Across the desert

Due to work requirements, I spent most of my day today on the road. I moved from Riyadh city to Hofuf  (in Saudi Arabia) in a round trip of almost 650km (in a Hyundai Accent which turned out to be reliable after all...)

I like road trips, in general... Road trips in Saudi, are even more special; I have to pass through the desert to reach remote areas (and of course i get to over speed as much as i like).

Passing through the desert, is always full of unexpected events. For instance today:

• I got to pass the 160kph mark for the first time in a long period
• I discovered that the comfort zone of my car is way below that
• I received pieces of gravel on my windshield and also some bird droppings (ewwww)
• I ran into more camels than humans on the road (seriously!) - loose camels which could've gone wandering in the middle of the highway
• A man and his less-than-ten-year-old boy who had parked in the middle of the desert, faced West and started performing their prayer rituals (poor kid...)
• Cars going on the wrong way and making U-turns suddenly out of the blue...
• *Update: Found a radio station airing classical chef d'oeuvres!

Beside all that, one thing was constant: the view and the surrounding; asphalt road surrounded by sand dunes, plain sand dunes.

View of the desert on my road

For some reason or an other, something about the desert, with its red sandy dunes, with its vastness and emptiness, with its unexpectedness, with its simple complexity, made me feel like at home. Probably, that's what my mind is nowadays, plain empty complex unexpected.

For some reason or an other, I enjoy going across the desert, I just feel transfered into a different planet, where nothing and no one else exists, just me and my vast desert, enjoying the nothingness, taking a break of everything else, thinking only of going forward, to reach a new destination, beyond the desert, beyond that world...

For some reason or another, time stands still, while passing across the desert, the only thing moving, the shifting sands, transported by the winds of change.

Now that my trip is over and I was back to the world, i can't wait till my next trip, till my next abduction, across the desert...

Joseph