The Camel Trophy in English

[potemkin]

Hi everyone!

This is me, Goliath.

I'm probably the first camel ever to keep its own diary. Oh, and the first camel ever to want to travel around the globe. Unfortunately, my fingers are simply to big to type on a laptop, so my boss had to do the writing.

June 27, 2002, early morning 5 AM

This day was not destined to end well...(I’ll tell you) that much before we get started. The early morning sun had already gotten to my boss in his hot, stuffy tent, and as soon as I decided to rest my 1300-lb frame on his flimsy accommodation, I realized I was wrong about thinking it would be a good joke. Granted, I had slept very well that night and there was plenty of food at the bivouac place. Not far from the tent, a little brook trickled towards Neuenburger See (Lake Neuenburg, Switzerland), and the sun glinted oddly through the bushes. Naturally, I was impatient and so the boss did a slapdash job packing the camel packs. This was eventually to have unpleasant consequences...... So, at some point, it must have been late morning already, we broke off (hee hee, I like that expression) our tents and ambled on our way, which in its turn declined to reveal what surprises it held. Towards midday, we approached the outskirts of Yverdon les Bains. At the time, the city was hosting the "EXPO 02," Switzerland’s National Expo which had been delayed by two years. Accordingly, there was quite a bit going on in that place on that day.

[Fini]

Goliath, you mention the boss had to do the typing. Last I checked you were the one that weighed in at 1300 pounds! Who's the boss again? :D

I can't wait for the next installment. Type away.

[potemkin]

Dear Chris,

Thx 4 the flowers. We found finally a helpful angel. Something very, but very selten today!! She will provide from time to time to translate the story from german to american for you. But patience is requiered.. and please be nice with here she do that for free!
I hope 4 you guys that the next chapter is comming soon....:applaus please Lara we hope all that you will find the good right inspiration

Cybergrettings Jörg :xmas

[Fini]

Well we appreciate the translation. I will keep working on my Deutsche.

[potemkin]

We walked towards downtown on the right sidewalk along the main street. Many of the passing vehicles honked at me of and of course I was mighty proud, what with that enormous pack on my back. Proudly, I would glance over at the people driving by, and many of them waved to us. Or maybe just to me? Some overly clever people appeared to think that camels are partial to entire choruses of horns, but they were obviously sorely misinformed about our preferences. In any case, as we came to a bakery, I was treated to the sweet scent of fresh-baked pastries and was tied up neat and tidy outside the shop. Of course I was unable to stop myself from slobbering all over the shop window while I waited, which– of course – was duly noted by the attentive saleslady in the bakery. As I've said, there was a lot going on in the city, what with the EXPO 02, and the good businesspeople of the area were eager to rake in the earnings. When my boss immediately noticed that in this bakery, the usual cool drinks stood lukewarm in the cooler, and when he let loose a griping remark concerning the impiudent inordinately high price for such a tiny PET bottle in the general direction of the saleslady, the scene was properly set for a bit of strife. The store was crowded, and so the big guy had to wait quite a while for his turn to pay. Meanwhile, yours truly, standing outside, was of course being gaped at by all and sundry and some passers-by just had to strike a triumphant pose, safari-style, in front of me, and have their friends take endless pictures as a souvenir of the moment and to prove what capital quarry they had managed to lock up. Poor me was already thoroughly sick of all this and so I did something I like to do at such moments: I did a little business of my own in front of the bakery business. I guess I shouldn't have, because through the shop window I could see my boss apparently getting in trouble with the saleslady. Because of a little urine in front of the shop, can you imagine! I thought all this was pretty funny, so I topped things off with a little something else. Apparently, this was the proverbial straw that broke the …I don't even want to say it. This was just too much for the good saleslady. Through the closed door, and unmistakably in my direction, I heard: "ohh mais ca va pas!!!" (which translates to something like: "Ohhh but that is not right!") I heard her loud and clearly, after all, we camels have excellent hearing. I responded with a particularly ludicrous grin and was naturally quite thrilled at the commotion this caused. Sometimes an enormous critter like me is just too funny to be true. So when all the gapers standing around burst into laughter, the owner of the bakery had to be called and of course given the disgusting mess right in front of his shop, he lost it right away. And so the inevitable ensued: there was a rabid verbal argument, and all because of me. Of course the chief tried to play down the whole thing as much as possible, but of course he hadn't counted on the wounded pride of the shop owner. Things really got hairy inside the shop and I, whistling through my teeth as nonchalantly as possible, of course pretended not to know what they were going on about in there. Hold on a minute – I thought – just because I relieved myself a little. When you gotta go, you gotta go, after all, and everybody has to go sometime, and as always, I did it at the wrong time and in the wrong place. So I donned the stupidest look that camels have in their repertoire – something we're famous for – and awaited the events which would inevitably transpire. The yelling moved out onto the street and things appeared to be coming to a head.

[potemkin]

go to the story again

[Fini]

Another wonderful installment. Thanks Lara for the translation!

[I love Gobi]

Sounds like the shop lady had better lay off the caffein for a while. Such a big to-do over a little Doo! :rofl
Great writing, Potemkin, and thanks for the translations, Lara! :clap :applaus

[potemkin]

we wish to all of you, realy all - included the numerous camel breeders who prefere to stay in absoloutly anonimousity - all the Best in the upcomming Year 2007

from the left to the right: SELIM GOLIATH SULEIKA ALIBABA

http://camelphotos.com/pic/bactrian_camels.jpg

[I love Gobi]

Great-looking group, Joerg! Love the hats!! :xmas :applaus ;)

[Fini]

My wife cheered they were "super-cute!"

I can't even get my dogs still enough to get a picture of them, and you got the four cuties all lined up and posed. :applaus