Wild Camels roaming Nefud Desert.

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Lamb or goat, rice, banana, raisens, tobulie (chopped tomatoe, cucumber onion and spices), dates, oranges, arabic bread (flat bread), and seeds.

This meal is eaten with your fingers by scooping up the rice in a ball and pulling the hot meat off of the carcus. If you are a guest of an important person there will be a guard/servant nearby with a very sharp 12″ dagger to slice off the best parts of the lamb or goat for the guest. Guests, men and sons eat first followed by the help or women and daughters. If there are non family members present the women and girls will likely have there own tray of meat and rice in a secluded room by themselves as was the case in the above photo. Supprisingly I was allowed into the room by the hsband to take the photo.

Following one of these dinners guests and first round of diners will be offered hand washing along with scented ointment to refresh the hands.

Arab children tend to be shy when a photographer approaches just like most children world wide. Getting them to smile is easy. Their dress is the standard thobe that nearly everyone wears to play and work. Sometimes in the home in young families you will see pants and shirt but never in public except for select business men who may travel internationally.

It should be noted that western wemon who marry a Saudi man when living in Saudi Arabia will be expected to wear one of these veils (for elegance) or typically a black cover of her face when in public. Veils and other black garment are not typicaly worn in the home around family, brothers, fathers and sons. But when non family men are present in the home the black garments are typically required with the head covered by at least some type of scarf.

Flowers and Plants grown in Saudi Arabia from seeds & bulbs imported from elsewhere. Soil is very rich in nutrients but requires much watering as rain fall in minimal.

Turkish Fork ruins panorama along the rim of the escarpment in the Asir Province. Looking North with the escarpment to the left. The location was ideal to observe and defend a major road leading to and from the Red Sea via he escarpment. That ancient road is now a four lane black topped highway.

Ruins inside the fort.

Graves of soldiers and others below the fort to the North.

Turkish Fort high above an ancient route between Yemen to the South and Arabia to the North. This route has been in existence for at least 2500 years and probably longer. Thought to be the ancient route used to bring incense, fruit, and other commerce from Yamen to Arabia and beyond for thousands of years. The Queen of Sheba (ancient Yemen) may have passed this way on her way to visit King Soloman from Old Testament times. Site is located South of Najran in Najran Province of Saudi Arabia.

Turkish Fort in the Tobuk Province. This fort was located on an oasis. entering the ruins the water flowed from a stoned walled ground reservoir. The area was surrounded with palm trees. One of the individuals pictured in November 1976 was an antiquities guard.

Asir Province, Saudi Arabia. During past centuries some inhabitants of this area built their home into the side of the escarpment making it difficult for aggressors to attack them. These houses needed to be supplied with necessities which were lowered by pulley from above by friends and neighbors.

The Ottoman Empire built a railroad from Damascus,Syria to Medina, Saudi Arabia for their Muslim followers to travel to their holy shrines in Medina and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Part of the railroad ties were made in Pennsylvania by a U. S. railroad manufacture in 1885. In this part of Arabia the “Arab uprisings” in 1916-1918 against the Ottoman Empire were partly led by a British soldier later referred to as Lawrence of Arabia. He was famed for his exploits in blowing up the Hajaz railroad among other daring encounters with the occupying Turks.

Hijaz Railway Northern Saudi Arabia 10 miles South of Jordanian border lies the remains of a locomotive blasted from it’s tracks and laying on it’s side. The left front drive wheel was shattered laying in pieces on the sand. None of the metal parts showed signs of rust in 1976.

Graves of 9+ deceased with wrecked locomotive in distance. The Arabs/British/Turks had buried the dead.

Looking North near the wreck an old railway station of the Hijaz Railway located 20 miles South of the Jordanian border in Saudi Arabia crumbles in the heat and wind of the desert. Picture taken in December 1976. The rails rust free from the sand and wind look like trains passed over them daily in the 90 years since the last train came this way.

Wild Camels in Nefud Desert near the Hijaz Railway

I am building a larger photo blog with many more photos of Arabia at  70images.com .

The new photo blog of Saudi Arabia will be expanded with new photos not seen before…  check it out now.

www.70Images.com

Children playing near their home with sheep nearby. Area is very arid with trees and vegetation adapted to these extreme conditions. Boy is riding a donkey. Children are tending sheep nearby.

Oral tradition in this area of Saudi Arabia (near Khamis Mushayt) report that the Queen of Sheba (now named Yemen) traveled past here 3000+ years ago on her way to visit King Solomon from the Old Testament. The local Arabs claimed Solomon sent word to her to delay her visit as he was not ready to see her. The Queen is said to have stopped here for two years and waited until Salomon called for her. Two years does not mean what it means in western culture, maybe 5 years or 3 years? All of this is oral tribal history without calendars and watches. Oral communication in Arabia has been very reliable and proven accurate on more that one occasion.

There are artifacts of some type of settlement still present at the base of the ‘hill’ and something on the top, an altar for worshiping? In any case the site is guarded by the antiquities police so no one can look around.

There is much discussion as to whether the “Queen of Sheba” was from Ethiopia or South Yemen – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba

The location of the mountain or hill pictured above is located in the Asir Province of Saudi Arabia about 10 kilometers East of Khamis Mushayt. This area is accessible from Yemen by using the very old road/path South of Najran, Saudi Arabia which carried commerce (incense, figs, gatt-a chewable narcotic, etc.),  in ancient times between Arabia and Yemen. It is conceivable that the Queen could have come from Ethiopia and crossed the Red Sea into Yemen traveling North into Arabia and after the delay on to Jerusalem.