Day 2

Day 2: The Desert

The second day of the trip also provided a new experience for both me and Lubna's family. We traveled about an hour outside Khobar, Lubna's hometown, to the Al-Dahana desert. Lubna's mother and father kept telling us to bundle up, as the desert would be "cold" and windy. I kept laughing because I flew to Saudi Arabia from Kentucky, where a blizzard was looming. And here it was in the high 60s. 

On the ride there Lubna's father pointed out large pipelines on both sides of the highway. Some pipes, as shown below, were carrying fresh water all the way from the coastal city of Jubail to the capital of Riyadh, which lies in the middle of the peninsula. Other pipelines contained oil. It was explained to me that filling a car with gas in Saudi Arabia costs about 1/3 of what it does in America. My dentist previously told me to bring back a barrel of oil. I can't say I wasn't tempted  to try when I heard about the prices.

When viewing the city limits from the highway, the prevalence of construction was even more obvious. The sky is forever a line of cranes and cinder blocks, and the ground can sometimes seem like a never ending parade of the garbage that unfortunately comes along with rapid expansion. It gives me an interesting picture of what the US might have looked like during the turn of the 20th century. 

Once arriving in the desert area, I was reminded somewhat of Nevada. However, here the desert was hills of sand as far as the eyes could see, and no mountains loomed on the horizon. It was nothingness in every sense of the word. 

Until we saw the camels.

Lubna's brother tried his hand at off-roading in the sand, which was both hilarious and terrifying. We came upon a heard of camels that came right up to the car!! They were really interested in us until they realized we didn't have any food.

After the camels we went to an area where a farmer had a heard of goats and some cows. We even got to hold a couple of the baby goats! They were so cute! 

Later, we came upon a camel fit for riding. Aziz, Lubna's brother, tried his hand. But I decided to stick with just petting it.

Afterwards we went back to where Lubna's parents had rented or requested a tent. We sat and ate lunch and played some cards before heading back to Khobar. We smelled like fire and felt disgusting and we had never had more fun. This was Lubna's sister, Deema's, last day in the country before heading back to where she lives in the US. She laughed that this was a very Saudi experience for her last day.