Middle East, rich cultures and warm hospitality

kwilenacat
Mar 30
11 min read

Is the Middle East region safe? I have been asked this question many times...the short answer is yes, Crime as a whole is very low in the Arabian Peninsula / the countries we have visited,

During my 2 months in the Middle East I spent time in

UAE,
Saudi Arabia and
Oman
Jordan

My sister (who lives in Dubai), welcomed me again into her beautiful home and gave me her standard 5 star health resort treatment 😊 . Whilst we did some road trips together within the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, I travelled in Jordan by myself, My plan was to visit her for a week, but due to a good Flex fare airline ticket and being free of any time pressures / obligations, I changed my plans often and as I felt like it. What a luxury in life!

JORDAN

Jordan was on my bucket list for a long time. I bought a Jordan pass online which includes the tourist entry visa and entries to about 40 tourist sites.

I spent one night in Amman.

Amman, the capital of Jordan, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is a modern city with numerous ancient ruins. There really is not that much to see except to stroll through the old town and the must see Citadel which dates back as far as the Bronze Age. It has attracted the interest of archaeologists from the early 20th century onward, including excavations by Italian archaeologists begun in 1930.

Amman city

Old Town / The historic Citadel includes the pillars of the Roman Temple of Hercules

A lot of delicious but too much food. Interesting Sheesha flavours

After busy Amman, the contrast of Petra was just wow!

Petra, the “Rose City,” is the crown jewel of Jordan, where monumental facades are carved into rose-red sandstone cliffs. It is a huge site and a walk from the entry up the hills and back takes 4 hours, but there are many other hikes and you can spend all day there. I took a guide for 1/2 day to understand what all the signs and buildings mean. I stayed in Petra for 3 days.

I read some bad reviews about Petra, overfull carparks, sites packed with too many tourists, tombs closed off and begging stall vendors all selling the exact same merchandise. I had none of that!

I could not believe my luck. I was practically alone. End of January is outside the tourist season and due to the conflicts in Gaza/Palestine, tourists have been hesitant to return to Jordan. The normally buzzing Tourist sites were empty. I will never forget this trip - and traveling alone enhanced the experience and the time to just take it all in. What stunning landscapes and welcoming people. The ancient city of Petra is amazing, so was the otherworldly beauty of Wadi Rum, the dead sea and busy Amman.

I got happily lost in it all and forgot the time completely with the consequence, that my booked driver called the police. I was gone for over 9 hours. I told him I would be going up to one of the remote sites and he was concerned that I slipped off a rock. He called the local police, the central police and the local hospital and was already stressing out how to tell my family. It was bad communication between me and the driver or a language problem (he spoke little English). I only realised his stress when I called him 15 minutes before wanting to be picked up (which I told him I would do). However, there are many security cameras everywhere and being one of a handful of tourists there that day (and a single female traveling alone) I was still not asked anything when I exited Petra!

There are horses at the main entrance "for free" and included in the ticket price, however at the end a tip is expected. The local horse owner receive a % of the ticket price and are only allowed to do a small section and can't enter the gorge (this way the sites remain horse poo free).

Walking through the 1.2 kilometer long gorge and emerging right in front of Al-Khazneh (in Arabic), or" the Treasury" (in English), is a jaw-dropping experience.

The name "treasury" is derived from legends regarding the decorative stone urn high on the second level, which in reality is solid sandstone. Petra was established over 2000 years ago.

These 2 camels where always there

Met this lady who invited me straight away for dinner to her house (just after she told me that they have hardly any food to eat). - I did not accept her invitation but enjoyed chatting to her. She was lovely and owns one of the shops. The lady on the right owned one of the few open stalls along the way up to the monastery. I told each of the stall owners that I will not buy anything but had a small tea with 5 of them and gave them some coins.

A local chilling

Goats enjoying the view.

The colours and patterns of the different stones everywhere was just amazing.

The "Royal Tombs" in Petra are a group of four grand tombs carved into the western side of Jebel Al-Khubtha, overlooking the city center, and are believed to have been the burial places of Nabataean royalty and their families.

Press play for a short video

check out how small this local guy is compared to the overall temple

I climbed up the eight hundred steps to visit the Monastery. The uneven steps, gouged out of the rock by hand centuries ago, wound up the gorge to the distant plateau where the impressive structure of the Monastery has been carved into the side of a mountain. To go up here with on a donkey would be scary and a little cruel. Even though, some of the donkey owners would say "Hire a Porsche?”.

This is one of my favourite pictures and shows one of the little stalls

Picture was taken by a local kid.

I was still so pumped that even though I was already hiking for 4 hours including up the 800 steps... I decided to add another unplanned hike after a local lady told me about it - (this is the day which got me into trouble with the booked driver who called the police). The local lady told me that you can hike up a mountain and see all the sites from top down. The hike was unmarked and towards the end but it was sort of guessable where it must be.

Amazing "stairs"

The hike was so worth it, On this picture you can see the Amphitheatre which was chiselled out of rock, slicing through many caves and tombs in the process. It was enlarged by the Romans to hold about 8500 (around 30% of the population of Petra) soon after they arrived in 106 CE.

I read that only about five percent of the city has been uncovered, and that many mysteries remain.

The colours of the rocks are just amazing.

I stayed at the beautiful 5 star Hyatt Zaman hotel, Petra

Petra by night (on certain nights only) is a completely different experience.

Jordan isn't just about history. The vast desert of Wadi Rum, with its towering rock formations and sweeping sand dunes, offers a sense of peace and adventure as well. I "camped" under a blanket of stars, and explored the desert during the day.

Many famous movies have been shot here (Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Martian (2015) with Matt Damon about an astronaut on mars, which made bubble tents famous and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Aladdin (2019), Dune (2021).

Zarb is a traditional Bedouin underground oven used by nomadic herding people. Much like a barbeque, they start by digging a hole in the soft sand then place the food over the coal and cover the hole with sand. The food is left undisturbed for several hours.

My luxurious bubble tent in the desert, the view of the stars is very special

Incredible views in the morning from my tent.

My plan was to just enjoy this place but made a last minute decision to book a car with a local guide.

This 21 year old Bedouin was so much fun and had so much energy. He showed me the families Bedouin tent. He is the son of a 2nd wife (father has 4 wives and 11 children). He also showed me what plants they use for soap etc. it was really worth it. He told me to drive some of the time, whilst he played loud Arabic music and hanged out of the window.

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the largest, most famous rock formation of the otherworldly Wadi Rum. There are seven distinct elements that seem like they're leaning and supporting each other. On the right is my name written in sand in Arabic.

What was so unusual is that there were so many rocky mountains in between the sand dunes. My young Bedouin was waiting in the car whilst I climbed up a rock.

Stopped for some tea in a Bedouin tent.

Then there's the Dead Sea, where the mineral-rich waters let you float effortlessly, offering a surreal experience while giving your skin a rejuvenating treat. Surprisingly there was very little water when I was there.

I also visited Mount Nebo in Jordan. it is believed to be where Moses stood to view the Promised Land before his death, and where he was buried, though the Bible states his burial place was unknown

SAUDI ARABIA

My sister and I compared bucket lists. One of hers was to drive in her car from Dubai to Saudia Arabia and to see how easy the border process is. It sounded like the perfect thing to do. I received my Electronic visa within minutes after submitting it (trying to load a passport photo was the only tricky bit).

The drive itself was a long straight line road and not much to see.

The first gate at the boarder was just a security gate, followed by Passport control (plus finger prints for me, then a car inspection (which was done very respectfully) and paperslips which had to be stamped at several gates / checkpoints than handed in at the exit gate. It was easy and staff were very friendly. Even though Saudi has changed over the last 5 years, you could still feel that it was a bit unusal for them to see 2 women on their own driving to Saudi.

Our destination was Al Hofuf, Al-Ahsa in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. It has one of the largest oases in the world with around 3 million Palm trees.

Al Ahsa has been inhabited since prehistoric times and was commercially important due to its position on several trade routes: Arabian peninsula, Persia and India.

It is known for being one of the largest date producing areas in the world, and for its old markets and palaces.

We could see lots and lots of sand and passed many black camels

Hmmm, the only thing I understood is where the airport is, but this is not where we were going. Glad the Saudi Sim card worked and with it our Google map on the phone.

check in at the Intercontinental

beautiful ceilings and Swarovski lamps in the lobby

At the hotel there were arrows pointing to Mecca, the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city according to Islam

Women in Saudi Arabia no longer have to wear an abaya - although many women continue to wear them. Even though there are no laws that mandated us to wear an abaya or hijab, we wanted to respect their religious sentiments and choose the kind of clothing that covered our body

Local money

Ibrahim Palace is a historic fort built in 1156 in the north of Alqoat neighborhood, Hofuf, Al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It is the region's main architectural heritage site from the Ottoman period. It served as a Turkish military base.

It was the headquarter of the Ottoman army during their rule of Al-Ahsa, and the palace was attributed to the governor, Ibrahim bin Afaisan, Prince of Al-Ahsa during the reign of Imam Saud. Its area is about (5600 square meters).

These students came for a chat and asked us many questions. They called themselves "whitewashed" and were lovely.

We took Ubers to get around (easier than to take our car) and also booked a guide for a day.

Visited the amazing Al-Qarah Mountain. This mountain counts as one of the most important natural sights in Al-Ahsa, and was registered in the UNESCO world heritage center's list in 2018, after the inclusion of Al-Ahsa Oasis. The mountain is a mesa of 75 metres and there are 3 types of caves in the mountain.

Impressive - inside of the caves.

We visited the farm of Abu Jawad. Haider (our guide) had a tea with fresh roses.

Rose Petals tea - the owner put on a show for the photo

Souk / Arabian Market. We bought dates.

This lovely Lady asked me if she could take pictures of me, which she did. then she came back and asked me if she could take some more. I said of course, but would love one with her, which she was happy to do.

The oldest bakery, we waited for the bred to come out of the oven. You can see the flat bred sticking on the side.of the oven.

Lovely lunch in a local Hotel.

Bedouin coffee pots

OMAN

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The capital and largest city is Muscat. We have visited Oman before but wanted to check out some places we did not manage to see on previous visits.

Only in Oman - Goats crossing the freeway

The grand Mosque in Muscat. is beautiful from outside and inside, this glorious piece of modern Islamic architecture was a gift to the Omanis from the late Sultan Qaboos.

It took six years to be built, opened in 2001 and can accommodate 20,000 worshippers. It has 5! minarets and main prayer hall is breathtakingly beautiful. The floor is covered by a single piece of handwoven carpet, hand woven by hundreds of Iranian artisans and colored with traditional vegetable dyes. It weights 21 tons and is the second-largest carpet in the world. The chandeliers are made by Swarovski especially for the mosque. It weighs around 9 tons and is decorated with 600,000 pieces of crystal trimmed with gold. It even has a small staircase inside it for workers to perform the maintenance.

Our mum is 89 and did the road trip with us. She is still very fit and looks fab.

After the Mosque we checked out a posh restaurant and the Muscat Opera house.

Oman frankincense trees grow in southern part of Sultanate of Oman in the wild of Dhofar mountains. The aromatic resin is used in incense and perfumes and is of course still an important incense resin, particularly in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

A visit to Oman would not be complete with a boat tour.

On our way back to the UAE

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dinner at one of my sisters friends place with view onto Burj Khalifa

Drinks at the Belgium Beer Cafe (you can see the the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library in the background with its unique architecture. The building is shaped like a Rehl, the traditional wooden book rack used to store the Quran. Photo 2 above is at the Dubai Golf Club

We took our mum to the Opera to see La Bayadere. The Musicians "warming up"

Also a few pics of a Camel race in the UAE (camel races were often controlled by child jockeys which has led to nationwide bans on underage labor in the UAE and Qatar. In modern camel racing, camels are often controlled by remote controlled robotic whips).

Picture 1: Robotic whips, operated by owners driving the cars next to the camels as shown on picture 2

The Robots get strapped onto the camels.

waiting to race...

Below two short videos

The hospitality at the race was unbelievable, free drinks and sandwiches were served to Tourists.

After the race, camels going home.

We did several road trips within the UAE. Here a few pictures from our outing into the Sharjah desert.

entrance of our hotel

Drive to the geology park and Ghost village

Ghost village in Al Madam/Sharjah:

Records show that the Al Madam Village was constructed as part of the housing project by the UAE government in the mid 1970s to build settlements for the nomadic Bedouins that lived in the desert.

Why was the Village Abandoned? Speculations point to the harsh impact of sandstorms as potential factors. While others point to rapid modernisation of neighbouring states during the 90s as a cause for residents to leave. Nevertheless, the exact reasons behind the enigmatic exodus of this area remain uncertain.