An Amazing Weekend In The Eastern Province

When I returned back to Saudi after Ramadan, I made a promise to myself that I would explore more of this land than Riyadh, Makkah and Madeenah.  This past weekend, I took the first step to doing just that.  Insha’Allah the first of many trips around this beautiful country.  Yes, I said beautiful.  Why? Read on.

Khobar

King Fahd Mosque - Khobar

This past weekend I drove almost 1200KM to, in and from the Eastern Province.  The first stop was Khobar.  Khobar is around 3.5 hours drive from Riyadh.  We set off roughly an hour after Fajr and reached in time for Jummah salaah.  The road was generally clear and the drive wasn’t as boring as the drive to Makkah or Madeenah.  There were some beautiful sand dunes on the way which we loved and I’m sure you will too.  One thing to watch out for on the drive: speed cameras!  There were many.  Not that it bothered me as I like sticking to the speed limit (and the middle lane for that matter).  

We were joined in Khobar by an awesome brother who ended up arranging our itinerary for the rest of the trip.  Our first stop was the awesome King Fahd Mosque for Jummah.  This masjid really is a thing of beauty.  Comes very close to matching some of the amazing masajid in Riyadh.  Definitely one to visit in Khobar.

Damam

View from the Coral Island - Damam

Sadly, we didn’t see much else of Khobar as after Jummah we went for food and before we knew it, it was time for ‘Asr and then we set off for Damam.  What immediately became apparent though was that this region was very different to Riyadh.  In a good way.  The streets were cleaner.  The people were patient.  People gave way on the road and so on.  All concepts alien to Riyadh.  I think I can only think of one incident where somebody horned as soon as the traffic light turned green.  That would be so wrong in Riyadh.  In Riyadh, the guy a hundred cars behind you would be horning away even before the lights turned green.  Anyway, that’s a different story for another day.

We spent the moments before sunset and the time between Maghrib & Isha at the corniche and coral island in Dammam.  A beautiful place, not just for singles but families too.  Only issue you may encounter is trying to find parking near the lighthouse at the coral island.  Speaking of which, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it was: Fanar (Doha, Qatar).  It was like a de ja vu moment.  We managed to climb the lighthouse and the view from the top is stunning.  Especially moments before Maghrib as you’ll see in the pictures.

Overall, Damam corniche, and especially coral islam, are beautiful places to relax and walk around with family or friends.  Highly recommended.  After this, we went for food and called it a day/night.

Jubail

The following morning, before Fajr, we set off for Jubail from Khobar.  Roughly an hour’s drive.  The brothers had arranged for horse riding at Jubail Equestrian Club.  In all honesty, I was pretty excited as it was my first time horse riding.  Not only that but it was also a sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).  I would definitely recommend it to anyone.  Although I didn’t spend much time riding, (I don’t think the horse liked me to be honest, he kept stopping for no good reason), I enjoyed it and it’s definitely something I would love to do again.  The place we went to was for males only but I’m being told there is another place for families.  In all, I believe we spent about an hour and a half there before setting off for Ras Tanura.

Ras Tanura

I really don’t know how to describe Ras Tanura.  It really didn’t feel like any city I’d visited in Saudi.  So clean.  So modern.  Masha’Allah.  Our first stop was breakfast at a Yemeni Restaurant, the name of which escapes my mind but the food was awesome.  After breakfast we headed to the corniche.  

The Ras Tanura corniche was probably the most beautiful place we visited during the whole trip.  You really do have to see it to believe it.  It was so beautiful.  White sand, clear water, blue sky and so clean!  O and it was quiet.  There was also a massive park with slides, swings, beautiful grass and places to relax.  Majority of the people we encountered whilst there were fishermen.  Although families did begin arriving as we were leaving after Dhuhr salaah.  Seriously, if there’s one place you should definitely visit in the EP then let it be the Ras Tanura corniche.  You won’t be disappointed insha’Allah.

That, sadly, was that.  We would’ve loved to have stayed longer but our short break came to an end after Dhuhr and we headed back to Riyadh.  However, there was to be one more amazing sight to end it all.  It wasn’t in the EP but much closer to Riyadh on the Damam-Riyadh highway.  Remember the golden sand dunes I mentioned?  Well we decided to pull over and check one out.  It was so beautiful.  Honestly.  The sunset and the golden dune just gave a beautiful weekend a beautiful end. 

Check out the pictures from the journey at:  http://goo.gl/m6IC9l  and do leave your comments or questions below or anonymously at: http://ask.fm/MuhammadWaqaas

Ma’asalaama