Hofuf

Spencer was heading back to the States for work, and I decided it would be a perfect weekend to go out of town to see a place Spencer didn’t have any desire to see.  But I didn’t get my visa on time to go to Kuwait like I wanted to so I decided to take a local trip.  I ended up picking Hofuf, a slightly obscure place that Spencer and I didn’t plan on going to.  Hofuf is known to be one of the largest Oasis in Saudi Arabia; it has the largest area of date farms as well.  I was hoping to get some kind of tour of the date farms.

I just went on an overnight journey, and then returned.  Before going I consulted a couple fellow co-workers who were Saudi, my Unit Clerk.  He was kind of helpful in what I might want to see while I was there.  But Saudi Arabia isn’t known for tourism and only in recent years developed a Tourism Bureau but it doesn’t really have offices, you can’t get information, or maps.  If you are here and want to sight see they encourage, by not having information available, to take a tour or get a guide to show you around.

The first train leaving Riyadh wasn’t until 10:39AM, and the journey was supposed to be around 3 hrs.  I got my overnight bag together and took a taxi to the train station.

When I first got off the train I was surrounded by taxi drivers, quoting me outrageous prices to take me to my hotel.  I knew it wasn’t far away.  Once I checked into my hotel they helped me arrange a day tour of the city with their security guard who had the following day off.  But it would 300SAR, about $80.  No hostels, no group tours, and no public transport anywhere so this was a good deal and he would drop me off at the train station after wards.

That evening I wandered the main street looking for something to eat.  I ended up walking out right as prayer was starting which was inconvenient so I walked a couple miles along the road before I head back, picking a not so good place and got some schwarma.  I decided I really don’t like schwarma here in Saudi, the fries are soaked in grease, and there isn’t hardly any sauce so it is quite dry.  Really your only option is chicken as well.  The other meats are more expensive and not as profitable.

The next day my guide, the security guard was ready to get me at 8AM.  He took a moment to enjoy his Arabic coffee before we sit out on for the day.

We visited:

-An old dried up spring.  I tried to ask him how long the water has been gone but he couldn’t understand. For all I know it could have been seasonal.

-A small bread joint. Where they used dates to sweetened the bread, and date pal m to cook it in a vertical fire oven.  It was super tasty bread for only 1 SAR.

-Jebel Qara (Mountain).  It was a touristy type area.  It is a hill that has eroded away over the years creating channels throughout the hill. It was very cool to walk through a small part of the hill.  I could see the remains of where many people had come and gone, by the trash left behind.  I got a good view of Hofuf and all the date palms.

-A touristy pottery village.  They could do pottery on the wheel and was currently making goblet but I am not sure it was clay you would drink from, because they weren’t glazed.  There wasn’t a variety to their craft either; it was a goblet or a watering jug.  Then the weaved baskets weren’t made there but Pakistan.  I had to laugh, and artisan village that doesn’t even make their own goods. 

-A date farm.  The farm was a small one that my driver claimed his brother owned.  It looked a little run down, and sparse of dates.  Not really a commercial plot.  And not really what I was hoping to see.

-Qasr Ibrahim.  Abraham’s castle or fortress.  Nothing too great. There was a mosque inside the fortress, an artillery, and jail with underground cells, hammam, and a long hall of various artifacts from Hofuf area as well as old pictures so you could compare Hofuf 50 years ago to today.  At one point the date palm basically surrounded the whole city.  We were not allowed to go up on the ramparts to get a view to the city. 

-Souq Sweiq.  Apparently a very cool Bedouin souq which for me just sold junk not from Saudi Arabia.

-Qaisariya Souq.  It was up to the tragic fire 2001 one of the largest covered souqs in Saudi Arabia.  It has been rebuilt but so many of the stalls for businesses are empty or filled with trash.  My driver told me that at night things get more lively.  This is where I should have gone last night.  This stop also included some ice cream.

He asked me if I wanted to meet his wife and we could have lunch at his home.  I agreed it would be interesting to meet his madam, whom he described as recently married, overweight women whose love for ice cream had ceased after they visited the doctor and they were told ice cream wasn’t good for her.  Before that time they would go to the shop a couple times a day. 

When we arrived at their place she unlocked the door and ran up the stairs and locked herself in her room. She had just got up for the day, 11AM, and was watching a cooking show that we interrupted so she was upset.  My driver said to me, change of plans again, and took me to a local joint where he got take out kabsa and dropped me off at the train station.

I forgot one thing. That date market, modern strip mall for date shops.  They sold locally and foreign packaged dates here, the dried kind that I actually like.  I also saw some yummy syrup, also made from dates.  That is what I purchased for 40SAR or $10. I thought it was a good deal. I would use it in place of honey in my cooking at home and was as thick as maple syrup.

I waited about 45 minutes at the train station before I boarded. It was not late coming back.  The train wasn’t uncomfortable.  I bought a 2^nd class ticket and got a cushioned air conditioned seat.  Pretty good for my standards.