Landed in Saudi Arabia, first morning

My first impression of Saudi Arabia from the plane, as the wing dipped and we turned for the final approach, was of sand dunes to the horizon, here and there dotted with single, lonely shrubs - 'boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.' (Shelley).

We landed around 9am at King Fahd International Airport, in Dammam, in the East Province of Saudi Arabia. Neville Menezes of PINZ met us at the airport.  He arranged our transfer to the Holiday Inn Khobar Corniche, a hotel in Dammam

The heat as we got out of the two Ford cars that brought us to the hotel was furnace-like.

Dammam in the fifth largest city in Saudi Arabia.  

View from my hotel window, Room 115, Holiday Inn Khobar Corniche.  We're quite close to the sea, on the eastern coast, the Persian Gulf coast.