kababs made from the leftover lamb from earlier that day.

The next morning when I reached up to scratch my head all I could feel was sand.  The little grains of sand were so embedded in my scalp that they didn't come out until after a couple of long hot showers after I got back.  For the time being we just looked like we all had really bad dandruff.  We continued driving around finding bigger and better sand dunes and only got stuck in the sand a couple of times.  Everyone knows you never go out in the desert unless you have a caravan of many other 4 wheel drive cars with you and this is why.

In the afternoon we drove back to the main highway and stopped at a village to have lunch.  Our hosts were so happy to feed us a traditional meal from Saudi Arabia.  They passed around the Arabic coffee and sweet dates and then served a large delicious plate of steaming hot . . . . lamb kabsa.

It was still delicious even though I was getting tired of lamb.  It was a really nice trip and it's nice to get out and see other parts of the country besides just the city.  I feel like I've left my footprint in the sands of Arabia . . . . quite literally.

Janadriyah Cultural Festival

Every year in Riyadh the Janadriyah Festival comes to town.  There is a large fairground area outside the city that is only used once a year to host this.  People come in from all the different regions to showcase what their region is famous for.  I went with some teachers after school one day to check it out.  Here are people showing how to make baskets:

 Some people were doing pottery:

People from the Eastern province made their living by fishing and pearl diving so they showcased their ships and netting:

In the background a guy is playing a traditional musical instrument called the Rababah that was used by the Bedouins to help recount their poetry of love and war.  You can see the different displays of Saudi life:

There were many women's dresses showcased, and most were used out in the desert before the law came into effect that all women must wear the abaya:

 There was an old man spinning straw into thread to make hammock style beds:

 We ate some traditional food and wandered around.  Some women were selling little trinkets and it was fun to chat with people and make new friends.

 I also got a henna tattoo.  When a woman gets married her friends will put henna all over her arms and legs but I just wanted a little bit done.  During that week many of my students came to class with henna that they got from the festival.  It only lasts about 2 weeks before it fades and disappears:

 In another building there were men making all sorts of drinks and food.  I was given samples of sweet drinks and cookies made from the abundant dates and honey that this area is famous for.  There was a place to buy different varieties of dates:

 You could also get different kinds of honey from the mountains near the city of Abha.  The honey here is simply amazing:

 At the end of the night the dancers and drummers come out:

It was nice to be able to sit down and watch a show after walking around all day and I always learned new things about Saudi culture and customs at this festival.