In the Land of the Flower Men

On my first Saudi round I have previously travelled through the Aseer Province, in the Arabian high lands. When stopping at a traffic light the driver of the car beside me opened his window and handed me a bouquet of lovely smelling flowers and herbs. I was quite baffled about this, seeing these bouquets in several other cars.
Now, being in this country quite a long time and reading more about it, I learned that this is the province of the flower men. These tribal men take big pride in wearing beautifully crafted and woven flower and herb bouquets on their heads. In the markets in this region, you find stalls where women weave rings of flowers and nice smelling herbs for the men to wear. This is a very old tradition, still in practice today. High up in the mountains villages, so I have been later told by Stephen and Birgit, you can see everywhere the men with flowers on their heads. I unfortunately chickened out to travel deep into the heartland of this area due to the very steep roads and Lola’s tendency to break out in sweat and circumstances I will later come to describe. So I was only able to witness some men wearing those head decorations in the outer regions of the Aseer Province.
Of course, we were given some of the flower rings, the economy version only, which the kids were wearing with pride.
The houses are built in a very distinct style, with horizontal slates mended into the walls, apparently to deflect the rain water from the mud walls. We had the honor to visit a family in their home. This was very different from any home I have been to before: a traditional set up, to keep out the heat in summer and the cold in winter, with the lush and colorful wall paintings typical for this area.Read more