• A different era of Rock engravings

    21 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Today we passed a water spring in full desert. This was surely a stop over for caravans on the "incense route" over centuries and so the rock engravings have changed. Accompanying the old cuneiform writing we see Greek letters. Also the motifs have changed with Hunters with guns appearing. In the period BC, documents mention teeming wildlife in the desert. Could the guns have been the end of this wildlife?Okumaya devam et

  • Deeper and deeper into the sand

    19 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan

    We are driving deeper and deeper into the sand and break the record at one hill where everyone digs themselves in. After hours of digging and using sand tracks to get out, some of us promptly get stuck again. What a day!
    Finally, we arrive at a rock in the desert next to a small, fast disappearing perennial lake carrying the water of the last rain.
    While walking around the rocks, we make a huge discovery, rock engravings depicting desert Orynx antilopes, lions, and hunting scenes.
    WOW!
    Okumaya devam et

  • and the desert is calling.....

    18 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    From the craters, we drove to the North, getting deeper and deeper into the desert again, this time with deep loose sand between huge bizarre sandstone structures formed by millions of years of wind and water.
    On this first day back in the sand, we all get stuck at least once, with us digging in until over the axles and needing the whole team to dig us out. How good to be driving with others.
    The rains of the recent weeks have let the desert explode with grass and flowers everywhere. This will all disappear again in the next weeks as dryness sets in again. What a privilege to be here at this moment.

    Thousands of years ago these deserts used to be teeming with antilope, in particular the orynx which are now virtually extinct, as well as desert lion and wild camels (these were only domesticated around 3000 years ago), and so it is not surprising to again and again discover rock etchings of these various animals in hunting scenes.
    Okumaya devam et

  • The land of 140 volcanos

    15 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    This region is one of 140 volcanos and huge lava fields. The fascinating thing is, they all vary in colour, from black through white and red.
    On top of it these last weeks, there have been several rainfalls, and the desert has exploded with flowers and grass.
    Sooo beautiful!

    We are drive into the region of the white volcano, amidst a sea of black ones,
    and get up at sunrise and 10 degrees centigrade to climb the one overlooking it. The slopes, while not looking dramatic, consist of a fine gravel that slips away as soon as you step on it. After much swearing and intensive use of our sticks, we reach the top amidst a 30-40kph wind, which adds to the chill. So we immediately returned down again, took a rest, and then confronted the white volcano in the afternoon with the same fine gravel constantly sliding.
    Okumaya devam et

  • The oasis Khaibar

    14 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    As we travel north, we pass through the oasis Khaibar in a basin of a huge volcanic area with ample water and fertile soils. For thousands of years this has been a stop on the frankincense route bringing the latter together with silk and spices to Europe. Today, the abandoned ancient mud city built on 6 hills surrounding the oasis is a very high-end tourist venue with hundreds of employees and few tourists but we had a great time being driven around in a golf cart, with an excellent restaurant to go with it.Okumaya devam et

  • Medina; tomb of Mohammed

    13 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan

    Mohammed, born in Mecca, was kicked out when he started preaching a new religion. He fled to Medina on a she camel, and where this camel kneeled down, god told him that this was the place to build the first mosque.
    This building was rebuilt again and again as the importance of Medina grew. What never changed was the room in which he died which, later on had a sealed building of black stones built around it.
    This is the tomb that approx 2 million pilgrims from around the world visit each year on the "Umra" not to be confused with the "Hadsch" to Mecca which 3 million per year.
    For us, Medina was a glimpse at the multitude of nationalities and ethnicities of this world. I have never seen so many different faces and clothing styles in my life; Arabs, Africans, central Asians, Chinese, Indonesians to name just a few, all spending a fortune to do this journey and a "money printing machine" for Saudi Arabia.
    Unlike Mecca, non-muslims are allowed into the city, but as Margot and I tried to enter the outer courtyard of the absolutly huge mosque (for 1 million worshippers) we were blocked by a security guard and very clearly told this is not for us. So we observed thousands and thousands rushing to the late afternoon prayer which was broadcast throughout the area, and then 30 min later rushing out again to their hotels or hundreds of busses with thousands of identical suit cases brought from the other side of the world.
    Half an hour after sunset, they all streamed in again for evening prayer.
    What a crazy world!
    Okumaya devam et

  • And so we fled back into nature

    12 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Cities are always stress, here in Saudi all the more, due to the "cruisers" showing off their big engines, exhaust pipes or sound systems around 02:00 in the morning. We were longing for silence and sleep and headed up the coast to Rabigh beach, a huge sand bar which on Google satilite showed a clear line between turquoise sand and dark blue sea. This indicates a steep coral reef. And so it was, 50 meters off shore was the most beautiful coral reef I have ever seen. We snorkeled twice in the warm water, simply marveling at the millions of fish of all sizes and colours. It was a celebration of the beauty of creation and the universe. We just couldn't stop shouting look!, look! like excited children, as large Puffer fish eyed us, a large sting ray sailed by, followed by a turtle and huge schools a shiny sardines. On the coral reef Angel fish, parrot fish and a thousand other species went about their busseling business.
    What a gift to be here!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Sleepless nights while "cruisers" cruise

    11 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Having not slept the previous night, in the afternoon, we drove north to the edge of the city on an inlet from the sea in the hope of finding a quite place.
    Exactly the opposite happened!
    As sunset approached we arrived at a long pier on a dead end road. As it was Friday, many families had gathered for an evening Picknick. While on land the atmosphere was wonderfully calm, on the water it was like on a highway with boats of every size parading up and down the inlet relishing the looks they were getting. In between, jet skis were racing around with screaming engines doing antics to attract the attention of the spectators. As dark set in the boats dissapeared and the families left and we thought we would be alone. But the opposite happened, the car cruisers arrived, driving in, stopping for 5 minutes, revving their engines and leaving again.
    Then, after 2am, the real chaos set in as the really rich came out of their holes cruising around with their Ferraris, Masaratis et al making enough noise to get Muhammed to turn in his grave. The next morning at 06am the families arrived again.
    We were exhausted!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Jeddah: midday prayer and the day starts

    10 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    While strolling through the old city centre, we had the pleasure to participate in the friday midday prayer because it was broadcast via loudspeakers in the area. Hardly had the last thanks to Allah been spoken, when hundreds of men streamed out of the nearby mosque, all heading in the same direction. We followed and were led into the most beautiful and authentic streets where fresh rooti bread was being baked in Tandoori ovens and a multitude of very basic restaurants were serving curry chicken and rice to Pakistanis, Arabs and whatever else happened to come by (like us). Then all plodded off to a large courtyard nearby where chai was served on chairs that no longer deserved this name.
    What a beautiful afternoon!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Jeddah: multi-culti on the red sea

    9 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ 🌬 31 °C

    Jeddah is Saudi Arabias trading port and a melting pot of ethnicities, endlessly long along the red sea.
    We arrived on Thursday evening, the beginning of the moslem weekend knowing that this would be tough.
    On an empty lot next to the sea, families picknicked all night with ice cream vans cruising between them joined by the classical Saudi "cruisers" in their loud cars after 1am and going through to 7am when the first families starting arriving again.
    Forget sleeping!
    We fled into the old town in the morning, famous for the shutters in front of the windows so that women can look out into the streets without being seen!
    We discovered deserted streets.
    It was Friday!
    And then, around midday, a switch was flipped, and the streets filled with markets and stands with the freshest fruits and vegetables imaginable.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Ash Shafa-a true Saudi picnic

    8 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today we are in Ash Shafa, 2200 meters high, and the place where the Saudi King has his residence when the government moves to Al Ta'if in the summer months.
    For hours we watched troops of baboons playing around, squabbling, de-fleeing each other, and collectively taking the local rubbish container apart. When Margot went for a walk she was promptly invited for lunch and ordered to bring her husband along, and so we experienced a real Saudi picnic.
    A huge pot of rice, chicken, spices and lots of chili had been cooking all morning and was now poured out onto a single very large plate, everyone gathered around in a circle and with their right hand, scraped the food into a ball and stuffed it into their mouth.
    It looks a mess, but that is how it is done here.
    In between, with great excitement we were questioned about our journey while the mother proudly showed Margot her jewelery and the multi-coloured cuff of her shirt under her black hood. BUT NOTHING MORE, the face stayed covered!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Today, under the sign of RUBBISH

    7 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We are on the way to Jeddah, near Medina and Mecca and it is aparently time to remind us of the reality of the arabian peninsula concerning the topic of rubbish.
    As we travelled through huge regions of desert scrub and bushes along the highway, we noticed that they were full of plastic bags. Cynically we called them "christmas trees". Worse still, lining the highway, again and again there were decaying dead animals and near a rubbish container people had deposited numerous dead sheep. A strange feeling amidst this endless beauty of desert.

    In the evening we parked-off at a city park in At Tarif, a small mountain city where the Saudi government moves with 150 thousand officials each summer.
    Okumaya devam et

  • 700km to Al Wabah crater

    7 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    700km through a desert sand storm, that is not an experience to be repeated! Our "Sprinti" was jumping across the road like a feather while sand took over the highway.
    When we arrived at the Al Wahbah crater in the dark the sand storm had developed into a massive electric storm with huge lightning flashes creeping through the sky. Fascinating, until the lightning hit a transformer station 10m away from us on the parking lot at the edge of the crater where we spent the night. There was a loud ZZZZZT and the transformer went up in flames.
    Oh my oh my!
    We woke up the next morning looking straight into this 300m deep crater and thought we would do a short walk around it. Well it turned out to be three hours in searing heat. Not quite the morning stroll expected!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Back to Nature, "Edge of the world"

    5 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We fled Riad after a night awake, as Lamborghini and Ferrari raced from one side of the city to the other demonstrating their sound and power, to the escarpment, called "Edge of the world", where the center of the Arabian peninsula drops down to sea level. Peace once again entered our souls as we hiked along these amazing barren cliffs.Okumaya devam et

  • Riad, capital of Saudi Arabia

    3 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Riad was a disappointment!
    8 million people living in the middle of the flat desert, of which a small part is endlessly rich, living in huge palaces and racing around at night in lamborghinis while a large part of the population from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan is doing the work in the streets.
    The whole city is one huge big building site. Among other, the ancient seat of the ruling Saud family, Diriyah, has been dug up and restored to a unesco site. It's the center, the Bujari Heritage, is an area of restaurants and walks, and seems to be the meeting place of the Upper society. We went there hoping to spend the evening but gave up when €50 per person were asked as entry fee.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Back in Saudi, looking for Al Asfar lake

    1 Mart 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Today, we crossed the border into Saudia Arabia with the typical border problems of no one knowing what is really needed. We then headed off into the desert, looking for Al Asfar Lake near Hofuf. Well, the lake is not where it is supposed to be! When we found it, we got totally lost in a mixture of sand dunes and salty mud flats that look firm on the surface but sink in as soon as you put pressure on them. And the problem is, if you sink in, there are not many people that will pull you out!
    In the end, we gave up and are now sleeping in the desert overlooking the lake in the distance.
    Tomorrow is another day!
    Hasta Mañana!
    Okumaya devam et

  • Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

    27 Şubat 2023, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    What a beautiful building, even if it is the biggest in the world!
    Full of aesthetic materials from all countries of the world and carried out with incredible craftsmanship.
    All designs are done with semi precious stone inlays.
    The huge woollen carpet of 5400m2 was hand knotted by 1200 artisans in 2 years.

    When I look at this incredible work of art, I only sense praise and thankfulness to Allah; none of the heaviness, the threatening and violence of the Catholic church which shocked me so much during my camino to Santiago.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Abu Dhabi, so much more relaxed

    26 Şubat 2023, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After Dubai, Abu Dhabi seemed very relaxed and quite empty with a beautiful "cornische" along the water front.
    To spend the night, we drove out to one of the many islands thinking it would be quite there, It turned out to be the cruising mile where people drive late at night, probably to run away from their insomnia. At 01:30 am when we fled to a new location they were still driving, bumper-to-bumper and constantly revving their tuned truck or Masarati engines. An absolute nightmare!Okumaya devam et

  • Dubai Fountain, Burj Khalifa

    24 Şubat 2023, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri

    We then moved on to the "Dubai Mall", a shopping mall the size of a small city and of course the biggest in the world. Everything shining in marble, so clean you could eat from the floor with an aquarium in the middle of your shopping experience. In a world in the middle of the desert with no-limits money, shopping is about all that is left!

    In front of the door of the mall is the most bombastic musical fountain in the world with laser show, Dolby surround music and integrating the Burj Khalifa, 828m high (the highest) and built in 7 years (the shortest) from the idea to the inauguration in 2010. One floor built each week, working at night because it was too hot in the day.
    The next morning, we went up the Burj Khalifa tower at 08:30 (the rest of the day was booked out by the other 16,5 million tourists per year!) for the most incredible morning view of the city.
    This was followed by the Big Red bus tour around the city and it was here that I noticed I am about to explode and need time out, we cancelled all other plans and went to the beach for a whole day to reground ourselves. But even here the illusion was perfect, while ferraris raced behind us on the highway, no less than 20 helicopters flew over us to land on the helipad at the nearby Burj al Arab building, the symbol of Dubai and housing private luxury apartments.
    A world as fascinating as it is exhausting!
    Okumaya devam et

  • "The frame"

    24 Şubat 2023, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    In a totally spaced-out state we then went up "The Frame", literally a 150m high picture frame through which the Sheikh Rashid ibn Saeed Al Maktoum, could look from the old Dubai to the new Dubai which he had built from the ground in about 20years!
    The floor at 150m is of glass, quite a walking experience! A bit like Jesus on the water!

    While what has been created here is absolutely amazing, it is also a world of total illusion driven by endless money. Everything is the biggest, fastest, highest, craziest in the world, A searing hot, dry desert gives the the feeling of total abundance.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Dubai, land of Illusion

    24 Şubat 2023, Suudi Arabistan ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Time to open our hearts for the craziness of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, both swimming in oil money with especially Dubai known for having completely lost contact to the ground.

    With a small boat trip on the "Dubai creek" we took up contact to the city and then moved on to the "planet of AYA" a cosmic sound and colour experience in the middle of a shopping mall. At the entrance you recieve a passport from the planet of AYA and then walk through or lie down in a series of rooms on the trip of your life, about the same experience as the magic mushrooms trip I once did!Okumaya devam et

  • Back to Khasab, as the hornets shoot by

    23 Şubat 2023, Umman ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Today, we return to Khassab.
    As we motor along, suddenly they appear again on the horizon, the hornets, the smugglers from Iran. (Approx 100-150 speedboats per day). This time, they pass real close, and I can catch a glimpse of their hooded heads and the sheep in the hold of their boats.
    A frightening appearance and yet friendly people waving hello, desperate to make a living and prepared to risk their lives each day in the endeavour.
    We stop off at "telegraph Island" where the colonial British held a telegraph station going to India, and experience a wonderful 2 hours snorkeling among angel fish, snappers, Barakuda and two large manta rays. What elegance!

    As we get closer to harbour, the first Iranian speedboats boats are already returning, totally overloaded with huge waterproof Pacackages.

    Reaching the harbour is a sad. Four incredible days of relaxation go to an end, and we say farewell to the team, "Sprinti" is waiting to take us to Dubai.
    Okumaya devam et

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