Adventures at the Hajji Market

[الياسمين]

January, 2001

Following the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", one may find interesting sites along the way. On his journey from Jeddah towards Medina, an old Hajji market can be found. This market was not around when Lawrence went through, and it has been in ruins for 50 years.

At a time before airplanes came to Arabia and many Hajji's traveled by camels, this was once a thriving market that sat between Medina and Mecca. It handled all of the needs of a weary traveler.

When we found a good place nestled in between the buildings, we set up camp. The children were off school for a week holiday and there were plenty of locals running about. Especially the little ones.

The Subhi and Rahali tribe discovered us and were very cordial to us. Without hesitating, they gave some Arabic coffee and a large plate of lamb and rice. It would have been an insult to refuse them. The Bedouin have a tradition of helping others in the desert.

After lunch we walked around and took a few pictures of the area.

A well

Some of the old shops

There were camels, camels everywhere.

More camels

As the sun set, the colors just poured out.

Bedouin women walking in the sunset.

The sunset itself was lovely as well.

Dawn

The next morning we packed up and took off into the desert to find a small village called Ash Shouffayah. Once we found that, it was very easy to find the Yanbu pipeline which we traveled along for a while.

There were 6 cars that went in our little convoy. Three of us had flat tires including yours truly. I had difficulty taking my tire off as one of the lug nut studs broke off. One of my passengers was an expert mechanic who helped prevent breaking the other ones off. By the time I got home, another broke off and I had only three left. It was very good to go as a convoy.

Until the next adventure...
Take Care, Dave Bunyard

[الياسمين]

March, 2001

One day before I left the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I was able to take one last visit into the desert. The Saudi Arabian Natural History Society (SANHS) planned a visit to the hot ******s of Wadi Al Lith. I previously drove through Wadi Al Lith in the Bani Saad adventure. However, I wasn't able to spend any time there. This time, we spent the day at the hot ******s to explore the Flora and Fauna.
My friend Kamal Abdalla, who I have had a number of adventures with drove me to the Wadi. As I had sadly sold my Land Cruiser, he offered me a lift.
The hot ******s is one of the few places in Saudi where you find a running river, albeit small stream even in the depths of summer. The hot ******s come up from an underground stream and are scalding hot at their source, but as they mix into the above ground waters, it becomes like a hot or warm bath depending on where you take a dip.
The hot waters are believed to have healing powers. The locals have heard of this area which is about 30km inland from the coastal road near the town of Al Lith. The Saudis I knew in Jeddah, however never heard of the place.
The locals Saudis who know about it are slowing trying to promote it and have recently tarmacked the road to meet up with the coastal road. The last time we went it was all dirt track.

The whole area is absolutely teeming with life. The water is generally clear except for the thick green moss which can be found throughout. Many small fish and frogs can be found.

The grass grows tall here and there are some nice rock formations as well.

As you may have guessed, lots of locals were around. The kids are always curious about Westerners and often like to have their photo taken.

This fella was doing a flip into the water.

Some flora around the Wadi.

There was a large flock of herons dancing around us during the day.

When you find yourself in the desert for a long time, sights like these are just amazing.

The birds were just marvelous. It was just lovely to walk around and see them going from one place to another.

Some rare creatures in the desert were also to be found. In addition to this blue dragonfly, I spotted a yellow and red one.

And of course, the obligatory camels.

Just havin' a chaw ma!

On the way back from the Wadi, we were going to take the off road route back to Jeddah. We were planning on getting to Shwaiba beach and then driving up the coast back up to Jeddah. Unfortunately, the two wheel drive cars in our convoy could not make the route to the beach.

No worries though. Kamal was always ready to get the poor devils ont of a jam. In the end, we had to take the main road back to beat the sunset.

This was the last sunset I saw over the desert in Saudi Arabia. Goodbye Saudi, I shall miss you.

Until the next adventure…