Al Taif

I was very at ease in Taif. There was no bad mood on account of the hot weather. We almost didn’t turn on the AC in our hotel room, whereas in Jeddah I need to have it running at (compromising) 25°C even at night. The weather was just wonderful this weekend!

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Midday picnic in a shade

Not only the temperatures, the nature is also very different higher behind the mountains. More greenery in the city and outside of it, in their so called national park.

But the trash … Oh dear.
There’s still so much to do for preservation of your nature, dear kingdom. Still so much to invest in educating your people. What good is it to have a villa above the city if you throw all your damn trash down the hill, basically right outside your door.

Nonetheless we returned to Jeddah filled with good memories.

We were most impressed by the scenery, which we could enjoy from our car already, alongside the famous road going up the mountains. Then we were sitting in a shade under a tree in the national park, having a snack and listening to birds songs. Like a true village boy he had to climb the tree of course and sitting up there he was telling me, how much better life is in the country. Myself, sitting on the carpet underneath him, I was insisting of course (as every time before), that Ljubljana is not your typical capital, a concrete jungle. I always say, we must visit it together soon, and then he will see and understand, why I miss home so much.

We headed to town before noon, and on our way there we saw camels, like a few instances before that day. We were able to make a safe stop on the side of the road and we managed to come closer to the herd, far enough not to disturb them.

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Beautiful creature

I’ve seen a camel (as most people) in a zoo before, I even rode one in Egypt. But the sight of these marvelous camelids, mulling shrubbery on their way, moving slowly towards “home,” left me standing still, silent in admiration. Not far behind we saw their shepherd following their path.

We only spent one weekend in Taif, yet it feels as if we were there for a week or so, because we made so many nice memories. Too many adventures for just one letter. So let there be more stories from Taif in the upcoming days.

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Baboons in Taif mountains