Dubai: Desert Wanderings

We were making only a short stop in Dubai but everyone had told me beforehand that a Must Do was to take the desert safari. Safari may be a bit of a misnomer; the adventure consisted of a drive up and down the dunes, followed by a pit stop at a compound in the conservation area where we had dinner and watched a belly dancer perform. There was an option to take a very short camel ride; aside from that the only live animals in sight were two big birds (turkeys? They ran off before I could take a good look).

How can one describe the desert? When we first arrived, it was about 3pm and the sun was blazing in the sky and reflecting off the sand. The wind swept the tops of the dunes - blurring the sharp lines of the ridges in my photos. So I needed my sunglasses both to shade my eyes and protect them from the flying sand.

We set off in our land rover to do our dune-bashing. Up and down, and around the slopes of the dunes we went. Jerky, jumpy, there were some uneasy moments especially when we saw other land rovers had gotten stuck in the sand or had problems in getting round the dunes. Fortunately our driver (Nasser) tackled the dunes aggressively and got us over without any difficulties. We stopped at a point in the middle of the dunes to take photos. Changing and unchanging, one dune looks very much like another but somehow as the wind blows, as the shadows shift with the setting sun, the landscape does seem to shift. On first impression, it appears to be two distinct types of sand, one yellow and finer and one redder and a little coarser. So the colours of the dunes seem to shift as well depending on which type of sand is more apparent.

We arrived at the camp for dinner and the bellydance after our dune bashing session. It was somewhat anticlimatic. There was a very short camel ride (one small round) and then we were invited to smoke hashish, wear Arab robes, or get a henna painting on our hand. This was followed by dinner and a performance by a belly dancer. Here, I am sorry to say that the gentlemen in our party held back and did not go near the belly dancer at all. They were reluctant to become the audience participants in her routine. The good sports who took up her challenge were (some of them) most capable. There was this Indian gentleman who really had the moves. I am not sure that what he was doing was the belly dance but he definitely had style. Reminded me of my Indian classmate who persisted in doing what I call the bangra-cha. By the way, there is a video of the belly dance on my Multiply site. I think it does her more justice than does this picture. Its the motion which is important after all.

People I meet here in Dubai tell me that they go out into the desert every now and then, to think and to reflect. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Pierre Wack, one of the early scenario planners, also believed in going to the desert to think. Hmmm.... I must admit that I have not had much opportunity to reflect today. Perhaps an overnighter would be better.

On another note, I recall a silly story which someone told me during our visit to the Middle East. A man went into the desert and got lost. So he walked and walked looking for civilisation and looking for water. Finally he found an oasis and there was an Arab there in traditional clothes with a tie rack next to him. The man said, "I need a drink of water"! And the Arab said, "you need to buy a tie". The man said, "I need a drink of water! I don't need a tie!" And the Arab said, "You need a tie". The man gave it up as a bad job and went on his way. He got to another oasis and there was another Arab man wearing a tuxedo and with a huge bar behind him. The man said, "I need a drink of water!" And the Arab said, "Sure, we have water, we also have coke, sprite, margaritas, etc etc. But there is a dress code - you need a tie."

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the moral of the story?