Ras Tanura

It's been a few days since I've had time to write and tonight is our last night in Saudi, so I figure I'd better get current before my computer washes away in a torrent of tears. :-)

Two days ago we caught the early bus to the beach town of Ras Tanura. It's another one of the Aramco compounds, mainly used for loading oil tankers since it's on the Gulf. Oh, before I forget, I found out that gas is 60 cents per gallon here. Just an FYI... I was curious.

Ras Tanura is built up quite a bit from the time I was last there. It's a BEAUTIFUL compound, especially right on the beach area. Palapas are on the sand and the swimming pool, schools, walkways, theaters, and general areas are really gorgeous. It kind of reminded me of being on vacation in a tropical place.

We toured around a bit and visited the Ras Tanura golf course, which is still the oiled sand. They don't have the grass that Dhahran has. Another stop we made was a swanky building where are the major Aramco meetings are held... sort of a big wig meeting spot. Very shee shee.

All the volunteers in Ras Tanura were VERY FRIENDLY. Almost too friendly. It's like they were starving for human interaction! Lol! Apparently Ras Tanura's population is about 2,500 whereas Dhahran has about 18,000. That's a pretty big difference. Despite how beautiful it is there, I would not want to live in a community that small... just too small.

No, I'd say it's the perfect weekend spot.
I heard a lot about what a ghost town Abqaiq is now... that it's withering away and a lot of the houses are boarded up with broken windows, etc. It was very sad for folks on this reuniuon who used to live there to see it in that condition. I can understand why.