Al-Hofuf - Camels

When my parents were here visiting, we took a trip to Al-Hofuf, which is about an hour south of our home in Al-Khobar.  Hofuf is in the Al-Ahsa Oasis, the largest oasis in the world, and a famous area for date production. It is also known for large camel markets, which was one of the goals of our trip.

Rob was gone in Bali, and I couldn't find anyone else who had a large enough car that was around that weekend, so we booked a taxi.  I requested a driver who spoke good English and actually could find his way to Hofuf.  Luckily, our driver could do both.  In fact, he acted like our tour guide, which we needed!

We first arrived at a camel farm/market, where there was one man working and visitors stopped by to buy camels.  Our driver, Ali, made sure it was okay for us to look at the camels and even pet them.  The camels were ridiculously friendly!  They just wanted to touch us and lean on us, which was really awkward.  Two camels would come on either side of us and just squeeze, in a very loving way.

Grandpa trying to keep the camels from cuddling too much

Surrounded by loving camels

Grandma and her new friends

Kissed by a camel

 After a bit of camel cuddling, we drove to another farm.  Ali was set on getting us fresh camel milk and at the first farm, the camels had already been milked that morning.  At this farm, there were lots of goats with strange long tails.  (When we got home, we googled this and found that only sheep have long tails, not goats...these poor guys either had their English words mixed up or actually thought they were raising goats when they are really sheep!)

At this farm, a man and his teenage son lived there and worked the farm.  All the farms are owned by Saudis but managed/worked by men from other Middle Eastern or African countries. I believe this family was from Yemen, but I'm not sure.   While we waited for milk, which we kept saying we didn't need (but didn't want to be rude), we were invited to sit inside the house.  The house is shown in the background of the picture below.  It consisted of two open rooms with carpets as the flooring on top of the sand.  One had an open fire pan where they cooked flat bread, and the other had mattresses on the floor.  We opted to sit outside on a rug, and eventually were brought both goat (sheep?) milk and camel milk to taste.  The goat milk was sweet and creamy, and the camel milk was thin and salty.  Jack drank half the bowl of goat milk.

The teenage boy brought out a box full of stale, moldy flatbread for us to feed to the camels.  He also explained, through our driver/translator, that some of the camels were for sale.  One female cost 70,000 riyals, which is about $18,000.  In town, he said, there are racing camels that go for 150,000 riyals or $40,000! 

Grandpa and Jack considering adding camels to Brantwood Bison

Check out their tails!

In the background - the teenage boy who lived at the farm

Jack giggling about feeding the camel

Milk tasting

Sri Lanka - Turtle Sanctuary

A stick fisherman in Sri Lanka

We've had a busy and exciting two weeks!  My parents are here, so I will be posting pictures soon from their visit.  Rob is currently in the Singapore airport on his way home from Bali Green Camp with a group of students. 

Before we get into that, I have some more Sri Lanka pictures to put up.  After our visit to Uda Walawe, we headed back to the beach.  One day we went to a nearby town, Galle, where we visited a sea turtle hatchery.  They told us that sea turtles eggs are commonly dug up by predators or people and therefore don't hatch.  The hatchery workers gather eggs and release the babies back into the ocean when they are ready.  They also rehabilitate and sometimes house injured sea turtles.

Eggs waiting to hatch

A baby sea turtle, a week old

Jack holding a baby turtle

A Green sea turtle that was injured by a fishing boat

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped to get a coconut drink.  We learned that there are two varieties of coconut, green and orange.  The green ones become brown and are used in cooking.  The orange ones are used for making coconut oil.  The water in the center of the orange ones contains electrolytes, and is known as a cure for a hangover.

Cutting the top off of the coconut

Enjoying the refreshing water by the pool

After a relaxing two weeks in Sri Lanka, we headed back to Saudi.  We discovered that Santa decided to leave the larger presents for Jack at our house!

Sri Lanka - Uda Walawe National Park

After the baby elephant feeding, we arrived at our hotel, Kalu's Hideaway.  It is owned by a famous Sri Lankan cricket player and is a beautiful 8-room hotel.  Most people stay only one night, either after an evening safari or before a morning safari.  We stayed two nights, with a morning safari in the middle.

The restaurant at the hotel uses all vegetables and fruits grown on the property, except the coconuts which come from the coastal areas since they need salty soil.  The region we were in is known for rice and bananas.  We learned that Sri Lanka has 36 different  varieties of bananas!

Since the hotel only has eight rooms and is fairly isolated, Jack had the run of the place - including a tree house, hammocks, gardens and orchards.  The staff loooooved him and made him special meals including several fresh squeezed juices and as much fruit as he wanted.

The tree house

Obviously, Jack's favorite tree in the garden - the Jackfruit tree

A peacock that kept getting into the garden

The next morning, we piled into a open-top jeep and headed into the park for a safari.  One border of the park is a reservoir and a dam which supplies the electricity for the surrounding area, including the electric fences along the other park boundaries. 

The jeep ride was incredibly bumpy, going through mud and fields on paths through the park.  We saw dozens of elephants - there are 600 elephants in the park - as well as wild water buffalo, peacocks, a few monkeys and crocodiles, and beautiful tropical birds. 

Our welcoming party, blocking the road!

On the way back to our hotel, our driver stopped and bought us fresh sugar cane.  The man selling it on the side of the road cut the outer part off and told us to take small bites of the hard, stringy cane, suck the sweet juice out, and then spit it out.  Jack mostly liked being allowed to spit!

 We headed back to the hotel for a nap and an afternoon at the pool.  Our ride was slowed by a farmer herding his water buffalo across the dam.  Reminds me of my dad herding the buffalo across Stadium Road in Brantwood :)

Jack decided that it would be hilarious if Grandpa's buffalo went swimming like the buffalo in Sri Lanka.  Speaking of Grandpa, my parents are coming soon!  They leave Saturday and arrive on Sunday!!!!  Rob will be taking a group of students to Green Camp in Bali for a week so Jack and I will hang with Grandma and Grandpa. 

One more Sri Lanka post to come...about the sea turtle hatchery. 

Baby update...17 weeks and starting to feel the kicking! 

Jack's Passport Photo Shoot

We need new passport photos for Jack, so Rob and I thought we could take them ourselves rather than going to a photo place.  The requirements say to have a "neutral expression."    Here are Jack's attempts.

The winner

Sri Lanka - a journey inland

When we booked our hotels in Sri Lanka in July, they were already very full. There were two nights that we could not get a room on Mirissa beach where we wanted to be, so we took advantage of this and travelled inland to Uda Walawe National Park.  It was a three hour ride on narrow, hilly, winding roads through amazing small towns.  Anyone who has ever been on a road trip with me knows how my queasy stomach took that...

Luckily there were lots of distractions to take pictures of as we drove.  Along the way the road was full of bicycles, motorcycles, tuk tuks, and...stray dogs, cows, water buffalo, and land monitors.  It seems that every family in Sri Lanka has a cow or two, or maybe a water buffalo, and they like to tie them up right next to the road.  But sometimes they walk their animals down the road, or maybe they get off their rope...

Water buffalo and egrets

Land monitor

A huge Buddha near the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka

Busy street

As we drove to the park, we followed the southern road along the coast for a while.  Our driver told us that the tsunami of 2004 completely wiped out many of the towns we were driving through, and they had since been rebuilt.  Some buildings had been left standing, with windows broken out and significant damage to the walls.  It was heartbreaking to hear the driver tell of the tragedy and all the people who were affected, but amazing to see how much had been rebuilt.

We turned north away from the ocean and entered an area of rich soil known for its 36 varieties of bananas and plentiful rice. 

Rice field

One way to carry bananas

Another banana transport method

As we neared our destination, our driver excitedly announced that he had driven fast enough to get to the baby elephant feeding area in time for the noon feeding.  This was the first we had heard of this and we were excited.  In the National Park, they gather up the baby elephants three times a day to feed them milk from a bottle.  The elephants know when the feeding times are and show up at the corral and wait for the gate to be opened.  One at a time they drink from a huge bottle that is mounted on the fence, and then return to the wild of the park.  The youngest we saw was about three months old.

Baby elephants ready for feeding

Jack couldn't take his eyes off the elephants long enough to take a family picture, but who can blame him?

 

We then went to our hotel to get some rest before the big safari the next morning.  That will be in the next post!

P.S.  If you noticed I'm looking a little thick around the middle, it is not from too many pina coladas on the beach...a baby girl will join us in July!

Sri Lanka - Snake Farm

One day we took an excusion by tuk tuk to a local snake farm.  There is a doctor that raises poisonous snakes in order to produce antidotes for snake bites. 

The snake doctor

This snake was not poisonous, or at least not really poisonous

Jack proved not to have a healthy fear of snakes, including hissing cobras

Such as strange feeling...like your necklace is moving on its own

P.S. Here are some tuk tuks...three wheeled vehicles that are used as taxis all over Sri Lanka

Christmas in Sri Lanka

We just returned from two weeks in Sri Lanka!  It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation.  Two other families from our school also went so Jack had friends to play in the waves with.  We spent most of the time on the beach, digging in the sand or splashing in the Indian Ocean.  We also took a three-day journey inland to a National Park for a safari.

On Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, the hotel had dinner on the beach, with a bonfire and grilled turkey and lots of fruit and vegetable carvings.

A traditional Sri Lankan band entertained us.  They came over to sing right to Jack several times and even let him try the drum.

Yes, Rob is holding the bonfire in his hand :)

On Christmas morning, we discovered that Santa had filled Jack's stocking in the hotel room!  Somehow Grandma Karin sent a crocheted elephant and dragon with Santa.  He also brought Lightning McQueen underwear and playdoh.

More to come...