A couple of weeks ago, I shared a few pictures of moments before and after the sunrise that we witnessed on a Friday morning. I had quite a few followers enquire about the location and thought it would be great to document it as part of Yanbu Highlights here.
For the benefit of outsiders, Yanbu is divided into three sections (similar to our own "districts in states")
Yanbu Al Bahr or Balad - The most populated section that includes both ex-pats and locals.
Yanbu Al Nakhal or Nakheel - This section is the rural part of Yanbu which has about 30 to 40 pocket villages and the majority of the population is local tribes. With very few signs of modernization, this section holds the best picturesque mountains.
Yanbu Al-Sina'iya - This is the reason we are here (happy sad face) The industrial section houses Saudi's promising Oil industry and a residential area called Royal Commission. This is also the section where we have the only mall - Dana mall - which is the one-stop for all needs (not all yet. :-P)
(on the way to Nakhal)
If you have been around for a while, you can easily identify the section just by the look of it. From a tourist point, the best attractions are all in Yanbu Al Sina'iya - from beaches to parks, from the best restaurants to the best hospitals etc. Balad is a city where you will find a lot of shops catering for the ex-pat population. I don't know much about Al Nakhal other than the fact that it has the best spot to watch the sunrise! 😛
Okay! now to the story - this "let's go to watch the sunrise" is my usual Thursday night conversation with F but sadly never happens and both are to be blamed. I am not sure what actually made us wake up and get out this time, while I strongly believe it is his gesture to be nice to me on my birthday week:-D
The sunrise on this day was at 6.53 AM. If you remember my earlier post on Chasing the dawn, F made me watch the sunrise sitting in the car!. So this time I never expected anything different. But as the time neared, and he was going in a totally different direction, I panicked that we would miss it. But to my surprise, F assured me that he was looking for a hilltop! (that is all I need to be swayed off my feet)
We were right on time at the top of this hill in Al Nakheel which is 40 km from our location. The hill has some kind of constructed water stream as a welcome board to Al Nakheel. It was too windy with the cold breeze and I was shivering while waiting to see the sun show up.
The few seconds felt like forever - but when she did show up, standing so beautifully adorning the sky - SubhanAllah - I tried to capture the moment on my iPhone in vain! as standing atop with the wind hitting my face and that cold breeze made it hard for me to keep steady. Nevertheless, I am glad to have some good ones to remember the day that undoubtedly was a very romantic gesture from F's side.
We were back on the road home with a heart of "new" love for my man. Shyiscoming. 😛
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!