Preparation for my Friday outing to Makla Tamia (see the post here) began a few months ago when I was scouring the internet for places to see when in Saudi Arabia. Mecca and Medina top the list of all such places because they are the top of the list for any Muslim to visit. However, I was looking for a broader perspective. I googled for Tourism in Saudi Arabia, and it did help me find over a hundred thousand results. However, most of these, including the official site of the government of Saudi Arabia, focussed on the most prominent cities and sights, and not on the more earthy ones that I was looking for.
I eventually uncovered a few that might be of interest to those looking for genuine sight-seeing that is not ostentatious, superficial or mere glitter and shine. And I found these: the Al Wabah crater and the entire Hafer Rishb zone of volcanic cones located near Al Muwayh; the Al Farasan island located off the coast of Jezan in the Red Sea, over a 1000 km away from my place of work; and the Empty Quarter, a huge land mass occupying almost 20% of the country in the South-eastern region that is nothing but empty desert with huge sand dunes that move almost 30 m/day!
I intend to see these places (well, I have already seen the Al Wabah crater, but the others on the above list), but my first few visits are going to be a visit to Medina, and a trip to the great cities of the east, including Riyadh, then Damam and Al Khobar.
Which brings me to the end of this short entry.
I eventually uncovered a few that might be of interest to those looking for genuine sight-seeing that is not ostentatious, superficial or mere glitter and shine. And I found these: the Al Wabah crater and the entire Hafer Rishb zone of volcanic cones located near Al Muwayh; the Al Farasan island located off the coast of Jezan in the Red Sea, over a 1000 km away from my place of work; and the Empty Quarter, a huge land mass occupying almost 20% of the country in the South-eastern region that is nothing but empty desert with huge sand dunes that move almost 30 m/day!
I intend to see these places (well, I have already seen the Al Wabah crater, but the others on the above list), but my first few visits are going to be a visit to Medina, and a trip to the great cities of the east, including Riyadh, then Damam and Al Khobar.
Which brings me to the end of this short entry.
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