The Sand Blushes under the Sun’s Kiss

Visiting the Sand dunes in Saudi Arabia, during the middle of April is definitely not a good idea. Yet, our time in the Kingdom is limited. We are not sure to experience the good climate of the holy land again! Therefore we planned our trip to the ‘Red Sand’ along with the members in our NOMA family.

The so called Red sand is a location situated 40 Kms away from the city of Riyadh. It’s a well known place for weekend hangout among Saudi residents. The place is famous for desert walks, bike riding and the sheer joy of a picnic.

Considering the climate of Riyadh in the month of April, we scheduled our trip for early morning hours on a Friday. Our cars started in line from Hara around 5.30 am, when the sun was shining bright above us. My family got into the Appuetan’s car. The choice was worth! Appuetan (Real name-Thrivikraman) who lives in Riyadh for the past 25 years updated us about the desert valleys, hanging bridge, forts and other destinations in Riyadh.

Roadside Mountains

The interesting ride was made more enjoyable with the view of rock walls on both sides of the road. The steepest roads were earlier covered with mountains. Later the government gave contract to the Bin Laden group to construct the wide roads. The construction firm has done a remarkable work by breaking the roads amidst the dry mountains with dynamites and high tech machineries.

Riyadh Check Post

The sun was shining golden across the natural forts and mountains as we drove further. We crossed the Riyadh check post adorned with Arabic sculptures.  We couldn’t decipher the meaning of the art form and ourselves gave the conclusion that it is somehow related with valor and war.

Stalls of desert bikes started to appear in view as we neared the Red Sand area. The landscape looked so different from those we have seen inside the city or at the Edge of the world. The steep cliffs succeeded by dark mud grounds and later by the red sand! After one hour of drive, we reached our destination.

We were the first ones to reach our destination. We took a short desert safari while waiting for the others. Interestingly, this short safari was more fun that the one we had in Dubai.

As we parked our car, the men from the bike stalls started swarming around. Appuetan, who has got a knack for bargaining, started his attempts. He reduced the charge considerably. There were many types of desert bikes. The highly priced big bikes were meant to go up the sand dunes. Sreejith and Sudeep took the lowest priced bikes and started riding. They tried to get their bikes up the hill and had a tough time to get out of the sinking sands.

I started walking and soon found that it’s not easy to wade with my drowning feet in the sand.  Though it was early morning, the plain sand was already tampered with footprints and ride marks. The sand blushed with the first kiss of sun rays. The vibration of life was pulsing underneath the sand layers. The sand remained untouched away from the trodden paths. Among the red sand lonely bushes glowed proudly for their power to stand amidst the trying ambience. 

Continues in Wroom Wroom... It’s Desert Bikes

Localizer Mall

Localizer mall in the capital of Kingdom is a hub of elite lifestyle. If you are in look out for expensive T-shirts, extravagant outfits, posh vehicles, diamonds etc. you are in the right mall here. Attributing to our third world lifestyle, we had never ventured the mall till previous night.

We were in the move of exploring the food courts of Riyadh and ended up parking our car in the spacious parking lot of Localizer mall. It was around 10p.m on a Monday night and the mall was comparatively deserted. For the first 15 minutes of our exploration in the mall, we couldn’t see any woman at all. Young men roamed around in groups. I started to get a weird feeling owing to my uncovered head and Indian looks.

We had not planned to purchase anything from the mall and after the initial wandering, headed straight to the food court. There were stalls for European, Arabian, Chinese and Italian dishes. Interestingly, only the Italian stall named Pastalitia had customers in front of it. We went there and soon found the reason behind the crowd. 

As we approached the stall, delicious smell of pastas wafted the air. After a quick look at the menu, we finalized for Chicken and shrimp pastas. The man at the food stall took the order and arranged the ingredients into the pan according to our taste preferences.  Soon our pan was in the queue to the kitchen fire along others' pans. 

Chicken & Shrimp Pasta

The wait to receive our pasta was quite a test with the tempting smell floating around. The cook was managing two pans together and ours was the sixth in the queue. After fifteen minutes of waiting, we soon had our tray accompanied by salads, garlic breads and colas. We went into the family eat out section adorned in the model of a green house. The pasta tasted so delicious and we decided that if for nothing else, we have to visit this place again for this unique taste.

Shreya in front of new car model

As we got out after the dinner, the crowd at the Mercedes Benz showroom attracted us. It was the launch of a new car model and people were marvelling the vehicle. The car was in limelight! Even Saudi women in pardas were edging to take the snapshot of the new vehicle. We also joined the crowd. Though I am almost illiterate about automobiles, I couldn’t resist gawking at the style of the new vehicle. Also, the mini models of the cars displayed in the counter were worth to watch for once.

As we came out of the Benz showroom, a pre-adolescent Saudi Prince passed us. The slim teenager with the baby face and two body guards of the same age was easily distinguishable with his Bisht¹ over the thawb². I resisted the temptation to photograph him in fear of the Saudi law³ that ban public photography.

We came out of the mall with a filled stomach and fulfilled mind. There are much more that we have to do in Saudi Arabia.

1.       Bisht: It’s a cloak for royal men worn on special occasions for prestige.

2.       Thawb: Literally the word means ‘garment. It’s a white robe with long sleeves worn by ritualistic Saudi men.

3.     Saudi law on Photography:  Public photography is not permitted in Saudi Arabia. It is concerned about the security of the place, local sensitivities and women’s privacy.

The Carpets of the Kingdom

When I’d first entered our rented apartment in Riyadh, I was surprised to step into the soft material that pampered my feet.  I marveled by the beautiful designs of the soft carpet that stretched to the four walls of the room in. I was yet to learn that carpets have a significant role in the interior decoration of Riyadh homes.

Though, carpet shopping hold a core role in home furnishing at Riyadh, I never had to go for the same. My home was already furnished with neat carpets that required cleaning once in a while. Therefore, I had no idea on the selection of carpets as we set out for our first shopping for carpets in Riyadh. 

We started around 6p.m to the carpet shops in the area of Exit 9. The hot summer sun was shining as if the time has moved just into the evening. However, cool air of air conditioners welcomed us as we entered one of the carpet galleries in the area.

Colorful carpets in splendid designs adorned the walls and floors of the shop. I felt like entering into an art gallery with masterful paintings. Indeed, it was aesthetic owing to the talent behind the carpet weaving. Apart from the Kingdom, most of the carpets came from Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. It seems, there is a history for some exquisite carpets!

At first, we started to check out for the woven rugs. Since we were buying them for furnishing our home at India, we didn’t wait to check for the wall to wall carpets.  We were confused on which one to choose as we flapped through imaginative designs in rich colors. Finally we settled for one that suited our taste and budget.

It was then that I spotted the tufted carpets. They looked very comfy and plush. They were definitely destined for a cosy feeling in the bedrooms. We selected one polyester tufted rug in black and red shades for our master bedroom.  After getting it into our home our little Shreya is having a fun time on that!

After closing down our account in the first shop, we went to the neighbor showroom. Here, we were planning to get a rug for Shreya’s room. We finalized three carpets with the designs of Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse and Speed Car for Shreya and her cousins. Our friends were happy to get the carpets with holy Makkah and Madinah designed on them. The deal was fixed for SR 100 per each carpet. However before we’d finished our shopping, the call for Salah came and we had to wait outside the shop.

We spent twenty minutes of the prayer time by watching the traffic on the roads.  Darkness was setting a blue shade on the leaves of Date Palms. The same happened as we returned to the shop after the Salah. The price of the carpets had increased to SR 150 per each one during the last twenty minutes. We lost our trust in the shop and came out without the rugs.

The time was around 9p.m as we reached back from shopping. When I got fresh up and hit the bed I thought of those people who had told that life at Riyadh is so dry. Life is definitely entertaining for us in this land with new discoveries and shopping experiences!