*Warning: This is a long-winded post!*
The unmistakable skyline. The warm and humid weather akin to Malaysia's, possibly warmer. We arrived at one of the driest places on the planet, with the scorching sun welcomed us once we got off from the plane. Puzzled, while searching for signs of the tour agency in the airport that is bound to bring us around the wealthy nation. Fortunately we found it and we were brought to the hotel in a long van, with a towed mini caravan at the back to accommodate our luggages.
It was pretty dangerous as the heavy load laden at the back might cause the van go out of control if it sways too much, no thanks to all the damages that we've done in the UK, Europe and Scotland. The acceleration of our van clearly showed that we were straining its engine to its limit. Finally after passing through the city of Dubai, we arrived at our hotel.
A 3-person room was allocated for me and 2 of my friends. Guess what was the first thing we did upon entering the room? We blasted the air-cond to its maximum! The hot temperature in Dubai is not conducive for those chocolates that we bought in the UK and also Belgium and Swits chocolates! Thankfully, they did not melt as we thought they would be!
A while later, few Land Cruisers showed up at our hotel's doorstep to pick us up for 4x4 desert safari! I kind of admire the civil planning of Dubai, vast land without many building cramped together, wide and multiple nicely tarred lanes highway eventhough the amount of cars on the road were not abundant. Travelling in the Land Cruiser makes the journey even more comfortable, can barely feel the car is actually travelling at 3-digit speed. The car that I was travelling on has a speed limit warning set at 120km/h, so I guess it's the official maximum speed limit on Dubai highway.
The Land Cruisers' tyres must have their tyre pressure reduced. Why? It is because under-inflated tyres will provide larger contact area to the ground, thus more traction on loose grounds like the dunes. Trust me, traction is essential when travelling on steep dunes because it will decide between live and death!
By putting our fate entirely on our driver, we entered the desert with rapidly pumping hearts. Anxious and excited at the same time, our driver allowed us to take our first step out on the desert while he reduces the tyre pressure. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Neil Armstrong's quote reminded me of my feeling when I first stepped on the desert sand. Very fine sand indeed, totally different compared to those we can find on the seaside. One deep sand will send millions of sand particles into your shoe, of course, all of our shoes were covered and filled with desert sand at the end of the trip.
That was just the beginning of the 4x4 desert safari. Having a ride in a large SUV while watching the sunset is a beautiful moment, but the moment started to become horrifying once you see the steep drop from the top of the dune appearing at the edge of the bonnet! It was like witnessing the car travelling off a cliff!
Soon, we found out that this was not an entirely fun ride after all. We were glad that the Land Cruisers were fitted with interior roll cage so that the roof won't cave in if an unfortunate roll-over event happens when ascending or descending the dunes. The skilful driver made his way through the dunes as if he has done it for years, perhaps he can navigate it blindfolded. Upon watching our high confidence driver manoeuvring up and down the dunes with ease, not to mention some drifting too, we know we were in good hands!
Thankfully I was sitting in the 2nd row or else, I might have to throw up in the car. The 3rd row is unavoidably more bumpy than the front rows. Here's a catch: throw up in the car and you'll have to pay a certain amount of penalty! Lucky we didn't had our meal right before the ride!
After many twists and turns, we arrived at a photo point where we were given a short period of time to catch our breath from the adrenalin-pumping ride have a photo session with the desert! For the first time, we climbed up to the top of a dune, literally climbed up with our hands and feet because the sand were so fine. It's hard to imagine how come those heavy Land Cruisers didn't get stuck in the sand. Maybe there are techniques to avoid being so.
"夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。。。"
Catched the 'egg yolk' before dusk is over! The wind was strong, my hair was all over the place, thankfully the flatten shirt of mine didn't show out the outline of my tummy! Eventhough the wind was blowing strongly, the desert sand doesn't seems to be blown along with it...
Yeah, we had the time of our lives. Enjoyed every moment together in foreign countries to the max! This might be the only time we visit a desert, so why not have a run on a desert, or perhaps roll ourselves down the dune??!!
After all the calories-burning activities, no wonder our stomach were growling. It's time to head to the dinner place where we can have buffet style dinner while watching live dance performances! Before that, see how dangerous (and fun) it is travelling down the dune!
Where there is desert, there is camel. It's like the things that will come to your mind when it comes to desert are camels and cactus. We can have a free 2-person ride on the camel for a short distance. However, the camels looked pity and exhausted because they were forced to entertain the tourists, I feel sympathy to them...
The sun was then nowhere in sight, left us with a dark sky and slightly cooler temperature (but still hot) in the desert. What installed for us were spin dancing, fire dancing and belly dancing! The spin dancing below (Ok, I really don't know what's the correct name of the dance) started with a guy in something like a skirt, and then spun 360 degrees repeatedly with the accompany of music, causing the skirt to levitate up into the shape of a 'roti canai'.
Guess what? The skirt is multi-layered, and the dancer removed the top layer and spun it over his head like... erm... making a 'roti canai'. Don't get me wrong, the dance was impressive! We were flabbergasted with how the dancer maintained his stability even after spinning his whole body for so many times!
The pyro guy was up next, a dangerous stunt.
Belly dancing! The dance was highly anticipated by us, but it was a little of letdown. The dance was not as good as we thought it would be...
Lastly, there was another round of spin dancing! This time more contemporary, with LEDs on their skirts!
While the food we had were not completely digested, we were put through another round (but milder) 4x4 desert ride! This time the driver drove in the dark desert without his lights on! We were completely surprised with his action, and he seems to have a night vision goggle with him as he managed to manoeuvre the desert road with near perfection! The tyres pressure was refilled back to normal level before heading back to our hotel. *A properly inflated tyre can help to improve the fuel economy of a car*.
After we reached the hotel, the night was still young for us! We went out for a night walk around the precinct of our hotel, but immediately found that it is not as comfortable walking in Dubai as in the Europe countries because the warm weather here reminded us of Malaysia! I basically didn't spend much in Dubai (souvenirs here were overpriced), only exchanged 5 Pounds into AED (Dubai's currency). Just enough for me to have a supper ice cream in McD and lunch at KFC on the next day.
NEXT - Dubai city.
