A Desert Safari

Well here we are, more than half-way through March - I really can't believe how time is slipping away from me.  I had always heard that time would go faster as you get older, but I can't really say that I believed it until now.  It seems like only a few weeks ago I packed up and moved across the world to the UAE.

Just yesterday I was thinking how some things that seemed so strange to me when I first arrived here have now become commonplace.  Things are going relatively well at school, and I am continuing to see some great growth for most of my students.  Even those who aren't doing so well are still making progress from where they once were.  I have to think that it must be difficult for the kids to have nearly 1/2 their school day in English when they don't tend to speak or hear it outside of the school.

Anyway, yesterday I took a trip to Dubai with my friend Heather and her friend Leah.  Leah lives in my building, but I had never met her until yesterday.  We had booked a desert safari trip through a tour company.  The trip consisted of "dune bashing", camel riding, dinner, shisha and belly dancing.  It was rather cheap, and something that I hadn't done before so I figured I may as well try it.   I'm glad that I did, but I can't say that I'll be doing it again.  The thrill of dropping sideways down a sand hill in a 4x4 with rollover bars for 20 minutes just makes my stomach turn.

The trip began from the Mall of the Emirates (that big mall in Dubai with the indoor ski hill).  We found the tour booth and boarded a very crowded bus full of people from India, the Philippines, San Fransisco and who knows where else.  It was one of those buses with the jump seats that cover the aisle.  Needless to say, I felt very cramped (kind of like when you're on a crowded subway and the really fat guy tries to sandwich himself between you and the person a seat over).  Luckily, it was only about an hour to get to the sand dunes so I didn't have to endure the bus ride for too long.

After we arrived at the sand dunes we left the bus and boarded a 4x4 with 3 other people.  There was this old Indian woman sitting ahead of me eating a bag of chips.  I really didn't think it was a wise idea for her to be eating while the 4x4 was doing the dune bashing, but who am I to judge?  Maybe she was hungry!  Well the dune bashing was pretty much exactly as it was described to me . . . . a roller coaster ride that goes on forever.  We went up hills, down hills, sideways, spun around all while driving in a train of four vehicles.  By the time the twenty minutes was up my stomach was churning and I had to burp.

After letting my stomach recover, Heather, Leah and I attempted the camel riding.  It wasn't quite the same as riding an elephant but it was still exciting.  I didn't realize how high up we would be once the camel got up from the ground.  Unfortunately the camel that Heather and I were riding was a little bit grumpy and he growled as we got on and as we got off.  I tried to pet him a bit on the head to calm him down and that seemed to help. 

When we had a moment to recover from the grumpy camel, we made our way over to the race track and drove these little ATVs around a track of old tires for about 15 minutes.  It was the first time I’d ever done something like that, and probably the last.  I remember saying to Heather and Leah that it looked pretty unsafe without a helmet – but I did it anyway.

For dinner, there was this massive buffet where we had to wait in separate lines for men and women.  There was plenty of free soda and water, but no dessert to be it.  I really wanted to eat dessert in the desert, but it just didn’t happen.  At the table, we met some really nice people from Belarus.  Their English was minimal, but they sure were generous in giving us heaping cups of Cognac.  I was thinking that it was wine and sure ended up with a surprise when my throat began to burn and my whole body overheated.  It was fun though, and I did enjoy the dancers.

As you can tell from the picture of the shisha, the Cognac really got to me.  All in all it was a good day. . . and I really enjoyed myself.

I’m not sure that I’ll have a chance to write another blog entry before I return from Malaysia in April. . . . but for the couple important people out there who have birthdays during that time, please know that I am thinking of you and wish you all the best.  I still haven’t heard many responses regarding my summer adventure and I really would appreciate your input.

Oh, and here's one more photo of the sunset.

All the best!

Keith