Mad'in Saleh Trip Day 2

Last week I posted about a trip last month and challenged folks to identify the structure in the image below. My wonderful daughter Shannon came closest with " I'm guessing the circles in the sand are from some kind of plate that was set down during a meal break... Either that or desert 'crop' circles!"  No, not a plate imprint, but it is a kind of crop circle.

If you click on the image to see it full size you'll be able to see what I mean, but I am calling this a Wind Circle.  The grooves are dug by the plant as the wind rotates the plant in a full circle! These are very cool and I've seen several of them - fortunately sometimes I look down while walking!

The second day of this trip started with an SUV trip into the desert. We started from the hotel at dawn and had breakfast in an amazing canyon at 0900.  I don't know a name for where we went, but it was just outside the town of Al Ula, and only a few miles from Mad'in Saleh. It is surprising how much life is out here in the sand! It didn't matter where we went there were some amazing plants - some tiny, some big trees, sometimes just a wispy bit of green but there would be so much a whole field area would be tinged with it. It was an amazing place to see.

         

The sand in some places is hundreds of feet deep and completely buries the mountains, and we were just racing all over, up and down these dunes. There were seven cars with experienced drivers, and it was more fun than I expected it to be, especially when we lined up at the top edge of a dune and then raced down. Quite a ride!

This whole place was amazing - in some areas it looked like the Grand Canyon in the U.S., just not as deep, but the canyons went on for miles.  In other places the erosion patterns reminded me of Bryce Canyon in Zion National Park in the U.S. - tall pillars eroded out of the mountain and standing alone. Very impressive place.

We had a traditional Arabic breakfast in a canyon, on carpets. It was simple fare but delicious after being up and very busy for many hours already!  But everyone was game and we had a great time.

 After breakfast we headed back to another area of tombs, in the mountains overlooking Al Ula. These were situated high up on the cliff face, just rectangular openings chiseled out. At this point it was midday and very hot - which is why we started at dawn so we could a large part of the day done before the heat set in. Lunch was in the middle of a date palm plantation at the edge of Al Ula, and it was delightful under the trees, sitting on red carpets laid out for us, and eating grilled kabobs and vegetables with slaw, beans, and macaroni and cheese!

In case you missed the video in the last entry, click on the palm trees above to view it here!  After lunch we reloaded the bus and headed for the city of Ha'il about 3.5 hours away to start the flights back to Dammam, and I arrived back in my room just after midnight. This was an aggressive trip, and physically demanding, but wow did we pack a lot in!!  If you are in Saudi Arabia and wish to see the country, I highly recommend the tour operator who put the trip together, www.amazingtours.info, and look forward to my next opportunity to travel with them! #Mada'in Saleh  #Saudi Arabia