“Believing in omens and fate is all right as long as you know exactly what you are doing.”
Robin Davidson, Tracks
I stayed in Dammam for some time during which I did a daytrip to Manama in Bahrain. Next, I planned to keep traveling along the coast to Kuwait and I wanted to do it overland. After inquires at Dammam bus stations, I found a bus that goes to Khafji, a SA town near the border with Kuwait. It runs twice daily at 9.30 am and 5 pm. The ticket was 120 Saudi riyal ($32). People over 60 like me get a 50% discount.
Khafji is only 10 km from Kuwait. It lies in what used to be Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone and was governed by both countries in order to accommodate wandering Bedouins who cared little about boundaries. This arrangement worked until oil was discovered in the neutral zone. In 1965, the KSA and Kuwait governments signed a new agreement to partition the Zone and to establish a border between two countries. Khafji formally became a KSA town. During the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqi army occupied Khafji. It was liberated by the Coalition forces in what it is now called the Battle of Khafji.
I took the morning bus and arrived in Khafji at 2 pm. From there, I decided to play it by ear. Inshallah, I would find someone to take me to Kuwait. If not, I could stay in Khafji for a night. This would have given me more time to think how to proceed. Apparently, Allah was willing because I was approached by the only man waiting at the bus station who claimed to be a taxi driver which of course he was not.
I said, ‘Kuwait’.
He said, ‘No’.
No means no, and I sat down with my backpack on the steps of the bus station. The man tried to offer his services to the other 4 bus passengers but they declined. He returned to me. He regretted that he could not take me to Kuwait but he knew someone who could. Would I go with him or prefer to wait until I found another ride?
The bus station is on the outskirts of Khafji. The area around it looked deserted. It was unlikely that another willing driver showed up any time soon and I loaded my backpack into the man’s battered car. He drove me through Khafji to a place from where the border crossing was visible. Three men were waiting for us there.
Their quoted price to take me to Salmiya in Kuwait was 400 SR ($106). I had no idea if it was a rip-off or a fair price for a 1.5-hour ride plus the time at the border. The men looked like they were not willing to negotiate. They chatted with each other paying no attention to me as if I was not there. The problem was that I had only 200 SR left. The men said, ‘Bank’, pointed at something behind me and returned to their lively conversation. I turned and saw an ATM that stood 10 meters away from us in the middle of the desert. I withdrew 200 SR from it, one of the 3 men took my backpack and we set off.
As a US citizen, I am eligible for a free VOA in Kuwait. There were no other foreigners at the border, however the formalities took time. I was photographed and fingerprinted and sent from one window to another. The officer questioned me being particular interested in how I got to this border crossing. I had to explain my entire route – plane to Riyadh, train to Dammam, bus to Khafji. Then I finally was issued a visa.
I asked my driver to take me to IBIS Samiya hotel. I did not have a reservation since I did not know when I could get there but they were happy to give me a room with a sea view, breakfast included.
Absolutely amazing. Well done.