So a couple days ago, on my one day off, I went to the desert with my friends/colleagues! It looked oddly like you’d expect it to look, but was surprising all at the same time. We went on a desert safari and zoomed down dunes in a 4 x 4, I rode a camel, saw a belly dancer, pretty much packed all of the touristy things in at once, but most importantly, I ate some delicious food.
First thing’s first…the desert! There is a lot of sand! Some of it went in my mouth. It is very hot here. We’d go out for 5-10 minutes at a time from the air-conditioned car and immediately I would chug tons of water and still be thirsty. Crazy.
Our driver/desert safari guide/crazy dune mission leader taking a break while we furiously snapped photos of the landscape.
This camel and I became acquainted. My friend and I hanging out with our new camel buddy. I had a bit of an internal dilemma though, I was very excited about camels! I also felt kind of bad that these lovelies had to deal with us dumb tourists every day. I saw some wild camels in the desert and wild goats, I hope these camels get to do a bit of exploring as well.
After the desert safari (how often do you say that?!), we were dropped off at a little “camp”, where every tourist thing happened at the same time. This is where the camel-riding, mini 4×4 driving, sand-boarding, henna, water from a coconut drinking, “try on traditional Arabic clothing!” etc. happened. Here is one performer above that spun around in a really cool outfit, then all of a sudden pulled another swirly thing out of his skirt and then lit himself up with lights! I am a sucker for pretty lights.
Where is the food?!?! you ask. Well, here it is! I thought my eyes were bigger than my stomach, but turns out they weren’t because I ate all of it. In the middle there is delicious hummus, from the top right then are spiced boiled potatoes, steamed veggies, lentil daal, fresh cabbage salad, some noodle dish, cucumber tomato salad, tomato-y pasta thing, and some parsley sort of tabbouleh without the bulghur thing, served with warm pita. Dessert was glass noodles in coconut milk with some time of peanut flavor and fruit on top. This food was so good! There was a vegetarian buffet and everything was already vegan except for the yogurt sauce, then there was a tiny little meat section. Hah! I cannot believe I am eating at all American restaurants after this, I have to leave no and go dive into a pool of hummus, kthx.
Anyway, if you, too, want to do ALL of the things, get the poop scared out of you zooming around the dunes and then stuff your face full of hummus, here is the info for Desert Safari Dubai.
I’m falling on the floor laughing. I love your writing. You want to try stand up!
That meal looks awesome, who’d a thought?! So camel..goal!!! Now just the body weight in hummus, looks like you may just smack that one into the goal too!!
More Dubai stories please!!
India x
It was so good. I want to do it again just for the food. Veggie hummus buffet every day please.
Getting to go on a desert safari, even though it’s touristy, sounds ridiculously cool. And that food! Dang, I’m hungry now and it’s only 9 am my time 🙂
I love hummus! And lentil soup! I am starting to miss cooking my own food though, when you eat out 3 meals a day it’s hard to eat right!
It was fun reading your post. Which tour operator did you go with…..looking for a veg Buffett……..
Thanks for the comment! I didn’t book it myself, so not totally sure, but I I believe it is the one I included in the post. Here it is again for you: http://www.desertsafaridubai.com/
Looking nice and enjoyable moments and also food is so tasty.so i will also try it at home.
http://www.desertsafariabudhabi.net/
nice blog. I loved to read these
Thanks for sharing beautiful experience Desert Safari Dubai