Saudi Arabia Travel Guide | rama toshi arya's blog

Looking in, Looking out. Ushaiqer heritage village in Saudi Arabia’s Najd desert has been around for 1,500 years.

Before Saudi Arabia’s settlements transformed into steel and glass extravaganzas, they used to be made of mud-brick and rock-shards, built out of the earth they stood on. Not surprising then that very little remains of them. Over time they crumbled back into the alluvial oases or rocky outcrops on which they once stood.

Their styles were regional, with architectural features adapted to climate and available material, stamped with motifs distinctive to the local tribes. Two of the Kingdom’s most picturesque surviving villages [amongst very many] are Thee Ain and Ushaiqer. One is in the Al-Baha mountains, and another in the Najd desert. And they could not be more different from each other! Continue reading →

What’s there in Saudi Arabia for the traveller? Aah, you’d be surprised.

Hidden deep inside the desert which covers 95 percent of its terrain are historical and natural wonders which are all the more extraordinary because one could not access them till recently. It is only on 27 September, 2019, that the Kingdom launched its tourist visa.

These treasures span the nation’s very essence—spread across a wide arc, both geographical and in time. From plentiful prehistoric petroglyphs in Jubbah, to impressive remnants of Saudi Arabia’s earliest civilizations from the 1st millennium BC in Dadan. From Hegra’s mystical windswept 2,000-year-old Nabataean tombs, to the medieval town of AlUla steeped in stories. Jump to more recent times, and one gets to explore Adobe forts from the Saudi States in Ha’il to the country’s vision for the future through the ‘Mirror’ aka Maraya Concert Hall nestled in the vast Arabian Desert.

Interesting? Mind-boggling is more the word. Let me take you on a photo essay from Ha’il to AlUla’s Maraya and the secrets the desert guards oh so zealously along the way. ❤️ Continue reading →