On April 25, all of the Dow wives were invited by Saudi Aramco to visit Shaybah - their oil field near the northern edge of the Rub' Al-Khali desert. This area of Saudi Arabia is often referred to as the "Empty Quarter" because there is nothing there. With the exception of the Shaybah facilities, it is quite literally empty! I have to say...I think it's hilarious that not many of us knew exactly where we were going or what we were doing. Pretty much everyone was in agreement - when they said they were flying us somewhere for dinner and activities AND the husbands weren't invited (which meant no kids either) we didn't care where we were going...just let us know what time to be ready hahaha!!! I knew we were staying in Saudi, but I didn't even have a clue about which direction we going!
Saudi Aramco had a great day planned for us! We started off at their terminal in the Dammam airport. They flew us on one of their private jets out to the middle of nowhere. This is all of us getting off the plane on the airstrip at Shaybah.
The surroundings here are just beautiful...much, much different than the desert we have around us in Jubail. The sand is a red/orange color and the dunes are sometimes as high as 1,000 feet!
When we were approaching Shaybah from the air, it was easy to grasp just how remote of a location it is. There is nothing around but sand and a few roads going in and out. Here you can see the facilities from where our gathering was. They had to transport materials from 500 miles away in trucks until the airstrip was complete.
Our dinner was set up outside this tent.
Inside the tent we were served snacks and shown a presentation about the facilities. At the end of the presentation they talked about how they were starting on a new project and we all laughed saying that's the real reason they brought the "bosses" there...to recruit the husbands.
We went back outside for our look into some Saudi Arabian culture and traditions.
These men were serving Arabic coffee, tea and traditional sweets.
Man playing traditional music on a rababa.
Falcon show.
This is me getting a henna tattoo.
He is making khubz (Arabic bread).
A tandoor is used to bake the khubz.
These guys were there to show off their different handicrafts. I know there must be a name for them, but I don't know it!
Me and some friends enjoying the view.
What an unbelievable life I have :)
We watched the sunset from our tent on the hilltop (or should I say sandtop, hehe), ate a delicious dinner, and then boarded our plane back to Dammam.
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