Dubai Chronicles - Part 5b

The highlight of the Dubai trip was the desert safari that we went for. The travel company organizing the safari arranged for a land cruiser to pick us up sharp at 4 the fated evening. Before riding on into the outskirts of the city, to the desert, our friendly Pakistani guide took us first to the palace of the current ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Of course, nobody is allowed any farther than a few yards away from the palace gates, but we did have a good enough tour of the palace gardens (sitting in the vehicle itself), which were full of peacocks and peahens! Never before have I seen so many of these birds in a single place! Beautifully feathered and stunning, they were a real feast to the eyes!

After having seen peacocks of various shapes and sizes, we soon set off toward the desert. En route, our very skilled guide refused to let us lower the windows for even a second, claiming that the temperature as we neared the desert would be so hot that even a second of influx of the outside air would render the air condition in the car a total waste; not to mention the loud buzzing sound that the air whizzing past us continuously made! However, as the evening progressed, the desert temperature became increasingly cold, including the sand, which soon turned from quite hot to a lovely cold! Our guide was very entertaining in that not only did he drive at terrific speeds with amazing dexterity and skill, but he also regaled us with some beautiful poems in Urdu, now and then!

Soon after, we reached the desert, and then after a break of some 10 minutes or so, began an adventure that I'll never forget! A desert safari mainly entails something called dune bashing. It basically involves riding over and on the dunes by deflating the tires of a strong four wheeler. Of course, the driver of the vehicle needs to be experienced at handling skids and manoeuvres at the high speeds that the vehicles are driven at! Our driver was an enthusiastic soul, who appeared to be the leader of the pack too! There were about 5 land cruisers of the same travel company, and ours led the pack when we started the adventure! I must admit I was quite scared as to what lay in store, but it was an experience as memorable as they come! We tackled four huge sand dunes, going on top of one, sliding down another, skidding on the crest of a third one, and jumping over yet another! Also, during one particular jump, all the tyres were in the air! The feeling when the vehicle lands with a thud on the sand after such a jump, and then proceeds to duly skid, is indescribable! My heart was in my mouth most of the time, but given a chance, I'll do it all over again! We were five of us, including our driver, in the vehicle. Of course, my fellow passengers had good fun with me muttering and screaming at quite regular intervals! The whole thing takes about a little more than an hour. One of the vehicles even got stuck in the sand, and a good many minutes were spent trying to yield the tightly grounded tyres of the land cruiser! Getting stuck in the sand is also one reason for not using smaller vehicles! If this can happen to a sturdy land cruiser, imagine what a small car's state can end up to be! During this dune bashing, we saw some of the most beautiful sights we've ever seen! Our driver was adept at kicking up a whole lot of sand, especially while letting the car skid a while (of course, with a lot of control), such that the entire window would be covered with the flying sand! As we went up and down the numerous and humungous sand dunes, we saw miles and miles of beautiful desert! We even stopped at a scenic spot for quite a while, and even tried our hands (legs?) at sandboarding! It is very similar to snowboarding, with snow being replaced by sand!

After the thrilling dune bashing, followed a round of playing with camels, ostriches, trampolines and the like. We even had a camel ride, dressed up in traditional Arabic costumes, got a henna design crafted on my arm, smoked a hookah, ate some sumptuous Arabic food, and even witnessed a live belly dancing performance! The camel ride was a lot of fun. However, when the camel sits down to disembark the rider, the stomach gives a sudden lurch that can take anyone completely by surprise! Nevertheless, the ride itself was quite nice and comfortable; much more than a ride on an elephant! The hookah was a trifle disappointing! I had to suck in quite a mouthful of the stuff, and even then I didn't cough at all, although A was coughing all over the place! Looks like I'm a pro, eh!?! :-) As for the belly dancing, the belly dancer was an absolute delight. I even danced with her a bit! Her hip shaking was amazing, to say the very least!