SHAQRA
I found a ZEN place
31st October - 2nd November | 2023
At one village, there was a camping spot marked on iOverlander, so I searched for it. I missed it, but like that, I found even a better one. Tucked away behind piles of earth and it didn't look like there had been a car in the last days, judging by the tyre tracks. At night I slept like a log until I heard someone talking close to my tent early in the morning. I sat upright in my tent as I thought it was the local security. It was only the muezzin from the nearby mosque for the morning prayer - pew!
As I was already awake, I started to pack up and went to the next village for my cafe at the drive-through. On my way North, I passed, actually the 2nd time, the “Tropic de Capricorn” line, so time for pictures.
Shortly after that, I forked off towards the west, which took me through a beautiful landscape again. I enjoyed the surrounding mountains after the long flat stretch from Najran. Unfortunately after 70km that scenic landscape changed again to just flat sandy surroundings - and not a bush to hide for a pee…
Highlight of the day at a fuel station stop - maybe even Highlight in KSA:
I always fuel up myself as I got a fuel filter from Guglatech (www.guglatech.com), so it needs some taking care of fueling up. Whilst I was watching my tank fuelling up, a young boy of “could be my son or already grandson”-age in an old pickup stopped next to the pump. Out of the car, he started talking to me in Arabic and I told him I did not speak Arabic, only English. He carried on talking so I just gave random answers like going to Riyad, coming from Najran, etc … Suddenly he remembered to use a translation app, so he started busy typing.
He held the phone under my nose with a big smile. “Do you have a husband” - Yes!
Next question “Will you accept me as your partner?” - WHAT?!? Now the question was, did he mean partner as friend or partner in a different context?!? I reminded him of being married. So whats coming next ...
“Will you accept me for a short time as your partner?” - Seriously!!! So I got the jinx correct with the previous one! I said NO and turned around.
When I was hopping on my bike to leave he seriously held the phone again under my nose asking “Do you want to join me for lunch?” - Surely NOT!
SERIOUSLY?!? So they go to their 3-5 prayers a day and live very strictly to the Quoran, but watch Netflix all day … and thanks to that they seem to think “Western women” are easygoing…
Still giggling about that into my helmet I finally got to Al Quwaiah for the night and was pretty lucky with the hotel. During the last few days I was more frequently in touch with one of the Kuwaiti boys I met back in Greece. He asked if I could postpone my trip to Kuwait for another week as he would be on a business trip and he would love to show me his country and city but also wants to know all about overland travelling. As Bahrain is “close by” I decided to visit first Bahrain and then Kuwait. It would be a pity to give that country a miss once being in the area.
The next day was only a short distance to ride to the Heritage village of Shaqra. I booked the lovely Heritage Guesthouse as recommended by Henrietta aka “For the Love of Wheels”.
I could get my breakfast at a cafe close to the hotel. There were some young local boys first giggling at each other when seeing me, but then one of them was brave enough to approach me to ask me the usual questions “Where do you come from? Where do you go?” which I answered patiently. When I had my cafe sitting outside and the boys left, they waved at me. 5mins later one of them came back and invited me for lunch - how sweet is that?!? I thanked them politely and refused as I wanted to get to the Guest House, but I promised to join them next time!
On my way to Shaqra, I had the great idea, to use one of the offroad tracks parallel to the street. Worked well for about 5km and then I got stuck and bike down in soft sand. Great, that is what I need today! It took me a while to get the bike up. Each time I tried to push the bike up, I dug myself deeper and deeper into the soft sand! Sometimes is left behind rubbish useful as I found some cardboard and put it under my feet. Still took me a long attempt but then the bike was upright again! Hurray! I guess that is it with offroad for today ;-)
Early afternoon I arrived at the Heritage Guesthouse in Shaqra (Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZTz6r8tGwEwJSp2dA). As soon as you enter you feel like you leave your stress, your worries, or whatever bothers you, behind. What a relaxing and calm place! It is in an old traditional clay house. The owner did such a great job and they are the best hosts I came across during my travels so far! IT IS a gemstone!
Later in the evening, I went through the old souks in search of some food. I was lucky as they had a sort of event going on where food was sold by private people. I noticed that women run the majority of the businesses! How cool is that?! I found a lovely dish for dinner and somebody even invited me to a dessert! How kind is that?!
The next morning was a relaxing time for me and finishing a blog. After lunch time it got busy at the Guesthouse with new arrivals. There was Mohammed with his family from Riyadh and we ended up sitting on the terrace chatting about travelling. He also invited me to stay with his family and him when coming to Riyadh - how king is that?!?
Later in the afternoon a lovely Spanish couple with their toddlers arrived and it happened that we left for the Souq for dinner at the same time. What a lovely couple (see IG: pelusines_viajeros) as they take their toddlers all around the world during their holidays. And these kids are amazingly relaxed, especially the baby! Amazing!
As the babies needed their sleep after dinner, they went back to the Guest House. I had another stroll through the other Souq of Shaqra and got “stopped” by a group of local girls. First, they had to get one of them to speak English, but they were full of curiosity and giggling all the time. As they were so curious about me and my life, they invited me tomorrow for a cafe in the afternoon. Wow, that will be interesting! I am curious about it myself!
So in the next blog, you will find out, if the "Shaqra girls" really stuck to their word or not ... In the meantime have an Arabic Cafe until the next blog will be published...
Places | Cities:
Al Quwaiah, Shaqra.
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 28380 km
Information Border Crossings:
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Maintenance | Breakdown:
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Health issues:
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Special thanks to:
Henrietta (For the love of Wheels) for her recommendation about the Heritage Guesthouse in Shaqra.