Posted on June 13, 2022

“For sure my eyelashes will fly away,” my friend, Noor, said as she climbed out of the passenger seat of the car.

Her husband, Ray, took us on a road trip to Dukhan, which is about an hour from Doha.

Our actual destination was Film City—the place I previously attempted to visit without success due to the rough terrain. My Nissan Sunny rental was not equipped for the trip.

This time, I rode with friends who also wanted to tour Film City. Ray had the skill and confidence to drive his car along the 45-minute rocky route through the desert dotted with hundreds of tiny plants.

Riding in the backseat, I heard the contents in the truck—the grill, chairs, and cans—clank and clang with every bump.

We were almost there when we came upon a latched gate. We had to get through that gate to continue on our route to Film City.

I got out of the car to talk to the security guard sitting on the other side of the gate. He said the road was closed because a resort near Film City was under construction.

He said we could go around the gate—but that a car would not make it through the sand dunes. We would be stuck and stranded if we tried.

“Well, you made two attempts and two failures now—O for 2,” Ray said jokingly as he turned the car around.

Noor and I were not disappointed though. The plan after Film City was to go to the beach, which we already passed.

During our three-minute drive from the gate to the beach, I took photos of a bizarre sighting— wild ostriches.

They stood tall and moved gracefully across the sands.

After Ray parked the car, we all hopped out and loaded up our things for the picnic.

We quickly discovered that we needed to walk slowly across the beach as we dodged puddles of water and tried to not lose our footing on slippery patches.

One moment we were all afoot—and the next, Noor was down. 

She plopped onto the ground laughing with her yoga mat still in her arms.

But the wind caught her hat, and I took off chasing it.

Eventually, we settled in. Noor and Ray started the fire as I opened up a bag of gummy worms for us to share as an appetizer.

Ray turned on a mixed genre playlist with George Strait’s “Here for a Good Time” and Zac Brown Band’s “Highway 20 Ride” that remind me of home.

We also made a new furry friend that insisted on joining our picnic feast of chicken, rice, pita bread, and veggies.  

The thin, tan pup appeared homeless, but she followed us around like we were family. 

After eating from her own plate, she became more energetic and started treating Noor and me like human chew toys as she jumped on us and playfully bit at our legs.

I hid my pink beach bag and phone underneath my beach towel in a chair with the hope she would not snatch them while we were swimming.

The pup followed us into the ocean but turned back as we went further out.

Gradually, darkness settled over the desert as we floated at sea.

When we returned to shore, one of Noor’s shoes was missing, and the pup was waiting for us.