We had the opportunity to ride ATVs in the desert while we were in the Fayoum Oasis. We didn’t do it at the time because the kids were so hooked on horse-back riding. I decided to book it in Hurghada because the price was very reasonable and it included a visit to a Bedouin village. We arrived at the establishment and were given a quick instructional and safety briefing. None of us had ever driven an ATV but it looked easy enough. You only need to squeeze the lever to make the vehicle go forward. To stop, just step on the foot break.
We got appropriately geared up with scarves covering most of our faces and goggles covering the area around our eyes that wasn’t under the scarves. On top of that, everybody got a helmet. The guys there told us not to take off the scarves and goggles, especially the children, or their faces would be burned by the sun and wind and sand would go into their eyes.
With that, we set off into the Eastern Sahara with our guide. The guide insisted that a man (not me) be at the very back of our caravan. Even though we were only a few kilometers from the ocean, we could see only desert terrain in every direction. It was exhilarating and peaceful all at the same time. After a while, we saw some mountains in the distance and rode toward them. We zigzagged and crisscrossed through a completely empty desert canvas for nearly an hour. Sometimes, the sand was so bumpy that AY, who was just holding onto my waist, and I were unintelligible to each other.
We arrived at the “Bedouin village” which turned out to be a tourist rest area for ATV riders. We were shown to a tent and served tea. They brought us to an area for camel rides which was really just a photo op. The handlers helped us climb onto the camels and walked us around the camel corral for photos. They helped us down and to no surprise, demanded tips for the five-minute “ride”.
We climbed back onto our ATVs and drove through the endless, mesmerizing desert and back to our starting point. We arrived after about 45 minutes to discover that our thumbs were so sore from squeezing the lever of the throttle. Each of us had come up at some point with a creative way to give our thumbs a break like angling the thumb differently, squeezing with another finger or applying pressure with the palm. The next day, I discovered aches and pains not just on my hands but all over my body. The desert doesn’t let your body so easily forget.
11/26 沙漠越野車
越野機車沙漠行，蒙面頂盔戴風鏡。
黃沙滾滾漫無際，駝民小村似浮萍。