Dubai - day 2

Ok, Dubai has so many mosques .... and at 4:55am we found out what it was like to have them all competing with each other to be heard. This being my first visit to a Moslem country I showed how naive I am. I thought that being called to prayer was done by horns/bells. NO.... its a man singing over the loud speakers... so when there are 3 within 150m of our hotel, you end up with 3 different male voices going for it... and not in time with each other and not very harmoniously. Clearly one bloke slept in when he didn't start until 4:58!!


We enjoyed a leisurely start to our day with blogging, coffee then breakfast chatting with a lovely woman from LA. She is travelling on her own, is in her 70's and is here to go to the Dubai Cup... alone! Thats brave! Its the richest horse race in the world. The owners get the prize but the viewers aren't allowed to gamble. She told us stories where in the past visitors to Dubai have brought their own bookie!

With time getting away we headed off and got on one of the local water taxi's across the river.



It was a bit of fun and far from complied with any level of OH&S standard in Australia.

We were keen to get out into the desert but had heard several reports on what the experience would be like. Reports were that during the sunset/ dinner safari’s, the driving through the sand dunes was pretty marvellous but once you get out to the ‘Bedouin camp’ for the dinner you become part of a much larger group of up to 200 tourists and it was all pretty contrived. A bit like Dreamworld goes Bedouin. I was not keen on that! Asking around at our hotel they offered another option for us. (they highlighted their belief that guests who choose to stay with them, do so – so as to have an individual experiences) Therefore they were able to recommend a private trip by Hummer and desert bbq – just us and a guide. So at 4:30pm Ahim arrived to pick us up and off we went. Ahim was a very friendly and interesting guy who has been providing such trips for plebs like us up to the royalty of several countries, for 18 years. (he is also married to an aussie and they spend 6 mths a year in Cairns)

It took nearly an hour to get to the desert & after picking up some charcoal and letting some air out of the tyres we were on the sand. Riding the sand dunes was exhilarating and scary. To me the way Ahim read the dunes was very reflective of watching an experienced surfer read the waves. After about 45 min we came over a dune to find a lone tent behind it. This was to be our private spot for dinner. Ahim pointed to the highest of the surrounding sand dunes and said “go sit up there and enjoy the sunset, while I set up camp”.

We happily complied (climbing the sand was not so easy) and watched the sun become a deep red and slowly sink. By now the camp was set up included a large carpet on the sand surrounded by big cushions, a fire was nearby to keep us warm and about 8 of those bamboo kerosene lanterns surrounded it for light.

It was a lovely evening of chat, an amazing meal of marinated bbq’d meat, salad and hommus and even a glass of wine. We finished with star watching, and more lying around chatting.

A panorama of the desert.

There was quite a breeze for a while there and the bbq coals were really sparking and flying..

Though this picture isnt clear, I thought it may show how beautul it was at night.

More soon
xD