I just spent two lively days in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, with my family. After traveling overland through the desert from al-Khobar on the Gulf coast, we reached our hotel at around 1 p.m. We stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel on Al Imam Faisal Ibn Turki Ibn Abdullah road, […]
This article features some of the photographs I took over the last four weekends, during which I took my family to the corniche in the city of al-Khobar. This is one of the three main cities in this part of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia; the others being Dammam and Dhahran. All three cities […]
The weather has been great recently in al-Khobar, on the Arabian Gulf, in eastern Saudi Arabia. The temperature has been in the mid-70s (around 25 Celsius) during the day, I would say, and the evenings have been considerably cooler. For the past few weekends I have taken my family to the corniche and we have enjoyed […]
I had been looking for a place to get pictures framed, and after about three weeks of asking around I finally found a picture frame shop last weekend. I found it unexpectedly when my wife and I visited a home furnishings fair in al-Khobar. We had been walking around the booths, searching for “something traditional” […]
The Roads of Arabia traveling exhibit is currently residing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), until March 2014. The exhibit displays historic artifacts from Arabia, including from present day Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Oman, as well as from Persia and the Roman Empire. For me, the most interesting item on display […]
We recently visited the camel market in the desert just north of Hofuf in the al-Ahsa/al-Hasa district. Although the market is located in a desert area, much of the area around Hofuf consists of date farms that make up the largest oasis in Saudi Arabia. The area exports dates harvested from approximately 3 million date […]
Last week my family and I explored some of the sights of Qatif district, about a 45-minute drive north of Dhahran, where we live in the Eastern Province. Qatif is a geographically large area that includes many towns and villages. It has a colorful history dating back 5,000 years. Qatif was known to the ancient […]
In my search for high quality coffee drinking establishments, I have found Latasia Cafe at Al Nimran Hotel in al-Khobar. I visited the hotel and cafe last night in the hope of a unique Ramadan iftar experience, as well as to sample the coffee at Latasia Cafe, a European accented cafe inside the hotel. The […]
It is my first Ramadan in Saudi Arabia. Today is the fourth day since Ramadan started and this morning I went to Lulu market on the al-Khobar corniche to see what special foods are available. I was a little disappointed to find that apart from large packets of chocolates and other types of sweets, and […]
Today I visited Café Liwan, located in a new shopping strip next to the corniche. It had been recommended to me by a Saudi friend as a place to find traditional Arabian coffee, served in the traditional way with a dallah (coffee pot). It states on the company’s website that the café was established to […]