A Poem about our Tour of Saudi Arabia

This poem was written by one of our participants on our tour of Saudi Arabia, which just returned home last week. Thank you! 

 

A trip of a lifetime for all of us..........

Encompassed the sites of Saudi by bus!

 

Maneuvering the abaya was a challenge to be seen...

Especially in squat toilets and if you know what I mean!

 

The scarves were a blessing on a bad hair day

But more important kept the mutawa's at bay

 

From Riyadh to Najran we arrived by plane

All of our friends thought we were totally insane

 

Yalla Yalla was one mantra early each morn

"Delightful Dawi proudly shared where he was born"

 

With warm hospitality and led us to very awesome sites

 stunning and thrilling in a myriad of different lights

 

With a naughty boy laugh and a gleem in his eyes he taught us where ancient civilizations lies

 

We photographed many magnificent carvings in the rocks but "Oh my Allah" the sand in our socks

 

Being so close to the Yemen border was sad

For it could have been another country to add

 

The souks were enticing for all that we sought

spices and fragrances were mostly bought ( and a much needed warm coat)

 

The site of Qraya an archeological dig of all of the trip highlights that was quite big

 

The markets for camels and goats were fun

We envisioned the caravans enduring the sun

 

We were escorted by police that monitor our time

Of course I had to include that in this dumb rhyme

 

It really is a mans world here

Womens liberation is unheard of - I fear

 

Kabsa is a delish Saudi meal

yet eating with our hands we couldn't get the feel

 

Such a vast history of remnants of past

How special for us that it has lasted

 

So lucky we are to have experienced it

In our hearts the memories will always sit

 

Thank you "our remarkable Rita" for giving us this wonderful opportunity that opened our eyes to Saudi - a beautiful land

Our last day of the tour in Saudi Arabia

Wednesday February 22

Today is the last day in the Kingdom and Jeddah was it.  We started out early again today and went to the museum of Abdul Raouf, a private museum, but it was closed.  We kept calling the people to let us in but no one was around even though we had purchased tickets and we had made an appointment.  I felt bad for the group so Dawi, the guide, and I kept thinking of different things we could do.  We took them to the Sudanese market which was about 35 minutes outside of town.  This is an area where they have a camel market and milk the camels.  The group, I was surprised, really enjoyed it. They got to see the camels being milked and then they all tasted some of the fresh milk.  It was their first time and it was good, sweet and not so heavy.  Then they played, if you can calling playing, with the camels - they were petting them and one woman since she had milk on her hands the camels would come up and nuzzle her and lick her hand with their lips, not the tongue.  While I was taking a picture another camel came up and started to nuzzle at my ear, WOW it felt good.  LOL!  These guys were really friendly.  The camel herders watching them were having fun watching us interact with their camels. Lots of pictures being taken.  

After about a 30 minute visit we decided to take the group for a boat ride on the Red Sea.  Called and reserved a boat and went to the dock- a nice young Yemeni was there to take us around the coast for about an hour to see the homes and the skyline of Jeddah.  The water was beautiful and so clear you could see the coral and the small fish below. They were a number of men on jet skis out and when they saw us taking pictures they decided to put on a show.  What a show some of these guys got the jet skis standing. upright as they were zooming around us.  The group was surprised to see women on some of the smaller boats without their hijabs enjoying the water and sunshine.

We then went to the Sea Garden restaurant.  Way too much food – one member of the group said she had gotten on the scale yesterday and had gained 5 pounds, even though we have been doing a lot of walking and climbing.

Everyone’s flights were about 2am so off to the hotel to freshen up before we have our last visit to another private museum, also for the Raouf Khalil family. Beautiful place that has been built into a showcase of the Saudi way of life.  The place was not open all the way so we toured some of the rooms and then saw a film about Jeddah and how the museum was developed.  Around the museum were antique shops, which is my passion.  We walked around and people bought some things and I had to resist buying everything that I saw!

Back on the bus I asked the group to give me their thoughts on Saudi before coming here, and now.

Before coming they thought:

Restrictive

Not friendly

Mysterious

Scary

Fear of offending people

A Mans world

Distant

And after:

Fabulous sites

Generous

Warm

Kind

Caring

Sweet

Modern society

Crossroads of different nationalities

Shows more wealth than Levant

Not all desert - lots of different terrain

Jeddah - February 21

Tuesday February 21 

This morning we are taking a flight to Jeddah, it is the second largest city in the Kingdom.  The city is located on the shores of the Red Sea and it is nicknamed the Bride of the Red Sea.  The name Jeddah means grandmother in Arabic.  Jeddah is a major port city and the main gateway for Mecca.

The flight is interesting since a lot of the men on the flight are going to the Hajj dressed in their white sarong-like wraps that are the garments worn by the pilgrims.  The way the reservations were made no one knows who is who so once they get on the plane the men do not want to sit next to a woman and especially if she is western.  So we had people in the aisles as the poor airline employees were changing peoples’ seats to try and accommodate everyone and still get off on time.  They didn’t, and the plane was delayed about 15 minutes because of this.  Finally, we landed in Jeddah at 10:30am.  The temperature was very different from Hail - it was 26 C in the morning and got up to 33C as the day went on.  It is very hot and humid and also so much traffic.  Upon arrival we took the group for a drive thru to the city and then to our hotel - the Intercontinental - to rest up until the heat went down a bit and the shops will open.  Everything closed in the afternoon for prayers and the heat, and reopens at 4pm.  

At check in the clerk, who is at the reception desk, had just come back from San Francisco and was so excited to register Americans into the hotel.  He is a Palestinian from Gaza and so very "gay" in his voice and mannerism.  We talked about this on the bus later on in the afternoon to explain the difference between the US and the Middle East and how it is handled and how it is perceived.

The hotel is great and so comfortable. All I want to do is sit in the shower all day long to keep cool, but that was not possible.  We went out later in the afternoon to the old city of Jeddah.  You see the old architecture, but you also see the mixture of people living here are mostly the foreign workers; Pakistanis, Indians, Bangleshi, Somalis, Afghani, etc.  This is different than what people think of Saudi Arabia and all the riches and fantasy palaces - these are the slums, the old buildings are dilapidated and need so much work on them.  The government gives these homes to the workers to stay in and help keep them up, but it doesn’t seem to be working that way.

We walked thru the old city to get to the Balad market, which shows you how this was the trade route to all points - you can see it with all the different people and also the different items that are being sold and traded lots of incense being burned and the different smells as you walk thru are fabulous.  We drove by the corniche, but the streets are being worked on so we were not able to see all the sculptures that the corniche is know for, maybe tomorrow we will go on the other side and see if it is possible.

The group kept making comments as we were driving around about all the American chain restaurants here: TGI Fridays, Appleby’s, McDonalds, Chili’s, and on and on.  One of the clients asked the guide if he goes to these restaurants, he said no, Saudi food is better and his wife thinks this is not good for you to eat.

Tomorrow is our last day before everyone departs on their way home or on to another tour.

Madain Saleh, Saudi Arabia

Saturday February 18 

We had an early departure from the Arce Hotel in Ula.  It’s a very simple hotel where the rooms are separate from the main building and they overlook a beautiful green garden in the center of the property and the hills of Ula.  We left the hotel to go to Um Daraj (Mother of the Stairs) in the mountainside of Al Khuraibah.  People climbed the stairs to look at the rock drawings done during the period of 500BC. From there we went to the old town of Ula that the government is trying to restore. 

Ula is known as the Nabateen route or the stone route that lead to Jordan.  The Nabateans are the same people that built Petra, and they are famous for knowing where the water is and because of that they had trade routes throughout this region. The scenery in this area is breathtaking and changing from one part to the other. 

This is the area of Madain Saleh, the ancient homes and graves of the Nabateans.  We took 4 wheel drives into the area.  We also visited the Hejaz Railway Stations numbers 17, 18 and 20.

 

Late in the day, the drivers had coffee and tea and went deep into Madain Saleh to watch the sunset.  It was so relaxing and quiet - that is one thing that all of us kept noting - the lack of sounds of cars, trucks, TV etc.  You forget of the world outside.

An eventful day in Saudi Arabia

Friday Feb 17

Today has been a long day.  It started with a phone call at 2am from Congressman Inslee’s office, calling to invite me to see President Obama when he came into Seattle.  I had to tell them that I was in Saudi Arabia and not able to make it, which I was sad to have to miss the event.  I then went back to sleep but had to get up at 4:00am for an early morning departure with the group to Jeddah.  We left the hotel at 5:30am and on the way to the airport I received a call from a friend telling me that Anthony Shadid (correspondent for the New York Times) had just passed away - that was really very sad and troubling.  I had met Anthony a couple of times and also was at his brother’s wedding less then a year ago. I got another call from someone in the states with the news, too.  Being overseas when something like this happens is very hard. I was not able to get a newspaper or get to a TV until this evening when we finally got to Ula and our hotel. Tried to reach Anthony’s brother Damon, but was not able to.

After all this we had a long drive after arriving at Jeddah airport we had taken a 45 minute flight.  From there we got breakfast at the airport for the group and then headed to our bus for the long drive.  We were going to take a flight to Ula, but it was cancelled and the next flight was 5 hours later so why sit at an airport?  Most of the group slept on the ride through the desert area.  We got to Yanbu, an industrial city of oil refineries on the Red Sea and had some lunch and walked on the corniche to stretch our legs a bit.  Then back on the bus – the rest of the drive was really nice and beautiful with different scenery - almost looks like a moonscape or maybe the Grand Canyon of Saudi Arabia. We stopped at the historic Hejaz Station Number 17 and will be seeing the others tomorrow.  We passed by a number of Ottoman homes that are still standing and some are in excellent condition. 

Arrived at the hotel at sundown. Tomorrow will be a fabulous day visiting Madin Saleh.

Saudi Report for February 16

Thursday Feb 16

This is a day that was surprising to the group in that they saw so many mountains and hills and we went to one of the tallest peaks in Saudi Arabia, then down to the village of Arijat Al Mara.  There they met a group of young Saudi students that were taking pictures - photography was their hobby.  They started taking pictures of the group, and asking where we were from. A conversation followed of how the west stereotypes the Saudi people - this coming from a young 16 year old.  Their English was perfect.  An old man named Ali, the historian of the city, was there, and he told a story of how he had purchased a camera 50 years ago and wanted to open a photo center in the town, but he couldn’t get all the paperwork together.  He wanted to see if anyone in our group was interested in the cameras.  A member of the group said he should give it to one of the students that were there to see if they might use it or sell it for him.  One student said he would look at it and try to sell it for him on line - Ali said make sure you tell me if you sell it! It was a cute conversation and we were able to connect people in the same area to each other.  He started telling the students about photography and the sun and getting a good picture.

The museum in this place was great they had a room for every thing you could imagine.  One room was called SOCIAL POLITENESS TOOLS - these were tools of torture!

In the afternoon we went to a private museum of Bin Himsan Cultural Village - this is a Saudi man that had studied in the US and came back home, saw the changes and he decided to start collecting and showcasing the cultural artifacts of the region.  It is beautiful, he has done a lot and each year I come he has expanded the collections.  He recently added a photo exhibit of old pictures he has been collecting from the late 1800 to now.  He has a theater where he will bring in performers and also a nice area in the courtyard where you can visit and have some tea and relax and take it all in - similar to the courtyards of regular homes. He has done what I want to do, but he has the money.............

Got back to the hotel for an early night as we have an early flight out tomorrow.

Wednesday: Najran - Abha

Wednesday Feb 15

After breakfast this morning we left the city of Najran and headed towards Abha which is 200 kilometers away.  The road started out flat and very desert like and then it changed within an hour to mountain terrain.  We decided to go to the Wadi Farsa which is down in the valley of the Habala mountains.  We spent some time in the old village market run by women. They were surprised to see us and when I spoke Arabic they took me into the tent to ask questions about why we were here and who the other people were.  They would lift their veils - gorgeous women - and turn their faces so the men could not see them.  They would ask me questions to ask the group - what they thought of Saudi Arabia and why they came.  They were not pushing for anyone to buy anything they just loved the idea that we were there.  This is not an area that tourist come to so it was really different for them. They asked why the women covered (wore abayas and scarves over our heads) and I told them out of respect for their customs.  When I said I was from Jordan one woman kissed me and said we were sisters.

In one part of the small market there were people that sell these beautiful flowers and make head pieces with them.  When the group got out their cameras one old lady came out and said no picture! She was so upset, but I explained that we were not going to take picture of the women, but of the men and the flowers. 

One man came out of his stall wearing a bunch of different flowers on his head and kohl around his eyes.  We got his picture and then I asked if he wanted to marry one of the women - he said yes but he already had two wives and 30 kids! The women in the group said he needed to make her number one and she would marry him.  The people around started to laugh and make suggestions, etc… - a great time.  The police that had been with us during the whole trip as guards also joined in with the jokes.

We left and headed out from the valley to go to Al Habala and decided to stop for lunch at a local restaurant that had these small family rooms where we got bbq chicken, lamb and lots of rice on a big tray. It was put on the floor and the group got down to business and did well with the food.  It was excellent.  We left to go to the mountains and take the cablecar across the mountains to the village where the village is on the cliff side, and the people use ropes to get up and down and around on the narrow rock ledges.  I had purchased some sweets and we ate them with coffee (made with cardamom) and mint tea - so nice with the cooler mountain breeze!

 

The guides started sharing pictures of their families and we did the same.  Then they started to sing and dance a bit as the group egged them on. We left for Abha before the souk closed and then to the hotel.  As were checking in the fog started to come in and we were not able to see anything in front of us. 

Najran, Saudi Arabia

Tuesday

We left the hotel early to do our sightseeing in Najran.  Here we started to see the desert and more mountains.  Najran is on the border with Yemen so you will see Yemenis here and also a lot of their handcrafts, such as the daggers well known in Yemen.

Najran is the agricultural area of Saudi Arabia, growing wheat and lots of different vegetables and fruit such as beautiful oranges, apples etc.

It was hot today - 22C in the morning and by afternoon it was 27C. We visited the Al Ukhdood Museum and then the archaeological site.  By visiting the museum first it made it easy to envision the site since they are still working on it. Went to visit a local family related to the driver and saw their land and how they plow the earth and work the soil.  Then off to the Raoumj Castle where the Emir lived and next to it was the local women’s market which we visited and got some incense and other items and then to the knife market which is known for its daggers in all different shapes and sizes.

Afterwards we went to the Najran Dam which was totally dry - they have not had any water for over four months.  Incredible to see a dam so big and it was empty! Hema was the next city of ancient carvings into the rocks and everywhere we looked they had some beautiful carvings of animals, dancing ladies etc.  Quite a long day but saw a lot of different things.  Also, went to an ancient Christian burial ground.

There are so many areas where they have not done any digs yet so you can find arrow heads and other artifacts on the ground. One lady thought that the dung of small animals was actually something interesting and was picking it up until someone told her what it was.  We all laughed so hard and were telling the drivers and they said no problem, take it back to US and see what the customs people say when you try and bring it into the country!

After playing sand games we headed back to the hotel for dinner and overnight. Heading out tomorrow for Abha.

Monday's Report from Saudi Arabia

Monday

Today the group had a full day of sightseeing in and around Riyadh. Riyadh is a big city with the problems of traffic and congestion and lots of time needed to get from one side of the city to the other.  We got a great view of the city (and the traffic) from the tallest building here: the Faisaliah Tower.  We took the elevator to the observation deck to see the massive buildings and high rises, all surrounded by miles of flat desert land. The Faisaliah Tower is also a major business center.  As we were getting off the elevator one person in the group recognized the CEO of Mercedes Benz. 

Afterwards we went to the Riyadh Museum, a big place, everything is written in Arabic and English, and spent 2 hours looking at the old sites and also the amount of animals in the area and underwater sea animals and all the artifacts and the work that the Museum is doing in getting back artifacts from countries that had taken them out when they were working on ancient digs here.  They are doing well in that quite a number of items from Britain and Germany have been returned from private collections.

We then went to Masmak Fort and saw a short film on the history of Riyadh, then toured the mud brick structure. One of the ladies had to buy an abaya and another had to have hers shortened which took no time and also cost only about $2 to get it done! 

 

We decided to skip the camel market and instead go to a local festival of culture and heritage that is being held just outside the city, and had just opened two days ago.  The Janadriyah festival is very popular with local families.  The police guards at the entrance were not allowing single young men in, in case they created disturbances. The festival was a great way to see the locals and interact with them.  A number were looking at the group and coming over to us, especially the young girls, to ask where we were from and were happy that we were there. Lots of pictures were being taken by both sides.  We had a group of young college girls that were doing research on why people were visiting the festival, and they started interviewing the group - it was fun for all.

We went to one part where there were men dancing a traditional line dance.  There were replicas of old houses and exhibits on how the great grand parents might have lived. Some of the old homes were similar to the architecture of Yemen. We went to one Mecca house were men were wearing the traditional costumes and reciting poetry.  The group was having their pictures taken by local photographers and then all were given small presents - very nice.  I believe everyone really liked it, even though it was not on the program and they were doing things that the locals were doing.  The newspaper article I read later that day mentioned that 440,000 people had attended the festival within the last couple of days.

We finished our sightseeing and headed to the airport for our flight to Najran. Arrived in Najran and had four wheel drives vehicles waiting for us to take us to the Holiday Inn to check in. Long day.

Update on #Syria, from Rita

Greetings to all fellow travelers that have traveled to Syria with Caravan-Serai Tours.

I have been getting emails from people asking about their guide and my family in Syria that they visited when they traveled with us.  First, I want to thank you all for your thoughtfulness, and let you know that as of today everyone is fine.

I talk to my relatives and also to the office and staff in Syria about two or three times a week to see how they are doing.  It is very hard to say things on the phone but we have developed a sort of code so we know a bit of what is happening. 

As some of you know I lived in Syria from 1972 till 1982 during the time of the civil war we had with Hafez Assad.  During that time there was no such thing as social media, cell phones, etc.  Things were taking place, people were being killed regularly and the massacre of Hama took place and over 10,000 people were killed.  I was living and working in Aleppo at that time.  The only way that we knew that this had happened was people streaming into the city late at night to take refugee in people’s homes and running from the government. The airports were closed and the roads in and out of the major cities were closed off.  The only communication we had at that time was land lines and information from the bus and taxi drivers.  I saw more violence during those 10 years than I though imaginable.

When I came to the states for a visit and mentioned what was happening people did not believe me since there were no reports from the media.  Things are so different now and we are able to get the information out so people in the world know what a violent regime this is.

Most of the fighting that has been taking place has been in Hama, Homs, Idlib, Deraa and some areas on the outskirts of Damascus.  That changed in the last few days with the bombing in Aleppo.

If any of you were on trips where I was leading and took you to my aunt’s home in Aleppo - then you will know that is the area that was bombed. I talked to the family and they are fine and will be staying in their homes and not leaving.  They have food and supplies to keep them going for a while, which is better then the area of Hama and Homs where they have run out of food and medicine.

We have been getting things in to Syria through Jordan. People flying into Amman have taken medical supplies, and funds since banking and all business has pretty much stopped.  We are not able to wire any money in because of the sanctions.  The problem is the sanctions are hurting the people and not the regime.

We have a non profit that has been set up for quite awhile, and we have been able to help different countries in the region in the past year.  If you would like to make a contribution to help, you can send a check to the AACC- Arab American Community Coalition, which is a 501c3 and registered since 2001 in Washington State.  Mail to the office address (3806 Whitman Ave. N, Seattle WA 98103) and if you have any questions drop us an email and I will answer as best as I can.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts about the people that you met in Syria, and across the region, during this turbulent time. 

~Rita

Travel Tip from Caravan-Serai Tours

The internet and email are becoming so pervasive in our communications around the world, and travelers are taking full advantage of the ever changing technology to keep in touch while on the road. Email through hotmail, gmail, and yahoo can be accessed anywhere. Programs like Skype allow you to make internet phone calls anywhere in the world for free to another Skype user - you can even chat by video!

Caravan-Serai Tours also uses these tools extensively to plan our tours and communicate with our coordinators in the region. We use email exclusively to transfer documents that before we had to fax (our fax machine is mostly silent now, hardly ever being used!). This includes copies of passports that are necessary to obtain visa authorization for countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and more. We request a scanned copy of your passport in order to expedite this process. Our coordinators need a clean, legible copy of your passport in order to get the visa authorization, but we also need it for our files and to verify your passport is valid for the time of travel. We insist on a scanned copy to be emailed to us so we can turn around and email it to speed the process and ensure the accuracy of the information provided for visas, etc.

Here is another good reason to have your passport scanned. If you are traveling and lose your passport, you can retrieve a copy of your passport to present to the American embassy when getting a replacement. This will simplify matters greatly if you can produce a clean, clear copy - rather than a folded paper copy in black and white that is smudged and the photo unrecognizable and the text barely legible. You can scan your passport and keep a copy on a thumb drive, or your smart phone, to carry with you, or you can email it to a friend or family member at home who can then forward you a copy if you need it. Also, you can email a copy to yourself to your yahoo, hotmail, or gmail account, or other account that you can access anywhere.

Many of our embassies and consulates have a central (duty officer) email address, so if you do lose your passport, you can email the file directly to them if you don't have a way to save the file from your email. The embassy email addresses can be found at the Department of State website under US Embassy information.

So in preparations for your next tour or travel adventure, scan your passport and save a file at home and with a friend for access from abroad. Keep this file, updating it with a new copy when you get a new passport. Then you will always be ready - to register for one of our tours, or to protect yourself in the case of a lost passport. 

Saudi Arabia Tour Kicks Off

Rita has just arrived and met with the group in Saudi Arabia. She will be sending updates on what they are up to along the way. Here is her first installment. 

 

After 19 hours of flying time, I finally arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  The flight from Frankfurt to Riyadh was packed full of men.  The women on board the full  flight came to about 10.  You could also tell there were far more men on the flight every time you used the restrooms - the toilet seat was always up! Isn't this something that married people always complain about?

I met the group at the hotel and got everyone checked in, then had dinner at the Radison Hotel. The food was great - a nice buffet.  Everyone has traveled a lot on this group and I think it will be very interesting.  One of my distant relatives from Jordan works for the Ministy of Tourism so he stopped by and brought a bunch of nice brochures that I will hand out to the clients tomorrow.

Going through customs and immigration at the airport was very easy and fast - no fingerprints taken, just curiosity about who we are and why we are there. 

The group is made up of 8 women and two men, plus the guide and the driver.  The guys are happy with the numbers.

We are getting up early tomrrow to get to the museum, walk around Riyadh and see a number of other things.  I will write about that and also get some pictures taken. It's been a long day!

Good night for now.

Rita

Iran Slide Show from 2009 Tour

Iran Tour October 2009 Slideshow: Brenda’s trip from Seattle, Washington, United States to 15 cities Tehran, Esfahan, Yazd, Shiraz, Kashan, Hamadan, Choghā Zanbīl (near Shush, Iran), Persepolis (near Marvdasht), Dezful, Bishapur (near Kazerun), Bīsotūn (near Kangavar), Kermanshah, Shūshtar (near Shustar), Natanz and Pāsārgād (near Takht-e-Jamshid) was created by TripAdvisor. See another Iran slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.