One of my many goals while living in Saudi is to explore, explore, explore!!!! I want to see as much of the Kingdom as possible ... because unlike 99.2% of the rest on the worlds countries - Saudi Arabia doesn't allow tourism. If you're not here on a work visa or a permanent resident, you wouldn't be able to cross the country line. This is also the reason why I can only get my parents into the country ... friends and even my own brother can NOT visit me :( But thats okay, I'll just meet the rest of you in other countries like Turkey and Jordan!!!!!!!!!! :) yes please :)
Okay, okay ... back to exploring :) During the Saudi National Day break (4 day weekend in September) I decided to jump in a vehicle with Tanya and our new Aramco friend, Mark, and drive 9 hours out into the middle of the Kingdom. Our first stop was the capitol, Riyadh - which is 3 1/2 hours west of Dhahran (where I live). A place with crazy architecture, conservative residents, chicken 65 (the best India food I've EVER had - so good, we had it twice while there), Golden Tulip Hotel (see picture below), and is the largest city without surface water (lake, river, etc). I liked Riyadh - and look forward to traveling there again for a longer weekend :)
Next stop, middle of the desert to explore volcanoes!!!! Granted, this require us to drive A LONG TIME ... many breaks that included: wild convenient stores, moldy donuts, womens bathrooms that were really far away, womens bathrooms that DIDN'T work, trash everywhere, strawberry juice, CAMEL SPOTTING, goats in the back of cars, amazing scenery, trying on head scarfs (see pic below), rock piles that looked like dinosaur droppings, AND some Saudi asked me to marry him?? :)
I also had my first "Saudi Cocktail" ... ha ha!!!! Don't be fooled folks, it's just bubbly apple juice :) I may have also been telling a pirate joke in this picture and caught in the act of arrrrrrrrrrrrring :) ps - I'm also in my abaya (the black robe). Women have to wear an abaya whenever in public ... they're black (someone very smart decided to punish all the women in Saudi by making them wear black IN THE DESERT!!!????!!!!). Guys get to wear throbes (which are white, lucky!!). But in all honesty, they're not that bad :) I feel very cultured when I wear it :) Granted, when I try walking up stairs I tend to step on it and stumble UP the stairs, grrrrrr :)
After an additional 5 hours in the car, we finally made it to the area where we went off road :) For the next three days we only saw three other people - and those guys were Bedouins (desert dwellers who heard camels and goats).
Soon came the volcanic rock (ohhhhhhhh it felt a little like Oregon because of all the basalt!!!!!!!!). Are gaggle of friends included five cars and a bunch of walkie talkies and GPS.
I was screaming inside every time I saw one of these:
I love bones (thats what she said) ... and i love camels ... therefore, when I saw a pile of camel bones dried out by the sun I WAS REALLLLLLLY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! how. cool. :)
Our first night we stayed in the crater of an extinct volcano ... uuuuuuummmmmmmmm, wow!!!!!! :) We slept on cots, no tents needed :) The temperature was just right and the stars were perfect :)
Two words: poop shovel :)
naughty, very very very naughty :)
The lava fields were breath taking :) I've never seen anything like this before ... wow!!!
We also explored old dwellings made out of the lava rocks (basalt) ... ps - go badgers :)
poop nuggets ... from a camel:
Leader of the pack, ha ha, not really :) We started on a nice hike through the lava fields to find the lava tubes!!!!! I may look like a fool, but hey - you gotta stay cool :) ps - the red and white checkered scarf that I'm wearing is typically wore by men - so it's ultra foolish/funnish :)
These are no Ape Cave lava tubes (from Mt. St. Helens) ... it felt like we were the first humans to ever explore these caves!!! Absolutely beautiful :) ps - Mark, Mark, and Tanya near the top/entrance of the lava tubes.
I wish the pictures turned out better, but there was so much dust/sand in the air!!! We traveled pretty far into the caves - and required headlamp because it became pitch black!!!!!!!!! :)
Next stop: Al Wahab Crater!!!!!!!!!! From what I understand, there were lava fields under a water table that basically boiled the water until it exploded and caused a HUGE crater!!!!!!! You can also see the remnants of a pond and the remaining salt (white) in the center!!! THIS is what we hiked during the HOTTEST part of the day :)
One of my best jump photos ever!!!!!!!!!!!! and I was in an abaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mark also helped make this photo amazing :)
Hiking down into the crater :)
43 switch backs later ... and we FINALLY made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
When you see salt, you're supposed to try it, right???? :) :) :) (you can see it on the tip of my short tongue!!!!) As guessed, it was salty ;)
500 pictures, 1 million laughs, 10 billion drips of sweat, 3 friendships grown stronger, 6 large boxes of water, 0 camel rides, 3 nights sleeping under stars, and 2 tasty plates of "chicken 65" later!!!!!!!!! In a nutshell, I had an amazing trip with Tanya and Mark!!!!! :) ps - did I mention that I forgot to pack underwear for this trip??? yeah, funny!! and even more funny when you wash your undies in a sink and then dry them in the window while driving down the road :)
Okay, okay ... back to exploring :) During the Saudi National Day break (4 day weekend in September) I decided to jump in a vehicle with Tanya and our new Aramco friend, Mark, and drive 9 hours out into the middle of the Kingdom. Our first stop was the capitol, Riyadh - which is 3 1/2 hours west of Dhahran (where I live). A place with crazy architecture, conservative residents, chicken 65 (the best India food I've EVER had - so good, we had it twice while there), Golden Tulip Hotel (see picture below), and is the largest city without surface water (lake, river, etc). I liked Riyadh - and look forward to traveling there again for a longer weekend :)
Next stop, middle of the desert to explore volcanoes!!!! Granted, this require us to drive A LONG TIME ... many breaks that included: wild convenient stores, moldy donuts, womens bathrooms that were really far away, womens bathrooms that DIDN'T work, trash everywhere, strawberry juice, CAMEL SPOTTING, goats in the back of cars, amazing scenery, trying on head scarfs (see pic below), rock piles that looked like dinosaur droppings, AND some Saudi asked me to marry him?? :)
I also had my first "Saudi Cocktail" ... ha ha!!!! Don't be fooled folks, it's just bubbly apple juice :) I may have also been telling a pirate joke in this picture and caught in the act of arrrrrrrrrrrrring :) ps - I'm also in my abaya (the black robe). Women have to wear an abaya whenever in public ... they're black (someone very smart decided to punish all the women in Saudi by making them wear black IN THE DESERT!!!????!!!!). Guys get to wear throbes (which are white, lucky!!). But in all honesty, they're not that bad :) I feel very cultured when I wear it :) Granted, when I try walking up stairs I tend to step on it and stumble UP the stairs, grrrrrr :)
After an additional 5 hours in the car, we finally made it to the area where we went off road :) For the next three days we only saw three other people - and those guys were Bedouins (desert dwellers who heard camels and goats).
Soon came the volcanic rock (ohhhhhhhh it felt a little like Oregon because of all the basalt!!!!!!!!). Are gaggle of friends included five cars and a bunch of walkie talkies and GPS.
I was screaming inside every time I saw one of these:
I love bones (thats what she said) ... and i love camels ... therefore, when I saw a pile of camel bones dried out by the sun I WAS REALLLLLLLY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! how. cool. :)
Our first night we stayed in the crater of an extinct volcano ... uuuuuuummmmmmmmm, wow!!!!!! :) We slept on cots, no tents needed :) The temperature was just right and the stars were perfect :)
Two words: poop shovel :)
naughty, very very very naughty :)
The lava fields were breath taking :) I've never seen anything like this before ... wow!!!
We also explored old dwellings made out of the lava rocks (basalt) ... ps - go badgers :)
poop nuggets ... from a camel:
Leader of the pack, ha ha, not really :) We started on a nice hike through the lava fields to find the lava tubes!!!!! I may look like a fool, but hey - you gotta stay cool :) ps - the red and white checkered scarf that I'm wearing is typically wore by men - so it's ultra foolish/funnish :)
These are no Ape Cave lava tubes (from Mt. St. Helens) ... it felt like we were the first humans to ever explore these caves!!! Absolutely beautiful :) ps - Mark, Mark, and Tanya near the top/entrance of the lava tubes.
I wish the pictures turned out better, but there was so much dust/sand in the air!!! We traveled pretty far into the caves - and required headlamp because it became pitch black!!!!!!!!! :)
Next stop: Al Wahab Crater!!!!!!!!!! From what I understand, there were lava fields under a water table that basically boiled the water until it exploded and caused a HUGE crater!!!!!!! You can also see the remnants of a pond and the remaining salt (white) in the center!!! THIS is what we hiked during the HOTTEST part of the day :)
One of my best jump photos ever!!!!!!!!!!!! and I was in an abaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mark also helped make this photo amazing :)
Hiking down into the crater :)
43 switch backs later ... and we FINALLY made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
When you see salt, you're supposed to try it, right???? :) :) :) (you can see it on the tip of my short tongue!!!!) As guessed, it was salty ;)
500 pictures, 1 million laughs, 10 billion drips of sweat, 3 friendships grown stronger, 6 large boxes of water, 0 camel rides, 3 nights sleeping under stars, and 2 tasty plates of "chicken 65" later!!!!!!!!! In a nutshell, I had an amazing trip with Tanya and Mark!!!!! :) ps - did I mention that I forgot to pack underwear for this trip??? yeah, funny!! and even more funny when you wash your undies in a sink and then dry them in the window while driving down the road :)
