Following on from another thread CF has turned into one of his ‘Expert’ seminars on International Work, it got me to thinking some of the things I’ve learned from the locals.
My first trip into Saudi in 74, going south from Halat Amar towards Jeddah I was very cautious about finding hard sand to park up on, eventually, I found novices ground and hey ho parked up sweet as a nut.
Not yet initiated into the ways of the desert I took a dump behind the rear axle of the trailer, (as we were taught to do if we went to Yorkshire).
Just as I was getting my pots & pans out to cook a meal a Palestinian driving a Syrian 1924 Merc artic pulled in and with sign language & a few common words said “You are in my land now so you are my guest and I will cook for us” he then wanted to wander round my rig and check out the trailer etc…
With some embarrassment we came to the rear axle of the trailer and my pile of logs, his response taught me: he turned round and pointed to the desert and with a wave of the arms ----- anywhere you like out there >>>>
After that I would wander out, do my business and walk back to the truck.
Sounds simple but you learn something everyday, well most of us - not sure if CF has ever learnt anything.
What was good about that encounter was somehow our runs coincided on a regular basis and we often met up somewhere between Tayma & Medina.
Good lads those Arab drivers and always help you out if needed.
whisperingsmith:
Following on from another thread CF has turned into one of his ‘Expert’ seminars on International Work, it got me to thinking some of the things I’ve learned from the locals.
My first trip into Saudi in 74, going south from Halat Amar towards Jeddah I was very cautious about finding hard sand to park up on, eventually, I found novices ground and hey ho parked up sweet as a nut.
Not yet initiated into the ways of the desert I took a dump behind the rear axle of the trailer, (as we were taught to do if we went to Yorkshire).
Just as I was getting my pots & pans out to cook a meal a Palestinian driving a Syrian 1924 Merc artic pulled in and with sign language & a few common words said “You are in my land now so you are my guest and I will cook for us” he then wanted to wander round my rig and check out the trailer etc…
With some embarrassment we came to the rear axle of the trailer and my pile of logs, his response taught me: he turned round and pointed to the desert and with a wave of the arms ----- anywhere you like out there >>>>
After that I would wander out, do my business and walk back to the truck.
Sounds simple but you learn something everyday, well most of us - not sure if CF has ever learnt anything.
What was good about that encounter was somehow our runs coincided on a regular basis and we often met up somewhere between Tayma & Medina.
Good lads those Arab drivers and always help you out if needed.
Another lesson:
Same trip IIRC, got to the bottom of the Taurus mountains just after dark and hit the level crossing where the tarmac ended, crunch & bounce into a pot hole & out again.
Not until I got to Bab Al Hawa did I get to have a good look underneath, 4 or 5 leaf springs broken - Oh ■■■■ !!
There were about 10 Syrians transhipping vegetables from Turkish Tonkas and one of them came across when he saw me underneath, in no time at all they were all over me with U Bolts & wedges fixing up my broken springs.
So good a job, that I carried on to Jeddah and back to the UK, where I had to wait over 2 weeks for Mercedes to get a new set of springs from Germany.
The lesson learnt was: don’t go all the way back to the UK to wait on Mercedes parts, when any number of Turkish mechanics would have replaced the broken springs with freshly made to measure, and being hand made, probably better than OEM parts
I have just remembered once seeing a Turkish mechanic repair an inner tube, using a tin can and some gun powder. Has anybody else seen this and can you explain exactly how that worked.
Yeh, it’s strange what you pick up on your travels.
I had made many campfires travelling through Africa and they were all made the same “Boy Scout” way. Start off with a bit of kindling, make a small pyramid and then pile on all the wood like a Bonfire. One morning I was watching one of the locals to see how he did it and it seemed a much better way.
He started the fire with a bit of kindling and then placed three logs or branches in a Y shape over the fire. When the fire started to fade, he just pushed each log towards the center. This also gave him the ability to cook on the cinders or embers when he needed them.
Yes I know, it’s a bit hard to find three logs while you are in the desert but I am sure that there are still a few of you reading this who have picked up an old tyre and at night thrown a diesel soaked rag on to it and set it alight. Not only would it have given you some much needed warmth on a cold desert night but it would also light up the area.
The only problem was the circle of burnt wire that was left lying around the next morning.
It wasn’t until quite recently that I discovered that in order to do continental work, one had to be part of an “elite” and that there’s a “face fits” pecking order… maybe I just got lucky, but I never experienced these things before and I’m still plodding on doing trips across Europe, week in week out
pv83:
It wasn’t until quite recently that I discovered that in order to do continental work, one had to be part of an “elite” and that there’s a “face fits” pecking order… maybe I just got lucky, but I never experienced these things before and I’m still plodding on doing trips across Europe, week in week out
Overseas / continental work was always about availability and lifestyle choice. The youngest and least experienced driver on a fleet, as long as he was up to the work, was often the man to send across the water simply because he wasn’t married, didn’t have to be home by tea-time, had a sense of adventure and was determined to prove his worth. Stories of lads in their early twenties doing Middle-East work are legion for this very reason.
pv83:
It wasn’t until quite recently that I discovered that in order to do continental work, one had to be part of an “elite” and that there’s a “face fits” pecking order… maybe I just got lucky, but I never experienced these things before and I’m still plodding on doing trips across Europe, week in week out
Overseas / continental work was always about availability and lifestyle choice. The youngest and least experienced driver on a fleet, as long as he was up to the work, was often the man to send across the water simply because he wasn’t married, didn’t have to be home by tea-time, had a sense of adventure and was determined to prove his worth. Stories of lads in their early twenties doing Middle-East work are legion for this very reason.
Don’t forget you would also need the willingness to load, unload, strip out tilts and do what needed to be done without worrying what may or may not happen in the future to your delicate body.
There were some that somehow just couldn’t crack it.
I was on my way home from Jeddah around Xmas 76/77 with my wife & young son aboard.
WE pulled into one of the Saudi roadside cafes/gas stations around Tayma way.
Parked up looking forlorn and away from all the others was UK Scania, so as you do I pulled up alongside.
The driver, a Scotsman came straight over and said something like “Thank ZB you are here, I haven’t seen another white man for a week”
“Why whats up ?” I said, “My oil cooler is leaking”
"Why didn’t you ask the boys over there" pointing to all the Arab trucks (Lebanese, Syrian etc…) “Well they are AyRabs” “Yes they are and ZB good mechanics too, most of them, you’ve been stuck here a week because you were afraid to ask them for help”
Anyway, my missus put the dinner on, plus extra for him, whilst I made a temporary repair to his oil cooler. Once I’d finished and we tested it I told him what a silly ZB he was and if he wanted to get home again he needed to learn to trust the locals, as that’s normally all you have that far from home.
