Pics from the road…

A few pics from the latest go-round of travel to the mid-East…
They don’t call it the sandbox for nothing…


(and this is one of the ‘good’ roads)

Now THIS is a hotel room 🙂 This was my room in Kuwait…

A family of five could fit in this place with NO problem… Off to the left, out of picture is the kitchen area, all top of the line appliances too!!!

The beach side of the hotel…


Our own patrol boat, if you look straight up from the post in the bottom middle, the dot between the umbrella tops is a PG…


And from Bahrain, an interesting anomaly… The Tree of Life!

The Tree of Life , also known as Shajarat al-Hayah, in Bahrain stands alone in the desert about 1.2 miles from the Jebel Dukhan(Smoking Hill-gladly dormant), the highest point on the island. It is almost of monumental proportion and has been aptly named as it seems to epitomize the very essence of life. It is said that this mesquite tree is a least a 200 and possibly as much as 400 years old, and considered to be one of Bahrain’s natural treasures.

The source of water on which this tree thrives is unknown and remains an enigma, serving to increase the lure of the place. As a side note, we figured out the tree sits roughly 300 feet above sea level, so the tap root has to be a least that long… Who knows…

This is as we were driving up, just to show the bareness of the landscape…



Up close, and yes, people drive up and literally park right against the tree…
And there is graffiti all over the tree…



And from under the tree, looking toward the Arabian Gulf about 4 miles away…


And now back to the regularly scheduled BS…

Comments

Pics from the road… — 15 Comments

  1. Okay. What am I missing? It looks like a phone pole. . .

    BZ

    P.S.
    I would wager the air conditioning systems of motels and businesses there are simply stellar.

  2. BZ- It IS a telephone pole… that was looking toward the water, and I was just trying to show the desert!

    WSF- It does… trust me!

  3. There’s enough sand in those pics to produce chafing, just from looking at them.

    Glad you made it home safe & sound.

  4. MB- Yep, no question… 🙂

    Kvegas- Hey Lady! Welcome back!

    Snigs- Point 🙂

    WSF- No comment…

    Julie- Mee tooo, too bad it was only one night 🙁

  5. Great post.

    I did some training at Al Dhafra Air Base in UAE. The drive from Abu Dhabi to there is only an hour but just as bleak.

    The skid marks are because the UAE produces some of the worlds worst drivers. I left the day they had a 250+ car pile up because no one would slow down in the fog. Been run off the road twice, en shalla my a$%.

    I have a friend in the 5th Fleet who sent me pictures of the tree. Now I want to go see it for myself if I get there this spring.

    Gerry

  6. CS- I’ve done a few of those too… Not anymore 🙂

    RT- Agreed on the sand 🙁

    Gerry- Heard that! And yes the tree is there, you’ll agree it’s a strange one.

  7. Another fabulous post, Old NFO. I always feel well traveled after visiting your blog!! Glad you are safe and home sweet home!
    Gia

  8. Beautiful pictures. I almost want to book a vacation at that motel. Now just some pretty bluebonnets around that lonely tree….