West Asia

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Non-verbal French

Travelling with French people is interesting.   Firstly there’s the cute accent, then the scope for miscommunication. As an example of miscommunication, we were planning our meals when we decided we needed some cheese.  Then I heard in French English that we could use the epicure cheese.  I thought that was a rather sarcastic way of […]

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Room with view

Above:  View from my window. I had breakfast with Danny at my Saila hostel again.  I gave his scrambled eggs a miss and stuck to my coffee and fruit. Since Anya was leaving today, Kristina thought that the room could be free for me.  We met with Jameel, the principal to discuss this.  It was […]

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Back to school

I started the day with scrambled eggs with Danny in the hostel kitchen at the Saila, courtesy of Danny.  I offered cake and melon to share. I spent the morning at Marie’s before having lunch with Lou and Kristina.  Quarter chicken is kinda a standard lunch fare here for many of us at school.  The […]

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Leaving Socotra

Leaving Socotra My alarm had failed to go off this morning.  Lou woke me up around 0500.  After a quick splash and breakfast, we all headed to Socotra airport for a quick check-in. It felt like a sad end to an amazing week of sun, sea, white sand, picnics, camping and star-lit skies at night.  […]

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Shuab

  It was an early start today, waking up at 0600.  Instead of the usual of hitting the road by 4WD, we hit the water this morning.  Well, not quite true.  We had to take a short drive from the campsite to Qalansiyah village around 0700 to take a boat to Shuab. In the clear […]

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Qalansiyah

  After breakfast, we hit the road.  We made a stop at Omar’s house for tea.  Marie and Kristina went outside to chat with some of the local girls. En route to Qalansiyah in the west, we passed a lot of Dragon Blood trees.  The route then took us via a wadi and an oasis. […]

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Deiqab, Dixam and Darho

  After a breakfast of bread, jam and cheese the others went out for a camel ride.  This didn’t have a novelty factor for me so I stayed back and relaxed.  The tide was now better at the beach which made for a lovely swim. Text continues after this gallery.     From the campsite, […]

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The south coast

  This morning, we packed up and continued by our Toyota 4WD to Ras Arher.  This is where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian sea.  We had a nice time swimming and playing here.  [Edit:  Later, I couldn’t locate Ras Arher on any map but the flat peninsula near Arher appears to be Erisseyl.  Maybe they’re […]

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Arher Dunes

  This morning, Omar packed up the 4WD and found us a guide.  The guide would take us on a hike downhill while he drove to our appointed meeting spot. It was a pleasant hike along a wadi that included a swim in a freshwater pool.  It would have been even better had there been […]

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Dihamri & Homhil

  Today we moved away from the comfort of a hotel for five nights of camping, each night in a different place.  Driving out of Hadiboh, our first stop was the Dihamri Marine Protected Area where we swam and snorkelled amongst the fish.  It was heavenly.  We ate freshly caught fish for lunch. Text continues […]

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