Dubai Day 3~Desert Safari

23 Nov. Wed:  We slept in and it felt good.  John got up, pulled on some clothes and went down to get us a bit of breakfast and some coffee before the breakfast time closed.  What a sweetheart!  We slowly got ready for our half day tour and received a call they would be 1/2 hour later than first planned, which was fine.

We were picked up at our hotel just after 3pm and went on to Barbara and Mike’s hotel, and another couple from Austria was picked up there as well.  I thought the driver/guide said they were from Australia and they weren’t very talkative but they were younger than the rest of us and very quiet.  Conversation with them was not great but I decided not to worry about it.  It was later I heard they were from Austria and apparently didn’t speak much English! 

It took us about 45 minutes to drive out of the city and to the dunes where our trip began.  We were in a Toyota (Pathfinder I think) and it was quite nice.  Our guide was Jay from Pakistan and not too personable.  Through Barbara’s conversation with him we found out a bit more about living here.  Not being a citizen, even though he was born here, when he gets to the age or inability to work anymore he will be asked to leave the country.  Of course it is his choice to live here now and accept the future, which means he has no retirement or future here. We are not used to what we see as unfair treatment of others. 

There were about 20 various 4x4 vehicles at the starting point, we were surprised there were so many on this trip.  Anyway, they all let air out of their tires so we would have the best dune ride and off we went. It was lots of fun in the comfy vehicle! I felt certain we might roll a couple times but apparently our driver Jay was quite used to this and gave us a bit more exciting drive than some of the others as we observed. We stopped at a camel farm after the wild ride but more interesting was to see some wild camels along the way with their new babies! The camel farm is a breeding farm and that was all we really heard about it. On to the campsite where we ate a delicious BBQ, rode a  camel, watched a belly dancer, and smoked the shisha (the famous Arabic water pipe).  We ran out of time and I didn’t get to have the henna tattoo I hoped for. 

The camel ride was not what I really expected; 1) it was difficult to get on, 2) when the camel stood up it felt as though one might catapult off, 3) when the camel sat down again I felt I most assuredly would be pitched over the front of the beast into the sand, but I hung on for dear life! Well “check” that is check off of things to do in this lifetime!  Once one was up and riding it was quite pleasant and we enjoyed it, it was definitely the up and down that were precarious. No wonder the zoo has you get on from a platform!

The dinner was really tasty.  There were several salad choices, I had cucumber, tomatoes, coleslaw, and tubule (sp?).   There was rice, potatoes and some lentil dish that I didn’t try.  There were extras of which I cannot recall all of them but they included a pita type of break and humus as well.  The meat choices were beef patties, lamb chops, and a delicious spicy chicken, all of which were grilled to perfection.  I should say I didn’t try the beef but the lamb and chicken were wonderful. 

After the meal I tried the shisha, it was like smoking flower petals. I actually enjoyed the small cup of coffee and the date they gave me more than that pipe, perhaps because I am not a smoker to begin with, but it smelled nice like incense. 

The belly dancer cam out on the ground level stage and most people sat around the stage and watched her performance.  The four of us did not, it could be that the 3 bottle of wine we drank caught up with us or we just weren’t interested. 

It was a nice evening and we enjoyed Barbara and Mike’s company for the last time on this adventure.  They head home tomorrow  and spend one night near Heathrow, then home to Vancouver, BC.  They will arrive home the same day we do.  I hate to think about preparing our suitcases.  That is a job for tomorrow.  I did just throw things in as we prepared to get off the ship and we need to have it more organized for flying to be sure all the “non-carry-on-items” are securely packed.  Tomorrow…