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    Home » Chai Break & Travel

    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu

    Published: Sep 18, 2016 · Modified: Sep 17, 2022 by Famidha Ashraf with Leave a Comment

    A glance at our road trip during the Eid holidays.
    Like every time, I would once again say that we enjoy drives and spend fewer hours at the actual destination. Sight-seeings are solely on my demand and so here are the few pictures that are half as good as the real sight! It was breathTaking!
    9th September 2016 -  Friday
    We drove to Baha through Al Jumum and Taif to avoid Makkah as they were redirecting the traffic during these days due to Hajj. At one of the check posts, we were asked to return to Yanbu and not proceed at all! F convinced that security check man that we would not be going through Makkah though we are Muslims, entry was not open to the public this day. We took close to 6 to 7 hours to reach Baha and checked in at the Swiss International Hotel around Maghrib time. We had done all our hotel bookings through Booking.com.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    Taif was as promised. Beautiful. Quiet. Serene.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    Taif
    We got to see too many goats being transported and makes me wonder why it is happening so late. Aren't we supposed to fall in love with the goat before we sacrifice it?
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
     
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    We were welcomed with the first splash of rain in peak summer even before we reached the Hotel! Alhamdulillah!
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
     
    Hotel Swiss International - nothing international about it. Thankfully we had a couple of Hindi-speaking staff who made it easy to get things done when the desk people hardly understood English. The food was the usual Arabic breakfast and sandwiches etc. Nothing great. Guess I expected something extraordinary! 😀
    10th September 2016 - Saturday 
     
    Breakfast at the hotel
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    This is the historical location of Thi Ain Village
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A 400 or 600 years old village that houses multi-storeyed stone structures with doors and windows made of wood. There is an entry fee and it is minimal. It is better to wear light clothes and light abayas as we have to do a lot of walking and climbing stairs. Also. a bottle of water would help too. There is no tourist guide, nor did we find any details or information put up for visitors. So all we can do is go around, take a look and imagine how people lived so many years ago.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    This spring is the most talked-about spot in Thee Ain Village. We then headed to this huge hill which is a picnic spot.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    F is not a picnic person or someone who can sit on the grass and enjoy the sky etc. Nope. But because we had packed a few kinds of stuff to have this time, we sat for less than 5 minutes with a cup of salted corn and off we went back to the room.
    11th September 2016 - Sunday
     
    Checked out of the Swiss Hotel and drove towards Abha and stopped over at Muhayil in Aseer province.
     
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    The road to Abha from Baha was totally deserted and this camel gave us company! 🙂 We stopped and moved to match its speed. Some fun along the way... At Asir, we checked in at Boudl Hotel.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    No breakfast included, yet we had a staycation here. Food had to be ordered from a nearby restaurant.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    12th September 2016 - Monday
    Staycation
    13th September 2016 - Tuesday
    Began our drive to Abha City
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    and checked in at Abha Palace for a night.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    This was like - back to civilisation! ;-P
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    Lunch!
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    In the evening, we hopped on to the famous cable car ride to the Green Mountain and had an amazing time as it was a Looooong way and had quite a few stops and almost covered the entire city.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    One of the cable-car ride stops were all thronged to watch the majestic sunset!
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    14th September 2016 - Wednesday
    Had a sumptuous breakfast from the hotel and got on to the road on our way back to Yanbu. We stopped at Jeddah and shopped for my heart content (groceries) from Lulu and gobbled some chicken biryani sitting in the car and then he drove to our home while I fell asleep.
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    A Road-trip to Al Baha, Abha and back to Yanbu
    15th September 2016 - Thursday
     
    It is the day to publish the MENA Cooking Club post and I had not even attempted. Quickly made Khabees as part of Bahrain Cuisine, clicked, drafted and published the post the same day! Phew.. a feat in itself!

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    I'm Famidha, a chai lover, Indian in UAE, Hooman of two cats, a Malabari who loves Tamil food and the cook cum writer behind But first Chai.

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