Each spring, our family takes an annual expedition to the wide open steppe to rest and see what nature brings forth. The desert around here doesn't produce quite as brilliant of a show as the Southern California desert, but there is life none-the-less. There aren't nearly as many species of wildflowers, nor as many animals, but what we do get to see brings us joy as we see just how creative our Maker is.
So, with marshmallows (bought at a store 1,000 miles away from here), homemade calzones, some stale cookies, water, and the camera, we took off to the vast open prairie of Central Asia. It is as flat as flat can be, with nary a hill to be seen on any horizon. After arriving at our usual camping spot, we parked and made an initial survey. No, no one has been here yet this year; it is likely no one will ever come here- why would they?
Upon first arrival, the small, red "desert tulips" caught our immediate attention. How could they not, as they strike up against the bland taupes and browns of the earth around them? In addition to the brilliant, dainty tulips, there were small purple iris type flowers and a whole field of mustard in bloom. Our special place is in a little bowl, surrounded by an ancient dune, so it gets a bit more rain runoff than the surrounding area; hence the field of yellow. The only other "find" in the flower department we made this year was the gigantic "skunk cabbage". One can only guess how this beast of a plant can grow in such a harsh in unforgiving environment.
The weather was just slightly too hot to comfortably sit outside, so most of us hung out in the car between forays out for wildlife spotting. Each of us had a book to enjoy, and a card game kept up company in between pages. By mid-afternoon, the sun began to relent, and we noticed some desert creatures beginning to stir. Our first visitor was a large lizard, which Pixie decided she MUST catch to inspect further. She is a patient girl, and although it took her many attempts, she ended up successfully bagging her prey. Next, a smaller unfortunate lizard succomed to Pixie's efforts of creature-catching. Luckily for them both, she only wanted a closer look, and she let them go quickly. NariLoo has a soft spot for all things living, and thought catching the lizards was torturing them, so we had to deal with "Pouty Girl" for a few hours afterward.
Then we spotted the biggest treat for us all- THE TORTOISES! We saw no less than 6 on this trip- 3 on the way (crossing the road!! We mercifully stopped and ferried them over before a truck could turn them into turtle pancakes) and 3 at our spot. We watched them for a very long time foraging and crawling around on the sand. Little NariLoo dearly fell in love with them, and begged to bring one home. But we tried that several years ago. It stuck around for about a week, then we never saw him again. It was difficult to explain to her, that they belong in the wild, and they are safest there. Dogs and turtles don't mix. It is funny how catching lizards produces such anxiety in her, but hauling a poor turtle around for an hour doesn't equate somehow. Ahhh, the small mind of a child.
The sun was setting, so it was time to build a little fire and roast up the last stale marshmallows. The kids finished up a little game of impromptu baseball (sticks and a small ball we had brought), and came over to the fire to indulge in our week old cookies with several month old marshmallows. They tasted good; I daresay much better than roasted lizard, which is what we might have eaten had we been aboriginies in Australia rather than expatriates living in Central Asia.
One doesn't stay out on the Central Asian steppe long after dark without a stout stick or a car to retreat to these days. Not too long before this trip, The Water Guy ventured out with NariLoo and Macaroni to camp and in broad daylight spotted a gray wolf! No, it wasn't a coyote, it was a very large, very furry and grizzled looking wolf. We Googled wolves and discovered that our area has the highest population of Asian wolves anywhere! Yikes!! I guess we will camp with more care in the future!
So, we come to the end of a rightly pleasant day. We relaxed in the sunshine, saw some of the most elusive creatures on earth, enjoyed one another's company, and will be back again next year.
Until Next Time,
Your SteppeSister
One of the highlights was the hyena in labor (pacing quite a bit) and the flamingos. NariLoo thought the baboons were funny, and Pixie especially liked the birds- as usual.
Picture a huge series of winding rivers interspersed with sections where powerful jets of water that "push" your innertube up and around a "track", roller coaster style. You see, at Wild Wadi, instead of a lot of slides you go down, you are squirted UP while seated on a single or double inner tube. It's a "real blast" !!! Okay, I just couldn't resist that one. I know it was bad.
NariLoo and Macaroni had a SUPER fun time at the childrens' area. It had oodles of slides for little tykes and squirty pipes for them to splash around in. They both adored the wave pool, too, and spent hours wading around its edges. I think because it was quite a bit warmer. To be honest, we felt perfectly safe with them in the water at both places, as the park was literally overrun with lifeguards. And they were not just your average teeny-bopper who needed a summer job. They were ALL, very obviously highly trained 20 somethings from South Africa, Malaysia and other more developed countries who were VERY attentive and taking their jobs very seriously. You can see one in the background of this photo. Note also the variety of swimwear we found in this park. I guess not even the water would make a serious Muslim woman take off her head covering.
Are we hungry yet? The park had several eateries located here and there, and knowing it would taste like pretty crappy amusement park food, we opted for.................. The Cheapest! HA! For a whopping $40, we ended up with 2 orders of marinara spaghetti (AKA, Chef Boy-ar-Dee)k one chicken Ceasar Salad, and 2 orders of chicken stir fry with rice. Remember, for about 2/3 of that, we fed 12 people the MOST amazing dinner (and way more than we could eat) at Ravis. It was what it was...
And what would a day at the park be without an ice cream treat?? We got fruit slushies just for fun. None of that business here on the steppe!
At over 30 feet high, it felt like you were freefalling! Watch out for that monster wedgie at the end!
I left the ordering to the "experts" in our group, as I needed to pop over to the next door pharmacy to get remedy for our raging headaches. After securing relief from a very amiable Palestinian man, I headed over to the areas where our food was being prepared. The "kitchens" were actually open in full view along the sidewalk, and it was fascinating to watch the masters at their craft cook up our victuals. Here is our bread being made fresh! Mmmmmm, fresh Nan!
After the little dough balls were made, he would flatten them out and fry them on this HUGE greased griddle! 
Other dough balls were turned into these tasty looking little babies. You can see in the back the folded up meat pockets behind him to his right. We didn't order any of these, but they sure looked good!
After not too long, our 6 different dishes arrived. We were starving, and we dove into our dhal, butter chicken, spicy, tangy curries and washed it all down with Pepsi and copious amounts of water. I have a feeling that this kind of food will be on our Master's banquet table.
Aren't they beautifully carved??!
There were many displays depicting the daily life of people. Here is mock-up of the fish seller in the souk. I, personally, was glad they left out the smell.
Next, was the cloth merchant. I think this photo ended up being my second favorite shot of the whole trip. I had my oldest girl check out the fabric too. I think she liked what she saw, because she ended up buying a scarf just like this one earlier in the day- Oh wait, this IS the scarf she bought earlier in the day! HA!
Another of the clever displays showed how those who live in the desert off the land could actually live semi-comfortably from what they had- most notably palm tree products. The "walls" you see are woven from palm fronds, as are the mats on the floor, and the basket beside this baby cradle. 
Now, the highlight for all of us ladies was the 2nd henna tatoo session. For about $5 each, this stunnningly beautiful woman gave us equally striking designs on our hands. Each tatoo took about 5 minutes to draw. The paste comes out of a tube, and must sit on the skin for a couple of hours without being disturbed. After that, the dried brown paste flakes off, and a rich auburn "tatoo" is left behind for about 2 weeks. Women all over Pakistan, India, and the Middle East do this for special occasions like weddings, birthdays, and such. We had a blast doing this together!
Well, that wraps up the daytime part of our city excursion. I know I promised to post some pictures of the stuff we had bought this day, and I actually did take the pictures of most of those items, but I thought that I really wanted to get these photos posted first. So, really, really next time I will show you the incredible bargains we found. But I did give you a sneak peak at the one scarf we bought for Daughter #1.
