Grandchildren and Travel

Goodness me, it's been a while since I wrote a post.  I've been somewhat pre-occupied over the last few months with things that have kept me from my keyboard.  Some voluntary work, some child minding and some traveling.  All with a dash of procrastination thrown in because, if I'm being honest, at the end of the day when the decision was made post or do something else, something else won out!

Last year I volunteered to help out at Haya Tour with a few things around the office and soon found myself with a full time voluntary occupation.  The perks were great, (free trips), and I was quite enjoying being useful.   There have been times in the last five years living in Saudi Arabia, when I haven't felt particularly useful or contributory.  Sure I can swan around to coffee mornings and travel to places far from home that, for most of us, are just a dream, but feeling useful is just so much more rewarding, don't you think?  And though Hubster says that having me around is much nicer for him than his being here alone, I have to say, being here as a non-working expat woman with no kids to run around after and no real purpose for existing, other than to welcome Hubster home at the end of the day, present him with dinner and then practice ignoring him all evening so he can do more work on the computer, is a sucky kind of existence!  So, when I found myself fully occupied and useful I was pretty chuffed for a while there.

Then my grandchildren came to stay.
For three months!
So I was pleasantly busy, though I'd forgotten how time consuming and energetic young children can be.

We took them to Budapest for Christmas hoping to frolic in the snow.  Unfortunately that part of Europe was having an unseasonably snow free winter even though it was still frikken cold.  I think it snowed, very lightly, only twice the whole two weeks we were there.  But that was enough for their first introduction to the white fluffy stuff, and their reaction was priceless.  We'd been out to dinner with some friends and the kids were tired so I was taking them home.  A very light dusting of snow was on the cars outside the restaurant and the lightest flakes were falling.  They ran in to Hubster shouting excitedly, to the amusement of other diners, to announce' It's snowing!'  Of course the table of adults had to come out to see.  A child's excitement is cute and infectious.  So late that night the kids were in the park, playing in a smattering of snow and having a blast.

Then we bought them to Saudi.
I had ideas in my head of the great and marvelous things we would do while they were here.  However the Hip Hop must have hooked it as I got no reply to email requests, the music center wasn't answering their phone, (I had visions of guitar lessons as Hubster had bought the grandson a guitar.  In the end we had to rely on the internet for tuition), and the activity center over at the Localizer has closed up shop.  Although there are loads of fun parks in the shopping centers that the kids would have been more than happy to visit every day, I was more interested in finding physical activities.  After all, these two are very active outdoorsy Mozzies.   Fortunately we found tennis coaching once a week, Karate twice a week and the pool, once it was refilled, was a daily activity.

Cafe Ceramique was recommended as an art outlet to satisfy their creative side.  And we visited Azzizi Mall one day for the soap and chair making upstairs.  Plus on our walks around town we would collect up different bits and pieces and get artistic with glue and paints from Jariir Bookstore where we also spent a bit of time each week choosing new books to read.  Both kids love books.

Other days were filled with visiting friends and joining the ladies on coffee mornings.  They met loads of people and got totally spoiled.  On weekends we would head out into the desert for  picnicking, camping and searching for bones - the grandson was becoming quite an archaeologist.  They both loved camping in their tents given as gifts from Madam Louise and the granddaughter became quite adept at roasting marshmallows over the fire.

The granddaughter also formed some very definite ideas about Saudi Arabia quite early on in her visit and I take some of the blame for that.  Cursing under my breath at the driver who guaranteed he was ten minutes away from picking us up outside a bookshop that had closed for prayer, but decided instead to be an extra half an hour late didn't really give her a great first impression.  "Why don't you just drive us Nana?", was one of the questions she asked as I grumbled away.  No matter how nicely you say it, explaining to a switched on seven year old the peculiarities of Saudi male thinking when it comes to the women related issues of driving, abaya wearing and segregation makes them sound a bit like dicks.

In the second half of their visit I had to spend a bit of time pointing out the good things about the country, but I have to say, you local blokes just didn't cut the mustard for my granddaughter and she doubts she will be back here again until you can open your eyes and get your act together.  Our grandson, being five and cruisey, was pretty much just cruisin' the whole time.

Whanau on a birthday cruise: photo credit Rehua's GoPro

After three months the grandchildren had to be returned to Australia.  The timing coincided with a visit to Melbourne, where Hubster was doing some study, and a trip home to NZ (because if I'm down that way it seems silly not to go the extra two and bit thousand miles) before we set off on a Pacific Dawn cruise.  Our nephew turned 21 and, as he likes boats, his family decided the best way to celebrate his coming of age, would be on a cruise ship.  So 22 members of the family cruised their way up the Aussie coast for a week and we had quite a good time while we were at it.  Unfortunately WiFi isn't that great out at sea, so no work was done by anybody.  Fabulous.

After that Hubster and I went to the Gold Coast to get our land lubber legs back, to catch up with some of his family and to meet the rest of our brood (they didn't go on the cruise).  It was a fabulously relaxing time and a perfect end to our tiki touring ways before heading back to Saudi.

And here we are.
Back in the frey.
A few things have changed.
The Yemeni scene is looking a bit shaky.
I guess we'll all be keeping on eye on that.



Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Mastodon Bones In Saudi Arabia.

I was talking to a friend the other night about our Mastadon Cave Camping Excursion and it occurred to me that, although we went a year ago (on the last Saudi National Day weekend to be exact), I hadn't published the experience on my blog.  It has been buried among the  innumerable drafts currently clogging my draft box for the past year.  (Yes folks, there is a lot to talk about while living in Saudi!)   So here it is...Mastadon Bones In Saudi Arabia!

Mastodons?  What are Mastodons?
They're prehistoric elephants aren't they?
Aren't they similar to mammoths?
Yeah, something like that...

So went the conversation out by the pool the day we announced we were spending our Saudi National Day weekend searching for a cave supposedly full of mastodon bones.  I was worried our friends' responses to our long weekend holiday plans might put Hubster off the whole idea.  It had taken a long while to talk him into this little caper in the first place, (a good two to three years or so).

'Who told you about this?' he said whenever I brought the topic up (which made me think he never listened in the first place!)
'I heard about it at a coffee morning', I replied (again).
'So, where is this cave? he asked.
'I'm not completely sure', I replied.  'As usual information on the internet is kind of sparse, but it's about a six hour drive somewhere up near the Kuwait border.
'We're in for another one of your random trips are we?', he grumbled.
'You love them', I perked.
He sighed.

And so, three years after first finding out about a cave full of mastodon bones, we hired the trusty GMC Yukon and, with the topper to our bed stuffed in back along with a few other bits and bobs, and directions scribbled out onto paper, we hit the road last Saudi National Day weekend.

We would have hit the road three or four hours earlier in the day but Hubster has this penchant for not listening to much that I say (have I mentioned that already?), so was meandering around the compound (lord only knows what for), while I waited patiently for him to get himself together and out to the vehicle.  About three or so hours after our departure, when I asked why he was driving so slow along the highway, almost like he was out on a Sunday drive, he queried how much further we had to go and discovered we were only half way.  He wasn't impressed.
'Why did we leave so late if we have so far to go,' he said.
'I don't know', I replied.  'You were the one farting around'.
'If I'd known it was so far I'd have left sooner.'
'Well, I've been telling you all week it's about a 6 hour drive.  Perhaps you should spend more time paying attention to things I say.'

Then he said, 'At least you've got directions this time'.
'I have directions to the turn-off.' 
'What turn off?' he said.
'The one into the desert where we have to go to find the caves.'
'So how far is the cave from the turn off,' he asked and for some reason was hoha (Maori word for annoyed) when I said, 'I don't know'.
'But you have directions', he said
I bristled.   Then repeated in a very abbreviated form, (because he was starting to annoy me), the directions as I knew them - 'We drive to turn off point.  We turn into the desert and drive west looking for mountains.  I don't know how far into the desert we have to go because Google Maps doesn't navigate through desert.  Google Maps barely navigates to our turn off point!  Obviously you have chosen to ignore anything I've said about getting to these caves this weekend, so don't go getting shitty with me now!
And there began an argument to kick start our weekend.
Don't you love marital bliss!

With the late afternoon quickly passing by, the sun threatening to set as rapidly as it does in Saudi Arabia, and an uncomfortable silence descended on our vehicle because I refused to accept any Olive Branch approaches from He Who Can Be Very Annoying, we came upon a roadside settlement with a gas station in its midst and a hotel nearby.  Just past this, according to my info, was the desert turn off.  Certainly there were tracks that disappeared over the darkening horizon in the general direction of west, but which was the one we wanted given, as per usual, there were tracks all over the darned place into the desert.

Hubster looked at me for guidance.
I shrugged my shoulders.
He said it will be dark soon.
I said do you fancy staying at that hotel.
We turned off into the desert.

Driving into the darkening sunset in the desert along a track that disappears under swathes of sand at regular intervals is not actually a bright idea.  Each time the track got cut off by piles of sand we would look at each other, then I would hold on and he'd hit the pedal and we'd both hold our breath until terra firma was firm again.  We had been, we noted, heading slightly uphill for about thirty minutes before the track flattened out and we decided to pull over and have dinner.  There's nothing like a spot of campfire cooked food to help you decide what to do next, and we decided to stay put.

Dinner was scrummy
The billy boiled tea was hot and comforting.
After dinner we rolled out the topper and climbed in the back of the Yukon.
Ahh, the peace.  The quiet
The bright moon high in a blue black desert sky.
The traffic.

Say what?
Yep.  Traffic.
We discovered the next day that a number of Bedu camps were out along this track and, as it was the weekend, city folks were visiting their camel caring relatives.  Sometime past midnight, on their drive back to civilization, each car (yes all of them) would stop by our camp site to make sure we were OK.

It's great to know that Saudi's are concerned about people out in the desert.  It really is.  We even commented to each other how comforting it is to know that we weren't alone beneath this northern Saudi sky and we appreciated that, should we have required help, it was constantly passing by.  However, as we weren't in need of assistance at that point, we decided to drive our vehicle a little further away from the track so we could get some sleep because we're old and western and still haven't got the hang of really late Saudi activity.

Our Campsite...spectacular isn't it!

The next morning I was up bright and early to the sound of grunting camels at the nearest bedu camp site, and Hubster snoring.  Time to go for a look around before rekindling the fire and getting on some breakfast. Don't you just love a campfire breakfast and hot coffee.  (A spot of bacon would have made the whole event just perfect!)

After assessing our surroundings and checking if my phone could get reception (nope), we decided to drive further along the track in the direction of more mountain-ish looking terrain.  And wouldn't you know it, there, lying face down in the sand on one side of the track, was a fallen down sign.  It actually reminded me of an abandoned OK Coral sign.  We had no idea what the sign said, we couldn't see the writing, but presumed a cave full of mastodon bones must be worth having a sign for way out in the middle of nowhere...so we turned off and drove over the sign.



I don't know exactly how we found the cave.
We drove around the base of the desert hills, in and out of little nooks and cranny's.  We'd get out and walk and explore.  We'd climb to the top of the hills to get a better view and then slip slide our way back down.  Then, as we were driving and scanning the area, a picture came into view.  The picture.  The picture I'd seen on the internet.

'I think that's it', I said.
'Really'
'Yep.  I'm sure that's it, I said'
So out we got, and sure enough we had arrived!

The cave is more of an overhang, and it's not a large one either.  However, the roof is chock full of bones - or calcified left overs anyway.  It was pretty cool.  Signs of previous human visits were scrawled across the back wall of the cave.  I tried to find the huge tusk shape I'd read about, but came to the conclusion that previous humans had taken it!

The bones are obviously part of a shelf and I'm fairly certain that if someone wanted to do some extra digging, they would find a few more bones in that area.  Whether or not they are truly mastodon bones is a matter for discussion, but its a romantic notion that I don't mind indulging.

We sat there imagining a land full of mastodons and mammoths and wondered what had become of them all.  I took a few photos and then we drove around seeing what else there was to see in the area. There isn't much, although some of the landscape can fool your eyes into thinking you're looking at part of a giant fossilized mastodon leg or a mastodon head.  We did conclude how easy it would be to get stuck out here in this desert - meaning we probably shouldn't have come alone.  And how important it was to have bought plenty of water - meaning we'll definitely remember that for next time!

As we had succeeded in finding the Mastodon Cave, Hubster decided we might has well head out of the desert and find a nice spot for lunch.  I suggested 'How about the beach?  The coast is only 30 or so km's away from the turn off.'  So we headed toward the coast.

We never made it to the beach.
The entire north eastern coast of Saudi is under Aramco control.  Those lovely water spots shown on Google Maps can not be reached by random expat tourists who have no idea how to say to Aramco security guards with limited English to match our equally limited Arabic 'We just want to visit the beach and dip our toes in the water and maybe cook up a spot of lunch.'   One guy actually asked us where we were from and when we said Riyadh he said, 'Go back to Riyadh!'

Apparently if we had driven further north to Khafji we would have made it to the beach, but communication issues meant that, after contemplating our options,  Hubster decided it was probably best to head for home.   It was on way home, when we decided to pull off the highway to toilet behind some dunes, that we discovered one should not drive off the road onto questionable topography in the middle of a hot Saudi day.

The Saudi man who stopped to tow us out informed us that the sand is softer when hot and turns into a trap.  Hubster, who was feeling a bit silly for getting stuck just off the highway, was trying to act like he knew how to remedy the situation.  Our rescuer very nicely said, 'This is my country, I know what I'm doing.  Let me do it'.  Hubster shut up and soon we were out of the sand and back on the road.  Mr Rescuer, while rescuing us, told us he and the family were just returning from the beach at Khafji.  He also told us that in the past month three people had perished in the desert.  We both shut up.

After stopping at the nearest gas station to properly inflate our deflated tyres, and waving to our rescuer and his car load of kids who went flying past, I suggested that perhaps we could spend a night in one of the towns we had passed through on our way to the cave, with their interesting sculptures and streets all decked out in green and white and flags, to experience a rural celebration of Saudi National Day.  But Hubster had had enough adventure for one weekend, (he's getting on in years now, so it's hardly surprising), and wanted to get back to his own bed.

Another sunset was almost upon us and we still had a few hours of driving ahead, but our stomachs rumbling so decided to pull up behind a collection of interesting shaped rocks a little distance off the road, (Hubster checked the ground properly before doing so), to light a fire and cook up a rather late, though delicious, lunch.  Then we lay about on our Arabic carpet and fell asleep.  We woke to another carpet of beautiful stars filling up the night sky.  It took me a moment to figure out where I was and what they were, and my gosh the sight was spectacular.  The fire had died down to smoldering ash and it was so peaceful in our little rock enclave that we decided to revive the fire and boil up a cup of tea.  We might have been on our way home, but weren't in any hurry to get there.

We did enjoy our drive to visit the Mastodon cave and hope that future visitors will be responsible and not set about wrecking or tagging in it even more than it has been already.  I'm always amazed at our stupid and brainless we humans can be with the things we discover, and it did cross my mind that perhaps the Mastodon Bones of  Saudi Arabia (if they truly are Mastodon Bones) would be better off remaining buried!

Directions to Mastodon Caves

I used to be able to add my Tiki Tour Map to the blog, but Google in their great wisdom of constant upgrades have removed that ability (or I can't find the instructions for it).  So put these co-ordinates into Google Maps and go forth to discover Mastodon Bones in Saudi Arabia.

Turn off into desert: N 27 13.695 E 48 24.974
Cave location: N 27 12.120 E 48 10.500.

Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Amazing Ramadan Break

Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland - destinations I've visited over the last 2 months and, I have to say, I've had an amazing, and slightly extended, Ramadan break.

My blog writing has suffered somewhat while I've been away, though if you follow my Instagram account (Kiwi Saudi Arabia)  or my Kiwi In Saudi Facebook page, you would have seen snippets of my travels.  

Not all of my tiki touring was purely for pleasure - just most of it :).  On my return to Saudi I'll probabaly post a summary of my gadding about along with a few pics.  I'd write something more in depth on this post, but I'm sitting in a Paddywagon Tour bus, on a seat slightly on the narrow side for my butt and the seatbelt clasp sticking uncomfortably into one cheek if I lean the wrong way - not really ideal writing conditions. 

Yours in Moblogging Joy

Kiwi