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 185th day I explored Jeddah, a transit city for Muslims who want to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. I started my journey on foot to Al-Balad, the old city of Jeddah which dates back to Uthman's reign in 647 and continues to develop as a port city, especially for pilgrims. I entered Al-Balad from the north side, through the Jeddah Gate. In the past, Jeddah was a walled city and was purposefully fortified in the early 16th century to anticipate Portuguese expansion in the region. In the 20th century, the city walls were torn down to accommodate the development of the city of Jeddah, which has now become the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh. Al-Balad is quite large and currently many of its old buildings are under restoration. There are over 800 old buildings in Al-Balad, mostly from the early 20th century. The government wants to make this place a major tourist area so many cafes were forced to close during the restoration process. I continued walking east where there is Souk Bab Makkah, the market by the Gate of Makkah. In the past, pilgrims departing from Jeddah to Mecca would exit through this gate, so at that time non-Muslims were prohibited from walking through this gate. I circled the east side of Al-Balad and tried the public bus northbound. The SAPTCO bus is new, like the one in Riyadh, and requires payment with a SAPTCO card for 10 Rial. The bus ticket for one way costs 3.5 Rial. Unfortunately the bus network is still very limited so I continued by Uber to reach the Red Sea Mall, the best mall in Jeddah. From there I walked to the beach called Jeddah Waterfront (JW). It is said that JW is 30 kilometers long and I only walked along its northern part. From there I could see the Red Sea. 200 kilometers to the west is Sudan, in the African continent. I heard there used to be a ferry line connecting Jeddah with Port Sudan. In the south of JW there is the highest fountain in the world which can reach a height of 260 meters. Unfortunately when I went there it wasn't operational. Tomorrow I would continue my journey to Medina. ___ 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 04:26 Al Balad (Old City) 08:16 Makkah Gate 13:49 Red Sea Mall 18:32 Jeddah Waterfront