Motorcycle Problem in Saudi Arabia | [E58]

So I've been in Saudi Arabia for a couple of days now and my first impression. Alula. Attention sandstorm area. Yeah, I'm not keen for that today. Sandstorm on the way. Along the way and in the city. But the funniest thing. Oh no, come on baby. Good morning all the beautiful people. I hope you're doing well. Another day here in Saudi Arabia. Fantastic. Sun is heating on. It's eight o'clock in the morning and I'm packed and ready to leave. And today I'm heading inland. I'm crossing the whole country right now so it takes a little while. It's pretty long stretches. Today I'll probably do the longest one. We'll see if I have the energy to go. It's almost 400 kilometers so I will see if I can make that. I will do an attempt. It's a challenge. I don't think I've ever done it so far yet. No, not that far. I will see. I will try it out at least. Yeah, I'm super excited for today. So let the adventure continue. How are you? Look at this crazy lady sitting on a motorcycle. Did you sleep okay? I'm outside of hail. I left it early this morning and I stayed with a really good host called Adil. And yeah, stayed for a couple of days. Been exploring and everything. So it's been fantastic. Now I'm just out in the middle of nowhere exploring and continue my way to Al Ula. So I will drive 420 kilometers today perhaps. I'm not sure yet but if I can I would like to do that. That's the kilometers to Al Ula. So we will see. Otherwise I just stop somewhere and I pitch my tent in the desert but I'm aiming to reach that place today. We will see. And this is the area out in the wild. Pretty amazing. So I'm having this little snack here. They are like a croissant with cheese and some herbs. So eating that, hiding a bit from the sun. I'm using Zarek as a shield. They have a lot of parking slots here along the highways but unfortunately they don't have any shields, shades. That's the only thing I would like in these parking spots in Saudi Arabia. Otherwise they're brilliant. I have some new features on Zarek. I don't know if I told you about that but this one. So I can put my feet up here when I'm riding a long time and relax a little bit. They're great. The guys from Samawa in Iraq made this one. And this one is so nice as well. The ass pad. It helps a lot on the way because the seat is not super comfortable on the Transalp, I must admit. And what else do I have? Yeah, this one. I got it from the guys in Samawa, Iraq as well. Anything else? I bought a camelback for my my backpack. So yep, I can drink some water on the way which makes a huge difference instead of you stopping and drinking from bottles all the time. I really enjoy to have this one because when the heat is coming you have to drink every 10 minutes basically. Yep, probably some more features. I will talk about them later because I don't remember them right now. But Al Ula. Al Ula, Al Ula, Al Ula. Let's try to go there. It's interesting as well with the cities in Saudi Arabia. It's a lot of drive-in. You drive everywhere. That's what you do. And they have a lot of drive-in restaurants and cafes. Drive-in coffee places along the way and in the city. But the funniest thing. Oh no, come on baby. I think this is the hiss. I have some issue with that one. No? You see? It's the hiss. It's not bad fuel. Sometimes I just have to turn it on, off and then it's okay. It doesn't matter if this one is green, you know the key one. I can still start her sometimes. Anyway, the funniest thing is the drive-thru ATMs in the cities. Drive-thru ATMs, that's hilarious. I will show you one later on. But back to the issue with Sarek. It's not bad fuel. I talked to a lot of people who've been traveling around Africa and countries with really bad fuel. And they had no issue. Like the Transalp has made it. So I won't believe it's the fuel. It is the hiss. That one is not working proper. This is sometimes I used to turn it on, off and then it works. So maybe I have to get a new one. Yep. Camel crossing area. Yo, they are so cute, the camels. And the camel we met the other day, it was so cool. Yesterday with a camel farmer, he was coming there. It was so amazing to see him on the camel. But I'm not sure if it's a camel. I mean, a camel has two humps. Andromeda has one hump. So what is it? Is it a dromedary or a camel? I read somewhere that it's called Arabic camels, the dromedary ones with one hump. Attention, sandstorm area. Yeah, I'm not keen for that today. Hopefully we won't get any sandstorms. But who knows. So I've been in Saudi Arabia for a First impression is that it's a well-developed country, of course. It's a big country. Firstly, when I arrived, everything was pretty clean. It's not that much garbage on the streets. Women are dressing a bit different here. They are covering their whole face. So they're wearing an abaya. I tried it the other day, an abaya, to feel it. So it's like a long dress you put on, and then you put a scarf on top, and then you have this face mask on. So you only show your eyes. As a tourist here, you don't have to wear an abaya as the women do. You just dress modestly and with loose clothes. That's it. You don't have to wear a scarf. If you want to, go ahead, but it's not mandatory. What else? Well, we have a lot more camels. You have camels everywhere here, running around. You see camel farmers everywhere. If you hit a camel, guess how much you have to pay. This is in Saudi Riyal. You have to pay 10,000 Saudi Riyal if you kill a camel. You pay that directly to the farmer, which is... I will write it here how much it is. Alula, 280 kilometers away. All right, we are there soon. No, but otherwise, first impression of Saudi Arabia, it's unbelievably beautiful. Solitude wherever you go. It's like a dream for me. I really like this landscape. People are very friendly. They're hanging out the windows of the cars and stopping me and trying to give me things on the way. They're very hospitable, like all the Middle East. Yeah, we will see more along the way. I've been here for a few days now, so... 91, that's okay. Salam Aleikum. Attention sandstorm area. Yeah, it's a bit windy here. Yeah, I don't want to end up in that. That's a pretty good rock. You can do some bouldering here if you want. Now, I'm taking a break again because now I'm driving a lot and my ass is hurting, so I will take a walk around this rock. I will fuel up a second time. I have enough. I have half tank, but just in case, sometimes the fuel stations are closed on the way, so I saw this one was open. I don't want to take that chance to come to one that is closed. So, we do it here. I could easily do it in a half tank to go to Al Ula, but... Oh, they are sleeping here. The price for the fuel here is 2.23, which is, let's say, US 0.61 dollars and in Euro 0.57. Salam Aleikum. Supermarket. Ah, perfect. 14.38. Salam Aleikum. Yes. Sorry? Here? Yeah, that's good. You're going to Hail? Okay, okay. That's good. That's good. So, we get some water and some snacks. I have 115 kilometers left to Al Ula. I'm sitting here and refueling and just chilling a little bit and taking shade from the sun a bit, and then a man came and gave me this, a little soda. It's so kind. I will drink it and continue my journey. I'm just waiting for half an hour to let the sun go down a little bit more, and I should be all right. Sandstorm on the way! Yep, here we go. Tiny sandstorm. Oh, wow. Over there, there's a lot of sand going on there. I should probably not laugh, because this could be me in there. Hey. Hi. Wow. And two babies. Cuties. Have a look here. You go to the fuel station and then you roll in and you go to the ATM. I get some money. I actually get some money, by the way. All right, we have some money. All good. I had to drive a little bit in these surroundings. It's so amazing. And it's pretty packed, the sand as well, so it's easy to drive easier. Absolutely stunning. Just that tiny little detour, you know. It makes me feel like I'm in Africa or somewhere, but I'm in Saudi Arabia. I'm in Saudi Arabia. It's magic here. Take this little road back. Look. Solitude. That's my middle name, I think. Let's get up on the main road again. Yeah. Good. This road is mind-blowing. It's so windy. This is the most beautiful asphalt road I've ridden in a very long time. Just saying, wow. Wow, wow, wow. If I could choose where I want to put my house, it would be in an area like that. There I would live. Surrounded by mountains and open areas. Hallelujah. And a lot of horses and animals, of course. There is, you see there comes entrance one. There's been two, three, four. And there's a camel there. I think they're doing the camel races over there. It looks like one of those fields. Camel racing. It's very common here in Middle East, Saudi Arabia. They have an international airport here at Al Ula. I had no idea about that. 30 kilometers left. I will be riding in the dark a little bit. Oh, his light is terrible. Only for 20 minutes, 29 minutes. Then I'm at my destination, my house. I will show you when we come there. I made it almost 460 kilometers today. That's the record. I took a detour as well. The last road was a detour. I could have gone directly after the second fuel station, but I decided to take another scenic road and I'm really happy I did. So nice. So 460 kilometers, wow. 12 hours I've been out today on a motorcycle. 12 hours. Yeah, I can feel it in my body. I'm just gonna go lay down and sleep and then I will talk about these places I'm staying in tomorrow. So thank you so much for joining my adventure from Sweden to Nepal. Like, share and comment. Subscribe and join my Patreon family as well. It's more behind the scenes and exclusive material there. Take care and I'll see you soon.