Day 271: Jeddah - Ta’if (الطائف)

Dec 30 - Gasoline in the KSA is about 2.3 riyals/liter, or about US $2.4/gallon. When I asked at the car rental if they wanted it returned with the same level of gasoline in the tank, the guy just shrugged as said it wasn’t important.

There is a lot of standing water today, as rain went on until early morning. But the sun is out and it is Friday, so the gridlock I usually see out of the window is no more. In retrospect this was the perfect day to drive around this city, and I am relieved to have an easy drive south and out of town on Al-Falah Road (Highway 80). For a long way out of town, the roadside is dominated by piles of dirt and concrete, the detritus of half-finished construction. The petrol station I stop at is huge and directly by the roadside, with more than 20 pumps and a four-lane exit to get there. It could hardly be more convenient to fill up.

The land east of Jeddah is hilly, with jumbles of rocks everywhere. I’m guessing that during most of the year it is dry as a bone, but at the moment there is a fine coating of green.

The direct route from Jeddah to Ta’if goes through Mecca. Obviously that is not the route we will take, despite Google Map’s innocence on the matter. There is a point at which we will connect with Highway 298, that passes well to the south and around.

If you don’t know why we can’t go through the city of Mecca, then, in short, its because non-Muslims are not permitted to be within city limits. The place is considered too critical to Islam for infidels to trod upon its streets, being a holy sanctuary. I’ve run across this prohibition in other religions, where certain parts of a house of worship are off-limits for the uninitiated (or maybe the whole temple is off limits), but Islam takes it to a whole other level by closing off a whole city.

Near Al-Maqrah, we deviate again south and east. This was not my original intention, but when I saw on the GPS that we had gone that way, I decided to stick with it. It starts to cloud up and it is clearly going to rain a lot soon.

We start going up the mountains for real, on a tight, winding road. However, it is newly paved and wide enough to allow some shoulder space. The scenery is fantastic, just sharp cliffs and peaks with bits of vegetation clinging to the sides. As we go up it starts pouring. At one point we stop and sit in a turnout, waiting in vain for conditions will improve, while a herd of goats mills around the car.

The rain never does let up, and we pass a lot of rockfall on the road. One spot is really bad and must have just happened, because there is no trace of where anyone has already driven through it. I get out of the car and move rocks for few minutes to give us a path. Further up, it gets foggy and there are waterfalls everywhere. I am half convinced we are going to get blocked off by an avalanche, but we emerge at the top of the escarpment where the going is much easier.

The rest of the way to Ta’if is a real relief. There is water pooled everywhere on the roads, but it is manageable in the car we are driving. Arrive at the apartment suite complex but the room is not ready. We head over a block to a shopping mall and eat some awful chicken fast food. Thankfully, the apartment we have is huge and clean, with a big fridge and kitchen.