and the word is out — my parents are in Oman. Before they came to visit, my mom asked, “Can you please keep news of our visit off your Facebook and blog?” She thinks that so many people read my blog it might be a security issue if hundreds of people know they are out of the country. It’s nice to know that my mom thinks I’m the bestest blogger in the world, even if her estimation of people who are reading here might be slightly exaggerated.
My dad convinced my mom that poor Kristy is home recovering from back surgery with nothing to do but check my blog every five minutes hoping for an update and it would be unfair to deprive her of the pleasure of living vicariously through my blog postings. This one’s for you Kris!
So what have we been doing? Driving all over the desert, sleeping in tents and jumping into the warm(ish) wadi waters. Just a little over 24 hours after arriving in country we were off to the desert for an overnight at 1000 Nights desert camp, the place with the huge dunes and sand boarding that we visited back in April. If you missed those posts, you can see them here, here, and here.
Dune bashers all parked to watch the sunset
Several camels wandered around camp throughout the evening. Thankfully they kept to eating the trees and not the marshmallows and chocolate I brought along with us. I did not want to wake up to a camel head inside my tent so we made sure our tent flap was fastened when we went to bed.
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| photo credit: Ross Macfadyen |
The best part of this kind of “camping” is that dinner and breakfast are provided. Dinner is a buffet of Arabic foods like hummus, flatbread, lamb kebobs, grilled chicken and veggies. Everyone eats in a large open air room with big pillows and cushions to lean against. After dinner the “entertainment” started up — Omani men and women dancing, singing and drumming. It would have been a little much after a while (it went on for an hour and a 1/2 — the same 3 songs over and over again) except that Camille was so fascinated by the music and the action that she danced and clapped and edged closer and closer to the dancing women for the entire 90 minutes. My entertainment was watching her.
In the morning outside our tent
Good morning sleepyheads! The beds were comfortable and the blankets were warm.
My mom was trying to figure out how to build a tent like this in her yard.
Low tech accommodations, high tech entertainment
Fantastic breakfast — omelets, cereal, yogurt, juices
Can you believe they’ve been married 40 years?
After breakfast it was time to pack up and head for our next destination: Wadi Bani Khalid
Goodbye 1000 Nights! We’re coming back soon!