Dune Bashing

We've been getting a little behind on the posts and it seems like there is so much to talk about, but I feel like I should write about our first real touristy adventure in Abu Dhabi before the henna fades from my hand.

The sand, obviously

Finally, I feel like I can prove I'm in the Middle East.
My own photos of real camels!

We got invited by one of Paul's bball buddies to go on a "Dune Bashing" trip in the desert.  They told us the price, that it involved dune bashing, riding camels, sand boarding, and a dinner but we knew no more than that.  We jumped on the opportunity to tag along on something that someone else has planned (I guess as we get older and start planning our own trips/vacations we appreciate the planning that is done by other people more and more).

Dune bashing

So, we left work a little early Thursday to meet up in downtown Abu Dhabi.  Of course, the guides were late getting there--no surprise there.  Then we all piled into 3 Toyota Land Cruisers and headed to an area about half-way between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain (which is about 1.5 hrs away).  When we got out to the area and turned off the highway the adventure began with crazy fast driving/swerving to get over to the dunes to regroup and start the fun.

Pre-dune bashing.  The weather was gorgeous although the sun
and wind hampered by ability to look decent in photos.

Our driver deflating our tires.

Once we all got our photos and the tires were adequately deflated, the trip started.  I really had no idea what to expect.  It was basically a roller coaster except you had no idea where you were going next.  We would go down really steep dunes and the sand would come up and cover my whole window.  There was definitely a bit of screaming in the car as we were riding with 4 other girls.  I think one of my favorite quotes was from one women who was riding with us (maybe 50 yrs old) who asked warily "Why aren't we following the other cars?" when our driver started trailblazing his own path.  It was an experience to say the least.  I think we would both definitely recommend it, although you may want to take some dramamine.

The start of our trip!
Photo taken from within our car of the cars in front of us.

Down the first dune

We stopped a few times on the trip to get out and take some photos and I think maybe for the guides to check their engines.  I've never seen cars driven so hard before in my life.

Photo of the car behind us from our side window

Photo out of our rear window

And another

The second to last stop was at what I can best describe as a camel farm.  I was really excited because I thought that this is where we got to ride camels.  I couldn't get any confirmation from our guide because his english wasn't the best--no surprise.  It turned out I was wrong because we just took some photos and then had to pile back in the car.  By the way, in case you were wondering, camels are HUGE.  I mean we both knew they were big, but they're really big.

They're huge!

It was funny trying to get close to them to take photos.  I was the first brave one, but for some reason I decided to try to get close to one of the camels in a pack that was eating.  I was kinda scared to get too close--i didn't know if they are  possessive over their food.  Eventually I just kept inching closer, also afraid that it might spit on me.  Inching closer and closer, while Paul is losing patience with me to take a photo.  And then all of a sudden one of the camels does kind of a huff with his lips flapping all over the place flinging spit all over me.  Needless to say I backed away pretty quickly.

That's my slobber camel on the left.

Then we walked around for a little and found a camel that was walking away from the pack that was eating.  I told Paul to go get close so I could get a photo.  Now he was being really timid.  And then a mom and two little girls come straight up and start petting it...it was really funny.  They made us look like babies being so cautious.  (I have to admit, that one of the reasons I was so excited about this trip was to get some of my own real desert photos--notice the new blog header photo :)  now I actually have my own camel pictures to use!)

Paul's camel experience
(click the photo to get a better view of his facial expressions--they're priceless)

"Please don't spit on me, I can't see what you're doing
because the sun is so bright in my eyes"

The last of the SUVs coming in from the dune bashing

Sunset over the dunes

Another dune photo

Then back in the SUVs for more craziness on the way to our final stop which was a "village" which was just an open area surrounded by a wall and a few covered tents which is where they had the "camel rides," sand boarding, and dinner.  We figured out pretty quickly that the camel rides were two camels roped together with saddles.  Two people per camel.  You got on, walked in a 100ft circle for a nice photo-opp. and then back to the starting point for the next group to get some photos.  Oh well.  It was still pretty crazy.  The way they get up and down is just so jolting--I don't know how their knees don't break.

Our camel "ride"

Next, we tried the sand boarding.  There were only 4 boards, so we only got to try it once because other people were in line.  My board was actually kinda crappy because the bottom was all scratched up and not smooth at all.  I ended up having to sit down and paddle myself down the hill.  Paul got his to work pretty well.  (fyi, sandboarding is basically just snowboarding on sand).

Man was it a workout to get to the top of the dune

Trying to get the sandboards started

Giving up and paddling down the dune

After that, we headed inside the village to get a drink and relax.  I got some henna done on my hand (henna is basically a mixture of plants that when put on your skin will stain it; in the Middle East it's very common for women to have designs from henna on their hands).  Then we had a really great buffet dinner with chicken, steak, and lamb kabobs as well as wonderful rice, hummus, salad, arabic sweets (the same things my mom bought us before we moved out here--they really do have those everywhere for dessert out here), etc.

the Desert "Village"

Henna design on my hand

Shish kabobs, yummm

After dinner there was a belly dancer and you could smoke shisha (aka hookah).  Paul thinks it's really funny/weird how popular shisha is out here--people of all ages (except kids) seem to smoke it fairly often as just a way to relax on the weekend etc.  I guess we just associate it with more of an immature high school/college craze.

After that they turned off all of the lights in the village and just gave us time to look up at the stars which was really nice.  Next, it was time to head home.  Thankfully the driving was rather sane considering it was pitch black.  Paul fell asleep on the way home.  We were just wiped out.

Time to head to bed, tomorrow we start packing for Nepal!