Last weekend we went to the Sahara, which was really hot and sandy but also wonderful. Just look at some of the things that happened:
After that we headed on down the coast to Tataouine, stopping off to check out a giant salt lake on the way. As the name suggests it was a giant lake of salt. Very salty it certainly was, although it's not really clear to me how it got there. Something to do with evaporation I imagine. Anyway, Tataouine is pretty cool, at least relative to the surrounding desert, which is blisteringly hot. It's an oasis, supplied by a mysterious waterfall which comes flying out of a cliff just up the road. We arrived just in time for sunset, which we saw by camel-back and was spectacular. It turns out my steed was a racing camel, which made the journey much more exciting - not to mention uncomfortable - than it would otherwise have been. (They're pretty serious animals, are camels, and I have nothing but respect for them; however comfortable they are not). We also had a go on some quad bikes, which were significantly more comfortable and also faster even than my racing camel. Several people crashed theirs into sand dunes and each other but miraculously no-one died, and shortly afterwards we found ourselves safely ensconced back in our posh hotel, replete with swimming pools, giant buffet dinner thing and BAR. The bar was something of a novelty, so we made the most of it, seeing the night out playing dangerously enthusiastic drinking games in the pool.
The following morning we headed out into the desert with some maniacs in 4x4s and drove around insanely quickly. When we weren't doing that we stopped to vomit and look at interesting things, such as the set of Star Wars - The Phantom Menace. We also rolled around in sand dunes a lot and went to sit in the waterfall.
Another evening of hotel-based merriment ensued, closing with the pre-fasting breakfast which is served to all the Muslim guests at 3 am. I'm almost certain we did a pretty good job of convincing the staff that we were Muslim. Almost certain.
The next morning we began the long journey home, passing through Kairouan on the way. There is nothing of interest in Kairouan but they do make excellent sweets.
And so another weekend ended. Just one more week of work to go, and then Steph arrives on Friday for some further adventures. Good times!
Much love to all.
Pretty sweet eh? The highlight was definitely finding the "Exquisite Funny Bicycle" right at the end ("Completely new to come to the market"), but also of note were the following:
We went to El Djem to see the third largest Roman amphitheatre ever built, which really is very big indeed. It could seat 35,000 people when it was built 1,800 years ago and continued to do so (not all the time, but if it wanted to) until the second world war when it was unfortunately blown up. Shame. It is still extremely impressive though and you can just imagine what it must have been like to sit there and watch some lions ripping a load of slaves apart.
After that we headed on down the coast to Tataouine, stopping off to check out a giant salt lake on the way. As the name suggests it was a giant lake of salt. Very salty it certainly was, although it's not really clear to me how it got there. Something to do with evaporation I imagine. Anyway, Tataouine is pretty cool, at least relative to the surrounding desert, which is blisteringly hot. It's an oasis, supplied by a mysterious waterfall which comes flying out of a cliff just up the road. We arrived just in time for sunset, which we saw by camel-back and was spectacular. It turns out my steed was a racing camel, which made the journey much more exciting - not to mention uncomfortable - than it would otherwise have been. (They're pretty serious animals, are camels, and I have nothing but respect for them; however comfortable they are not). We also had a go on some quad bikes, which were significantly more comfortable and also faster even than my racing camel. Several people crashed theirs into sand dunes and each other but miraculously no-one died, and shortly afterwards we found ourselves safely ensconced back in our posh hotel, replete with swimming pools, giant buffet dinner thing and BAR. The bar was something of a novelty, so we made the most of it, seeing the night out playing dangerously enthusiastic drinking games in the pool.
The following morning we headed out into the desert with some maniacs in 4x4s and drove around insanely quickly. When we weren't doing that we stopped to vomit and look at interesting things, such as the set of Star Wars - The Phantom Menace. We also rolled around in sand dunes a lot and went to sit in the waterfall.
Another evening of hotel-based merriment ensued, closing with the pre-fasting breakfast which is served to all the Muslim guests at 3 am. I'm almost certain we did a pretty good job of convincing the staff that we were Muslim. Almost certain.
The next morning we began the long journey home, passing through Kairouan on the way. There is nothing of interest in Kairouan but they do make excellent sweets.
And so another weekend ended. Just one more week of work to go, and then Steph arrives on Friday for some further adventures. Good times!
Much love to all.
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