McGuire's of Arabia: Hofuf

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. This was our first Easter in Saudi (last year we were in Thailand for spring break) and it was a bit weird. We had our "church service" on Good Friday and Sunday was a normal work day. I don't think it's something that I can get used to. The nice thing about this year was the fact that we could get together with other believers and celebrate Christ's resurrection. We couldn't have done that last year if we were here. That community of believers is something I will never take for granted anymore.

This weekend we headed out at 4:30 am for an adventure to Hofuf! Hofuf is the major city in the Al-Ahsa Oasis which claims to be the largest oasis in the world. It was a three hour drive south of Jubail, but completely worth it. The reason we had to leave so early was to get to the camel market in time. Shortly after dawn, people congregate at the camel market to buy camels. I'm not sure what makes a good camel, but it was neat to watch guys inspecting them. We watched one man buy a mother and baby for 6,000 SAR ($1600). The most interesting part of the market is watching the camels being loaded into their new owners' trucks. The camels' legs get tied and then they are hoisted by a crane into the back of the truck. This is quite the process and the camels don't like it at all. After listening to an unhappy camel, I think I know where the producers of Jurassic Park got the sound for their dinosaurs.

After the camel market we went to an old fort in town. The fort is only open by appointment (which we didn't make), but we happened to get there just about 10 minutes before a school group showed up so we were allowed to tour with them. The fort was neat, but very similar to the one we went to in Dubai. The Qarah caves were much more interesting. They were fun to explore and had many great photo ops. A 4-year old boy who was with us had the best quote of the day while at the caves. There was a sewage smell in one part of the caves and he said "it smells like dragon poop!" completely believing that dragons lived there. Ah, the mouths of the innocent.

The oasis itself made it feel like a much nicer area of Saudi although we didn't spend much time there. It has trees, water, and even the desert is beautiful.

The whole trip was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to see a different part of Saudi.

Tara