Arabian Daze - 2

Part one is this series is HERE.

I had booked a tour for the late afternoon of our first day in Dubai at my friend's request-- she wanted to see the desert and who could blame her? We were in the Middle East, after all! I found the tour on Viator, and it was everything and more than what he had hoped. Here are the photos:

Our guide picked us up in a large SUV 4x4 and after driving for an hour outside of Dubai, we arrived at the biggest sandy beach I had ever seen....except there was no water. My friend and I couldn't get over the scene and of course, took loads of pictures.

Looking over the sand dunes:

The picture sums up our feelings well ...we're in the Middle East!

Here's our guide and driver, who I'll nickname Mister Playboy because he constantly flirted with me and even flat out propositioned me to go back to his place and...(rolls eyes). Canadian girls have class -- plus, I'm very old fashioned, a prude even, and quite boring for the playboys. (laugh)

If he's your type, hit him up, ladies.
Playboy guy was quite handsome.

The first part of this tour was dune bashing. This is quite the hobby in the UAE. You get in your 4x4, let a little air out of the tires and tear it up all over the desert. I couldn't take photos because the ride was really wild. I was expecting only 15 minutes or so of this activity, but this tour went all out -- we busted up those dunes for almost an hour! It was really fun stuff.

Taken during a break from the dune bashing:

Part of our tour included a stop to visit a small camel farm. They were quite cute! It was hard to think that I had just eaten one of their friends earlier in the day...very sorry guys!

This guy almost kissed me...haha!

While on the way to the desert camp, I managed to snap a great photo of a small oasis in the sun:

I'll show more photos from the desert camp tomorrow and my first experience at sand boarding.

** Information**

This tour is featured on Viator.com and is called "4x4 Dubai Desert Safari". Info is HERE. The tour runs from 3pm to 9pm. 

The local agency actually hosting this safari is called "Orient Tours". I booked several tours via this company and they were excellent. Highly recommended if you travel to the Middle East. The Orient Tours website it HERE.

For comfort, flip flops or sandals are recommended. 
If it's a windy day, it's also recommended to take a face mask, handkerchief or scarf to keep the sand out of your mouth and nose.