The plan was simple. My family of four — my wife and three children — decided to experience Saudi Arabia in all its glory. We got our trusty car ready for a trip that would take us from Dammam on the Arabian Gulf to Jeddah on the Red Sea. It was a journey that involved 5,000 kilometers of driving. The children were delighted at the prospect of an adventure during their school break.
The first thing to do was to get the car checked. The technicians suggested we replace the front tires, which we did promptly. The weather was harsh — 45 degrees Celsius in most of the cities and humidity beyond description along the coast. The plan was to avoid driving when the sun was at its peak. The first leg of the journey was from Dammam to Riyadh. We left around 5 p.m. The sun still had an hour-and-a-half to go down. That is generally a perfect time to take to the highway. The gradual darkening of the horizon makes you comfortable. Your eyes get slowly adjusted on the road ahead.
Dammam to Riyadh is a familiar track for us. At 5 p.m. the highway was empty because of Ramadan, devoid of the truck traffic from Dammam Port and the Riyadh-to-Bahrain crowd. It was perfect for us. After driving for an hour we made a stop at one of the rest stations along the highway to break our fast and to pray Maghreb. It was a beautiful feeling. We took to the road after a strong cup of coffee. We drove to Riyadh in another three hours. We decided to take a break, have our sahour, or pre-dawn breakfast, and then start the second leg of our journey. Riyadh is a big city and has a unique feel and a distinct landscape. The city’s two most prominent skyscrapers, the Kingdom Tower and the Faisaliah Tower, were shimmering on the horizon as we neared the city center. The city had a festive look, and there were billboards everywhere, touting Ramadan sales at the shopping malls. We broke the journey, had food and a catnap. After morning prayers, we were back on the road.
As we left Riyadh, the mile markers indicated that Makkah was more than 900 km away. Taif was 100 km or so closer. Some of the scenery after we left Riyadh was dramatic. The color of the landscape changed. It turned red — as we see in pictures of the Grand Canyon. On the left side we saw the famous steel suspension bridge, which resembles San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
The highway from Riyadh to Makkah is world-class. It is four lanes on both sides. It is massive. There are gas stations and rest houses all along the highway. As the sun rose we started feeling tired. It was time to stop and catch some sleep. We must have driven about five hours and covered about 600 kilometers. When we decided to stop, Taif was only 300 kilometers away. There was a Bangladeshi innkeeper with a cluster of rooms like a rest house. A room with three cots and an attached washroom cost SR20 hourly. The room was small but nicely furnished. The air-conditioning was noisy but cold. We were so tired that the whir of the AC had no effect on us. We slept like logs in this strange place. We must have spent five hours there. After a good sleep and hot shower we got back into our car. It was cool. We were lucky to have had a shady parking spot. It must have been around 3:30 p.m. when we left that place feeling refreshed and ready for the next leg.
For those coming in from the Eastern Province, the meeqat, or the boundary where one has to don the ihraam (the two pieces of seamless white robes) to perform Umrah, is a place close to Taif. Before we embarked on the journey, we had decided to head straight to Jeddah and then to start for Umrah. The reason being we did not want to take our children to the Holy Mosque because we knew it would be packed. We wanted to leave them with friends in Jeddah, and so we reached Taif about 6 p.m. It was beautiful and exhilarating. After the intense heat we endured on the way, Taif was a great relief. For the first time since we started, we opened windows and felt the cool Taif air. The kids loved it.
We opted for Al-Hada route between Taif and Makkah, which winds through the Sarawat mountains and goes through the city. The sun was a red orb as we began our descent from Al-Hada on our way to Makkah. It was the most beautiful leg of the journey. As Makkah appeared on the horizon, it was a different feeling. At every intersection, young kids were distributing dates, laban and water. Streetlights came on. We took the road to Jeddah and saw the huge Makkah clock tower in the distance. It was 6.40 p.m. There was still another 10 minutes or so to go. We stopped at one of the highway stops and broke our fast in the company of fellow travelers. By 8 we were in Jeddah. Jeddah has changed for the better. The underpasses and the flyovers have changed the city’s appearance. Returning to our home of several years we were happy. The children were even happier when they saw their favorite chicken outlet, Al-Baik, on Tahlia Street. The city looked like the bride of the Red Sea. It was all decked out for Ramadan. There were lights everywhere, and the city seemed to be in a festive mood despite the humidity.
Before sunset on the 14th of Ramadan we were sitting near the Holy Kaaba in Makkah’s Grand Mosque as a throng of the faithful circumambulated the Kaaba. There were still 45 minutes before iftar. We were sitting exactly opposite the gold-plated Kaaba door. As time passed, young Saudis started unrolling sheets of plastic and soon began piling up dates of every description. Then there was the Arabic coffee and zamzam water. Hands went up in prayer. Tears welled and for a few moments everything seemed blurry. Whenever one is in Makkah, it only reinforces one’s faith in Islam. The simplicity of Islam’s message: Peace for everyone; peace for all humanity was on our lips.
It had been quite some months since we visited the Prophet’s City. Instead of going back to Dammam from Jeddah, we headed to Madinah on the way home. Madinah is 400 km from Jeddah. On the way you pass Thuwal, a village now famous for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. You also pass Rabigh, the place where King Abdullah Economic City will come up. We left Jeddah around midnight for Madinah. We must have been very close to Madinah when we realized the time to eat predawn meal was approaching. We broke the journey at a busy chicken place (Al-Tazaj) on the highway. A little later we left for Madinah. Just being in Madinah transforms one. In the distance we could see the towering minarets of the Prophet’s Mosque washed in white light. Our hearts fluttered. We always dream of Madinah — Muslims yearn to come to this city, but only a lucky few make it. We considered ourselves lucky.
After we got the kids settled in a nearby hotel we headed to the mosque. Men and women were praying there. I headed into the men’s section and went as close as I could to “rawdah,” the place where the Prophet is buried. The feeling cannot be described in words.
In the evening just before Maghreb we went to the Holy Mosque. As we entered the majestic courtyard of the mosque, Ali Ibrahim Al-Qassem, a Saudi lad of 14, got hold of my son and I and invited us to be his guest inside the mosque. He wanted us to break our fast at his table. At one moment he even took hold of the shoes I was carrying to place them in an appropriate shoe rack. I was mighty embarrassed by his gesture, but he was proud to do it. “You are our guest,” he told us, “and it gives us great pride to serve you.” Muslims will forever remain indebted to the people of Madinah (the Ansars) for their unflinching support to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in those early and critical days of Islam 14 centuries ago.
We said our night prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque, checked out of our hotel and left for Al-Quba Mosque. This is the oldest mosque in Madinah, and according to the inscription at its gate, the Prophet used to come here every week. According to a Hadith, praying here is almost like performing Umrah. We went to Al-Quba a little before midnight, said our prayers and then headed for Riyadh.
The highway to Riyadh from Madinah is relatively quiet. There are not many gas stations or rest houses. We were advised to keep our gas tank filled at all times. That advice came in very handy. It was about 12:30 a.m. when we left Madinah. The moon was full, and it prompted us to wax eloquently about the beautiful desert landscape that shimmered in the moonlight. We passed through the Saudi heartland of Buraidah and Qassim and stopped at two rest houses on the way. The next evening we were in Riyadh. Here we broke our fast and then headed to Dammam the next morning. By 10 a.m. we were back home after traveling nearly 5,000 km from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea.
We learned that Saudi Arabia is a diverse land that changes every 200 km or so. It is not just a desert. There are lush green highlands and mountain ranges, white sands and red sands and volcanic rock in places. There are camels galore and monkeys that range much further from Taif than you might imagine.
We also learned that the Kingdom’s highway system makes it possible to travel coast to coast. Five thousand kilometers is a long way behind the wheel of a car. However arduous it might be, the trip has left me anxious to plan another road trip.
North or south, east or west, the highways are there, ready for you to enjoy them.
