Desert Safari!

Ready for a safari?? How about a desert safari?? Let's go!!!

We start our journey with an exhilarating, 4-wheel drive excursion over the vast sand dunes at about 50 mph! This was much, much faster than I ever dreamed it would be when we signed up! Truly, it was thrilling! The drivers would turn the Landcruiser at just the right angles and speeds to throw immense amounts of sand up and over the car, and just enough to make feel like thoroughly PUKING by the end of our 30 minute ride! It was like Rockin' Roller Coaster (well, okay, more like Goofy's Barnstomer) for a 30 minute ride! I'm glad we had several hours for it to wear off before we had our scrumptious feast!


Next, we were let off at our "caravanserai"- which means gathering place for caravans. At first, we didn't know that this would be the place we would spend the next several hours- the remainder of our evening! The first thing they offered was a place for you to spend more money! Are you surprised?? Like most tourist traps, they are very industrious and creative at getting you to part with whatever you may have. For about $10 more, you could rent a 10 minute ride on a Quad. Some in our group did, some did NOT.
Just inside the outdoor seating/stage area- which was VERY large, were a series of covered "stalls" in a U-shape around our ground level tables and seating pillows. Here's what you could do at each "station":

What tourist experience would be complete without a place to buy souvenirs?? Here is NariLoo trying on the belly dancing wares. Not in your future, in your wildest dreams, kiddo! Fu-ged-u-boud-it!

These seemed to be a popular seller- sand in a bottle with your name, a camel, and Dubai written in it. Again, we weren't to be had. There was just no way this was going to make it home without being all mixed up!

The next little stall, offered a variety of Arabic clothing to try on for fun. Now, I have to explain something that was quite funny about our tour group. Our little group was comprised of about 30 people; a mix of single ladies, and 4 families. But each evening they fill the whole thing to capacity, which is about 300 people. Now, those of you who are familiar with the Muslim world, especially those from the Turkik areas celebrate a holiday called Nauruz. (Google it, it can also be spelled Navruz). Nauruz happened to be smack dab in the middle of our time in Dubai. It is HUGE! When we arrived we expected to see mostly Western tourists- Europeans, North Americans and the like- NOT on your life. We were the ONLY westerners there. You see, Iran celebrates this too. As it happens, an exiled Pop singer from Iran has moved to Dubai, and a huge contigent of fans came over from Iran to see a holiday concert of their beloved pop star, and they happened to choose "our" tour to be part of . Soooo, it was 30 Aussies and Americans, and 270 or so Iranians! It was a little weird... 'nuf said.

So, what do you think?? I love this picture, it makes me look about 30 years younger :)

After browsing around for a while, they brought out the camels. For us, it is not such a big deal! We have camels roaming all over the place, and have ridden them before. But the kids love a camel ride when they can get one. I suppose it is like pony rides anywhere else. Now, what Middle Eastern dinner party would be complete without a turn at the hookah pipe? The Water Guy says that the sheesha tasted very sweet, resembling strawberry flavored pipe tobacco. Not being a smoker, though, he only had a small sampling.

Now, it's the ladies' turn to have a little "beautification". Every Arabic and Indian man will tell you that henna tattoos make a woman extremely gorgeous and that they are a huge turn on. So, included in the price was a small, and come to find out, very rinky-dink, henna art. Here we are turnin' everyone on.

As the sun set, it was time for the show. First, we were treated to some excellent Farsi singing- Iranian-style! You see, as I explained before, a very famous Iranian pop singer was in town for a gig. Apparently, as best as we could make out through translation, this guy's brother would be the star of the show tonight. Not being very well versed in Iranian singing, I had no idea if his was good or not, but to our little western ears, this guy was GREAT! We loved his minor tones and keys, the trilling and weaving of notes that he could belt out! A real 2 thumbs up.

After his several songs, it was time for the belly dancing. How very ironic that she was from, of all places, somewhere in Russia! She really could shake her booty, and of course, all the men, who love to have their women covered from eyes to toes, watched with ravenous lust. It is such a strange paradigm. Go figure...

For all of you foodies out there, I only have one shot of the yumminess we experienced this evening. We enjoyed kebabs of ground lamb, beef, and chicken- yes, 3 kinds! Savory rice, yogurt, fruit salad, green salad, and the ubiquitous Arabic flat nan (bread- pronounced "nahn"). Soft drinks were free, but most were imbibing beer and other adult drinks. I guess, when you're not in Iran, it doesn't matter??!!

Well, that just about wraps up our desert safari. We had blast, ha! I crack myself up! All evening long, we'd been watching some thunderclouds build up. We were all anxious to see just what it was going to do. Just as we were about to leave, this ferocious desert storm came upon us with lightening, wind (you know what happens when you mix sand and wind, right?), and eventually not only rain, but severe HAIL!!. We made it back to our bus drop off point just in time for the skies to open up. We are told it only rains like this in Dubai about once a year! It was so bad the bus driver had to pull of the road and let it subside in order to drive safely.

Not only did we have a great time, we had a blast!

Truly Yours,

SteppeSister