Saudi Arabia, Apr 2025 скачать в хорошем качестве

Saudi Arabia, Apr 2025

I never imagined I would step foot in Saudi Arabia. But a decade in China has taught me that sometimes the challenges of living in a country with a certain reputation are maybe a little different than you might expect. And as someone who wants to remain open and curious about the world - a world which, let’s face it, might not remain open and peaceful forever - I wanted to see this place for myself. I spent 6 days in Saudi Arabia: 3 days in Riyadh, followed by a flight to AlUla, a car to Medina, and a train to Jeddah. To summarise: 🌆 Riyadh seemed to me like one of those capitals where you’re always aware of your proximity to power. It’s this proximity that has afforded it lots of new trinkets and lavish infrastructure, but in exchange it feels a little... tightly-wound. People here know how to blow off steam, but they do so mainly within the perimeters of their private residences. 🛕 AlUla is being carefully and authentically developed as the premium tourist destination of Saudi Arabia. A blend of geological wonder and ancient civilisation, with a unique ambience and a modern eye for detail. The tourism industry is so new that the Saudi sense of hospitality feels totally genuine, and not yet jaded by years of mutual ambivalence. 🕌 Medina is the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca, and they’ve just started allowing non-Muslims to visit. (Mecca remains strictly off-limits). There are something like 20 popular mosques to visit, I ended up getting driven to five of them by an eccentric Yemeni taxi driver called Habib before heading to the train station. 🏖️ Jeddah is the Red Sea port city with a history of migration and openness. If Riyadh is the Beijing then Jeddah is for sure the Shanghai, albeit with better seafood. And if Medina represents the sacred, then Jeddah represents the swagger. Case in point: as I’m writing this on my flight out of Saudi Arabia, the Formula One weekend is kicking off on the Corniche. Top 3 fun facts: 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia imports sand. The country is literally covered in it, but it’s the wrong kind for making concrete. 🇸🇦 The King Fahd International Airport is the largest in the world. At 9,080 acres, it’s bigger than the neighbouring country of Bahrain. 🇸🇦 There are no rivers in the whole of Saudi Arabia. It gets its water through desalination, wadis, and groundwater.