Camel Ride

I say ride but I really mean photoshoot, you’ll see what I mean.
We had seriously been considering an overnight camel trek and camp but after our other Chinese camping adventure (see post below) and a bit of research we decided to find a more off-the-beaten-path adventure. We asked our old buddies Shar Tru and Wong Sho Wa at the hotel to see what they could do for us and low and behold a few calls later our camel came to us. Have you ever seen a camel run? It’s quite a spectacle, running an least 20 miles an hour behind a motorbike it’s hooves flail out sideways. The creature bounced up and down and as it ran its humps swung left to right. Our jaws dropped. A camel came to our hostel just for us? It lurched to a halt and it’s jokey, a nice enough young guy, tugged on its rope, signaling it kneel over. I craned my neck searching for three rides. Nothing, just a dusty road. I nodded slowly. I guess we would take turns? Nick was beckoned on and once he settled behind the first hump I was told to squeeze on behind him. It was a tight fit. As the camel lurched up we almost fell backwards.
The Camel Attendant as I’ll call him leads us past the fields of grapes onto the busy road. There we were, two American tourist kids on a camel just on a ride down the interstate, nothing out of place here. Many people slowed their vehicles to a crawl in order to snap a picture on their phones. Camel Attendant eventually took us off the freshly paved road intended for cars not hooved steeds and off into a sandy area with some teeny tiny dunes. That’s when the ride became a photoshoot. First came the posing. Hands in the air, thumbs up, pet the camel, etc, etc ok can we ride now? Nope, next it was taking turns slouching against the camel, thumbs up, big smile then flashing some peace signs. Third was hugging the camels neck. Click click click. Ok, now every one get back on the camel, ride up this dune and then let’s run all those poses again. Hmm, what are some other excuses to take pictures? Ah, now let’s get some shots of you walking the camel. Mkay I got a great idea, let’s leave the camel here and take some pictures of you kids throwing sand in the air. Love it, looks great. Snap snap snap. We got back on the camel, rode no more than a hundred yards and... took more pictures. After 45 minutes as models Camel Attendant AKA junior self taught photographer took us out in the middle of the interstate and took some more. Yes, you heard that right, during a break in the cars he lead the camel out to the yellow line, handed us the rope and ran to the other side of the road to get some nice angles.
When junior self taught photographer brought us back to the hostel he got mom and dad up on the beast and took 15 more photos. After saying goodbye to the camel we rushed inside hoping to look through all 414 pictures before morning. Just kidding, read about our adventure later that afternoon in our next post.