Wow, the drive out of Abha was breath taking (13 July, 2007). The city sits at 2200m and there was an amazing chill in the air as I loaded the car. I made a quick pass by a few historic structures in this picturesque city but needed much more time for proper sightseeing.
As you depart West toward the coastal plains you feel every meter of the descent down to sea level. Most of this well engineered dual carriageway was empty as I travelled until reaching a construction area near where the coastal plains begin. At times this section of road was nothing more than dirt, sometimes passing through a shallow but flowing river. Once again the terrain made a dramatic change. For perhaps 70Kms I travelled through a quite fertile farmland. The road still under 
construction wound through many beautiful plantations and groves.
construction wound through many beautiful plantations and groves. As I neared the Red Sea and Gizon, both the temperature and the humidity rose quickly, my refreshing mountain climate had vanished but I was nearing the next adventure milestone, the Yemen border.
The Saudi border crossing took quite a bit longer than planned. There had been an "extra" middle name added to my passport record while crossing from Bahrain and Saudi border boys just couldn't seem to get their head around the fact that some of their Causeway brethren had made a typing error. "No man's land" crossings are always a fascinating experience, this was no exception. The Saudi side was a large wide open border area 
with tall sail design roof cover, well organized Immigration and Customs stations. The 2km distance which separated the countries was a desolate, ill-kept, wasteland with a two lane road which had not been resurfaced in years. The Yemeni side was a vastly different experience. It had a uniquely third world feel, no particular organization, few signs (even in Arabic) and "wasta" [influence] played a larger part in securing your clearance through this border.
with tall sail design roof cover, well organized Immigration and Customs stations. The 2km distance which separated the countries was a desolate, ill-kept, wasteland with a two lane road which had not been resurfaced in years. The Yemeni side was a vastly different experience. It had a uniquely third world feel, no particular organization, few signs (even in Arabic) and "wasta" [influence] played a larger part in securing your clearance through this border. I was joined in the Yemeni Customs area by a terrific Sabre colleague Amin Al-Qubati from our Sana'a office. Amin had also solicited a team of "border crossing" support staff from one of our Sabre customers in another city. Leading this team was Walid from the neighboring village of Haradh. Although the "processing" of Eilidh's vehicle through the Custom's office did take some time, the scene itself was fascinating to experience. You could see everything from Saudi's crossing over to visit family to merchants bringing goods across to stock their shelves. Each entrant carefully selected a customs agent and then began the processing of convincing him to process their paperwork first. Much negotiation would take place, papers verified, hoods opened chassis numbers verified. For some, a detailed inspection insued, for others, a greased palm was rewarded with the pounding of a stamp, first on a nearly dried ink pad and finally on their documents. All the while I had many stares, fingers pointed, people greeting me asking for a hand shake and could hear comments in Arabic "Amerikey", "Bahrain". Amin would tell me later that everyone was amazed to learn that a "Gringo" who lived in Bahrain had driven alone through Saudi and had come to Yemen.
POSTSCRIPT: Although the "processing" of this paperwork did take an inordinate amount of time, we learned a few days later that they only processed the Customs paperwork for Eilidh's vehicle and although I had given them the original issue Yemeni Visa, they did not actually give me an Immigration Dept entry stamp in my passport.
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