Tuesday, May 22, 2007

RiyadhCam: Ships of the Desert

This is a common sight on Riyadh's roads, but one that I've never successfully caught on camera... until now!


It's not every day you see a pick-up truck with four camels in the back!


What intrigues me is the block and tackle at the top: do they have to winch the camels on and off? Why can't they just walk down a ramp like cattle? I need to know...



Also saw this lost-in-translation sign in a sports shop today.


Very laudible intensions and I'm sure the Arabic is perfect, but the English translation made me laugh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Neal, just discovered you in the blogosphere and I am enjoying your archives. We live in al-Khobar in the Eastern Province. Husband works for BAE Systems and we've been here for 3 years or so. About the camels. You probably know by now, but I will just add my ten cents worth seeing as there was no comments in the comments section. They absolutely do winch the camels on board, no ramp at the back. Very funny sight, a camel dangling from the underneath of the crane arm. About an hour's drive south of here is Hofuf, where there is a Thursday camel market where camel farmers come from far and wide to buy and sell. You can even pick up some authentic home-made camel bridle and blanket souvenirs! There are also goats and sheep. We were there having a look in January and thoroughly enjoyed ourslves. Worth a look if you are ever over this way, on the way to and from Bahrain or whatever.