Images of Saudi Arabia: Monkey Crossing

What’s that sign in the distance? Is that really what I think it is?

 

MONKEY CROSSING!!!

Monkey watching people watching monkey

Images of Saudi Arabia: Raghbah

Raghbah is an old settlement of Saudi Arabia from 1669. Below are pictures of Raghbah Tower (yes we climbed it!) and the old village.

 

Images of Saudi Arabia: Survival of the Fittest

A few lone flowers survive in the cracked, parched ground.

Images of Saudi Arabia: Sunset Over Raghbah

Images of Saudi Arabia: Camel Family

Images of Riyadh: First Dust Storm of the Season

Faisaliyah Tower in a dust storm/sandstorm. In case you forgot what it looks like normally, the photo is below for comparison.

 

Fine dust blows into everything, coming in through every crack- windows, doors, air conditioning vents, exhaust vents. Breathing is labored as it gets into your lungs. Land and air visibility is greatly reduced. People wax poetic about shamals, I tend to cough.

Looking up the various types, remember my last post about driving through a sandstorm with intermittent rain? That is officially called a haboob. 

Images of Riyadh: Long Drives

Driving across the Arab peninsula is quite common and one often sees cars like this.

The front (and all protruding parts) are covered with a greasy layer (sometimes even liquid detergent) to protect the paint against sand when driving at high speeds across long distances.