Camel Beauty Contest

What I had imagined I was going to see.

I got an email from a local tour company about a Camel Beauty Contest about 300 km outside of Riyadh, and I visualized ‘Dog Show,’ but with camels instead.  I forwarded the email to Spencer, and we in turn discussed it at Christmas and we found out the Wacaser’s were going at the same day as us.  We planned on car pooling.  I felt bad because we have a huge Expedition that was empty, and every seat was filled with their kids.  But if we would have offered, the kids might not have been happy being with us. 

I wondered how they got the camels from the trucks.

 We received GPS coordinates of the location from the email. This brought us to the general area but come to find out later when the tour group came that the beauty contest itself wasn’t where we were but several km from here.  What we initially found was a camel market, there was a main drag and on either side was camels or camel wears.  This dirt drag had cars, trucks, camels, camel owners coming in every direction.  A few camel owners had their camels tied to their cars and led them slowly along the drag.  Some camel owners didn’t quite have control over their herds, so the cars had to slow down or get plowed by the camels. 

We drove for several miles on the dirt track with no end in sight, it was like a mirage. Just when you thought you researched the end of the road, it would go to the horizon again.  People were very friendly, smiling, following our cars, chatting to Spencer and me because our windows were unrolled. Everyone here really likes America. When you say United States, the response I generally get is, where. Then I say America.  Oh, yeah, I like America.  Then they ask where, LA, Washington, New York (all meaning the cities)?  There was a group of youngsters who came up several times in their car trying to get Spencer and me to have coffee with them, even though they spoke little English.

We did stop after we had turned around.  People gathered around us, camel owners offered us to hop on their camel. The kids were afraid, so Spencer got on and waved his hand to the crowd. They loved it; it was like he was a celebrity.   But the owner kept yanking the camel around, so it became angry and you could see the anger in the camel’s face.  I refused to get on the back of an angry camel.

Once we found the tour bus, we actually got hooked up because Tiffany knew the tour director. So we got ushered with the police escort along with the tour buses. The day became much more interesting once we connected with the tour bus.

The Beauty Contest itself wasn’t like I imagined.  They would herd the camels in a group, not individually, back and forth past a group of judges. I guess at the contest they are separated in colors, and judged in groups by their color, behave, and obedience to the owners.  We watched a couple rounds before we were directed to a camp.  The two busloads of people became double that amount.  Dates, cookies, dried fruit, coffee was passed around.  A dog hunt (for a rodent), and a falcon were brought to the tent which we got to see a demonstration.  Spencer held the falcon.  

Then we feasted. There was so much food.  I have to say that not being on the tour but receiving the benefits of the tour was really nice, free falcon and hunting dog demonstration, and lunch really made the day. 

We drove back to Riyadh as the sun was setting, and waved to the Wacaser’s as we parted ways.  

Christmas Day

Which I only have one picture of our 1^st Christmas together and it is at the Restaurant we went for dinner.  I used to be so good at taking pictures, but I guess that is when I’ve been traveling.  Now I need to make the effort to do it for my memories of events and periods rather than scenery and places. 

I got up quite early to call my brother, Joshua. I briefly talked with the kids and Josh.  Always sounds like a party at their place.  Then, I aroused Spencer by playing really loud music and a big kiss.  We ate my day old Cranberry braid, and opened gifts we bought for each other.  Spencer said Christmas was great this year because he could buy gifts for me and for him, things he wanted but you don’t really buy gifts for yourself.   Josh said the best gifts are the ones that you benefit from as the giver as well.  And I will be the third witness to confirm that statement true.  

We really spoiled ourselves this year, I mean it wasn’t monetarily really expensive but nice, quality and definitely more than I have ever gotten or given before.  Spencer also was creative in his gift giving, he bought me a Nike Fuel watch, Downton Abbey Puzzle (I like to do puzzles, but this one was a frustrating challenge), a couple day bags (one he joke a future diaper bag, and no I am not hinting anything), cook books (I am always trying to find new recipes of things he will eat), cool exercise bands, and a stocking full of goodies. 

My parents sent us a video about the composition of Silent Night; it was written and first sang in Austria.  We watched the movie before taking a nap. It seemed as if the cast was picked local, like they were from Austria. The accents seemed legit.

Then we made calls to our parents, before we headed out again to fight the traffic to go to Najd Village, Saudi Restaurant.  I haven’t had local food besides Kabsa yet, which is just seasoned rice and chicken.  We met up with several families from the Branch, including the Wacaser’s who are the ones who extended the invitation to us.  We sat on cushions lined along the walls of the room.  There were carpets in the open space in the middle where they rolled out a straw like runner, which they placed our food when it was ready.  There wasn’t any veggies options, besides dips so we got a dish with veggies and meat, as always here the meat was more plentiful in the rice than the veggies.  It was also supposed to be a dish for two and it would serve at least 3 if not 4 normal people.  I really loved a dish one of the girls ordered, it was a mushy rice dish with squash in it. 

The hard part for going out is in the evening is driving home.  It has taken us just about an hour each way. Traffic in Riyadh is pretty frustrating.  

Christmas is Saudi Arabia is not necessarily illegal, but quite frankly feels like it.  They cannot sell anything related to Christmas in the shops, even as a foreigner, for fear of being shut down or even perhaps burnt down.  Is it Intolerance, maybe, or just behind?.Give them a few decades.  People in Jordan had trees up and wished up a Merry Christmas. But it seems even in the States a touchy issue to say,’ Merry Christmas’ because you could be Jewish, Atheist, Agnostic…and it is just unacceptable, to many Scrooges around.

I need to mention that I was very disappointed about not being about to construct our own Christmas tree. I tried to make a tree and had several ideas but none of them would work.  One day at work Spencer sent me a text telling me he had a surprise for me when I got home.  I was so excited, I guess what he had done. When I got home, I went into the TV/Living room to find Spencer had bought and decorated a tree, with a skirt and everything.  He made my day!  I have such a great husband.

I was lucky enough to be on the schedule which gave me Christmas Eve and Day off, but in turn I worked New Year’s Eve and Day.  Even so I was never a huge fan of New Year’s Eve, mainly just another reason for people to party and get exceptionally drunk. 

Spencer and I have some friends with 5 children whom invited us, a few single sisters, and a Taiwanese woman with her kids to their house on Christmas Eve.  Celebrating is always better with children, and it wasn’t quite as hard being away from our families, and yet that also has something to do with the fact that Spencer is my family and having him is really all that I need. 

I spent the day cooking up a storm, I even prepared our dishes for the next day so I wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen cooking on Christmas.  I made French bread, Yummy Potatoes, Vegetable Pot Pie, Cranberry Apple Braid, Corn Squash & Sweet Potato Chowder, and a Lentil Sheppard’s Pie.  Yes, I was overwhelmed. But since Spencer doesn’t eat meat I wanted him to have something to eat.  We also bought Ben & Jerry’s, and the Traditional Christmas  ***.  (If you think about it for a few minutes you may figure out what *** is)

We headed over to the Wacaser’s mid-day, with a loaded SUV.  It was a nice day playing games, chatting, piecing, and finally enjoying the big dinner feast.  We later acted out the Nativity, with only one girl it was easy who would be Mary, there was no fighting over that. We had Shepherd’s and Wise Men dressed in Thobes, and Mary in an Abaya.  It was quite a scene. 

One thing I was touched by and I like this tradition that the Wacaser’s shared with us is gift giving.  Brent talked about one of the reasons we give gifts to one another is because the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, and they had a little something for all of us there.  It was very thoughtful and thought provoking, I just never thought about a good and spiritual reason that gifts were passed about but that is a good way of teaching Children.  The girls got lotion and chocolate, and the boys got nerf guns, which a nerf fight insued.

The Equestrian Club. Spencer and I took a trip with through the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) Section of Eskan.  

The drive from Eskan to the Club was about an hour and quite a bit of traffic. Unfortunately today it rained pretty much non-stop and was quite cool.  

We watched 6 races while enjoying our 5-star buffet. And a bonus, I didn't have to wear the Abaya.  

One of the riders got bucked off his horse before the race began and the horse ran back along the track. The rider and horse were disqualified.

This is the show ring, which owner, rider, and horse parade around prior to their race.

Art Museum & Ritz Carlton

This isn’t my story tell, it is Spencer’s so one day if he decides to write anything he can add on.  Basically, MWR, Eskan’s trip/fun/activity planners had a trip to an Art Museum and dinner at the Ritz Carlton organized.  I had to work, which is usually the case for anything interesting going on, but Spencer had the evening off so he signed up to go.

There was a small group about 6 of them total.  There was a local mother and daughter that were coming along.  Before leaving Eskan village they were uncovered, no hijab, but the minute they drove away Spencer said he looked back and the daughter was covered from head to toe.  Is religious practice just a locality, over here you can be free but over here you need to cover up?  Sounds a bit weird to me.  She also refused to be in any of the pictures Spencer took.

They attempted to visit one museum which was closed, but got into two others.  One was a female exhibit.  Spencer enjoyed the exhibits.

Dinner was similar to what we experienced at the Saudi wedding we attended.  But the desserts were a little disappointing. If you are going to pay 200SAR for something , you expect it to be good!

Jordan

I am writing so much after the fact now. I am lucky to be writing at all.  Spencer and I took a week off over Thanksgiving to go to Jordan.  We flew into Amman, and spent 3 days there, taking day trips from the capital.  We didn't spend much time in Amman itself, just the afternoon we flew in and walking around in the evenings.  Amman is a very hilly city, one rainy evening we went walking on the opposite side of the citadel to an Organic place, nothing vegan, at the Wild Jordan Cafe.  We ate there offering us a great view of the citadel with Islamic and Roman ruins up top.  It was a trendy area, Rainbow Street I think, but not the Rainbow you may be thinking.

Our first day trip we went to Madaba (City of Mosaics), Dead Sea, Panorama View, Jesus baptism site, and Mt. Nebo.  Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, the said baptism site of Jesus by John the Baptist is expensive to visit, and we were rushed through the area by the guide.  One thing to point out, is the fast flowing Jordan River of Jesus' time was a dirty creek, maybe 15 feet wide. We walked to a point in which Jordan and Israel were divided by a pathetic fence in the water. The Israel side of fancy, new looking built with stone, and Jordan was made with wooden planks; Israel had some serious guards as well.  On top of that there was about 10 people dressed in white who were coming to the water, we assumed they were going to be baptised, but our guide was quite insistent and rude, so we were forced to leave.  Seriously, I paid $20 bucks for the tour, I should be able to go at my own pace. 

Madaba was a cool, relaxed town.  It is famous for mosaics, specifically the mosaic map located in the 19th century Greek Orthodox St. George's church.  It is significant because it is the oldest map of Palestine in existence and provides many historical insights into the region.  We returned to the town later in the evening because I wanted to buy a mosaic. Oddly enough we found a shop in our brief wandering whose owner just returned from the USA.  He had been in Utah of all places redesigning a old piece, representative of Jordan, 'The Tree of Life' He was adding a man and a rod to the mosaic.  Spencer and I laughed, we knew exactly what Tree of Life he was now designing.  Mormon world is quite small and is ever shrinking the more international we become. He loved the Mormons. He was willing to give us an amazing deal of a mosaic table, just over 1,300USD, which you may cough, but all had laid small pieces of rock is actually a good  deal.  But we couldn't do it, since we don't really know what our future or our home will be like.  

The Dead Sea visit was expensive as well, not free like the Israel side.  We had to pay about 18 USD each for entrance and we were only there less than two hours.  There wasn't any mud, but it was so crazy to feel the bouncy of our bodies in the saltiest body of water.  We would just bobbed up to the surface.  But I got just a taste of it, that stuff is deadly to the taste.  We also went up a the hill-side to a Restaurant/museum to get a panoramic view of the Dead Sea.

Mt. Nebo isn't really worth mentioning.  It just gives you a view and a map points out various areas in the land. The visit hardly cost anything, so not a big deal. 

The second day trip we went to Jerash, Umm Qais, and Ajloun. Jerash is a decently preserved city of Roman ruins, at its peak had a population of 15,000.  The weather today wasn't agreeable so it was smart we took the 1-2 hr tour, and ended up buying cheap umbrellas. Spencer and I shared a leaky umbrella.  You get what you pay for.  It was a large complex, with large mosaics (all exposed to the elements), a huge 80 meter Oval Plaza with 56 Ionic columns surrounding the limestone plaza.  Several Gates, temples, and a couple theatres.  Ajloun has a ruined castle on the top of a hill overlooking the Jordan Valley. It was built by the Arabs as protection from the Crusader's.  It was one in the line of Pigeon posts from Damascus to Cairo.      Lastly, ending our full-on day was Umm Qais, site of both an ancient Roman city and Ottoman-era village.  From the hill top we could see over the Golan Heights in Syria, the Sea of Galilee of Israel, and the Jordan Valley. Some of the ruins were originally constructed from black basalt rocks.

Then, we rented a car.  We drove along the King’s Highway through the Wadis, stopping to visit a couple Crusader Castles, Karak and Shobak (apparently the most impressive of the bunch) finishing the day at Wadi Musa, for a visit to Petra. We had our friends Johnny, and Tomas with us. It was a fun day.

Wadi Mujib was quite spectacular.  A canyon about 1 km deep,  we stopped to look out and could see the roads winding down into the Canyon valley and back up the other side.  

Castle Karak became a place of legend during the 12th Century battles between the Crusaders and Muslim armies of Saladin.  It was pretty impressive with fortifications dominating the town.  One of the knights was pretty sadistic and would torture the prisoners.  He would throw them off the walls into the valley 450 meters below; he would even had a wooden box built over their heads so they wouldn't lose consciousness before hitting the ground.  

Shobak Castle was our last stop for the day.  It is perched on the hilltop of surrounding plateaus if a more remote and wild location.  It was built by a Crusader, which survived the attacks of Muslim armies of Saladin for an 18-month siege before surrendering. We took a tour of this place as well, which was nice. There is so much more information and stories when walked around by a guide them independently.  Spencer and the guys took the escape tunnel that winds down the hill and emerges outside the castle at the base of the hill.  Spencer said at times it was precarious, scrambling down the tunnel, without any steps, like it had warn away over the years.  

We spent one full day in Petra.  My recommendation if you have one day, take the hike that goes around the back and gives you an aerial view of the Treasury and the hike to the Monastery. The hike to the top is okay, and the view is okay but not quite the highlight as the other two.  

Petra was really like nothing I've have ever seen. It was strange to think of a world heritage site in which the locals live.  Some parts had been ruined by locals building there own living quarters into the old limestone homes.  The whole place was a huge facade.  A magnificent place on the outside, pillars, fake windows, huge carved faced, with bare interiors.  The sad part is the this area is sandstone and there is nothing that they can do to stop the weathering.  We started out right when it opened and were one the first to get through the Siq and catching glimpses of the Treasury (the most well known of all sites of Petra).  

The Street  of facades became a swarming with people by mid-day.  We passed the Facades, High Place of Sacrifice, Royal tombs, colonnaded street, and Temple of the Winged Lions, and hike back up to see the Monastery and 'End of the World,' as the signs said,  views of the valley below. 

  But I found it strange that people stop there, and don't continue to see some of the amazing sites of Petra.  It isn't just the treasury.  We hike around most of the day and I was exhausted and didn't want to sit around and wait for sunset so we got a short donkey ride back to the Treasury, just so we could say we've ridden a donkey. We stayed at a nicer accommodation for a couple nights, Amra Palace Hotel. There buffet was quite nice, and we got a discount one night.  After our day in Petra, we had a Turkish bath experience at the hotel. It was nice to be scrubbed clean, and given a wet massage.  I was very relaxed afterwards.  

Leaving Wadi Musa early we drove the 3.5 hrs to Aqaba.  I wanted to scuba in the Red Sea. I have heard it is the best, but no one ever told me you need a boat trip not a shore dive.  So just like in Saudi I was disappointed. And on top of it, I am not sure my body likes diving, my ears are just not cooperating.  I will go to Sipidan, Borneo but if my ears don’t equalize this trip, I may not waste my time. Some of the best stuff is much deeper than 45 ft, and that is about how deep my ears will let me go without pain.

Anyway the shore diving was average, may have been better is we could have dove deeper, maybe more big marine life would have been there.  

That same day we drove to Wadi Rum, another highlight. Spencer really loved this trip.  We took a jeep tour out into the wadi, hike through a small canyon, sand dune, and stayed at a camp with some of the local Bedouins who have made tourism their lively hood.  We learned that everyone of this tribe, this area of Bedouins are all related. So they would say to us, 'he’s my cousin.' TE Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia wrote about this Wadi Rum, its sculpted rocks, dunes, and Bedouin escarpments in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. 

That would end our trip to Jordan, the next day quite early we were driven back to our car at the Wadi entrance near the village and we drove back to the Amman airport. 

Red Sea Scuba?

Spencer was getting his scuba certification and for the open water part they were taking a trip to Jeddah and the Red Sea.   He had spent the last week and a half in class and in the pool learning about scuba.  He seemed to really be a natural at it. 

I thought it would be cool to go along to Jeddah since it was somewhere I wanted to visit anyway.  I did enjoy myself, but really for only one dive not all three.  I really had intended to sight see.  I heard Jeddah had some great architecture, old buildings, homes that they have kept up, and really neat markets that had everything from perfume to carpets.  I was really excited to finally see something cool in Saudi Arabia.

  Well, we got there Wednesday evening, Thursday was scuba all day at the Sheraton Beach, and Friday was an early dive (I didn't take part in) which also turned out to be the best dive with clarity and colors.  Spencer didn't have any problems with equalizing his ears and was down 30 ft while I was still making my way to the bottom.  I guess the buddy system is a little lost for him though, since he is supposed to stay with me as we go down. 

 But I also didn't’ get to do any sightseeing.  I keep forgetting everything is closed on Fridays until late afternoon or at all.  So I once again was disappointed and annoyed with Saudi Arabia.  It wouldn't be open until 3PM or after and we were leaving for the airport at 5:45, considering traffic both ways from our accommodation to the Old Jeddah town there just wasn't enough time.

 

So basically I got a weekend away from Riyadh. I enjoyed some good food, and the company of some new friends.  The diving was just off the same beach all three times, considering that Spencer and the other’s were learning to dive it was okay. But for me after dive 1 I was a little bored.  I thought I might also get away with not paying for the equipment which made making the dives worth it but we had to pay for my dives at the end.  So hind sight I would have spent Thursday sightseeing Jeddah, and just done one dive on Friday which would have been enough.  Why does everything in my life have to be hindsight, can’t I make a good decision foresight?.

We drove along the Corniche road back from Sheraton Beach the first night.  I saw several of the cool art structures along the road, the floating Mosque (which doesn't even compare to the gorgeous mosque in Casablanca, Morocco which also hangs out into the ocean), and then masses of people filling every inch of sand on beaches, tons of boats, jet skis congesting the water, women swimming in the abayas (I think I would have drowned).  It was a sight to behold.

I haven’t decided if I will go back. I would have to have everything completely organized, and get on the Preservation Society tour for me to be inspired to fork up all that cash.