Desert Safari

Hi, Everyone!

I spent most of the day today on a desert safari. Every tour book I've seen says, "if you're going to do one thing while in Dubai, book a desert safari."
It cost 235 dirhams. If my new $8 dollar Casio calculator watch is working correctly, that's about 65 dollars.
The driver picked us up in a 4x4 at 3:30 PM, and we set off for the desert. During the roughly half-hour drive, I met two really nice couples from Australia. When I told them I worked for FOX, they had some choice words to say about Rupert, and we quickly became friends. We spent the rest of the night hanging out together. (Hi guys if you're reading this!)
The first thing on the agenda was "dune bashing." After lowering the air on the tires, a convoy of trucks tackled - at full speed- the large desert dunes.
It was like the most intense roller coaster you can imagine. You constantly feel like you're going to flip over. The trucks were bouncing everywhere, sliding down the sides of dunes sideways, and going around hairpin turns. The drivers are UNBELIEVABLE. It's amazing that they don't flip, or crash into each other. It's hard to capture in a picture, but these two quick videos should give you an idea of how crazy it was.



At least one person in another truck got sick... we passed her standing next to her pulled-over vehicle, losing her lunch.
After a lot of bashing, the trucks pulled over so we could stop and enjoy the sunset...
Which was AMAZING...




Then we drove to a Bedouin-style campsite where all sorts of activities were available. (Uncle Owen! Aunt Beru!)
They had 4-wheelers, temporary henna body art... and, of course, camel rides...



Then a bunch of us sat around and smoked traditional shisha pipes.

I'm afraid to read the comments about this one...

After that, they treated us to a huge dinner with several kinds of meat cooked over the fire. It was great. Then the lights went out, and it was time for the belly dancer.


Here is a QUICK video of her. It's quick because, as you can clearly see, she's eyeing me up. I got scared and had to turn the camera off.

Of course... a few minutes later, when she pulled someone from the audience up on stage with her, just guess who she went to first. I pushed one of my new Australian friends up there instead.

That's it for today. Thanks again to everyone who's leaving comments. And, if you haven't checked out the comments for "Chilling Out", go there now. All I can say about the third one is:
OH. MY. GOD.