Where to wander around Riyadh?

Due to this year's Hajj, we were given a week or two rest from work. While the Muslims were preparing for their pilgrimage to Makkah, I believe that most of the expatriates in the kingdom are looking for places to go during this holiday season.

I read about blogs with suggestions on where to visit and waste away some time. It was always nice to discover places through other people who've been there, at least we know what to expect and see in those places. We don't want to drive to the other provinces so that we'll have more time to rest well before going back to work. Although it was tempting to visit Al Khobar and Dammam (just like what we did last Eid'l Fitr break) where there are beaches to just swim and enjoy the sun and sand, we chose to drive to three places just around Riyadh such as Al Kharj City, Diriyah Historical City, and Red Sand.

Al Kharj

We have a friend from the Philippines who was assigned to work in Al Kharj. My husband spoke with him about our plan to visit him one of these days. Since our friend, Rolly doesn't have a fixed schedule for days off, we just went there before he came to work. At first, we planned to take trips to Ain Samhah and Ain Ad Dhile (two allegedly holes caused by meteors), Water Tower, and Kharj zoo. A friend of my husband tagged along with this plan of ours. As we entered the city of Kharj, I noticed that it is a quiet and greener city, because it's particular to the agricultural industry. After fetching Rolly from their flat, we went to the popular meteor holes.

A peek at the Ain Samhah that looks like a small sinkhole to me

Posing with the hole, and trying not to look down on it

Refreshing with some ice cream cone, on this not-so-summer heat

Looking inside the mud houses near the meteor hole

Behind them was the other meteor hole, Ain Ad Dhile, which was fenced when we got there

After looking at the meteor holes, we had a short stop at the Water tower. We were not able to go inside since it's still closed during the morning. We just took a photo of it. It was almost lunch when we looked for something to eat. We ordered at a fast food restaurant and drove our way to the zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo would open at 4 o'clock and we already needed to drop of Rolly to his place. Better luck next time, I guess.

The tall water tower with revolving restaurant

Diriyah Historical City

The historical city of Diriyah was just a half an hour away from our house. My husband and I drove to that place one afternoon and a green landscape approached us as we entered Wadi Hanifah. We parked in just a few walking distance away from Diriyah. We just followed the people walking towards somewhere and that was how we found the place. When we reached it, there were already a lot of families enjoying their company all over the places. I must say that picnics in parks were really big among the locals here in the kingdom. The view was stunning and kind of reminded us of Greenbelt Park in Makati City back home. We snapped some photos and hurriedly headed home because my husband was not feeling well.

Taken in the parking lot, just outside the famed place

Families having picnic in the park 

A masjid at night

Red Sand in Riyadh

Red Sand is a famous attraction in the southeastern part of Riyadh among the expatriates in the kingdom. We planned to go there early in the morning so we could enjoy strolling in the sands without burning our skins that much. We were a group of six: me, my husband, and his four colleagues from work. We arrived in the place at half six. Before renting out ATVs that we could use to explore the sand dunes, we took our snacks to make sure that we had enough energy for the anticipated activity. We were able to rent a small ATV for SR 25 per hour. Good deal.

After eating snacks, it's time to go

Venturing into the desert with our rented ATVs

After an hour and going around the dunes, we wanted to check out the lake just a few minutes from the red sand. With the help of google map, we headed to the lake and found out that some parts of the road were covered with sand. As we went through, we did not see it coming that our car would get stuck in the sand. My husband was able to signal the other car with his colleagues to stop and to not drive through. And so, we were stranded in that road for an hour. There were cars that just passed us until someone came and tried to help us. They pushed our car until it finally got past of the sand-covered roads. We were grateful for the strangers who helped us the best they could.

They were trying to lift the left side of the car

A seemingly endless sea of sand

We were still lucky that we're only stuck in that road for about an hour and there were locals who were ready to help. We decided that we would not push through our trip to the lake and just head home. Overall, it was still an experience worth telling to family and friends. We just laugh it off and feel grateful that we reached home safe - never mind the burnt skins and hungry tummies.