Tabuk’s Hejaz station and fortress

Driving to Tabuk

We wanted to give the Al Jouf Regional Museum one more chance, as it looked impressive from the outside. We turned up at 0730, the time indicated on Google Maps to find it completely dead.

So, we returned to the hotel and once fed and checked-out, we gave it one final shot at 0915 on the way out of town.  At this time, the museum was staffed.  However, the man said that it is closed and will reopen in 2024.  But it is 2024 already!

It looks like the country is preparing itself for lots of big things and it’s not just ready for us yet.

As the drive to Tabuk was more than 4h, it seemed wise to fill up before leaving town.  The first petrol station had no fuel!  I couldn’t believe that any station in Saudi would have no fuel!

After having better luck at another station, we started our drive in earnest around 0930.  I was busy messaging the hotel in Al Hait about E’s missing item but when I returned to the sat nav, I noticed that our ETA had jumped considerably.

Smelling a rat, I checked and it appeared that we had missed a turn and was now heading towards the Jordanian border.  The next official U-turn was in 60km which would add 120km to our journey.

Fortunately, we found a break in the fence separating the two directions and were able to right ourselves quickly.  I drove for about 1h15 today before letting E drive us into Tabuk.

Tabuk’s old Hejaz railway station

We parked near the old Hejaz railway station around 1415 and explored the various buildings in the site.  Some of the modern additions to the site subtract rather than add to the whole place.  Sometimes, people need to learn that “less is more”.

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Tabuk Fortress

Next, we drove to Tabuk’s fortress but found it closed, being prayer time.  We took a walk around town and E opted to have a tidy-up of his beard.  With various upsells (eg. nose hair waxing, ear hair waxing, waxing tidy-up around the cheekbone etc) by the Egyptian barber, the total came to a shocking price.

Fortunately, he knew the going rates in Riyadh and brought it down to about half the asking price.

We returned to the fortress, wandering around the rooms that flanked both floors of the internal courtyard.  Once done we located our accommodation, Al Rawda, getting there at 1730.

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We had a Keralan dinner where E was able to communicate to the staff in Tamil as it is often partially understood by Malayalam speakers (though not mutually intelligible).  We finished the day with a small shop-up at the supermarket.

The accommodation didn’t seem to supply towels.  They had run out when we asked.  Eventually, they supplied an extra bed sheet so I could dry myself.  Better than nothing.