This has been a roller coaster of a trip with a lot of good friends! Now on this last day of the year we are just planning to relax before the long night ahead of us.
One guy is going golfing at the Emirates Golf Club for an afternoon tee time, two guys are playing tennis, and two of us are going swimming then going for a shave. I found a spa here which has gentlemen’s shave and they use The Art of Shaving which I love. This spa is located inside the Grosvenor House which gives me more reason to stay at this hotel.
I’m still waiting on one of my friends who is stuck at work, he might be able to come so I won’t know until the afternoon.
We are going to have a long night ahead of us, and hopefully we are going to enjoy it. I hope everyone has a good new year’s night as well.
This is going to be a roller coaster of a trip, I haven’t had time to sit and think about this whole coming trip but it seems its going to be a big one.
This trip is in two phases and multiple flights because everything is booked up in every direction, so this trip turned out to be patch work and it is going to be funny and hectic.
Phase One:
Going to Egypt for my best friend’s wedding.
His engagement party was in July that I went to with a few guys, and this time about 16 guys from the states are flying in for his wedding in Egypt, and some of them have never been to this side of the world before.
Going to be there for three days, then taking a few of the guys to Dubai for New Years, I have never been in Dubai for New Years but probably more to do there then most places for people visiting the Middle East. The funny part is that because the flights are all booked up from Cairo to Dubai so we are flying out of Alexandria, so the day after the wedding we have to drive to Alexandria to catch the 1:00pm flight to Dubai, and its a 2 – 3 hour drive. We are going to be five guys in total, and this is going to be a hilarious adventure.
Phase Two:
We are staying in Dubai for 6 days, and I’m planning on taking them to the Safari and doing a full tour of Dubai for them to enjoy. Some of the guys want to go golfing, and I don’t mind doing that since I haven’t been golfing in a while.
Of course going to Dubai is costing an arm and a leg, so we are working out the details of everything.
Map Breakdown:
- Blue: My Flight Plan
- Green: The Guys Arriving from the US Trip
- Orange: Return for one of the guys back to Cairo for a few more days of vacation
- Red: Return for the rest of the guys back to the US
While in Wafra I took my camera kit with me since its really nice just taking photos around that area. Turns out a friend of mine is also obssessed with taking pictures so we decide to head out in the Landcruiser and go see where we can take photographs. So we headed towards a herd of camels, taking photos of them and getting closer every 5 minutes.
I have to say that camels are one of the funniest animals I have seen, when looking at them I can tell they know exactly whats going on but they don’t care. The camel herder didn’t really mind what we were doing since we seemed harmless to him. There were at least 60 to 70 camels just grazing in that area, we moved around a few times to get the sun light in the direction we wanted.
After a little while we decided to get up close and personal with these guys. I thought at least 10 meters away to get the right photo, so I was behind the lens and kept taking pictures. Some of them moved away and some got closer. I was using a wide-angle lens towards the end and we kept getting close, I was getting some very nice pictures and these guys were just making me laugh. I could see my friend circling around and taking other pictures.
At one point my friend told me “Marzouq, the camel is 10 centimeters away from your lens”, but from behind the lens he looked like he was a couple of meters away. When I look up from the camera the camel was right in my face, curious of the camera so I kept snapping away. At one point went around the camera, and lets just say the big guy likes me. It was a fantastic day, and I really do love those camels.
I got a call the other day, I was invited for a lunch in Wafra with some friends. I thought why not especially in this beautiful weather. As soon as I got on the road it was a drizzle and then it turned into a full on monsoon on the drive to Wafra.
I called for directions since I knew I would pass the turn, I was counting the numbers of turns and then suddenly the road was upon me as I was flying past it. I made a quick stop and made the turn, luckily there weren’t that many cars on the road.
The best part about these long drives is enjoying the music I had, it really is an enjoyable drive especially when you have the right kind of music.
I managed to find the compound pretty easily, especially after entering the wrong one the first time around and it turned out to be a family there instead of my friends so I quickly backed out of the their before heading to the next camp. It was perfect and they had different tents for different uses which was very practical. The best part was the duwa which was filled with coal and warm and crispy by the time I was close to it.
The lunch was very good, and the company was even better. There is something about being in the desert that is just very different then anything else.
So after that little incident we were all up early in the morning and so we headed to Marina, to Johnny Rockets to be exact. At 11:40 am and we wanted our burgers and fries, but they told us its breakfast time only, so we complained until we got our chili cheese fries and Rocket Double burgers. It was funny since a few weeks back we at lunch there at 8:00 am so I was a bit surprised about what they said, we were just laughing as complaining.
It was damn cold so we kept ordered hot chocolates to keep us warm, and one of our friends kept getting a mix of hot chocolate and coffee which worked for him. It was a fantastic day just to relax outside, we were laughing our heads off the whole time were there and freezing as well, the heaters wouldn’t want to work. After that we took the long way back home and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
I was happy to see the website has been updated and there are a lot more pictures there then just mine. There are pictures at the car wash and other times, the best thing I am waiting for is the video which has to be fantastic. They also updated information of all that took place, I went ahead and copied the information regarding who won. We still talk about everything and how much fun we had, even getting there was hilarious. I will be first to register when they open the event for next year.
Results:
Circuit Champion : Mohammed Al-Sayer in his Noble M400
Drag Champion : Ali Ashkanani in his Porsche Turbo
Ultimate Driver : Mohammed Al-Sayer in his Noble M400
Link: GulfRun Media
I wanted to do something on Friday night, but I also wanted to do nothing. Some of the guys were going to a wedding and I wasn’t so I called one other friend and it turns out he was also doing nothing and he didn’t want to do anything but wanted to do something. We were in a funny dilemma, and one of our friends was getting a few things from the co-op I told him to come over and lets figure out something. We decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and go get food later, and I text the guy who wanted to remain stationary to join us if he wants, the funny part is that he lives less then 2 minutes away.
We watched the movie and half way through we decided to get some Kababs and Shawarmas from Ghadeer, my friend wanted to drive and for the first time I was too lazy. We put the top and drove in this cool weather, we picked up our sandwiches (Kabab, Chicken Shawarma, Humus, and Strawberry Drink) and headed pack. Then we restarted the movie and our friend just walked in so we gave him some of the sandwiches.
We were just laughing but we continued the movie, some Halo was proposed but we wouldn’t stop if we started it. So we continued the movie, 20 minutes in one guy fell asleep, and I was feeling drowsy. After 45 minutes I turn left to tell my friend that the other guy is asleep only to find him asleep as well on and off. We were all drowsy from active days, and so we were slowly passing out. I tried staying up as much as possible, when I did fall asleep I rewinded the movie from the last point I remembered so a 3 hour movie turned into a 4 hour movie. It was just a funny night, then we finished the movie and just started talking about random things happening. It was an easy and funny night.
There have been times where I have been hungry just waiting with all the guys for everyone to show up, but that has changed. Things have gotten stricter in the dewaneyah, I tell everyone 8:30 pm dinner will be on the table, I don’t care if its cooked or deliver, it will be on the table. I have turned into the Nazi Soup Kitchen, “No Soup For You!” I have had to do this because some people turn up very late expecting food to be there when I make its gone, unless they have a good reason which they usually don’t for being late. I honestly find it entertaining to be stubborn with the timing of the food, then there the complainers, they complain that they want the food now or they want shawarmas all the damn time.
I found an anime movie I wanted to watch but it seems I played for a few people before but I passed out through the whole movie before, but we watched it again since the majority didn’t see it. It was an easy and funny night, we had dinner and watched another movie which was pretty funny as well. After that we spent the rest of the night discussing college times and GulfRun, it was like a GulfRun meet up with a few of the guys there. Now time to ride in the morning.
I haven’t been able to go to the Dewaneyah for a little while now, and since the timing changed from Saturday to Wednesday I’m still having a hard time adjusting. Previously the Dewaneyah used to be every Saturday for the past 10 years, and so when it shift it has been a bit weird going on a different day. The day shift has had a different effect on different things that I do.
When I went I looked pretty worn out from my full day and night, I literally spent 1 hour at home, I ate I light lunch and sat for 30 minutes then headed out. The weather was amazing so I found everyone sitting outside, and it was very nice but I asked for dinner since I was hungry. As usual there is a good selection of food, the funny part is that I have been gone long enough that people have lost weight. Both my cousins lost a substantial amount of weight as well as my friend, I need to get on that bandwagon!
We started off by filling up the cars with all our bags, then we loaded up the essential items such as the water cooler, spare parts and a few other items for GulfRun and other people. We went to fill up gas before heading to the first border check, and we only start the movies on the Saudi/Bahrain road.
We had to change the movies since I didn’t find all the ones I wanted, but I did find some nice old school movies.
- Bad Boys
- Bad Boys II
- MIB
- Old School
- The Last Boy Scout
When we went through the Saudi Customs it was ok but the guy was a jerk and he didn’t feel like doing anything. He was giving us a hard time but we were all smiles, but I wanted to punch him right on the nose. I was happy we went through and everyone else was pretty good.
Then we started Bad Boys after getting some candy and drinks from the gas station after the border check point, I also filled up the gas. We were enjoying the beginning of this road trip and there was a lot to go. 80% of the road to Bahrain was ok, but the bumpy parts were real bumpy.
I have to say that Bad Boys is one of the best action of this quarter century, it really is a classic that every person has to see. Great action, wit, comedy, and explosion, what more could you ask from a good action movie. It was during Martin Lawerance’s peak and the introduction of the Fresh Prince who made a great combination. We also watched the music videos when the movie was done and we were all singing to it and dancing in the car, good times.
