I am awake at 8.15 AM. It is later than I planned, but I needed the rest after the trip from Doha. I am aching in the lower back and have the beginnings of a blister on the sole of my right foot from pressure on the accelerator yesterday. I check out of the hotel at 9, and head into Jeddah traffic. I finally break loose at 10 and get onto Highway 5 N. The car is drinking petrol like no tomorrow. Yesterday took 4 full tanks to reach Jeddah. I find a petrol station with the coffee booth open. I fill both of us. The priority is to get as close as possible to the Jordan border before midnight on 16th May when my Saudi Visa expires.
Dahaban is the first town on the journey, followed by Tawwal and Qadimah. The road condition is amazing and comparable to any western highway I have ever driven. I am pleasantly surprised. After Qadimah there is a long period of nothingness until Rabigh. The terrain is flat with hills in the distance. Masturah, Badr Hunayn and Abu Shainana are soon passed and it seems every town on this leg of the journey looks the same. Yanbu is a major oil refinery area. I am stopped at traffic lights every kilometre and the speed limit is 100. As I emerge from Yanbu, the first sign board fro Jordan appears - 750 KM. This is good news as I am heading for Duba which is 350 KM. This will leave me with just 300 KM to drive on Sunday and exit Saudi.
The journey up to Al Wajh is the most desolate and remote drive I have ever undertaken. Even camels don’t go there. I drive for two hours without seeing a car in front, behind or oncoming. If you break down out there you are surely doomed. This brings home to me the size of the risk I have taken driving across this country alone. Not only from the accident / breakdown perspective but from the overstay implications of the visa that would undoubtedly result in being locked up. I push on to Duma and have to decide whether to go on to Jordan tonight or sleep in Duma. The Duma sleep wins out which will allow me to arrive in Jordan during daylight tomorrow. I check in to the Al-Tal Hotel which is SAR 120 per night. But it has wireless internet and coke in glass bottles.
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