These are shots taken during the drive from Jeddah to Riyadh.The drive to and from Jeddah for us Riyadh-based people, was long but not entirely tiring, if only for the views along the road. Stretches of desert gave way to mountain ranges, with the topography changing from sandy orange to grayish rock to greenish vegetation. Desolate-looking but breathtaking landscapes. Camels grazing and camels on backs of pick-up trucks. Isolated townships. Speeding cars. It was more than a thousand kilometers of fine roads and highways, with less than ten checkpoints with only about two that were actually manned. [Well, we drove during Ramadan and the news had not exactly been full of stories about shootings or bombings by deviants - aka terrorists....] Fuel and gas stations surely abounded but they of course paled in comparison to our mall-like Shell, Caltex and Petron stops dotting SLEX and NLEX. We stopped at one such station for what Gary called "rice and flies" and had our fill of unenticing chicken kabsa (grilled chicken on a bed of rice -- you could also have lamb if you like -- with a scoop of salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, without dressing, on the side), washed down with soda (the restaurant only sold Pepsi products!). [On our way to Jeddah from Riyadh, we had food and drinks with us since we were anticipating that food outlets would be closed during the day because of Ramadan.]
This time, we did not encounter the baboons of Taif since traffic was re-routed away from the Taif mountains. Just as well; we drove on even roads and highways and saved ourselves from getting dizzy had we gone up and down the winding roads of the mountains.
