Star Wars

At five to four in the morning, five minutes before our alarm was due to go off, a member of the hotel staff knocked on our door and roused us from our short sleep. After washing, we made our way down stairs from our room to have breakfast, which I must say was pretty poor fare indeed. No real tea for June, no large spoons for our cereal and no toast. I think we have been spoiled of late with the choice of food we have been having. The food on the trip was generally of a poor quality, and limited in choice.At least they had filter coffee and not Nescafé.
And so, at five a.m, we alighted our coach and said goodbye to the Golden Yasmine, Sun Palm. Hotel in the town that is known as the gateway to the Sahara, and made our way to our first destination of the day, as part of our 1,200 kilometre round trip.
A few minutes into our journey we had to stop to photograph the sun rising over a distant oasis. This is the second time wbeenprivyto this wondrous sight, the first being back in 2001in Egypt on our way to see blah de blah from Aswan.
Crossing the salt plain of Chot El Djerid, a once vast sea, we were informed that in1998 the rains fell and covered the land with one meter depth of water making it a temporary haven for flamingos. That must have indeed been a sight to behold. Every now and then there are areas that have been dug down, just around a meter, exposing expanses of water.
By 0730 hrs, we were settled into a collection of 4x4 vehicles for a 3 hour trip off road and into the desert, up and down massive dunes to Onk Jemal, where the film set built for Star Wars ,The Phantom Menace. One could see herds of wild camels trekking their way across the sands, sometimes one group with up to 200 females and only one male.
During the day this part of the desert, commonly called The White Desert, seem quiet, apart from groups of road builders scattered here and there, but, beware at night, for it is the domain of scorpions and the, more dangerous than a cobra, horned viper, lurking in the sand.
Our final morning destination was the town of Chebika. Nestled right at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, and where many scenes of the moving picture, The English Patient was filmed, there is a small, but beautiful natural waterfall cascading therein. This town was situated just a couple of miles from the Libyan border.
Heading homeward, via a lunch stop at a restaurant that served the same food food that we got yesterday, only this time not tasty at all. The salad was mainly cucumber and the pastry was much smaller, and the main course of fried turkey, chips and rice, was the blandest food we have had since we arrived in the country.
With one more stop on the way at a cafe/ shop where purchased an ice cream each, thoughts were on the three or so hours journey home. I am sure that I have been on a more uncomfortable bus journey at some point, but I just can't remember when.
Still all in all it been a fascinating couple of days, with many happy memories and some wonderful things viewed.
The way that in some cases the use of cacti to mark out the borders between people's olive trees etc, many planted in neat rows, so whichever way you looked at them, the rows were all perfect; the partially built houses, waiting for their owners to be able to afford to build further, the sidewalk vendors selling plastic containers of diesel and the man driving a small van whilst writing on paper or a book, are but a few.