The next weekend, Mike's colleague named Abdullah Amar took Mike's boss and us on a whirlwind tour of his hometown of Al Hasa. We had to drive about an hour and a half to get there and meet him (he works in Dhahran all the work week and commutes home for the weekends.)
We had thought that we were just going for the morning. Abdullah was going to show us the Turkish Fort that was there (apparently the last stand of the Turks in Arabia before they were driven out by Lawrence of Arabia) (not our Lawrence of Arabia, the other famous one), and possibly show us around, and then we would be home in time for naps. Boy, if only we had known what we were getting into!
Captions are below the pictures.
We drove down the interstate that goes south toward Abqaiq. You know, the one with the molten sulfur trucks. Yeah, that one. We drove farther than we had before, past Abqaiq and on to Hofuf.
We saw lots of camels on the way. I had an epiphany about camels then. Camels in Arabia are like cows at home. They are just wandering over there on both sides of the road, and they do belong to somebody. But the spaces are big and so it just looks like they are free-range camels.
As we approached Hofuf, there were lots of big jebels by the road.
We drove through Hofuf, almost had a nasty wreck with a car backing out of a parking space, and then got to this sign. Left: East of Hofuf. Right: West of Hofuf. Thanks. You might have saved space and just said "You Are Going South."
We were meeting Abdullah at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hofuf. Here it is! It was beautiful. The tiny pictures below that we smuggled do not do it justice.
The lobby.
More lobby. That's Lawrence and Gramama.
Abdullah was really friendly and very accomodating. We all got back in our cars and the first place he took us was the Turkish Fort. They were offering camel rides in front of the fort.
Here is the sign as you go in the fort. I'm still confused as to whether it's a fort or a palace. I think it's a fort.
By the way, Saudis are VERY picky about who gets into their country (no one unless you have a good reason and are not Jewish) and into their mosques (no one unless you are Muslim) and into their houses. You're not even supposed to be able to look into their yards, hence the 8-12 foot walls around everything, and no one can look out. So I was really surprised to learn from this sign that there is actually a Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. Well, waddaya know.
Inside the walls, it looks like the inside of...a big walled enclosure. In a funny way, it reminded me of the Alamo. I guess the architecture goes 10th century Arabs --> 15th century Spanish --> 19th century Texan. Not that the fort is that old, but it uses the Arab style.
It had some pretty arcades, and that opening is the door to the domed mosque.
The ceilings were made of date palm trunks.
I think this was the hallway that had the soldiers' quarters. The boys went all the way down the hall knocking on every door. They had a ball.
Inside the quarters, they had a little museum. This particular display showed "Riffles and Pistols"
Here we are outside the fort.
Next, we went to this old house, and it is important because it was where the first King stayed when he first became king during the first part of the 20th century. Look how long the owner's name is! Bin means "son of" and they carry that with them every generation. Also see the years - they use the Hizra calendar, which is the Muslim calendar. It has year zero according to Mohammed, not Jesus, so it is about 600 years behind us (so fitting!). And they always put (May Allah have mercy on him) and (Peace be upon him) after every instance of the King's name and Mohammed's name, respectively. They also think that Jesus was a prophet, so they put (Peace be upon him) after his name, too. Jesus in Arabic is Isa.
The front of the house.
Turning around at the front door, this is what the house faces. (Wow - truly fit for a king, right?)
Here we are! Mike's boss is on the left, and Abdullah is on the right. Abdullah was great. We really liked him. He is probably going to go to Virginia Tech next fall for grad school, so any of you people near Virginia will have to get with me so I can give you his number when he gets one - just in case he needs any local help when he is trying to get set up. After all, going to a foreign country and getting set up to live is no fun without local insight - believe me, I know.
The house was really weirdly put together (I'm not sure it was ever "designed" at all - just built) and it had this really neat BUT VERY UNSTABLE balcony overlooking the courtyard. This part reminded me of El Jefe's house from Three Amigos. Again with the southwestern architecture!
In one of the rooms, there was a really old Koran. It was really beautifully illuminated! It should absolutely have been under glass, at the very least. But no, this is Saudi Arabia. It was just out, open on a shelf, collecting sand. Abdullah picked it up and flipped through it to show us.
Very pretty! And they read right to left, so the closer page in the picture comes before the far page.
After the house, we went to the local bazaar. They had all kinds of weird looking clothes, flashy colored abayas, and spices!
And dates!
And Aladdin vests on the door! The black and white robes with the gold collars are called bishts. They are like tuxedos for Saudis. (Remember this! It becomes really important later.)
By now we are all beat. It is after 1:00 pm, and no one has eaten or
napped. But the kids are holding up ok, and Abdullah has more stops for
us. The next stop is Al Gara Mountain. To get there, we drive past the Al Hasa date farms.
It was actually sort of green! It's that dusty, brownish green that is the best they can do here. It's just so darn dusty and sandy all the time that everything outside is constantly coated. But it was really nice to be driving past TREES!
Then we arrived at Al Gara Mountain. Back to brown! But it was really phenomenal to see.
It's a series of amazing caverns. Right in front are enormous jebels that we climbed up. (Climbing jebels is much easier on camp where I don't have to wear an abaya!)
View from the top of the jebel. See the green date farms in the background? It's hard to tell, but this is REALLY steep. We all had trouble walking (and not falling) back down the jebel.
Entrance to the caverns. Think Cave of Wonders!
Inside, looking up. It was almost never enclosed; it was all just tall rocks and cliff walls very close together.
Walking in. Would have been much faster and more exciting on a flying carpet!
Inside the caves.
Just outside the entrance. Right about now, Catherine got really upset. She was SO tired from no nap. So about 100 yards later....
Crash! Poor Sissy. So tired.
OK, now it is 2:30 and we are really hanging on by a thread. But the next stop is that Abdullah wants to take us to his father's house to visit. They are expecting us there. So onward!
Here is Abdullah's father at his house.
Abdullah's father has a very special profession: he makes bishts...for the King! Here he is in his living room demonstrating for us how he pounds the gold embroidery with a hammer from the back to make it shinier.
This is the embroidery. It takes seven people 15 days to make this. It is done with real gold and silver.
These are the gold and silver threads.
They picked Daddy out and put a gutra on him. That's Abdullah on the right.
Then they let him try on a bisht! He's trying to look regal. That is Abdulla's father.
They had fruit, dates, candies, tea, and water for us. And Abdullah's father wanted to hold and talk with the children. He held Catherine for a good while and she was SO good. She was happy and talkative.
Neither one of them spoke any English!
But they got along great.
The ladies. Ladies and men are not allowed to mingle, so this was an exception. Of course we did not see Abdullah's mother. She was not allowed to enter because there were men present. If we had been Saudi, we would have gone to socialize with the women instead of sitting with the men.
Chatting at Abdullah's father's house. When we left, they gave us chocolates and a huge box of dates, and they GAVE daddy the bisht. It is worth $1500! And they just gave it to him!
By this time, we are so tired and overwhelmed, and we can hardly believe how generous Abdullah and his father have been. It had been a big day of just trying to take everything in. So many new and amazing experiences, all in one day! But is wasn't over yet.
I don't have any pictures of it, but after that, Abdullah took us back to the Intercontinental, where he treated us all to the enormous and extravagant buffet! And after that it was 5:00 and we were totally beat. All of us.
I wrapped her up in my abaya because I didn't have a blanket. It was a great day; much more than we were expecting. What an incredible experience!
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