Here are a some pictures of the place.

The bed was big, clean and comfortable

The bathroom was modern, and clean

The room I was in has no bathtub, but a shower with a very nice shower-head

A minibar that was not really stacked, the little invoice had items on it that were not actually there

They do give a complementary bottle of water

A safe and a prayer rug provided by the Gideons hotel

A Desk, and internet is complimentary, but it is not WiFi, you have to connect to it with a cable

The star of the hotel, other than being the only hotel in Yanbu Industrial City is of course the view, all rooms face the red sea

Of course, if you only get the standard room then you get to have a little distracting apparatus blocking your view, but I am not complaining

And because I do not care much about television, I forgot to take a picture of the flat screen TV in front of the bed.

The hotel is not perfect, the finishing touches were put together in haste and it shows here and there, and I once came and found the door not fully closed, I guess the cleaner forgot to listen to the click sound, and when I complained about it, the receptionist acted like it was nothing and gave me a blank courtesy smile.

The hotel has a private beach, with cigarette butts all over the sand.

I would rate it as a 6/10 as a 5 star hotel

The Making of “Desert Seas”

“A behind-the-scenes look at what it was like working on the new National Geographic documentary, Desert Seas” a natural history documentary featuring Saudi Arabia’s two seas; the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, produced by Icon Films and underwritten by Saudi Aramco.”

I cannot wait to see this, the greatness of National Geographic and the unseen places around Saudi… glad to see something other than Madaen Saleh on the map and in pictures… well this time on video

The hotel is the largest hotel in Sydney, and one of the nicest hotels we stayed at in Australia.

The suite was very nice, clean, and spacious.

Suite Entrance

The Kingsize Bed

Spacious Bathroom

View from the window at night

View from the Window in the Morning

We loved this hotel, the rooms were around $250 AUD a night. The only thing separating it from the harbour is a little bridge.

Then my friend the Fashionisto :) Adnan Manjal posted this picture on twitter. His friend took it, and I would like to thank them both.

The Mecca (Makkah) Clock Tower Picture

Photo from the Boston.com Big Picture (here)

I am not sure what the conditions of entry were for these guys, but it seemed like an interesting video to share here. The two paragliders are Andre Bernhard & Adi Ibanez, and they seem to have had a good time. (video)

I would’ve liked them to use a lens that wasn’t too wide which makes everything look almost like it was shot with a fisheye lens, and I wish the camera did not shake as much as it did.

This is a picture of Mike Tyson in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, after he performed Umrah. I am sure more pictures will surface or will be shared by him or his publicist.

I hope he does not go all Maureen Dowd on us, cause then I’m gonna have to… cause you know me, I mean… yeah

I do however think that they should’ve invited bloggers to the event, especially ones who are into photography, and of course the ones with names that start with the letter Q, and they should let them checkout the “Arabian routes. Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” a 624 pages, 600 illustrations, 45 euro limited edition in English and Arabic catalogue which is available only at the Louvre bookshop.

You can check the press release (pdf) with some nice pictures and information and you can also check Chiara’s post on the event with many pictures of the items on display.

Yes, I miss diving… but I do not miss the heat… yet cold water diving is not enticing at all, so you can only enjoy this… with that

I was also a proud attendee, since my wife Mai <3 was one of the graduates, congratulations honey

The graduation ceremony was held at the Sydney convention centre, and was attended by the Saudi Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khalid Angari. The Saudi ambassador to Australia Hasan Nazer also attended the graduation ceremony along with Dr. Ali Albishri the head of the Culural Attache’.

It was a bit unorganized, but everyone was happy, so this compensated that, I had my camera with me and took a few shots and made this video, I had a totally different video in mind but it never happened (as usual), which explains why I only had one lens with me at the time, but all in all, and now that i think about it, I do not think I could’ve made it any better than this… Unless of course they invite me next year and I’m more prepared and know what to expect (p.s. I will work for room, board, and a little pocket money LOL)

So without further ado, here’s the video.