RIHLAH 7 : Day 4 -> Duba, Al Dissa

15 Oct 2013

Sharma

Camping was always fun to the boys. Seems that everyone had a good night sleep. We woke up for our “sahur” around 4.30 am with some leftovers and snacks available. The air was very cold. After Fajr, we decided to continue with our nap while waiting for the sunrise. Seems like everyone had a good night sleep and didn't realize the sun was already up. Only mommy was up caused she was playing with game on iPad while everyone was sleeping...haha (this a secret...trying to break my kids record ;-))!

Once everyone was up, the weather was too cold for a swim. The kids still insist on swimming but we were scared they might catching cold by swimming in the cold morning air. Comparing to the other beaches of Red Sea that we have seen, this one is nice but incomparable to the other beaches that we have seen so far of the red sea.  It is clean and nice but nothing compare to Maqna beaches that we were there yesterday.  After the kids gets to finds some sea shells and stone throwing competition, we decided it is time to pack our tents and heading for Duba.


Our humble camp by the seaside.

The ready made tents for hire.

Throwing stones competition…the boys favorite activity before saying our goodbye

 Pack to go…

 

Duba

On the way to Duba we stop over another historical spot in Tabuk, Al Muwaileh castle.  It is about 45 km before reaching the town of Duba.  The castle is from the Ottoman empire which was built in 968H/1560 AD.  The castle is built on 120,000 square meters surrounded by a protecting wall.  It was strategically built and became a main Hajj station on the highway for the Egyptian pilgrims and it was the largest station on the road.  The castle was build by Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent.

The castle is very near to the Muwaileh/Muaileh/Muailih (choose any spelling you like, its all referring to the same place :-)) beach.  Even the beach here are very unique with its own beauty.  It is a gorgeous beach with gradated sands and many palm trees. From the crystal clear water, we can see that the beach is partly stony and partly sandy.  As we are catching up time, we couldn't stop for water playing again at this coastal area.  Supposedly we find from the net, there should be a Prophet Mousa (a.s) Water Spring nearby the area but after a drive around, we failed to find one.  So, it is the right time for us continue our journey to Duba.
In front of fenced Muaileh Castle

Al Muaileh Castle

 

Side view of Muaileh Castle 

It doesn't take long for us to reach Duba. Duba is a small town and a port city where ferries and ships operate from here for Egypt and Jordan. The Hurgada and Safaga ports of Egypt can be reached within about 3 hours (minimum) by ferry. It is strategically located at the starting point of Gulf of Aqaba that ends at Ellat (Israel) and Aqaba, Jordan. Local citizens describe it as The Pearl of the Red Sea.

It was another great surprised to find such a beautiful town in Saudi Arabia. The small town is very well kept and decorated with varieties of miniatures from seashells, pearls and sea creatures. The port with the masjid on the background gave a spectacular panorama. Bridge, shops, fish souq and boats makes the place looks 'happening'.  We are sure the place would be full of people after Asr as the afternoon was quite a heat when the sun top on your head.  Another place where you don't expect to be in Saudi Arabia! The more we explore the northern, the more we are in love with it.

After driving around the town taking a glimpse of the town surrounding, we continue to our next destination which is Wadi Dissa.


Is this in Saudi? So peaceful, green and clean.

Only see one or two people around…probably because it is Zuhr time..

Peaceful…

This Duba surely have many interesting and unique arch to be seen.

  Another interesting structure, combinations between nature and man-made.

A park on top of a hill overseeing the port…

Huts in the park…

Wadi Dissa

We continue our journey to Wadi Dissa which was another attraction by seeing the beautiful pictures posted on the net. Driving to the place itself was a splendid experience. We felt like driving in the village in our hometown since there were green trees and grasses by the roadsides. Until we reach the end of the road...the real beauty lays down right in front of your eyes. Everyone were excited. This is the best place in Saudi Arabia! We have awarded Wadi Dissa to be number one place in Saudi!


The road leading to Wadi Dissa.

 Mountainous backdrop.

Dissa is a stunning oasis lying in a beautiful plain of sand. It is surrounded by striking sandstone mountains and dramatic peaks. A four-wheel drive vehicle is a must to navigate in deep sand before reaching the entrance of a red sandstone gorge. Unable to control the lust of exploring its beauty, we couldn't resist to make an effort entering the wadi as far as we can.

The soft thick sands were really challenging. We manage to passed the first portion of the entrance where we had to go through small streams and quite big puddle. One side of the high rocky mountains were full of 'art graffiti's. The graffiti's were so obvious until we miss what lays behind it....fresh water comings from the rocks of the mountain! Masyaallah!

Both sides of the hills were covered with papyrus and dates tree which add the green color to the orange, brown rocky mountains. We already fall in love with the beauty. The landscape is like a postcard. The combination of colours were just perfect. Thus, we decided to make an effort to pass through another phase of the soft thick sand. However, we weren't so lucky this time :-(. The moment we wish we didn't dare to proceed..OUR 4WD CAR STUCKED!!!

We have minor gears with us in case of stuck but wasn't hoping of using it. Seems we have to opt for a little more adventure to our trip ;-). Me and hubby start digging sands from under the car to place the slipping mat under the tyre. First attempt...FAIL! Second attempt...FAILED! Wow...now there's a bit of tense sense in the air. It was already Asr and we are stucked in the sandy Wadi and we're fasting! In about two hours time it will soon gets dark.

We started to ask our son to survey around the area in case we need to camp here if we'll stucked till night. At least there's stream of water for our use. While we were struggling to dig more sands and taking out the air tyre, a 4WD pick-up on its way out stopped. They were two of them and one of them which is the older one was deaf or mute. They used sign language asking whether our car is a 4WD. We nod telling them its an automatic 4WD.

They started to reduce further the tyre pressure for all 4 wheels. The car got stucked more and seems to be hanging on the sand. Without giving up, one of the guy took his gear and attempt to pull the car with their pick-up. They tried a few times and it still failed. One of the guy seems like giving up but the older one insist on trying. Together with hubby they were digging, pulling, pushing and putting every effort they could.

There were 2-3 pick-ups and 4WD passed by us without stopping or even asking, that gave us more pressure since we felt being neglected :-(. Anyhow, what were we expecting, right? Its good enough that these two guys are helping us with all what they had.

As our hopes getting lower and the pressure intensified, came this big Chevrolet Navara pick-up with 3-4 shababs (young Saudi) on their way to camping (with all the usual camping gears) in the wadi and being stopped by the two guys that were helping us.

MasyaAllah, when our hopes almost gone, there is still people that come to our help and put our hopes high again. That's the reality in this life, we should never feel hopeless, especially as a muslim. We have to keep praying and keep trying. After all, we have Allah, the best Helper of all.

With this mighty beast, with one pull… that's it, our car got out from the “sticky” sand, Alhamdulillah...what a great relief! We were so thankful to Allah for the assistance we got. The shababs quickly continuing their way further into the wadi after giving us an advice in Arabic, but we still understand it which is “get one like our pickup, only then can enter the sandy wadi, otherwise no-no with your AWD SUV”. My husband just smiling and nodding at them.

As for the other 2 guys, we tried to gave them some money as a gesture of appreciation for the assistance but they politely refuse.. and asked us to pray for them instead.   MasyaAllah... may Allah bless their sincerity in helping us. 

 
Stopping by the water spring stream for our Asr prayer…

Full of papyrus grass by the mountain…an experience for the kids getting to know papyrus from their social study lesson…

A bit of the mountain magic…

We turned back and getting out of the wadi and quickly went to find a spot where we could pray for Asr as it is getting late. We took wudhu' from the stream flowing along the road. Very cool and refreshing. It was a meaningful day of Arafah for us.  We remind our kids not to forget making du’a asking blessing for the people who had sincerely help us today and how grateful for everything that has happened to us today.

The scenery is just.. amazingly stunning.

 The greens and the mountains..

Now it is time for us to find food to break our fasting.  We have less than an hour to find food. The challenge was not able to see any restaurant on our way here!  Anyhow…at least we had some water, a few box of juice and biscuits.   Since we had our car air tyre releases while back in the sand…now we had to take our time to fill in the air tyre.  As the air pump machine we had could only used for 15 minutes at one time..we had to make four stop to fill in as much air as we can for a decent ride until we reached a petrol station for a proper air tyre filling…which makes longer time for us to get food!

 By the roadside stopping to fill in air tyre…


The mountains shimmered like a mirage from inside our car along the way…

After properly filling up the tyre pressure at the first petrol station that we found, we continuing our journey, with a music in our stomach :-). Our drive for tonight will get us out of Tabuk Province which is a lovely province.  If it wasn't that far from Riyadh, surely we would love to come again for a visit.  Tabuk offers so many attractions for anyone who love to explore the kingdom.  From sandy rocky mountains to coastal beaches.  There are more than 10 islands and shores offered by Heqel, Duba and Wajh district. Not to forget on the heritage of historical places right here in Tabuk. So many that we haven't covered though so many that we felt grateful for having the opportunity to visit.  Prophet Muhammad s.a.w in a hadith about Tabuk said, "if you were destined to live a long life you will see in here fields full of vegetation."

Our destination for tonight is Sakaka, one of the hitorical and archelogical city in Jouf province.  From the GPS, it will be another more than two hours drive before we reached Sakaka, which that means another two hours with our starving stomach.  Wow.. what a challenging day for the family.  A day of fasting with great energy to pull out our car out, no bath yet from our camp day, but blessed with a beauty of god’s creation and the beauty of heart.. Subhanallah.

As we reached Sakaka, we bought some foods and directly looking for any nearby hotels that we could found at an acceptable rate.  At least Sakaka gave us a better option compare to other towns we have been thru.  Finally we end up the day with a decent hotel which insist us taking two rooms though actually the four bedded room was big enough for all of us.

All in all, what a day.. another interesting day to be remembered in our life. Tomorrow is Eid-ul-Adha. This is going to be our 6th time spending Eid without our extended family. And in that every Eids, we really missing the air, sounds, feels and looks of Eid in our home country. This is something that we are trading with what we are looking for here. How long we could keep our missing feeling, we will see…  -tw&eth

1st room: 3 beds room for ladies and kids

2nd room: 2 beds room for Abah and Abang

Rihlah 7 : Day 2–> Tayma, Tabuk

12 October 2013

We want to start our day early. There is so much that we want to see as yesterday was a long day in the car. Our previous experience of Tabuk was only getting to the border before entering Jordan October last year. We are expecting very much excitement with this trip as we dedicated our one week holiday exploring these two northern region which are full of archeological history and red sea beauty.

At around 8.30 am, we move out from our hotel to Haddaj Well which is in the centre of Tayma. Tayma is a small town about 260 km from Tabuk.

Some interesting findings on Tayma, "Recent archaeological discoveries show that Tayma has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. In 2010, the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities announced the discovery of a rock near Tayma bearing an inscription of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III. This was the first confirmed find of a hieroglyphic inscription on Saudi soil. Based on this discovery, researchers have hypothesized that Tayma was part of an important land route between the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula and the Nile Valley." - source from wikipedia

Our first location for today is Haddaj Well. Following our GPS, we reach Haddaj Well in no time....just about 10 minutes from our hotel. We drove into small roads with dates farm at both roadsides. The view of dates farm so near to us was a great feeling. Moreover with the ripe season currently on-going, we can see do much dates hanging from the tree. The smell of the fresh urban air was great as well. It reminds us of our sweet hometown back home...the greens.

Driving along the greens sure boost the spirits…feels like back home

Dates and arabian land…can’t be seperated…

There wasn't any people seen around except a guy who was sweeping in front of his shop not far from the well. The area was gated and lock. We were frustrated not able to see from near. After asking the guy who was sweeping earlier, he told us that the site is closed. When we asked whether it opens or not, he just told us no. With no luck, we assume that the place is closed like most other historical places in Saudi which were normally not open for public..whether they leave as it is with no caretaker or just lock it where people just look from outside.

Not to dampen our mood, we drove  around  to enjoy the view and the smell of dates farm. After enough sight seeing, we decided to head to the museum of Tayma not far as well from the area. About 5 minutes drive, we reach the Museum of Antiquies and Archeological of Tayma.

We felt relief finding out the museum was open. At least we could find some useful knowledge for our family after not able to enter the Haddaj Well. We were welcome with a smile in the museum. The museum was very informative with the ancient history of Tayma. They serve us with history from the beginning of the Modern Stone Age(from the 10th and the 4th millennium BC), then the Bronze age, the Iron age, the Islamic Era until this modern days. There is too much information for us to absorb with this very short time. We are lucky that our kids likes the museum as well. The museum showroom were very well display with photography, painting and archeological displays. We were actually impress a small town in Saudi could have a very well organise showroom.

At the museum…luv it.  Wish have whole day to absorb everything..

Once finished with our tour, they offered us with Tayma dates and Arabian coffee. A very warm welcome by them. Alhamdulillah, one of the guy could speak some English. They gave us so many brochures that excite us more in exploring Saudi. Never knew that there were so many attractions that we could explore after looking into the brochures. Luckily we visit the museum, we only knew that Haddaj Well was opened to Public. We were just there too early. It is only opened at 9.30 am. We wish they could hang at the gate of the opening hours for visitors to aware of the opening time.

Once we reach there at around 10 pm, we were the first visitor to come. WE were impress of the architectures and the water inside the well. There were even fishes inside the well! WIth the brochures in hand about the history of Haddaj Well, the visit was worthwhile.

This well is thought to date back to the 6th century B.C. It was rebuilt more than once through its history. It is also one of the biggest archaeological wells of the world. It is 13 meters deep and 250 sq metres. 

More than 50 years ago, while restoring Haddaj Well, the discovery of an older wall made of reddish and very eroded stones proved that the well was much larger than what it is now.Thanks to this well, agriculture was one of the main activities in Tayma, especially growing palm trees. It also could provide enough water for 77 camels to drink at the same time. The source of the water is a spring in the south-western corner of the well. This well is still providing water for the neighboring farms through 31 canals.  

From http://saudi-archaeology.com/sites/tayma/ : Bir Haddaj, located at Tayma, is one of the most famous wells from ancient times and is an outstanding architectural landmark for the region. The well is known to date back at least to the middle of the 6th century BCE, during the Babel occupation. In the 5th century BCE, all of Tayma was abandoned and buried, so the well fell into disuse for many centuries until Suleiman al-Gonaim restored it to a functional state. In 1373H (1953), King Saud, May Allah Bless His Soul, added four pumps to increase production and help local farmers to obtain sufficient water for their crops. Its various parts have been repaired through the decades, and His Royal Highness Prince Fahad bin Sultan bin Saud has authentically restored it to its previous appearance.

At the entrance which was closed at first…

Haddaj Well….surrounded by dates farm

Archaeological well thought to date back to the 6th century B.C.

It is 13 meters deep and 250 sq metres…very deep indeed…with fishes as well

Not long while we were still exploring the well, a few people starts coming in for visits. We felt happy actually to see other people coming in especially seeing the locals appreciating the historical heritage as we can learn a lot for our future generations from history.

As the kids also had enough time running around ;-)...its time for us to fill in our stomach. Not knowing any good food around, we tried to find any fast-food available and only able to bump into Tazaj. It was the only known fast food available in the GPS. Feeling full and energetic, we continue to our next destination which was Tabuk Fort. There were other historical site that we just knew from the pamphlet but unlucky we had no idea of their whereabouts. Again, we reach the fort at the wrong timing as it is only opened after Asr. Well...at least we have reach there and we were happy to see that the fort was very well preserve. An act that the Saudi Government should have long done to their other valuable historical sites.

Tabuk Fort…only opened after Asr

It was a great day and the visit to the museum really inspired us to explore Saudi. We didn't know that Saudi actually have so much attractions to offer. We hope the brochures on Saudi Tourism and Heritages could be distribute widespread, easily. We really thank the people at the museum for their hospitality and the plenty of brochures they provide us.

Tayma do have really interesting miniatures and beautiful landscape..able to snap part of it

We were running out of time as Tabuk is still nearly 300 km ahead or to proceed to Madaen Shuaib city in Al Bad' which is further up nearer to the gulf of Aqaba. As we will be heading to Jouf which require us to go through Tabuk, we we decided to go ahead running along the costal of Red Sea which will cover Maqna and Duba. Without waiting until Asr for its opening hour, we continue our journey to Al Bad' which takes us another 500 km of travelling.

When evening starts darken we were already in the middle of a highway within valleys of a high rocky mountains. We were not sure of which road we have taken but it was a small winding one lane road highland valley. The view must be spectacular if it was during daytime. Thinking of the dark and lonely road freak us actually thinking of if anything happened, what will we do in this lonely area with no passers-by. We pray may Allah protect us along our way till we reach our destination.

After a long stretch of more than 100 km lonely road, we finally reach a small town. We couldn't find any rest area or restaurant for our break. From the GPS, hotels and restaurants keep on giving us options of places in Egypt. The closest is only to Duba which we need to turn back.

Not to waste our time, we continue driving to Al Bad' hoping to find a hotel there which at the end a failure as well. Asking people around at the gas station also gave us a bad news. Will we be camping by roadside then??? With a little bit of hope, we tried to enter the Madaen Shuaib hoping there will be a guesthouse as probably there will be a few number of tourist interested to visit the place.

Alhamdulillah, after a small hope given by one guy at a petrol station telling us they should be one further at Bad' town, we continue to drive following the signboard entering the town. At the end we find the hotel....the one and only for SR200/night. It was a big room actually...two bedroom, living room and kitchen. The living room was ok as they place an arabian seats but the bedroom was scary. Haha..not because it was dark but the bed sheet looks so old and dusty gust a scary feeling of whether we should sleep or not on the bed.

At the end the kids decided to sleep outside along the arabian seats which was enough for all of them. With no option, me and my husband had to sleep on the bed but we didn't dare to use the bed sheet. Haha..it sure was a memorable night staying in a hotel like this. Nevertheless, we are grateful for the experience we had. There is always a good thing of any events that happened in our life. One thing for sure, everyone remembers this hotel out of all the hotels that we have stayed so far! ;-)

Let see what's more ahead waiting for us tomorrow!

Maassalamah. – tw&