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The Road to Riyadh 13th January 2003 An easier day's driving lay ahead of us - our journey from Buraida to Riyadh would be entirely on road - but we still had several hundred miles to cover and would not reach Riyadh until the evening. Before leaving Buraida, we had to try to identify areas that Shakespear had photographed 90 years ago and take our own photographs - our guides had started the detective work the evening before, but their task was not exactly easy as I could only give them very poor photocopies of a couple of photographs that I had found in various books in the UK. Unfortunately the Royal Geographical Society had, in their wisdom, decided not to help us with our research and refused to give us decent copies of the photographs that they hold - something to do with the fact that they were concerned the copies might be stolen from us in Saudi Arabia (rather amusing, considering the Saudi's already have high quality copies of most of Shakespear's photographs!). Fortunately for us, the guides did a remarkable job and we were able, once again, to get the exact shots we wanted, including a magnificent view across Wadi Rumma, Saudi Arabia's longest wadi, and several shots inside Buraida. |
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On to Anaiza, where we were taken up onto higher ground from where we had an excellent view across the town. The 'high ground' turned out to be the driveway of a house belonging to the wealthiest farmer in Anaiza - quite a farmhouse! Photographs taken, the owner gave us a quick tour of the grounds, including his modern 'bait char' equipped with air conditioning and huge stereo system - what a great place to have a party - definately something to build back home. |
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No time to sit around - on to Mudnib and up onto one of the surrounding hills for a better look at the old town below - and more coffee, tea and dates provided by the latest additions to our entourage. We were now up to a seven car convoy - fantastic!
The next leg of our journey to Riyadh took us through an area of deep orange, rolling sand dunes - thankfully this time we could stick to the road, otherwise it could have been a long and arduous crossing.
The dunes ended and our guides departed - we were back down to three cars. The road took us through Qasb, past large salt flats, and several old villages with many of the traditional buildings still standing - just. Had it been Richard and I on are own the drive could have lasted days - you see, every old building is an Aladdin's cave, waiting to be discovered - but with Abdullah and co. in tow there could have been a mutiny if we had stopped at each building, muttering 'it's OK, we'll only be a minute...' |
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And finally, with the sun setting behind us, we arrived in Riyadh. In the the middle of a huge desert plain, Riyadh is a colossal neon oasis rising out of the sand - quite a change for us and certainly a huge contrast to the mud brick town known by Shakespear. Two buildings dominate the Riyadh skyline - the Faisalia Tower, an extraordinary glass pyramid with a giant globe perched on top and, my favourite, the Kingdom Tower; a tall, thin building crowned with two spikes, the tops of which are linked by a bridge and are lit up at night, the colour changing gently from blue, pink, orange and yellow - quite mesmerising to watch.
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