A small, pleasant
town, sleeping in on their last day of fasting on the occasion of Ramadan and
looking forward to Eid celebrations late night and inch back to the regular schedule of eating,
sleeping and working was really heartening to see.
A landmark roundabout in Hail town
As a tourist this
quaint town attracted me in the convenience it accords, with all major
supermarkets, local date and vegetable markets, simple souls and traditional
handicrafts available within the main area of the town centre. Typical old town
areas congested in the evening with shoppers and families looking for an
evening out.
But as a tourist and
having informed myself of the multitudes of treasures of history at the
location and my excitement built up knowing that these are treasures from more
than 9500 years ago, the simplicity, quaintness of folks was very inconvenient.
A long 250 km drive
from Hail city up to a much publicised volcanic site- Harrat ithnayn ( about
140km SW of Hail) was a complete confusion with no indication, directions, or
any boards with the location marked. It was
just a huge expanse of volcanic material on the ground. What was appalling was
after enquiring with many or almost any soul on the road, everyone is jinxed,
completely unaware of such a site! It was not just the language, having to
converse in Arabic; I had an Arabic English conversant person on board. The
local people had no information, awareness, knowledge, that apparently stems
from no immediate need or inquisitiveness to know about these national treasures.
The appalling apathy was shocking for someone like me who has seen the pride
and possessiveness of locals in historical locations worldwide, be it Egypt,
Africa, Finland, USA, Europe or South-East Asian countries.
Vast volcanic ash expanse
Understandably, the SCTA has a huge task ahead in protecting, researching, documenting, creating awareness among locals in the area and advertising/publicising them to encourage touristic curiosity in locals as expats in the region. Meanwhile a good move would be to involve, inform, train local people in the areas of historical finds, to understand and take pride in them, which would be a good start. History buffs like me, and several expats living in Saudi could help volunteer with government departments, and experts working to collate and publicize such discoveries.
My voluntary services are available to KSA tourism department for use! Thanks!
