Cutely we each had planned for surprises for the other throughout the trip. His surprise #1 for me was when we stopped about 1.5 hrs into the drive along the highway for a picnic. Hubby knows how much I love picnics so we did the very local thing of stopping the car in the middle of nowhere (on the side of the road of course), spread our mat and dived in. Hubby had initially asked me to pack food to eat on the go, and I was wondering if we were going to stop along the way (thinking gas station/pit stops), why did I need to pack food since we could eat at the restaurants there itself. Ah, now I know what he was up to. What was even more rewarding was that in the background there were lovely reddish sand dunes (I requested that spot to stop hehe). My stereotyped perception of this desert country finally materialised, and boy was it beautiful!
About 3 hours and a few u-turns later, thanks to our not very accurate GPS coordinates, we checked into our very pretty furnished apartment. First on the itinerary was the corniche after dinner at a restaurant called "Chinatown" but served Indian in addition to Chinese food (why am I surprised...all kinds of things happen in "Chinese" restaurants here...). Just approaching the waters and I could smell the sea breeze in my face. Ahhhh.
The next day we met a (half) local couple we'd met on the Internet. After coffee with them, we made our way to Mr F's alma mater where he'd graduated from 5 years ago. He looked so happy and adorable as he beamed about the campus and recalled his fondest memories, and also because he could show his wife where he spent his remaining bachelor years. I must admit I was very impressed with the campus - extremely spacious in this land-rich country and excellent landscaping with a mixture of natural rocks and man-made gardens with ponds. Would have been a nice place to go dating while in college haha. Oh but of course, it was an all male college :P.
After the tour we headed to the beach. This princess loves the beach so the moment we reached there I was already beaming. I shouldn't divulge too much information online but I have to add that it was fun changing into our beach pants in our new MPV's spacious boot lol. The beach scene was pretty calm, I guess it's the most "conservative" beach I've been to, where instead of laying mats on the sand, there were concrete shelters where families gathered. Kids and men seemed to be the only ones entering the water, but that did not stop me from getting at least my legs wet. The only thing missing then was another picnic, but with the strong wind blowing sand into our faces, I guess that was a blessing in disguise. As the winds got stronger and it got colder and colder, we decided to pack up. Just before leaving the coast we headed for another beach which I was quite insistant about seeing because it had "emerald" waters. Unfortunately I was sorely disappointed because what made the water emerald was actually some whitish pollutant in the water. Eeks. So much for picturing Phuket... There was more activity at this beach with ATVs, horse-riding vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Even saw a lady on an ATV..woot!
Our final stop for the day was the SA-B causeway. That too was a little disappointing because the tower was under renovation so we couldn't see the view from up above. Anyway it was a pretty nice stop because after a quick dinner we walked around to see the gorgeous sunset. And yes, apart from beaches, I love sunsets.
Friday morning didn't have much excitement because Mr F had to conserve energy for the drive home. We had breakfast and lunch in and spent time watching tv together. My surprise #2 for him didn't work out because the bath tub didn't have a stopper. Yes, I had brought my rose petal soap wedding favour to splatter across the bath water. Too bad it didn't happen.
Although the trip was short, it was enjoyable. I also got to see another side of the country. Even though K is only 4 hours away from R, it looked like a much less conservative society. The most "shocking" thing we saw was a lady smoke openly in public. We went "wow" lol. You could also see people having more fun in open areas; bachelors were playing football on the same grounds as where families were picnicking. A couple of girls were playing around in the water, laughing and screaming without a care about who would come up to them with a baton. I guess being closer to the sea and hence having more outside influence, as well as having one of the largest American companies there has helped them broaden their mentalities. Unlike here where there's pretty much no natural escape except desert, desert and more desert, the corniche and beaches were a very welcomed breather. Even the drive there had lots of picturesque scenery which sad I could only snap from inside the car. I also learnt that my fascination for camels or camels-in-the-desert pics hasn't died down hehehe. I would definitely want to go back again soon, hopefully this time with more stops along the highway to take decent photos (afterall my canon has been collecting dust since coming here :P).
Thanks Mr F for making the trip happen :D
More pictures can be found on my FB page...
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