KEEP CALM and WANDER

The annual Yanbu Flower Festival is here again but we were too late to visit the famed Spring festival in Saudi Arabia. We were there last weekend and to our dismay, I’d say that 30% of the flowers were wilting and/or already wilted. You can see it in the photos below this blog post. The […]

Yanbu Flower Festival is on from March 1 – April 7, 2018. Saudi Arabia isn’t really famous for its flowers because of its weather – and we’re all surprised to hear such an event like this. Visiting Time: It opens right after the 4:00 o’clock prayer in the afternoon and closes at 11:00 PM. Free […]

Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope you start 2018 with a loud bang of laughter, fireworks, clinking glasses and oozing positivity of the year ahead. It’s day 1 of 2018, so, it’s always good to look forward to something unknown. Whatever your plans are for this year, I hope it includes going away from a […]

Yes, that’s right. I wore flip flops climbing mountains in Al Ula. They’re not your ordinary mountains but rocky mountains which can be dangerous when you step on imbalanced rocks. I didn’t bring my shoes because no one told me we were gonna climb mountains. It was supposed to be just a hike – but when […]

Is Al Ula the Grand Canyon of Saudi Arabia? From above, it looks like one but not completely like it. The panoramic views of sandstones and rock formations are breathtakingly stunning as the sun goes down. But going up there is quite interesting – you’ll pass through a steep, zigzag road that can be really […]

In Biblical Times, Al Ula was called as Dedan. It is mentioned in Isaiah 21:13 as a home trade base of Arab caravans. Today, the old town of Al Ula is a ghost town. No one lives there anymore but there’s a new town that is settled not far from the old. When you think of […]

They are called Lion Tombs carved in the rock mountains. Don’t get it wrong – there are definitely no dead lions buried inside. The lions are literally carved on the side of one of the Al Khuraiba Tombs. These small tombs are walking distance from a discovered old kingdom called “Kingdom of Lihyan.” Unlike the […]

It was a long drive from our town to Al Ula and to Madain Saleh. But it was a fun weekend hanging out with colleagues in our three colleges. We went sightseeing, watched the sunsets, admired Al Ula’s panorama from the summit, drove up via a dangerous zigzag road, fed animals, and climbed rocky mountains. […]

Last weekend, some of us went camping for two nights at Al Ula. Yes, I know what you are thinking – it’s hot and it’s a freakin’ desert! Well, you’re wrong! There are rocky mountains and incredible mountain formations, too! We didn’t really see much of the desert as we were surrounded by rock monoliths […]

Last Tuesday, my colleagues and I went to a white beach island here in Saudi Arabia. It was just a brief visit because we were picked up from our apartment at a quarter before 5 in the afternoon. When we arrived at the docking area, the local navy collected the photocopy of our passport and […]