We got a chance to visit the historical city of Al Ula located to the North East of Saudi Arabia. It’s the house of UNESCO’s world heritage site “Medain Saleh”. We booked a tent hotel and I was very nervous about staying in the tent hotel for two nights. I had vague memories of my childhood and staying in the tents. It was a remote city of Pakistan where my dad who was a civil engineer and was seconded to the field and had to stay in the tents for a period of three months. My brave mom accompanied him with four kids. The tents were aesthetically placed in a way that there was a sitting area tent, a bedroom tent, and a bathroom tent and then there was an open play area for the kids. The tent opened to a beautiful and serene mountain, and this beauty brought its challenges with it. I remember the jitters we used to get in the early morning with the cows strangled to the ropes of the tents. I distinctly remember waking up to a fallen tent and being suffocated with the tent on top of us. The sudden halt of the car brought me back to real life and with all my doubts we got off the car. Wow! to my surprise it was a luxurious tent site amidst the tall sandstone structures of Al Ula.
Magical, truly magical they were five-star tents fitted with electricity, air conditioning, an attached bath, TV with satellite reception and the comfiest bed you can imagine. Decorated in the typical Arabian style. The doors and windows opened to the massive sandstone structures. A huge socializing tent and a big dining area. The tents were lined in an organized pattern with paths leading to the communal and the dining area. This setup was in the heart of tall mountains, it cuts you off from the outer world and you enter a mysterious land where the mountains are talking to you, where the mountains are the buildings around you, where the mountains are your friends during the day and they turn into humungous monsters during the night. It felt so intimidating that you are like small pebbles and stones in front of them so tiny and worthless.
Let’s take a photo journey to enjoy it more!!
