13 September 2010
Today was pretty much about the driving. We stopped here and there to look at parts of the desert but it wasn’t really that interesting.
The most memorable part for me are all the calcite formations in the White Desert – the Sahara. Some of the formations look like mushroom clouds and some look like waves you could surf. There are a few that look like giant penises. It’s all amazing.
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| Seems to have been some confusion in this shot. It was supposed to be Target catalogue but seems Helen & Ange decided to do Merekat. |
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| Calcite formation |
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| Looks like a dog. |
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| Bruno and Teegs go exploring |
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| Dazy the truck in the distance plus some of her occupants |
We camped in the White Desert. That night there was a little desert fox running around – attracted probably in equal parts to the smell of humans and campfire chicken. Joel was worried about the fox eating him. I wasn’t terribly worried about it by the time we went to bed. Once you’ve squatted down for a pee, and had one walk past half way through done, you don’t take much notice of them.
14 September 2010
More driving.
We headed off reasonably early to go to the next oasis. More sand, more monoliths, more boredom and truck naps.
It’s amazing the amount of whinging coming out of the newbies today. I was talking to Ange and Bruno and both seem to be in agreement that in one day we’ve heard more complaints than in the previous two weeks. This isn’t from all of them but it makes it really difficult to stay positive myself when there’s so much bitterness.
To compound the issue today, Drew and Tegan couldn’t find the oasis they wanted. They’ve both been there before but in this area, if someone wants a new road they just create it. Someone asked why they didn’t use GPS but it simply doesn’t work out here. The area hasn’t been mapped to make it a viable option. We ended up stopping at a new semi-resort place for lunch before heading off to where we stayed the night.
The place we stayed is run by a man named Mohamed – surprise – and he’s a dynamo at chess. He couldn’t be beaten by anyone in our group. He outplays everyone according to the story.
It was nice to stop here and get off the truck. I’ve had to share my seat for the last couple of days, which by itself isn’t a bad thing, but Richard cannot sit upright. He is constantly lolling over me. It’s really aggravating because it’s too hot and because if what he’s doing is flirting, then he’s not very good at it.
We’re sleeping on the roof tonight. Should be an interesting experience. We set everything up after we came back from an old minaret and mud brick village. There was nothing really there to look at and the tour guide didn’t tell us anything about the history of the place. He led us in, around and out and then tried to hit everyone up for 10LE baksheesh, which we refused to pay – owing to him having already been given his payment.
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| Sign at the entry |
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| Fo shizzel, Bruno iz hardcore! In the background Tambi & Sean |
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| Dawn - the crazy cool Canadian, and adopted mother for the group |
Ange and Burno, after the tour decided to play wifi hunters. We ended up in the street outside the hotel trying to check Facebook and emails. We drew quite a crowd of neighbourhood kids. They wanted to know our names, and to generally stare at the white people who had suddenly turned up in their midst. Bruno decided to share some western culture with them and started an episode of Family Guy on his iPod. The kids seemed to be amazed by it even though they wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on.
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| Bruno - Wifi Hunter |
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| Bruno and the kids and Family Guy |
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