Since international trips aren’t an option right now, we’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to travel more within Saudi. This weekend we drove 5 hours inland to Al Bahah, a city in the mountains, beloved as a travel destination for Saudis due to its cooler temperatures and amazing parks.
We’ve been astounded, as always when traveling in this country, how kind and generous the people are. Several people have approached us at different locations and welcomed us to the city, assuring us that we could contact them if we needed anything at all. We were invited to a home for dinner (tho the kids had a meltdown and we didn’t get to accept their offer), a man took us under his wing and bartered for us at the market, and after I complimented these lovely ladies on their real flower crowns (an adornment originally belonging to a tribe of Saudi mountain men that dates back 2000 years but that is now sold as a souvenir in the area) they insisted that I take one of theirs as a gift.
🌼🌼🌼
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I shouldn’t even be surprised anymore – we already know the generosity and hospitality here is unmatched.
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At first, I definitely mourned the missed opportunity to visit America this summer, however, I’m grateful for the push it gave us to explore more of Saudi. Now that I’ve gotten a small taste of a different region (and I know we can get by on our combined, haphazard Arabic knowledge), I’m longing to venture out more.
