Dubai Desert Safari - October 2008

PROJECT
Desert Safari – Dubai – 19th October 2008

What was the OBJECTIVE?
Take visiting friends from UK for a Desert Safari

What are the Official Features of a Desert Safari?
Dune Bashing
Go to the Sunset Point on the desert
Camel Ride
Dune Buggy Ride (Optional extra)
Dinner with Soft Drinks (Hard Drinks optional extra)
Belly Dance
Pick Up and Drop
Time: Pick up at about 3.30 pm and drop back by 10.00 pm

How do you select a Travel Agent?
Read up reviews on the web. Write and/or call your shortlisted travel agents. Select the best in terms of cost and service delivery. We selected North Tours. There are others that are more expensive without perhaps additional value. The Cost would vary from 120 AED to 300 AED depending upon something that I am yet to decipher. Maybe in a camp the food is better(I am conjecturing).

What matters most in the selection process ?
1. Does the agent response promptly to your queries?
2. Does the cost suit your budget?
3. Do they have goodwill in the market?

The Beginning:
The assigned escort would typically call you and fix the minute time arrangements and pick up point. We had asked him to come at 3.30 pm for a possible departure by 3.45 and he was on time. The vehicle would typically be a Toyota Land Cruiser. Since we were in Qusais we quickly got onto Emirates Road and then took the Hatta, Oman exit. I would reckon that after about 20-30 kms we came to a roadside inn cum touristy thingy shop. Here the escort would deflate the tyres to about 15 psi from the normal 29-32 psi so that we are ready for the desert. A tyre with lower pressure would have a better grip over the desert sands.

The Main Event:
We were now on our way to the desert where we left the highway and got into the real desert. This is a designated place fixed by the Government for the Desert Safari Tour Operators to “bash the Dunes”. We went deep inside the desert and then when we reached the dunes it was like a thrilling roller coaster ride. We went up and down the dunes and at all sorts of angles. The vehicle roared along and finally we reached sunset point. We de-boarded to go through the mandatory photography routines and also took a shot of the setting sun where each amateur was trying to outdo the other. It was also entertaining to watch the other vehicles traverse the terrain up and down and you realize that you would need special skills to drive around in a desert like that.

The feeling of your barefoot touching or submerging inside the soft silky sands were fantastic. It reminds you of touching nature closely that we in our daily mundane lives have forgotten to do. All done, we were on our way back to the camp where Arabic tea and dates were waiting for us.

The Camp:
Once we reached the camp, we were provided as promised the tea and some not so good dates. The tea was provided in small cups and when you finished off the used ones would be thrown into a bucket full of water. After a while the same cups would be recycled and I understood that washing here meant just submerging used cups in unchanged water for a mile. No Arabic tea for me next time for sure.

The camp is surrounded by a dense fence. Inside the enclosure there is a concrete stage surrounded by tables and cushions. There were drink and food counters along with a henna(a paste made of powder prepared from Henna leaves is used to typically decorate your hands) counter. You could try out sheesha (flavoured tobacco smoke passed through water – not necessarily absolving you from the toxins).

After a few rounds of drinks (remember that you have to pay for hard drinks), they would announce that food is ready. A selection of grilled lamb and chicken and some vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes were on the offer. You had some insipid dessert too in the form of some custard with apples.

The grilled lamb chops were good, but the rest of the food was some roadside common eatery and nothing to talk about.

The END:
That was that, and we were no entertained by a belly dancer, who we found was quite good in her art and looks too. She managed to pull in one or two from the crowd and we did enjoy her performance that was accompanied by some good Arabian Music.

Our small one in the group posed for a picture or two with the dancer and then it was time to say good bye. Same vehicle, same driver and off we went before stopping once again to inflate the tyres. We did tip the escort and the end of it all we were quite a pleased lot.

Views:
The driver Sharafuddin from North Tours was extremely polite, smiling and helpful. He was also an expert on the sands and that makes a lot of difference to your enjoyment. North Tours gave us competitive prices and for a full house Landcruiser (6 pax) we paid 1000 AED for the tour (all inclusive). There were others too but I felt more comfortable dealing with them The camp is shared by a few travel agents and I have suggested North Tours to take it up with the organizers on the quality of food and attitudes of the people who serve the food. Overall I was happy, and I would give an 8 on 10, the two marks being deducted for the gliches.

Sphere: Related Content

Lunch at Fujairah

The other weekend a cousin of mine called up from the high seas and I got to know that he has anchored his tanker at Fujairah. We thought that this was a good opportunity of perking up the otherwise dull Saturday and therefore off we went to Fujairah for a drive. It takes about 2 hours from our house and the road is smooth. The final portion of the journey is good especially when you are winding your way through the barren hills.
Finally we reached Fujairah City, a neat and clean place without the hustle and bustle of Dubai. We spotted him waiting for us in front of the Lulu Hypermarket and there were only two items in the agenda with him. Eat and Gossip!!
Without exploring too much we drove into Al Diar Siji Hotel which was bang in the middle of the town and we landed up having a very good gourmet experience. Vegetarians of course should avoid this place since nothing on the buffet would excite them.
The spread was fantastic in terms of international, Arabic and Indian dishes. The mezze was very good and so were the roasts. The Indian curries were reasonable and the desserts were adequate.
You should definitely make it a point to visit this place and don’t forget to come back and let me know!! Sphere: Related Content

Inconsequential Ramble

The weather has finally shown indications of the good times to come that hopefully will continue until February. I know I am going to start my walking and that should help shed some unwanted fatty acids. This is the time perhaps I could drive with my sun roof open, since I sometime wonder about the novelty of having it in the first place. I am also looking forward to some long drives and thinking of making a long distance trip in the December Eid holidays. Not sure of where to go, but perhaps Musandam is an option among the limited ones we have in the UAE. The other day somebody suggested that Khatta Springs could be a good idea. Well, we still have to cross November and that’s a wait that cannot be avoided. Sphere: Related Content

Dubai Top Twenty - Good and Bad

10 Good Things about Dubai

1. Driving around on Friday Mornings
2. The maintenance of grass in the various parks and roads in the city.
3. Traffic systems
4. Helpful Police
5. Lots of eateries
6. Religious tolerance and respect for other religions
7. Car prices
8. Movie Theatres
9. Malls and Supermarkets
10. Near Home (in my case its India)

10 Bad Things about Dubai
1. Traffic Jams
2. High Rent
3. Summer
4. Road Rage
5. Average quality of Indian Food
6. Thursday evening shopping at Lulu
7. Ban on Khus Khus (made from poppy seeds)
8. The sad faces of labourers
9. Public Transport including Cabs
10. No ethnic culture or no promotion of it Sphere: Related Content

Vegetable Biryani

I am a Bengali and that information is known to a lot and as a race typically we are fish consuming people. So when my friend from Coimbatore asked me as to how we consume fish for lunch and dinner, day in and day out, well sort of literally....I exclaimed back...just like you have rasam and sambar and rice and pickles every day. But that did not deter him and he kept nodding his head like I was from Mars. I tend to think that this concept of eating meat or fish really puts the vegetarian's mind into a jiffy. They just cannot seem to accept and sometimes cannot perhaps even tolerate.

In my younger years I used to retort back with logical or contrived arguments. Then came a phase where I was like Buddha. I started ignoring any overture the vegetarian made. In an office canteen somebody would make that hiss hiss sound and stay away from you. Others would twitch their nose and look the other side. I could not care less.

But these days I have planned to give it back. Next time you get some Mashed Brinjal Indian style I might just get up and leave your table. Or say you get Indian Bread with Lentil Curry and some stuffed Bitter Gourd I might make some funny noise emanating from the stomach and then spit out some nasty exclamations.

But then I have discovered a problem. There are some vegetarians who would eat eggs. Some would not touch onions and garlic. Some proudly mention that they are vegetarians at home but can eat ''whatever'' outside. The pride to me is misplaced since my dear friend is fooling none other than himself. Then there are these pure vegetarians. What the hell is that supposed to be? On the contrary I am an impure Non Vegetarian since I don't shun vegetables.

The battle goes on.... while I order my Seekh Kabab from Daily I am in no envy of the Biryani being consumed in Kamat. But then what a shame for the Biryani since it turned a vegetable there!!!

Sphere: Related Content

Lulu Hypermarket, Tomatoes and Others!

Going to the supermarket is a weekly affair for me if not more. There is always something to be bought for home and while the family does a trip in the weekend, I do some random stops while coming back from office. Actual field research (I am the sole researcher) shows that Friday morning is the best time to go. The same research also mentions that – that’s not the time we land up being there!! You would rather be in bed and extend your Friday well deserved holiday morning.

Now I have these interesting observations/feelings in the supermarket that come to me at different counters. We do these quality assurance checks while say buying vegetables. At the tomato counter, the first check would be to ensure that the piece fits into my palm. Then I squeeze it slightly to check for how firm and juicy it is. This selection process goes for a while, notwithstanding the stares that I get from my fellow customers. But a bad tomato is very similar to a bad potato, if you know what I mean.

The lady’s finger is another unique area where I manage to irritate others where painstakingly I select each piece and now see that it’s not too hard. The texture should be smooth and the squeeze ritual applies here too. The long green beans also are time consuming efforts where I have to select the right measurement in terms of length and the tubular circumference. The potatoes are easy. They are either good or bad. I love potatoes without any growths or black pressure marks.

The coconut buying in Lulu is interesting especially if you want them grated (free service). You carefully select a coconut where the quality of the coconut is dependent on the weight, spherical volume and the tonal quality of the music emanated from the sound the water makes when the coconut is shaken vigorously near your ears. All this done and off you go the counter and deposit YOUR piece. After 10 minutes what you would get back is grated coconut off some other piece selected by somebody else!! What a waste of time. These days I straightaway ask for the grated stuff, assuming that somebody else would anyway get the coconuts to the grating counter. Sphere: Related Content