Went to the desert in an SUV with no name.

After a lunch break following the Dubai city tour, we piled into a couple of 4 wheel SUVs and headed out to the desert. Dubai is of course a desert, but most of it is paved over by streets and high rises. To get to the real desert one has to head out of town. Another 3^rd — 3^rd largest desert. Always the bridesmaid, never etc. I think this 3rd place mentality is causing the Dubains to overcompensate with all this super building. Since no one has figured out how to build a bigger desert (yet) the third place position seems secure for now.

About 10 minutes out of town, we reached the Dubailand area, which for now looks suspiciously like desert but will become one of the largest theme parks in the world (hopefully not the 3rd largest.) The real sand dune-y desert started showing up about 20 minutes out of town. We left the highway and headed on a side road to what must be a desert park. It had 90 KM (50Miles +/-) of fences surrounding it, and contained oryx. No camels. There are no wild camels in this desert.

The vehicles stopped so that the air could be let out of the tires to get better traction in the loose sand. We wandered around and tried to get a sense of the "ocean of sand", with its dunes and little vegetation.

After the vehicles were prepped, we headed out into the sand for a rousing ride over dune and dale, slipping and sliding down slopes, and generally tearing up the sand. It was fun, in a Disney sort of way, since we had to sit and couldn't take the wheel.

We took a water break and then headed to the camel farm, to meet some of the residents. Camels are OK, its an animal we don't see much of in the USA, but they are common enough in both India and the Arabian peninsula. Anyhow, they raise the beasts, mostly for tourist rides in Dubai, but for serious work in India (previous pic posts) An interesting bunch, tame, but bigger than an horse, and not particularly fond of tourists. Probably tired of having tourists their backs.

Back into the jeeps for an Arabian Nights dinner in the desert. Over dune and dust again, we stopped at an encampment where we began our evenings fun. Music, food, belly dancers, henna tattoos. All of the more adventuresome (or buzzed) of the group had the local artists write on their body parts.

The food was served and eaten (what did you expect), and we took camel rides in the dark. Augie and Mo's tats took a beating when their camel decided, for no reason other than obnoxiousness, to sit down without letting anyone know. There is a trick to a camel's getting up and down with passengers, and it takes the cooperation of the passengers if no one is going to get dumped. With no warning, it's an interesting ride down. Anyway, back up with a smeared tattoo, and off into the dark desert. Notice the muzzles on the camels. These guys have had their fill of riders, and this keeps them from spitting on tourists.

Back into the tents for a viewing of the "dance", in this case a traditional belly dance to the tune of Arabian rap music. Ah tradition, where have you gone? After the belly stopped jiggling, the crowd mobbed the dance floor and finished up the evening with more dancin to the rap.

We packed up, and after a brief stop to put air back into the tires, we headed back the hotel for a short night's sleep for the early departure to the airport.