Saudi Arabia. The world’s last great forbidden kingdom, and an emblem of everything most inexplicable to the West: the Middle East, Islam, oil and terrorism. For centuries the country was considered closed to outsiders, penetrable only to the bravest and the boldest, such as Richard Burton, TE Lawrence and Wilfred Thesiger, who risked life and limb to get there. Today it continues to exist only in the realms of the imagination for most people, who still relish the sensational stories surrounding it. And yet, ever so tentatively, the country is beginning to permit travellers past its portals. For those willing to ‘risk’ the realm, there may well be a surprise or two, like Madain Saleh. Called Saudi Arabia’s Petra, Madain Saleh numbers among the most magical and monumental sites of the Middle East. Or it would if more people knew about it.The largest sea of sand on the planet, is home to dunes the size of ships. The Arabian oryx, one of the most beautiful animals on earth, also lives there. In the far south lies Najran, an ancient caravan stop, where mud-brick forts rise out of the palm plantations and oases.Attempting to explain the stark contrast to the torrid, torpid lowlands below, the locals talk rather unkindly of the giant, invisible air-conditioner that points to Abha, with its back to Jizan.The provincial capital, Dammam, is the longest settled and largest town of the Dammam Khobar group, but it nonetheless has the feeling of a town whose time has passed. The town is home to enormous populations of immigrant Asians in the centre it can be hard to imagine that you’re in Saudi Arabia at all.Dhahran is the home of Saudi Arabia's oil industry and the base of Aramco, the granddaddy of Saudi oil companies.Jeddah is also the undisputed commercial capital of Saudi Arabia. If you fancy a spot of shopping, this is the town to trawl.Nowhere are the contradictions of modern Saudi Arabia's more evident than in Riyadh. Seen from afar, soaring, sparkling, stunning modern towers rise above the desert and camels
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