The videos document my pilgrimage from Indonesia to the African continent by land (no airplane!). The route: 1.) Indonesia: Traveling through Sumatran Mountains and Prehistoric Sites 2.) Malaysia: Meeting with the Aborigines of the Malay Peninsula 3.) Thailand: Tracing the Southeast Asian Ancient Empires 4.) Laos: Experiencing the Lao-China Railway 5.) China: Backpacking the Tibetan Plateau to the Edge of the Silk Road 6.) Kazakhstan: First Contact with the Central Asians 7.) Uzbekistan: Pilgrimage in the Land of the Timurids 8.) Tajikistan: Lost in the Fenn Mountains 9.) Afghanistan: Visiting Afghanistan after the Taliban Takeover 10.) Iran: Surrounded by the Ancient Civilization of Persia 11.) UAE: Short Transit in Futuristic Cities 12.) Saudi Arabia: Pilgrimage in the Holy Land of the Muslims 13.) Jordan: Catching a Glimpse of Jerusalem 14.) Egypt: Ending in the Land of Pharaohs
Curated by: Bang Jago (174 videos)
On the 188th day I visited the ancient city of Hegra, a necropolis complex carved into giant sandstones and is the main attraction of AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Hegra is 20 km north of AlUla and visitors can take a shuttle bus from Winter Park. This shuttle bus is included in the ticket price for the Hegra Day Tour, a mandatory tour for those who want to see Hegra. The shuttle bus took us to the visitor center at the south entrance of Hegra. There visitors are greeted and served with dried fruits and juices. Together with other visitors, we took a bus to enter the Hegra complex, led by a tour guide. There were 4 sites to visit. The first site is Jabal al-Ahmar or the Red Mountain. The tombs of the Nabateans who lived in Hegra in the first century AD were engraved on this giant sandstone. The style is exactly the same as in Petra, which was their capital at that time. The total number of stone tombs in this place reaches more than one hundred. The largest is the Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza, the second site I visited. Its presence is very striking because this large sandstone is exclusively his tomb. Because the royal tomb is in Petra, scholars believed that Lihyan was a wealthy trader. The third site was Jabal AlBanat which has several tombs for women. Here visitors were allowed to enter one of the tombs and see 3 types of Nabataean tombs. The final site was Al Diwan, where the dignitaries of Hegra gathered in a giant chamber carved into the cliff wall. Nearby were several carved shrines dedicated for Nabataean gods. Behind it was a camel petroglyph, probably carved at a later date. The Hegra site has a long history, from the time of Dedan, Nabataean, Rome, to the Ottoman Turks who built a train station there. I enjoyed this ancient city in the middle of the desert. In the past, this city thrived because it was situated on a trade route and had easy access to groundwater. After touring Hegra, I continued my journey to Tabuk, a large city near Saudi Arabia's border with Jordan. Tomorrow I would rest in Tabuk before continuing to Aqaba. ___ Stage 1 Route - Sumatra (DONE!): Jakarta - Bandar Lampung - Baturaja - Lahat - Pagar Alam - Bengkulu - Lebong Tandai - Kerinci - Jambi - Kuala Tungkal - Batam - Johor Bahru Stage 2 Route - ASEAN Mainland (DONE!): Johor Bahru - Kuala Tahan - Kota Bharu - Su-Ngai Kolok - Nakhon Si Thammarat - Chaiya - Nakhon Pathom - Bangkok - Nakhon Ratchasima - Phimai - Nong Khai - Vientiane - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang - Chiang Rai - Chiang Mai - Pai - Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Boten - Kunming, China Stage 3 Route - China (DONE!): Kunming - Dali - Lijiang - Shangri-La - Shambala - Litang - Chengdu - Leshan - Chengdu - Xi'an - Zhangye - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi - Almaty, Kazakhstan Stage 4 Route - Central Asia (DONE!): Almaty - Shymkent - Tashkent - Nukus - Muynak - Turtkul - Khiva - Bukhara - Samarkand - Tashkent - Khujand - Fann Mountains - Dushanbe - Kunduz, Afghanistan Stage 5 Route - Afghanistan (DONE!): Kunduz - Samangan - Mazar-i-Sharif - Balkh - Kabul - Bamiyan - Band-e Amir - Yakawlang - Lal - Chagcharan - Herat - Mashhad, Iran Stage 6 Route - Iran (DONE): Mashhad - Tehran - Isfahan - Persepolis - Shiraz - Ahvaz - Shalamcheh Border - Shushtar - Shush - Bandar Abbas - Sharjah, UAE Stage 7 Route - Arabian Peninsula: Sharjah - Dubai - Abu Dhabi - Riyadh - Jeddah - Madinah - AlUla - Hegra - Tabuk - Haql - Aqaba, Jordan *Follow my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/obeysianipar/) for direct messages **Message me for sponsorship --- Music Credits: And Awaken - Stings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. --- Chapters: 00:00 Prologue 02:49 AlUla to Hegra 05:32 Hegra Visitor Center 07:27 Jabal AlAhmar 12:24 Tomb of Lihay son of Kuza 14:13 Jabal AlBanat 19:23 Jabal AlIthlib (Diwan) 27:20 Shared Taxi to Tabuk