After the perfection of the last trip to the Red Sea we decided we wanted to do it again, this time to share the experience.
We had suggested a few weeks back about another trip and decided on this last weekend to do it. Our friends Erika and William would come with us. Having another two adults, especially one being male, I felt much more at ease about staying over the night.
After a few hiccups with the planning, we finally got the car packed by midnight on Wednesday.
This last week or so has been somewhat emotionally draining on us all, and I know I have been really struggling, so maybe this will help to give us some head space for at least 2 days.
We left the compound at about 8am on Thursday, all ram packed into the car with every provision possibly needed for the journey and the beach.
We headed through Abha to the mountain road - getting a little lost on the way! :-) The car was filled with happy noise of excitement, until we reached the mountains. The silence that fell over the car was somewhat ore inspiring. It is almost impossible not to be moved by the views that hit you once on that road. Nobody really spoke for a while, all taking in their own moments from the same thing we could all see. The cameras, of course, came out to capture these moments to relive at a later date.
As we continued down the mountain, the energy returned, sharing stories, anecdotes and laughter, Somewhat reminding me of a high school road trip, just in slightly more mature and responsible style - due to our ages and the two small children in the back!
Once we had arrived at the bottom of the mountains Erika was recognising where we were, as she had once been to this beach for a sandwich (that is a whole other story in it's own right!) She remembered a mosque that she had seen, colourful and bright, not like mosques she had seen before. So our resident David Bailey was very specific about having a photo of this as well as a camel and a road sign - although not just any road sign - one with Mekkah and Medina on! Which became the source of our entertainment for a while! However, I must add here, that the efforts are well worth it as Erika has a great eye for photography and some of the best pictures of the weekend came from her, so we mustn't mock!
Photos snapped, we arrive in Al Birk, knowing it would be a while before making food on the beach we got some food from one of the many food places you will see around Saudi, and off to the beach we went!
This time we came completely off the road, hoping to give us a little more privacy and not have so many visits from the border police. Thus making it a while before we found a perfect spot, one with little weed in the water, enough space for our camp and no rubbish! OK, so it is a little difficult to find a spot here with NO rubbish, but a little less than some areas! During this we found flamingos and pelicans - a marvelous site in the wild. Although the flamingos did confuse Joey to thinking that we were in fact in Africa!
So we have our spot!
Our own little space!
A little slice of paradise here in Saudi!
After getting the car stuck in the sand, we began emptying the car! Firstly get the kids some shade, so table and umbrella up, whilst the wind breaks go up, for our privacy! Within half an hour the camp was ready, kids were basted in sun cream and in the sea! Minutes later so were me and Erika!
Everyone had a little splash and then served by our 'waiter', Jason, we sat and ate watermelon in the sea too! A given for any paradisaical experience!
Jason had the fire going and cooked our fish for dinner - brought not caught unfortunately! But delicious all the same! With full bellies, we had a little more time in the sea and put up the tents before sunset.
Speaking of the sunset, well this time it wasn't so hazy so it was really clear. Looked like the sun was melting into the sea, everyone appreciated this moment equally, in their own way.
With the kids starting to get a little tired and grumpy, I got them washed and into bed - well the car - but bed all the same. We made their marshmallows and oreos and they ate them in the car whilst watching a movie - giving us adults a little time to calm! Or so you would think, this mommy was like a jack in the box - up and down until they finally fell asleep! Once peace had descended we carried on with the mandatory shisha around the campfire.
During a little paddle in the shallows, I finally managed to point out some bio-luminescence plankton to Erika, I am sure she thought I was mad at first trying to show her little flashes of light in the water, but once they are found you can see them in abundance - our own little light display on the darkest of nights with no moon and a billion stars above!
Bedtime brought some fun - William had fallen asleep on the sand, only to awake with a crab trying to eat him, to which I am sure the crab came back with his friends later in the night to carry Erika away in her tent! The car was HOT, so the AC went on a few times to cool me and the kids down. It was thankfully pretty uneventful, with only one moment of me watching a car in the distance with a little apprehension as to how close it was coming!
So 5.30 am, the heat woke me once again, I sat watching a somewhat ambitious fiddler crab trying to get a huge plastic pot into his hole. I am yet to work out his purpose, as I imagine there is no nutritional value in a plastic pot! As I looked across at the mountains I could see where the sun would rise. Whilst trying to find my camera, I woke Joey, who was incredibly calm and quiet and I knew he would allow me to experience this moment. Just as I was considering waking Erika to see this, I saw her pop out of her tent. This was something I knew she wouldn't want to miss!
The peace and tranquility of this moment can never be put into words, I suggest you try and experience it, it brought such a sense of calm. Erika and me were experiencing the same moment, yet without words, without contact, without comparison. And even though the moment was shared, the personal moment would have been so different. A real example of human kind at it's most complex.
After taking some pictures I thought I would put the kettle on and me, Erika and Joey could sit in our moment with a cup of tea and enjoy the quiet.
Errrr, No!
The border police have found us!
They certainly pick their moments!
Whilst commando crawling across the sand to get to the car to my abaya, I ask Joey to wake his daddy - but remember Joey it is early so daddy may be grumpy - " Daddy, Daddy wake up - the police are here!" - OK, so that will surely wake him!
So a bleary eyed Jason crawls out of his tent and deals with the situation whilst I get an abaya to Erika, who is currently hiding in the sea!
So now everyone is up.
We have a nice cup of tea and get in the sea before 8am. Wow, what a feeling. Jason drives into town to get some breakfast, of course daal and curry, and some beers! Non alcoholic, of course.
By 9am, we are sat by the ocean eating our food and enjoying the moment!
We had planned to stay until about 2pm, but within an hour of having breakfast, the heat was too much for us, it would have spoiled what had been a perfect weekend, so thankfully Erika had the insight to say lets cook the chicken back home!
Thank goodness, at this point I am sat in the car with the AC on, thinking it was just me suffering from the heat!
So without a word we had everything packed and kids cleaned and in the car within less than an hour. We all felt the heat and realised that speaking would actually waste valuable energy.
In the car, AC on full, and off to the shops for some ice cold drinks, anything to lower our body temperature, by this point it was 43 degrees!
The journey back was more quiet and reflective than the arriving journey. We spoke a little about our time, but mostly we sat peacefully with our thoughts and eventually had some sleep.
Reaching the top of the mountain, we were back to reality, not with a hard bump, with more of a feeling of calm. It was OK to be back, aside from anything else we all needed a bath to wash off the salt and sand!
The car unpacked, we dispersed to our respective villas to a wash down to return to ours to finish off the weekend with some dinner.
Upon our return, the temperature had dropped to 27 degrees and the sky looked like something from Armageddon! Rain, thunder, lightening! And my favourite kind of clouds, the bubble cloud, which I hadn't seen here for some time and had only described them to Erika earlier!
Cleaned, full bellies, kids in bed, we sat down to reflect on our time and watch some TV before bed ourselves.
What a wonderful weekend.
Peaceful.
Relaxing.
Tranquil.
Reflective.
And just what we needed.
It highlighted to me once again the power of friendship. The strong bonds you can make with a person in the situation we are in. Traveling the world and being away from what is the norm you find a new part of yourself and you share that with the people around you. You find your true self, so the people around get to see the real you, the peaceful you, the happy you. This is what creates the strong bonds of friendship. And the friendships that I had reaffirmed to me over this weekend were strengthened by this experience. A mutual, full understanding of each other.
The sealing of a friendship that will inevitably last forever.
I thank you for the moments, the laughs, the company and the pictures. But most of all the memories and the friendship.
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