Dubai getaway; Dune Bashing, Belly Dancing and More…

Chatting with Carolyn at a party she hosted a few weeks back, the two of us got onto the topic of dune-bashing, a pastime in the Emirates involving taking your 4X4 out into the desert and putting it through its paces in the dunes . As she is preparing to leave the country at the end of the school year (July) she was determined to get out onto the dunes before it was too late. I thought it a grand idea.

And so last weekend a few of us from Madinat Zayed (Virginia and I, and two other friends, Linda and Carolyn) headed off to Dubai for a more touristy foray into the world of the UAE.

After our last wonderful, and surrealistically beautiful stay near the Dubai Creek in Deira, Dubai we decided to stay there again and Virginia booked us into a classic looking hotel; overlooking the water this time!

I searched around a bit and found a highly rated package,a Desert Safari , that included not only the dune bashing, but also a load of extras. (Orient Tours, 4x4 Desert Safari, booked though Viator.com… for those interested).

We had a mostly uneventful four hour drive through to Deira other than a photo stop at the Burj Al Arab - the famed dhow shaped building - and another to get pictures of the Burj Dubai, which when completed will be the tallest building in the world; the dry docks along the coastal Jumeirah street offer a wonderful view of the skyline, which really emphasises just how tall the building is.

At the hotel we dropped off our bags at our rooms which were huge, and did indeed offer a spectacular view of the creek, freshened up and headed out for the main event of the evening… souqs, souqs, souqs.

Once again we headed across the creek in the wooden water taxis, zipping along, and hooting loudly when another boat would stray off course or seem t0 be even slightly in the path of danger. We stopped at a fantastic restaurant which fronts out over the water for our supper (king prawns for me… yum!) and then waltzed off into the din and bustle, the liveliness which is the essence of the souqs.

With everyone headed home for holidays there was a lot to buy, each purchase bringing with it a fresh round of lively bargaining. Spices and material traded hands. Clothing and an assortment of other brightly coloured odds and ends were whisked off shelves.

At one point Carolyn convinced a particularly jocular storekeeper to give her free socks by mistake. She had said to him that she wanted his oldest ugliest pair of socks, the type you trudge around in at home, and then just burn, as he’d just pulled out huge packs of socks that he was trying to sell for even huger amounts of money. At this his face fell as if he had just presented someone with his most beautiful daughter, but that that someone had instead insisted on leaving with his deaf bulldog. When Carolyn left with another purchase, he added to the pile a pair of socks, and perhaps misunderstanding, answered a definite “Yes!” when she asked if he’d worn them before.

At a shop a little further down the busy alley, while V, Linda and Carolyn were admiringly sorting through a mountain of pashminas, the young storekeeper caught my attention… and this part of the weekend still makes me smile to thing about.

His intention it turned out after deciphering much wiggling of his eyebrows, and animated motioning towards Virginia ,was to point out just how attractive he found her. When Virginia looked up he went back to a businesslike demeanour, helped her out, and as soon as she turned back, stepped over to chat.

I never did find out just how many camels he was willing to part with for the love of my life, only that they were very definitely on offer. While only slightly tempted to start the haggling (just to see what happened you understand), I politely refused the offer. Later on in the evening we bumped into him again, where he offered me a straight out trade for his wife.

With bags full of exciting presents, and still with a wife at my side (I should probably add my own lovely wife) we headed back across the creek. Big day the next day.

After breakfast we headed out to the souqs on this side of the creek, which are older, grubbier and infused with far more personality, and so I quite enjoy them. Having once again bargained our way through the morning, we stopped at the hotel for some coffee and to wait for the desert safari pickup.

At the restaurant we encountered a massive man from Bahrain wondering about the place, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other, ghutra neatly in place (I am pretty convinced that Allah would not have particularly approved) He seated himself at our table, telling us that he’d been on the 10th floor of the hotel clubbing all night, and was pretty much still going. He also offered up his residence and hospitality in Bahrain, and to take us out in his speedboat if we visited. Just then four o’clock was approaching, along with our ride, and so we made plans to meet up the following day at breakfast. Sadly, we never saw him again (judging from the way he was going, he was very like sleeping off a devastating and persistent hangover around breakfast time the next morning).

As for us, we piled into the Land Cruiser which arrived promptly at the doors of the hotel, and headed out of Dubai towards Sharjah and then out into the desert. And it was thrilling.

The driver knew what he was doing, and so we quickly relaxed and began to enjoy the ride. Well I say relaxed… the three girls squealed and screamed with what I have to assume was terrified delight for the entire hour that we raced through the dunes. The only way to describe it really is as a sort of roller coaster ride, except that sand is flying everywhere (even over the top of the car), quite often you find are sliding sideways faster than you are moving forward, and every now and then you have to brace yourself as the 4x4 slides to a halt, six inches behind another Cruiser in the convoy whose tyre has just flown right off the rim.

When the thrilling bit was over, we pulled into a camp in the middle of the dunes. There we got to do a quick sunset camel ride. This was followed by sandboarding. Virginia was first and handled the board like a pro. I was quite surprised when I had my go that a) it was much easier than snowboarding, and b) you still fly down the slope at a speed.

All this was topped by a tasty Arabic buffet, followed shortly after by a woman whop took to the stage at the centre of the camp, and after bellydancing by herself for a while, involved us all in the festivities. Virginia and Carolyn were called up, and closely mimicked the dancer’s movements, keeping a steady rhythm. I ended up being called out of the audience alone, where what I did on stage was nothing like rhythmic, and probably looked less like dancing than a spasm of twitches beside the graceful flow of the bellydancer. It was wonderful.

As a kind of bonus to the day, from time to time we’d see photographers and a cameraman during the course of the tour, and at the end of the night a DVD was on sale with everything on it, including the bellydancing. This we promptly bought, but still have not had a chance to watch yet (I believe this is partly in fear of having to watch ourselves dancing).

On the Saturday we did some last minute souqing, and then headed to the Dubai museum which was the best we have been to in the UAE so far… and also where I’ll leave you with Virginia for a second…

When we lived in Saudi Arabia, my family went on a short trip to Dubai. I was about 7 years old, and although I don’t remember much of that trip, I know that there are a few photos from that time that have stuck in my mind. One is of me sitting on one of the wooden taxi-boats that cross the canal. The other is of me sitting on a cannon in front of the Dubai museum. And so… 27 years later, I got to re-enact that famous (well, for my memory anyway) photo. Mom, this is for you:

…I’m back. Well I know it’s been a while since the last post but I hope it was worth the wait. There will also be an update on the house warming coming soon, and some photographs of how the flat is coming along.

One last news update… I applied to do a CELTA teaching course later this year, and did an interview for it on Thursday. I’ll know sometime this week whether I made it in or not… There are only twelve spots on the course so cross fingers and hold thumbs for me.