Visiting Saudi Arabia is a pretty tough place. Well its not really that different honestly from home. Sure there are restrictions on certain things like the lack of movie theaters and closings of businesses during prayer times, but overall life moves as it does in other parts of the world as well. One of the toughest things in Saudi though is that … [Read more...]
Category: Asia
Old City of Jeddah Saudi Arabia (UNESCO WHS)
I have always liked Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea in present day Saudi Arabia. Jeddah has been a city welcoming pilgrims, travelers, and business people for centuries across various empires that have come through this area. Famously Jeddah is the entry point for most of the pilgrims who come for the Hajj (as well as Umrah) and for it the city … [Read more...]
Photo Essay: The old town of Al-Ula – Saudi Arabia
Al-Ula, the beautiful oasis in North Eastern Saudi Arabia has a long and storied history. People have been living in this region for centuries…well actually millennia. It makes sense as it is the reason we are here, to see the ancient city of Mada’in Saleh and of course the surrounding regions too. What you don’t realize is that there is so much … [Read more...]
Into Madain Saleh (مدائن صالح) – Saudi Arabia
I’ve been wanting to visit Madain Saleh (مدائن صالح) for years. Ever since I heard there was another beautiful Nabataean place outside of Petra. The photos of Mada’in Saleh reminded me a lot of my time in Petra…but without all the tourists and infrastructure. Perhaps Petra before the fame and notoriety of being one of the “New World Wonders”. And … [Read more...]
The Trials of Tourism in Saudi Arabia
It was early in Medina airport as I wandered among the arrivals halls. I barely slept on my 2am flight from Dammam, and slept even less following my 4am layover in Riyadh. But heck, I’m just glad I finally made it out here. Now if I could only figure out whom I was meeting. Travel in Saudi Arabia is a bit well…undeveloped. Solo … [Read more...]
Can you save with a Japan Rail Pass?
I get this question a lot from readers. Is the Japan Rail pass a good value? I mean it’s expensive and honestly, I really don’t want to spend so much on a train if I can save in other ways. Travel in Japan is expensive, it’s just a fact of the situation there. Yes, there are opportunities to use slower trains between some of the destinations but … [Read more...]
Travels in the Eastern Province: Hofuf – Saudi Arabia
- It was one of my first weekends in Saudi Arabia, finally getting here after a disastrous attempts at getting visas that required me at one point to even replace my passport. The folks had already been here for several months, mostly just traveling to Bahrain and sitting around the hotel pool. They were antsy to go and seemingly since I was … [Read more...]
Is Jordan safe to Visit?
You are going to Jordan? Isn’t it dangerous? There were a lot of variations of this question when I had decided that I would be traveling to Jordan, to study, and live. Most people thought I was absolutely crazy. But was I? To be honest, I hate these types of posts, but with the amount of misinformation out there it is certainly an important … [Read more...]
50 Great things to do in Tokyo Japan
There are easily more than 50 things to do Tokyo, so it was not hard to come up with this list. But start here and see how many you can get through. Do you have your own places you love that you would want to add? Have breakfast sushi at the Tsukiji Fish Market Watch a show at the Kabuki Theater in Ginza Get a beautiful view of the city … [Read more...]
Photo Essay: Wanderings in Salalah Oman
Salalah Oman is one of those places that is so beautiful and so magical yet so few people know anything about it. Surprisingly that even is the case among Arabs. Perhaps being peaceful and quiet means people generally ignore you. Additionally Oman is not as flashy as some of its neighbors to the North such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai. And honestly … [Read more...]
Thoughts on Returning to Jordan
Can you return to where you have been? Would it be at all the same? It’s been a weird year back in the states. I sorta fell into a mid-east role without any mid-east work and various worries about unemployment or even continued employment but as anything time keeps moving forward. I realized I had been losing my Arabic at an … [Read more...]
Art Exhibit – Zaatari Refugee Children – Amman Jordan
I’m always the last person to know anything that seems to go on around town. As I went into my new favorite café (Café Fann wa Chai) in Jabel Al-Webdeih I noticed they were having an art exhibit that opened tonight. The exhibit is sponsored by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and featuring artwork from Syrian refugees in the Zaatari … [Read more...]
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