On Monday we were up early to be collected from the hotel by Nabeel in his Toyota Landcruiser for a morning in the desert. We drove for about an hour north and started off with camel-riding. It is possible that I may have ridden on a camel many many years ago in Cyprus (I’m not sure if it was just the boys or me as well) but that in that case there was a ladder and platform to get onto the camel and it walked in a very small circle. The Dubai experience of camel-riding was completely different: the camels were sitting down and you had to swing your leg over to get onto the saddle, and then the camel lumbered to its feet which was very scary! There was much hilarity from Ally and Cat when I couldn’t swing my leg high enough and one of the helpers caught my foot and pulled me on from the other side. And then we went for a proper camel ride into the desert and it was brilliant! I felt like Omar Sharif in Laurence of Arabia! The desert was beautiful, orange but with an almost pink glow. Then we went on to our next destination; Quad-biking. I wimped out of this, not because I was scared (I like quad-biking) but because it was very very hot in the desert and I thought that I would fry on the quad bike. I kind of regretted not going because the others had a fantastic time, but I enjoyed people watching in the large tent where coffee and dates (and a large air-conditioning unit) were provided. Although I was very hot, February is one of the most pleasant months to visit Dubai because the heat is not too unbearable; Nabeel told us that Dubai has two seasons: Hot and Very Hot!
We then got back into the car and Nabeel took us Dune Bashing. This is a form of off-roading done on sand dunes in big 4X4 vehicles, driving fast over and around the dunes at quite alarming angles! It was great fun although I was relieved when we stopped to go sand surfing. Not that I went sand surfing myself, too hot again! As the name suggests you surf down a sand dune on a board like a snow board, with foot straps. All good fun but you then have to walk back up the dune again carrying your board! The intrepid James, Cat and Ally all had a go, and had a great time. The surroundings were so gorgeous, with dunes stretching out into the distance as far as the eye could see. What a morning! Back at the hotel we had a lovely lunch outdoors and then went to the beach and swam in the gulf.
Ally and Cat had arranged one more amazing experience for us later on, and this one was very special indeed. Cat drove us for about an hour to the Bab Al Shams desert resort, which started off as an oasis many years ago, and is now a luxury desert resort. Ally and Cat have been there before and it really is magical, its lights shining in the desert. We had a magnificent dinner where I ate far too much, there was so much choice of amazing middle-eastern dishes. After dinner there was entertainment; singers, a belly dancer, a Whirling Dervish. The audience was made up of lots of locals as well as some tourists and they were singing along to their favourite songs, and also dancing! The culmination of the entertainment was a short dramatisation of the history of the Oasis, complete with horses, sword fighting, a camel train, and even a flock of sheep. It was amazing, I loved it. We went for a stroll through the resort and ended up ordering mint and lemon drinks in a bar that was open to the stars, on this warm desert night. Out came a shisha pipe, of which we all tried a few puffs; of course none of us smoke but it seemed appropriate for the Middle Eastern setting. I felt very happy after such a wonderful day.
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