September 14th, 2015: Canadian University Dubai (CUD) engineering student Hamza Al Johani decided to depart from his traditional vacation plans this year and spend his summer traversing the Gulf as part an epic road trip to catch up with friends and family across the region.
Starting out in the UAE, Hamza first embarked upon a ten hour journey from Dubai to Doha via the Saudi border post at Al Ghuwaifat. From the Qatari capital he went on to take the three hour drive to Dammam and then on to Manama in Bahrain, finishing up his journey with a five hour trip from Dammam to Riyadh.
Speaking about the inspiration for his expedition, Hamza said, “I really just wanted to do something different this year. We’re always eager to get on an aeroplane and head off to Europe or the US when the summer season comes, but I believe we don’t take enough time to appreciate what’s around us. I have made some good friends around the Gulf while studying in Dubai and I wanted to take the time to visit them, and to combine that with the opportunity to see more of the region.”
Meeting up with a fellow CUD student in the Qatari capital, Hamza explored the ancient and modern sides of the city, from Souq Waqif, a historic labyrinth market epitomizing traditional Middle Eastern architecture, to the state-of-the-art infrastructure being created for the 2022 World Cup.
Moving on to Manama, he took in the rich cultural and religious sights of the city, visiting the Bahrain national evangelical church, as well as witnessing some of the city’s most outstanding modern architecture, including the Bahrain World Trade Center, the first skyscraper to integrate large-scale wind turbines.
At his final stop in Riyadh, Hamza visited the ancient town of Al Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was the original home of the Saudi royal family and is now the seat of the Diriyah Governorate. After taking a final tour through the busy streets of the country’s modern-day capital city, he then headed home for some family time in his native Medina.
“The ever changing scenery was certainly one of the highlights of the trip”, said Hamza, who completed the entire journey in just one week, “but I think it was the hospitality of strangers that really struck me the most” he revealed.
“Coming from a city, we don’t realize or even think about what it’s like to live in remote communities, so it was a fascinating experience for me to meet and talk to people from different walks of life, and something I certainly would never have experienced if I hadn’t taken this trip”, Hamza concluded.
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