New Years, YAH!

A certain catalyst by the name of Rex brought me out to the Middle East. Saudi, as my next door neighbor to the west, is about 90 kilometers from my home in Madinat Zayed. With a reliable four-wheel drive and decent tires, Rex and I are about seven hours drive apart. Which isn't that far considering it was my bi-monthly drive home to Virginia from Brooklyn. Upon arrival to Abu Dhabi, I waited for the knock on my door from Rex to borrow a cup of sugar, or get some bacon (which is available here in grocery stores, but not in Riyahd). After much scheming and date haggling, Rex and I finally decided that New Years would begin our visiting hours.

I thought the beach, dancing and bubbly at mid-night would be ideal for bringing in 2010, but that didn't happen. Despite the lack of beach, there was a lot of sand. That's what the desert gets ya, but at least Rex brought presents.

Previously, I've camped in Liwa near Tal Moreeb, the highest sand dune in the UAE. It's a gorgeous drive out, wavy desert plains give way to sloped hillsides frames in palms, and then the landscape rises to sky rocketing sands that reflect red in the sunset. Perfectly lovely, but a bit noisy as it is many an Emiratee's joy to roll out quad bikes and ATVs that blast engine noise into the otherwise serene quiet. So, it's time for a change, so Hmeem called our names with the promise of zero traffic charging through the dunes.  Deal, yah'la, let's go!

Packing up the car was no easy feat. Mostly because the 10 cubic feet of truck space I have in the back of my Volkswagon is taken up with fire wood (can't savage the forest for branches folks, deciduous just doesn't play here).  Plus, I'm camping with Rex, so, we're gonna cook us up a feast like no other, shoo. 

The desert was absolutely gorgeous all night. The full moon illuminated the entire landscape and it looked like daylight in a hazy cloud. And I'm pretty sure that was the effect, even without the bubbly at midnight.

The next morning we made a delicious Southern breakfast complete with blackeyed peas for good luck and some green spinanch for, well green. Then we set back down the road and rounded out our New Year's Day with rearranging some abandoned tires.

 Perfect.