Day 2 - Dubai Beach and Desert

Day 2 started beautifully. Less humidity in the air. Barb and Howie had a great early morning walk. I was suffering a little traveller's diarrhea-- probably a bit of heat stroke from the previous day. Nothing that a little immodium couldn't handle.

At breakfast we discussed how to spend the morning and early afternoon -- should we head over to the Mall of the Emirates -- and see the indoor ski-slope, or just hang out by the pool.

The pool won out. This was probaby going to be our only down-time once the safari got underway.

First -- get the photos done. The 100+ temperatures were close to the camera's battery limits, so Peg and I took a stroll and got that out of the way.

Then we changed, loaded on the sun-tan lotion, and went to lounge by the pool (under cover of umbrellas!). We spent time at two pools -- a hotel-only area with numerous small pools sculpted amongst, lush vegetation, chess sets and other whimsical settings in the shadow of the Burj. Kept the heat down with dips in the cool water, Pelligrino in ice buckets and delicious coconut ice bars. Then over at the family pool open to non-guests.

We had a light lunch -- knowing that the dinner at the Bedouin camp would be large. By this time I was feeling better so figured it would be ok to head out without having to make any sudden desert pitstops.

The vehicles we travelled in were GM SUV's. According to Sabri, our driver (who was very knowledgeable an excellent driver with a great sense of humour), they only lasted a couple of years of dune-riding.

First we drove out of the city and a fair distance on the highway. The roads, all brand new, felt like you could run a grand-prix on them. Sabri told us about what appeared to be monumental developments caught in mid-stride -- Disneyworld style theme parks (even a Jurassic park!) all halted by the recession (apparently the royal purse lost $100billion from the downturn -- apparently all from foreign investment, not their local projects). Or huge condominium complexes built to attract foreign buyers. Off an on you would see gigantic posters of different male members of the royal sheiks.

Then we cut off into the desert. There were two convoys of vehicles -- each of 20 or so cars holding 6 people each. Sabri said that on busy days they can get 200-300 people going out. Good for them!

We stopped at a checkpoint just inside the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, where we took some snaps of camels while the drivers let air out of the tires -- almost 50% -- for dune-riding. Then hopped back in for some rollercoaster activity. Up and down the dunes, sharp turns throwing up sand much like an ice skater stopping suddenly will do. Barb got a little queasy with this. I had to be careful not to get my head too close to the window, or risk smashing it (or my camera!) against it. A couple of times the seatbelt pulled hard and stopped -- yup, this was pretty wild.

I'd brought a GPS (yes, love my toys) with me that's capable of recording journeys, After we got out of the car and I called up the track, you could see how we traveled over the dunes -- zigzagging around like a drunk bug -- hilarious! I'd just bought it and still have to figure out how to download these to my PC, Then I can blog the maps of our journeys. Should be interesting as we head into the safari.

After a couple more stops (including one for taking some sunset pics), we headed into the Bedouin-style camp. There were camel rides (none of us were up for that after the dunes!), traditional henna painting (Peg and Barb got some great "tattoos" -- they'll last a few weeks), "hubbly-bubbly" or taking tobacco through a sheesha (or hookah) water pipe -- which Peg tried out. After dinner they turned out all the camp lights so we could look at the stars.

Thanks to Barb's tripod I managed to get some terrific evening shots -- even of the starry sky! I'd figured out the day before that my monopod was usesless! While it could hold the camera fine, it moved minutely -- enough to ruin any exposures requiring several seconds of open-shutter. I'll be getting the same kind of tripod when I get back home!

Around 9pm, all of us, tired from sun and the journey, headed back into the city. After a day of sun-tan lotion, sweating, and desert sand I needed a shower big-time (and yes, the bathrooms and soaps in the hotel are very nice). Then leisurely packed up for an early morning departure.

And discovered how to blog!

A good day.

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Part of trip: Dubai and Africa 2009

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