A Sunset Stroll in the Desert

A few weeks ago I went out for a walk late in the afternoon, hoping to get a nice sunset shot. I've only seen one here that was even close to what I'd see at home, and I didn't have a camera with me, so I've decided to just get what's there and make the best of it!

This day wasn't bad, and the sun didn't disappear into the haze and dust as early as it usually does. Even so, it was still a very brown sunset. We saw that in Fayetteville one day last fall when a dust storm had blown across Oklahoma - it was a wild sky at the end of an engagement shoot. So here are two sunset shots from Saudi Arabia.

         
When the sun had disappeared about 20 minutes before official sunset, there was enough light to go for a walk around the old sand golf course that hasn't been used for about 15 years - you never know what you might come across, and that was the case today.

Among things I came across was an old course marker still standing. More surprising was a boat hull laying out in the sand and brush - quite a surprise. I asked a guy who has been here for 20 years (yep, and there are more of them than you'd expect!) and who'd played the course. Since they were playing golf in the desert, as if there weren't enough challenges, they added a "water hazard" on a par three link, and the boat was placed to represent the water they had to shoot over!

"Beached" 

"Harbor Lights" 

On the way back up the hill in another portion of the old course, I was walking along in the near dark watching where I was stepping, and stopped to look up and realized there was a pretty nice photo right in front of me. These poles were very nicely maintained, with three lines on each, but the lines terminated at the fourth pole down. Don't know if these were put in for future use or left over, but they made a nice shot with the rosy sunset glow!

I'll get another post up later this week, and then will be away for a few weeks. Dana and I are going to meet in London for our first vacation in several years, and our first ever trip to London. In two weeks we'll visit London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and Paris before she heads for home and I return to fun and sun! Right now she and Darby are in Montreal visiting Dana, and they are enjoying a comedy festival. Wish I could be there with them!!

A meal just like home!

This won't be long, but would love to share it, and several pictures. I went to the mall today to find some good sandals. I found them at the Ecco store in the Mall of Dhahran and I look forward to wearing them out. Then I went for a stroll to find some lunch. Lots of food available in this place, which is like walking around inside a giant donut - shops all the way around, and an amusement park in the center!

So I found a great place which was also a favorite at home, and it was a terrific meal! Tasted just like home, which is the first time I can say that here!!  The spicy chicken and fries were perfect. The biscuit looked a little odd but tasted great. The only "wrong" part was drinking a diet Pepsi, because they were out of water.

So thanks Popeye's, I really enjoyed it!! I ate too much, and nutritionally it was probably the worse meal I've had in the last three months, AND it was the first soft drink I've had in that time. But it was soooo good!!  :)  All together I walked around the mall twice, which is a pretty good distance. I rewarded myself with a nice dessert, after bypassing multiple donut shops, three or four Cinnabon stores, pastry shops, and a dozen coffee shops with pastries, and had a delightful gelato (and no, the servers didn't look or sound Italian!!).

A few weeks ago I took some shots on my trip to Bahrain and haven't had a chance to load them, so I'm gonna toss them in here now.The first shot is of what I am told is the Bahrain World Trade Center, and yes there are three propellers between the towers! They are wind turbines that apparently aren't very productive because the building does not align with the prevailing wind.  Still, a very striking structure - would love to get a closer view!

 This was the view from my hotel, of the Prime Minister's palace. This place was several city blocks in size, beautifully landscaped and immaculately maintained.  If I'm ever Prime Minister I want one just like it!

 In the City Centre Mall in Bahrain they had, as always, some cool places to eat. This is a family favorite at home, so I thought my ladies would get a kick out of this! (no, didn't eat there; maybe next time!)

 This is purely for fun and extravagance. A Ferrari Store. If you click on the picture to see it larger, you will see a Formula 1 race car on the right side, and it looked and smelled like the real thing. There's just something cool about having a race car in your foyer, don't you think?

Noon flowers

I read an article a few weeks ago that taking a short walk, 10 to 15 minutes, after a meal was a beneficial thing to do, as good or better than a single, aggressive 45-minute workout, and would do nice things like keep your sugar levels even. I was pretty pleased to read this, taking it as confirmation that my decision to take a short walk every day after lunch was good for me.

There are several eating options here on camp at midday, and I usually finish and stroll around the campus after eating. Yesterday flowers started popping out at me so I just took advantage of the camera build into my iPhone and captured a few of them.  This first image caught my eye almost immediately - the flowers are tiny, less than half an inch across, and a delicate shade of pink, not very well captured in the brilliant noon sun, but here they are anyway!

 A little further on was a bush about head high, and these blooms were right at the top. This was just next to a building built in the mid-1940s as an admin building, of classic stone architecture, and which is still in use.  It's a handsome building, and I'm told it was build by WWII POWs, but I haven't been able to verify it. I'd take a picture to show you, but they do frown on that.

These pretty flowers were next to the main, brand new Aramco headquarters building, and are probably better cared for than most people's houses. They have a small army of gardeners and caretakers that they bring in from Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and all over the world to maintain the grounds, and these guys do a great job.

Last shot, this bunch was right next to a beautiful fountain behind the old admin building, which has been condemned and remodeled multiple times, and is still in use pending destruction. These guys were right in the spray area from the fountain (most days are windy!) and they seem to like it there!

Just for reference, it was right at noon, and the sun was directly overhead with a temperature of 110F! All these were taken within ten minutes of each other.  Here is a shot to demonstrate the position of the sun at noon - notice the almost centered shadow from the overhead sun.