Al Gara Mountains, Hofuf

Our Company’s Eid Al Fitr Holidays was declared on 18-21 August 2012.  According to my flatmate D, we shouldn’t go out on the first day since the shops would definitely be closed for business.  We checked Al Khobar on the first day of Eid and he was right.  We decided to stay at home.  I was busy the whole time because I was doing the pre-reading for my SHRM Live Classes for 2 September 2012.  I also catalogued my multimedia files.  We decided to go out of Al Khobar on Monday the third day of the Eid Al Fitr Holidays. 

D and Leo earlier decided that we go to Hofuf.  I’ve never been to Hofuf before and going there seems exciting.  We brought Toto Garry with us since it’s also his day off.  Leo knows Hofuf by heart since he went there a couple of times.  It took us 2 hours to reach Hofuf.  Going to Hofuf is like going to Riyadh.  You won’t be able to see anything except endless sea of sands.  Outside temperature that day was over 50 degrees.  The good thing is, the humidity is low.  Yes, you can bear the heat as long as there’s less humidity. 

Al Hassa or Hofuf in general is a farming community.  You’ll get to see irrigation canals which of course are unimaginable in the Kingdom of the Sands.  Trees or should I say palm trees grow in abundance.  Farmers farm them for their dates.  Farmers also grow produce which they sell to the local markets. 

Hofuf has the rustic beauty that you can’t see elsewhere in the Kingdom.  However, that beauty was neglected by the people and the authorities.  The roads leading to the Al Gara Mountain range became everyone’s dumpsite.  Trash are scattered everywhere. 

As a tourist destination, the least that the local authority could do is to clean it.  New buildings sprouting at the foot of the Al Gara Mountain practically blocked and killed the beauty of the mountains. 

I told Leo that Hofuf did not meet my expectations.  We went there to see the Mountain Ranges and the Caves but the garbage shattered all my expectations.  We promise ourselves that we’re going back to Hofuf come Hajj Holidays.  I think going there on October is a lot better.  The climate would hopefully change by that time.