Saudi Wildlife

Last weekend, Rob and his friend Sean were out running along the Corniche, which is the road that runs along the Arabian Sea.  They are training for the upcoming Dead Sea Marathon, which is in Jordan next week.

The only wildlife we see around here is ferral cats, so they were excited when they spotted some flamingos in the water!  After they finished the run, showered, and rested, we went back to see if we could spot them again.  All photo credits go to our friend Sean O'Dell.

In the first two pictures, the green slimy sewage along the coast in this part is highlighted - it smelled as good as it looks.  In the third, they are taking flight near an old oil rig, and in the last they are in front of the King Fahd Causeway which leads to Bahrain.

JV Girls Hoops!

JV Girls Hoops 2012

Al Hofuf - Caves

When we were in Hofuf, we asked our driver if he knew how to get to the famous Hofuf caves.  No, he shook his head, no caves here.  Oh well, we would just look around the town, I said.  As we drove, about ten minutes later, the driver's face lit up and he said he knew of a great place for us to visit, that had tunnels through a mountain.

So we went to the Hofuf caves after all, which are carved into sandstone walls.  It is called Jebel Gara, or Mountain with Tunnels, and reminded us all of Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon in the Southeast US.

Jack was convinced that there were dinosaurs in these caves, and he searched every part on the lookout for a T-Rex or stegosaurus.

Saudi: I love this place!

We live in the sandiest place on Earth.  My yard is sand, the roads are sand, and the air is full of sand.  I use a sand shovel to clean my ears and from time-to-time I hack up sand castles.  

Who really needs a $2000 riding lawn mower? 

Sand Sledding

We are in the middle of a several day schmall, the Middle East's answer to a blizzard.  Yuck.  There is visible brown dust in the air and this morning it was so windy that we could feel the sand whipping at our legs. 

But I shouldn't complain - we have had beautiful weather and very few sandstorms.  And sand doesn't make it hard to drive, and I don't have to shovel sand. 

To make the best of all the sand, when my parents were here we went sand sledding.  My dad had had enough sand the day before in Hofuf, so my mom and Jack and I piled in with some neighbors and drove about 45 minutes south to a big dune.  The kids had a great time!  Just like snow sledding, the way down is much more enjoyable than the long trek back up.

Poised at the top

The fun ride down

The long trek up

It's way more fun to be pulled!

Grandma's daily workout

Sand angels

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!