Day 19 - Desert Safari Time
We had a fairly relaxing morning as we knew the night would be full with activities! In the morning we decided we would be able to walk from our hotel to the tallest building in the world. Looking at the map it seemed fairly close but it really wasn't. We walked for about an hour near highways and dirty back streets before turning around and heading back to the hotel for some pool time before our safari. The driver for the safari picked us up at about 3pm and we were with 4 lovely Queenslanders in our 4WD. The drive out to the dunes was about an hour with a brief stop on the way so the guide could deflate his tires so we didn't get stuck in the sand (otherwise Dean we could have had a Moreton island situation). Then it was time for the 4WD. Omg it was so much fun!! There were about 50 4WDs out there all driving about together. Ooti was actually quite relaxed about the driving, but was more concerned we were going to smash into another car (which we didn't). One of the guys in our car was freaking out it was hilarious! Our driver was really good - they all were actually and the way they know how to drive over the dunes without getting stuck or tipping over is amazing. The 4WD lasted about half an hour and we had to stop to let the cars cool down. There were some guys doing crazy stunts on ATVs in the middle of the desert by standing up on the back wheels, then the side wheels and flying down a massive sand dune. It looked pretty scary. About 10 mins more and we were at the camp where we would have dinner and get to enjoy all of our other activities. There were about 10 camels lined up ready for some rides. Ooti and I were quick to go around and make sure we were the first on all the activities, as everyone else just seemed to be standing around. The camel ride was actually really scary - I don't think either of us had been on one since we were 5 and visited blue gum farm. Most of the camels were wearing muzzles I think to make sure they didn't spit on people or bite them. Ooti sat up front and I on the back and the camel behind me was having a massive fit. It was getting all het up and making strange noises - I think if it didn't have the muzzle on it would have bitten me for sure. The camel ride was fairly pathetic they just ride you around in a little circle - but I guess they need to get through a lot of guests and by the time we had done the circle we had enough anyway. Next up we went and got dressed up in traditional Arabic dress. Ooti looked really good in it - but what I couldn't believe is how hot the material actually was. After that we went to ask about one of the optional activities which was sand boarding (you had to pay extra for that and for ATV rides). We could see the ATV rides out and we didn't want to do that as they had a tiny little square they could go around in and seemed like it was more for children. Anyway the guy laughed at us when we asked about sand boarding. Ooti said does anyone actually do it and he said no! I asked him if it was fun and where we could do it and he just pointed up one of the sand dunes and grunted. Even though I wanted to do it - his answers didn't really comfort me because if I stacked it, it would have been in front of the whole camp. We ruled that idea out! Next up we went and smoked the shisha. Ooti was most looking forward to this because she thought it would be hilarious watching me smoke it - which it was. I wasn't very good at smoking it, however it was an improvement on last time when I was in South Africa and Dean's cousins had to teach me how to do it! Ooti was a pro and there is some funny video and photos showing the difference between our smoking styles. We went and found our seats at our floor table which has cushions on the ground as seats. The girls in our group had henna tattoos that we totally forgot about getting so Ooti and I went and got them done. Omg the ladies doing the henna were so fast at doing it - it took less than a minute each person and they were doing very intricate designs. They were only doing it on our hands - my lady must have loved me as she did a design half way up my arm. Now the problem we had was it was going to take half an hour to dry. Of course within the first 5 mins I managed to smudge mine and after being ridiculed by Ooti she smudged hers 5 mins later. We are currently trying various remedies to remove the smudged henna tattoos but I have been told it will take about 2 weeks to come off fully...The dinner itself was buffet and seemed very Indian style to me - there were curries and rice. During dinner there were two performances - one a traditional tanoura dance and the other a belly dance. Both dancers were amazing. The tanoura dance we had never seen anything like it. It was a man who was dancing with a brightly coloured dress/skirt on that constantly spun and as he spun he would move these circular props in his hands to make all these different formations. At one point the lights went out and his costume lit up - it was very cool. The belly dancer was also very awesome and did four dances. Our driver told us as soon as the belly dancing was over we had to run back to the car because he wanted to be first out and on the road. We did get out of their fast and beat all of the other traffic and managed to get hime at around 10pm. It was an awesome night and was lots of fun. Ooti was very worried that it was going to be crap - as she was in charge of booking this activity - but it turned out great! Very good Ooti.
Later
Amanda