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Published: January 2nd 2010
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Dale and Nils
We are waiting for our ride into the camp site...only 4x4's can go and even then someone got stuck. Hi,
I thought I would share one of my more interesting outings. I decided to go camping in the desert with virtual strangers! Actually, they are part of a group I belong to called couch surfers. We have an Abu Dhabi group that meets for drinks periodically and also gets together for small trips. This one happened to be desert camping. The "bring your own tent" variety. I do know Dale, a co-worker of mine who introduced me to this group, so anyways, we piled into Shaneez's car who picked us up at out apartment and off we went toward Dubai somewhere. I did not know what to expect and was unprepared as you will soon find out. So we arrived in this VERY small village where we had to wait for our rides into the desert. Only trucks or 4x4's can venture there and even they get stuck. So as we were waiting for our rides...this peculiar thing happened...these little wet things started falling from the sky! Now I have to say that it RARELY rains in the desert and luckily it picked a great night to start. It was soon dark when our rides arrived. Our driver was
a local Emirati who thought it was funny to skid around on the wet sand at top speed. Apparently, my squeals of terror only encouraged him.
I had borrowed a tent from my friend Michelle and she had nicely included a rain tarp with the tent. I...thinking I was smart, decided to lighten my load by not including the cover as IT WOULD SURELY NEVER RAIN! It poured...not a drizzle mind you but a downpour that went on for hours. Upon arrival we all started to set up our tents in the rain. Another item I should have brought was a flashlight. Luckily everyone there helps everyone and I had many people giving a hand. We finished setting up my tent...why I don't know as it had a nice hole in the top to look at the stars...and let in buckets of water. Yay! Luckily someone who was better prepared than I had garbage bags so we covered the hole as best we could. We then decided to make some sort of cover as we where standing around getting soaked. We took two beach mats which had been meant to sit on and we sewed them together to make
the beginning of our shelter
Here we are holding up out makeshift shelter. a sort of cover. Then someone moved their vehicles close, opened the trunk at the back of their truck and we tied them up as best as possible. If you can imagine...we were all freezing so we huddled together for warmth. At some point, Firas started up his barbecue so we could eat. We had lamp kebobs with roast potatoes and with great difficulty Nils and I made a salad which was amazing considering how we were set up. Nils had a bottle of peach schnapps and was offering it. As it could conceivably keep me warm I had a total of 3 large gulps and from that...got really drunk. I think it was a combination of not having eaten yet as the meal was not cooked yet and being somewhat tired at that point. At least I was in good company. There were two Emirati guys with us from the village and someone offered them alcohol. One took it and got drunk...probably for the first time in his life. He was singing and dancing and I had to actually put out his dish dash as he was sitting too close and caught on fire. We told Nils that we
Shaneez
Shaneez is a great photographer and also the owner of the half tent. would feed him when he was in jail as it is against the law to serve alcohol to an Emirati.
Shaneez was so proud of his tent. He had just bought it from Carrefour and had picked a red one as he figured everyone gets blue. He had even offered to share with another couch surfer who had no tent. They opened it up to discover he had bought a half a tent...it was actually a beach cover to protect from the sun. At least I had a full tent! After many hours of conversation with different people from everywhere, Russia, India, Germany, France, Australia the U.S. and so on, around 3 a.m. I hit the sack. I tried as best I could to avoid the puddles and luckily I was on a slight incline and therefore the water pooled in the corner. The unlucky bit about it all is I move around a lot, sigh. I have never felt so cold in my life! Thankfully a very nice German fellow (my hero) loaned me his last pair of socks as I was again...completely unprepared. We woke up and apparently drinking beer in the morning is a cure
Romain and Frédéric Yassi
Romain was a total crazy french man and a great guy. He had a great time making fun of my french-canadian accent. for a hangover as Joseph was drinking his last few bottles. We pooled our food and ate what we could for breakfast. A small group of us decided to go off in the sand dunes. We found a camel skeleton. How cool is that! It was bleached from the sun and we could see every bone present. We all packed up our stuff after a few hours of gabbing and piled in the trucks. The shower I had when I returned was the best one I had ever had!
This was my most extreme camping adventure and I am so glad I went...I got to meet some great people. There is an openness to people who travel around that is really fantastic and I hope to meet more interesting people this year.
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2010 will be a great one!
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Bess Sauve
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Extreme Camping
Hi Sherry. Love these travel blogs. If everything had gone as planned you wouldn't have had these great experiences. It's blistering cold here today -15 C. Take advantage of all the side trips you can do, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Love Auntie Bess