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## hick

Went on a 6 night, 7 day Saudi road trip.

Had planned to (car) camp for a majority of the time but the heat was just too much.

We still did pretty good though with 4 full days / 2 nights out in 'the shit.'

The Road Loop looked a bit like this:




Main destinations *(not my pics)*:

Al Wahab Crater


Red Sands


Riyadh


Al Heet Cave


Edge of the World


Hail


Madain Saleh


Al Ula


Yanbu


Jeddah


La Plage Private Beach Resort




I'll upload some of my own pics when I get done tussling with _fuckobucket_.

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## hick

The obligatory Kingdom Tower shot



The Sky Bridge is a modern marvel on a unique landmark, rising on top of a 300-meter tower and overlooking the city of Riyadh. 


This building was built around 1865 by the prince of Riyadh Abdulrahman ibn Sulaiman ibn Dabaan under the reign of Mohammed ibn Abdullah ibn Rasheed, the ruler of Ha'il to the north, who had wrested control of the city from the rival clan of Al Saud.

Was a tad warm trying to locate the cave entrance...








Thar she blows

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## hick

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

People

Too many of em'


Inside looking out

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## hick

We didn't stay at Al Heet Cave for very long.  

Our search for solitude, solace and the wind was just beginning...

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## cyrille

yeah, those chick peas can play havoc.

'blazing saddlesesque'

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## Dragonfly

new girlfriend ?

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## hick

Wife.

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## hick

Ahhhh, quiet.

About 2.5 hours of medium to harsh off-road to reach here.





Did a lot of hiking in the dirt bowl.



That's my lil' lady and me mate.

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## bsnub

Damn I feel sorry for you wife being stuck in the black sweat box. I see an interesting thread a brewing...

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## cyrille

What do you think about the landscape, snub? 

Interesting...or just repulsive?


(apologies for any parallels with the serena williams thread)

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## hick

> Damn I feel sorry for you wife being stuck in the black sweat box.


Don't be...she's a bit of a masochist.

But on that subject, as I let them get ahead so I could take a distant shot, another 4x4 pulled up on the ridge I was standing on.  

5 Flipper (HOTties) piled out, abaya-less.  They were dressed for the freakin' compound party - all done up. 

The driver cranked some dance version of "Dust in the Wind" and I almost screamed into my canteen.

If there's a record for most selfies in an hour, I think they were taking a solid run at it.

I saw two young Saudis down the hill and greeted them with:
"_I believe it is my duty to tell you that there's a filipina party at the top of this hill_." They hoofed it.  :Razz:

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## hick



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## hick



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## bsnub

> They hoofed it.


 :rofl:

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## cyrille

Is that a third party in the pics, or is the food really agreeing with you?

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## hick

campsite







Hard n Hot howling wind that night complete with bad dreams.

Maybe shouldn't of parked it by a carcass.



Around 4am a set of headlights was beaming its way hard and fast in our direction.
 - might've set up on claimed Bedo land(?)

He got about 50 yards too close and pulled a sudden, hard turn and took off.

Probably got a clear look at my white girth as I was scrambling for a shirt to greet him properly.

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## hick

> Is that a third party in the pics, or is the food really agreeing with you?


Yes and yes.  But I eat Thai food more often than Arab.





> That's my lil' lady and me mate.


  :Wink: 

My camera and it needed some TLC in that heat, so....I'm not in many shots.  

I got one coming for ya.'

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## hick

Wow doing her best impersonation of a Djinn

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## hick

We're definitely planning a return to both "The Edge" (above) and MS (below) when it's cooler.  

Will most definitely buy (or rent) a larger model 4x4, a bedo tent and several other additions including better camera and telescope gear.

Prepping for the big one - which is a solid week in the _Empty Quarter_ (2019).
Wife won't be coming along to the EQ.  
2 trucks w/ 4 blokes who have some sense of emergency response and/or survivalist know-how.


--
Mada'in Saleh is an archaeological site located in the Sector of Al-`Ula within the Province of Al-Madinah, the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia. 
A majority of the vestiges date from the Nabatean kingdom (1st century AD).







In 2008 UNESCO proclaimed Madaʼin Saleh as a site of patrimony, becoming Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site. It was chosen for its well-preserved remains from late antiquity, especially the 131 rock-cut monumental tombs, with their elaborately ornamented façades.








We really liked this site.  Left the car and hiked it well.  Out of the 131 tombs, we made it into about 40-45.  Obviously very cool inside, comparative to the deathly heat outside.

Worth a visit.  A kind of "mini-Petra," yet still sprawling.

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## SKkin

> Was a tad warm trying to locate the cave entrance...


Follow the trail of plastic bottles maybe...

Good work, nice pics.  :Smile:

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## beerlaodrinker

> Wow doing her best impersonation of a Djinn


This must be the first saudi thread ive seen on here. great stuff.  is that red cooler full of icy beers ?

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## hick

Thanks guys.  

Someone mentioned in rep that fewer posts with less pics each could help the slower loaders, of whom I'm typically one.  

I'll follow that as I wind this down.

Oh!  BLD, beers - right.  

Uhm, yeah - sure.  We got a cold one in there for you.

What do you prefer?



 :Smile: 

Cheers

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## hick

Inside one of those tombs.

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## hick

Did I mention it was hot?   :Razz: 

42 C / 107 F on that sunny day.

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## hick

Wow grew up w/o electricity in Issarn and said she's never felt that hot.

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## hick

The landscape felt a tiny bit reminiscent to our trip around Cappadocia in Turkey last year.

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## hick

Heading to the all n mighty crack.

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## hick



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## hick



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## hick



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## hick

About 2 hours into it - time for a snack break.

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## hick



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## hick

> said she's never felt that hot.



Course, she said something similar when we climbed down and up that god forsaken crater.   :Razz:

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## hick



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## hick

Didn't really get many pics of people as we had mostly quick greetings and needs filled, but it was nevertheless a great reminder of how 'people are people.'  In short, we met some real stars during our continual village and town ramblings.

Saudis, Turks, Lebanese, Flippers, Sudanese, Afghanis, Pakis, Bangladeshis, Yemenis and so on.  Not a single negative or otherwise trying situation with anyone.  On the contrary, incredibly cordial welcomes and offers of "any service?" everywhere we stopped and several offers to visit homes and dine.

My mate speaks a fair amount of Arabic so we were able to eat well and locate all the things we needed whilst on the road.

Also, (some dusty and forgotten, to be sure) other well-equipped roadside rest stops.  Always have a mosque attached w/ public restrooms.

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## katie23

Salamat for the pix, Hick. Velly interesting. 

I pity the women who have to wear the abaya over their clothes. Must be sooo dreadfully hot. Rules are really unfair for women, esp in Arab countries (but I won't go further). 

I had a classmate in elem/HS, her mom worked as a seamstress in Saudi when we were kids. So I knew abt the abaya from her. They (the seamstresses) would identify each other by thheir watches, rings or shoes, when they went out, since they were all covered up at that time. 

I now have an ex-colleague in Saudi - joined her husband (also a Flip) early this year. In one of her FB posts, she was glad when they visited Oman (I think) bcos she could wear ordinary clothes & not the abaya. 

Lol on the selfies. Yes, flips love their selfies. Esp the millenials. But then, so do other millenials from other countries. Me, I hate them - selfies, not millenials. Haha.

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## hick

Walang Anuman, Katie.

I hear you, really.  'Let's torture our females in some way....hmmm....desert heat / all black - ahhh!  And we will wear white pajamas.'  Dingalings.

Did you notice Wow's pink shoes?  Helps me to ID her in busy markets, malls, etc.  :Razz: 



They match her selfie stick, heh.

She pulls down the veil and puts up the hood in the sticks as it takes a lot of eyes/pressure off of her.   :Wink:

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## Neverna

Thanks for the trip report, hick. Looks good. 




> Not a single negative or otherwise trying situation with anyone.  On the contrary, incredibly cordial welcomes and offers of "any service?" everywhere we stopped and several offers to visit homes and dine.


A wonderful expression. I like the sound of it (I suppose it's the sound of the khaf خ I like).

أي خدمة

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## hick

Trying on that Djinn stuff again...

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## hick

Wilmaaaa!!



Fred's home

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## hick

Obligatory Pano

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## hick

Private Beach (Jeddah)



Several of the following aren't from this particular trip.

The response (repo mainly) has been so positive, I know some will enjoy)

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## hick

3 AM

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## hick

4 AM

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## hick

Our back porch (sometimes) visitor

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## hick

Near "home"

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## hick



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## hick



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## hick

yours truly

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## hick



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## hick



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## hick



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## hick

Red Sea (snorkeling)

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## hick



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## hick



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## hick

Where's Waldo?

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## hick



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## hick

local beggar

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## hick

Sperm shaped crack in the rock.

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## hick

Uppsy - dippsy

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## bsnub

Enjoying this thread. Nice work.

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## hick

Ahhh vista well worth the sweat.

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## hick

An udder locale (this one's closer to "home")

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## hick



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## hick

If I was born Saudi, I'd prolly live somewhere like this.



Leave me the fuck alone!!  :Razz:

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## hick

Just fuckin' nuttin.   :Wink:

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## hick

Market time

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## hick

One of my top traveling companions deserves a mention.  This one's coming to Alaska with me.   :Wink:

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## hick

S-P-E-N-T

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## hick

A prayer hall of sorts (pre-Islam)

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## hick

And....that's a wrap from yours truly.



If anything significant comes up on camera, I'll be sure to update.

Best


PS:  These pics were heavy on Imgur but include some photobucket.  With all the hosting biz going on...well, hope they stay stuck.

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## hick

Almost foreign-got.  If you didn't catch this on the youtube thread, take a ride with me.

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## hick



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