Camels: On Napkins and Taking Dust Baths

Last night I had a very good night at the bar.

I sampled some Omani tobacco from an Omani pipe. The pipe was very skinny and long, with only a tiny cup for the tobacco. The tobacco itself came out what looked looked like an eyedrop bottle, and it was strong. I got one hell of a buzz from just one puff. The guy who shared his tobacco is Mah-moud, and he's very Omani. He speaks broken english. He has traditional dress, a beard, and a turban....and...fifteen camels!! In fact, as his cellphone background, he has a picture of one of his baby camels that was born the day before yesterday. Although his home is 6 hours north of here, he has connections with the local Bedou and said he could get me a sample of camel milk. According to him, the milk is very "strong" for the first few days after the baby camel is born, but after that its good. Also, he taught me the words for camel and goat with the help of a bar napkin.

In other news, I saw a camel taking a dust bath yesterday! I didn't think there was anything a camel could do to resemble a chicken, but it seems I was wrong. Here's a blurb I wrote to Matt about it.

Imagine a huge animal with gangly legs. It never moves much, and when it does it is slow, deliberate, and almost dignified.

Now imagine this animal laying on the ground on its side, with all 4 of it's 6 foot by 3 inch legs jerking franticly in the air. Then imagine it's neck, which is as long as the rest of its entire body. Imagine that neck convulsing in seemingly independant motion of its body. Imagine dust flying everywhere.

And around it are five other camels, one sitting, four standing, three staring at me, one staring at a bush, another at the trashcan who's contents it just ate. None of them are moving, they almost look dignified, and they all seem completely oblivious to the 6th as it continues its epileptic fit on the ground.