Cliffs, Baboons, and More!

On Sunday I am moving up to Riyadh from Abha with the rest of the crew. I decided to do some sight seeing. I've been here for a month and a half and I am just thankful that I have this opportunity when the rest of the aviation world is struggling. I am paying down my flight loan debt at a rapid pace and I'm really starting to get into the grove over here. Riyadh should be even better

Riyadh has a huge expat community. Saudi Arabia pretty much outsources everything and there are lots of europeans and canadian workers here (especially for healthcare positions).

I've been in country for about a month and a half and just finalized my plans to return on Feb 15 for a 6 week break!

Here are the pics...enjoy!


My diet.

Ya know...this picture pretty much summarizes Saudi Arabia. Rofl. The sign says "Emergency Gate Do Not Obstruct"

Look at those teeth!
"Yea, I'm the man around here." I named this guy Godfather. He keeps an eye on my thoughout our stay.
The dad just bopped the little one on the head. Mom isn't too pleased. I'm not sure what the little one did but I think it had something to do with wanting to leave Saudi and go back to a Zoo.
Awwwwwwwwww.
The silver one keeps staring at me. Seriously...he would walk up to my window and just stare, then go back to the wall and keep looking. I think he was mad that I looked at his 3 wives without their abayas on! Ha!

Anyway, I was in the right passenger seat taking pictures to the left (my back was to my door). I had a 1 banana left and it was sitting on the dash. So I'm snapping away and my door opens. I hear my door open and turn around....this gray monkey opened my dang door and was staring me in the face! It scared the living crap out of me!
He wanted that last banana and he was going to get it!

We locked the doors after that.
Get away from my banana!
Ski lifts ski lifts! Ah hell, its just a cable car :{.
Not bad. I could use a mountain bike about now! This is looking down into one of their national parks. If you flew straight out from here you would hit the Red Sea in about 40 miles.
The houses are mostly cinderblock construction. They all have huge 20ft+ walls around them so that the women can walk around their house without covering up. They are definitely very colorful! There is even a rainbow colored road that I will try and get pictures of. This is on approach to Kamish Air Force Base.
Driving in Saudi is probably the most dangerous part of being here. People think nothing of passing on blind corners at 75+ mph. It's hard to swerve when your choices are turn right into the cliff or left into thin air.
See the next explanation....
This is pretty cool. Right where the cloud meets the ground, there is a huge drop off. Thousands of feet down. As air moves towards this obstruction it has no where to go but up. The rising air cools to its dew point and voila! Clouds!

Can we say paraglide? I need to get my equipment over here!
Scientific probes underneath the wing of the King Air 200.


Next blog post after I move to Riyadh. Later!