Day 16—Dubai

Flag of United Arab Emirates

The skyline shadows in the background include the Burj Khalife
(the needle like building)

We had a nice relaxing morning, since we were not to arrive in port until late morning, and our tour was not until almost 3PM.  So, after breakfast, and morning trivia (last one!), we took some pictures, talked to the future cruise desk, and then up to the buffet for lunch.

Theresa on our balcony in the center.

We noticed previously that there were port holes in the floor of the buffet on Deck 10.  

We figured out we could see our balcony (on Deck 6) from the port hole, so we did a little arranging to get the right picture.

While they called for group after group, we relished our suite, since it included an express off the ship at our convenience.  Oh the life!

Part of Dubai skyline, including Burg Khalife.

Skyline in a different direction.

Just because...the Dubai hometown airline.

Right outside our balcony, midship.

In our room, we noticed a ship appear almost suddenly out of our window!  The tug pushed him right up alongside of us.  You know that feeling when you park in an empty lot, not even up front, and some car comes along parking right freakin’ next to you?  It seemed like that!  We finally realized it was a fueling boat.  Yes, the gas station pulled up alongside us.  We watched them fuel the ship over lunch.

Big Ben??

This is our fifth country on the cruise (not counting Egypt), and not counting Germany either.  United Arab Emirates (UAE) is, well, a coalition of seven Emirates, each led by an Emir, under a single King...who lives in Abu Dhabi, the capital.  But Dubai is not only the largest, but is larger than all of the others put together.  It is also a HUGE city, with high rises in every direction, and hundreds more under construction.

We met up with our tour group and headed to the car(s).  It was a huge tour group and they put 6 people in each car.  Traffic was heavy, but we made it to the desert in about an hour.  After a short bit in the sand, we passed some wildlife.  Then the driver pulled over and let air out of the tires, deflating them down to 15 psi.

McDonald's!

A new set of buildings, one of which is supposed to be
 more than 300 feet taller than the Burg Khalife.

Desert wildlife.

A poisonous fruit to us, but camels eat it when they are pregnant.

It kind of looked like we were in a Toyota commercial!

On to “dune bashing”!  Well, a tame version, but still.  The conga line of Toyota Land Cruisers went up, around, down, over, slaloming, and everything but through the sand dunes!  From the side we saw that a few times the front wheels cleared the top of the dune.  It was rather fun.

Lots of tracks in the sand...including the wind tracks!

We had a couple of photo stops, including a camel farm and one for the sun setting over the dunes.

I'm not sure they were happy to see us?

The sand is really soft and deep.  Can I get a little help here?  

Sun starting to set, as another group watches in the foreground.

 

The Bedouin camp.

Then we headed to the Bedouin “camp” for dinner.  They had camel rides, a photo op with a falcon, and the chance to go sandboarding.  For the sandboarding, you basically take a snow board, and tromp up a sand dune and slide down.  Tromping is a bit tiring.  I step forward (and up) about 2 ½ feet, then as I put weight on it, that foot slides back (and down) 1 ½ feet, so I only get 1 foot of travel per step.  But I got to the top.  There is no video evidence to the contrary, so we’ll just say both rides down were successful!

Sand boarding.  The parking lot looked like a dealership!

Happy Trails!

.

My view.

For dinner, we sat on pillows by a low table.  There was a variety of local fare, but nothing that seemed “exotic”.  Lamb, Beef, Chicken, rice, shawarma and a falafel, etc.  We were a little surprised they had beer and wine, so we enjoyed an Amstel Light, then a glass of wine.

After dinner, they had a show with a belly dancer.  It was interesting.  She did a few things on her own, then something with a cane, then something with a sword.

One of the buildings on the way home.

Before we left, dumped out my shoes for the third time.  And we headed back to the ship.