The desert gave me some motivation so that I can more easily endure the days of waiting Even though the guys move fast, complications appear elsewhere. The windscreen has been at the airport for a day and a half, and we are about to complete a Ph.D. on customs release.
After having finished working on the truck, Robert and I were discussing whether I would be prepared to go through all the bureaucratic and construction procedures again. After two years of working on the house, I flatly replied that I wouldn't. And now, this precisely is happening to me. We are building a house again. In fact, I'm glad to have been guiding the group last week, so I didn't have to participate. The desert felt good yesterday. It allowed me to clear my head. I didn't manage to work through all I had set my mind on, but I did manage to come back with some photos of playing in the sand, namely, of a sanded-in Landcruiser belonging to a Serbo-Danish group building an airport in Oman. Branko kindly picked up his camera and that is how these photos came about. On the way back to Muscat, I let myself go and, wherever I could, I went offroading. Driving at full throttle and across the bends on rutted roads, among the acacia.
On the road, I've met a Swiss named Philip in his Mercedes 1735, year '94, ready for Dakar. As soon as the company had completed the support truck for the "KTM Team", it went bankrupt. Philip, who lives in Oman, managed to get his hands on the ready-to-race truck for EUR 70,000. Next time, Robi, I doubt if we will weld at home. Let me know tomorrow whether it will be possible to get the tyres I have always wanted from the Omani army: 14.00R20. At the moment, I am using the 13.00R20 of unknown age, which came with the car when I bought it. I’m lying, I was able to put two alloy wheels among the spares thanks to Brane Krajnc, who kindly gave me two solid thirteens. I could not afford to buy new ones before my departure, but the spare ones are there only and solely for emergency. I hope the shoes hold up. To be honest, when I rolled it over, the first thing I checked were the tyres. If they had been damaged... I doubt I would have had it repaired at all. The cost of repair increases as soon as one of the subcontractors spots a white person. It might be better for me to step back. Despite the meetings in Masqat, the waiting wears me out. I'd like to move on. And I feel as though I will soon have to take a break from this vacation.
I was summoned to the desert by Arthur, who has arrived to Muscat. He is complaining about expensive hotels in the Sultanate as well, so much so that last night he took over the bed that David had left a few days ago, when he went to Salalah, a city in the south of the country. While the Yazd group is piling up in Oman, let me write a few words about the remaining members of the "black hole", the Silk Road Hotel in Yazd: Benoît was one of the rare French journalists in Pakistan when Benazir was assassinated and the borders were closed. He found a cameraman and filmed some footage for a French television right in the centre of all activity! Yupee! Camillo came to Dubai with David and Arthur, where his bike he had bought a couple of days earlier was stolen. The three of them changed their travel itinerary in Yazd and, instead of the freezing Turkey, they headed to the Arabian Peninsula. After that, Camillo and David continued to Masqat, from where they flew to Nepal, as he cannot keep company to Arthur without his bike; Arthur is cycling (well ok, he is going to cheat a little for the next couple of days) towards Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia, and then across the Middle East and Turkey to Europe, where you can expect him in Summer. In Nepal, Camillo is currently spending most of his time on the toilet seat. Introduction to India. From Yemen, David will most likely fly to his native Alicante, because his reserves are diminishing too quickly on this side of the world (even more so since he gave a housing credit to a Slovenian). Jeremy has returned to Syria and his Kawasaki; he is currently wandering through Palestine. David is fond of Salalah, even if it's slightly less interesting than Masqat. He's thinking about coming up to the "new Black Hole" and then return with his truck to the south. But in the meantime, his seat was taken by Arthur. Now they are play fighting over it, as Davis says: "I will report you, that you cheat and drive the truck." Hmm, maybe I could put the tickets up for auction...
On Monday, I am joined by Uroš Zajec from the company ProFit. The departure from Masqat is still scheduled for Monday morning. Arthur is staying with us until Salalah, where he will be replaced by David. To get there, we intend to cruise the land and the desert as much as we can. You can count on a three-day drive. You can expect new photos from Salalah, then David, Uroš and I are going to Yemen, from where there will be no news; first, because we don't have much time for Yemen, second, because I don't know what Internet connections are like over there, third, because Uroš and I will have to hurry to Sana to get the Saudi transit visa and will not have time to look for open cybercafés, and last, because I will not listen to worried voices as to why I am not keeping in touch. All phones will be disconnected for the same reason. Finally!
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