The Dubai Story

We originally planned to spend the morning at Ski Dubai, however, looking at the time we felt that we might not enjoy rushing for time. Instead, we headed for the Dubai Museum to understand a bit more about the city and how it came about. I thought the museum was not too impressive, given the wealth of this country, I thought more could be done to the museum in terms of exhibits and introducing interactive exhibits. However, the entrance is just 3dh, can’t complain much. The museum was rather small and we finished it under an hour. The museum is built on the old Dubai fort. There are 2 sections to the museum, the outdoor section which displays old dhows, musical instruments, weapons and houses that were used in the earlier days of Dubai. The indoor section displayed a series of wax figurines depicting the lifestyle and the significance of the dressing style of the locals in olden days. We did not spend too much time in the museum partly due to its size and partly due to the exhibits did not attract us to stay any longer.

The old Dubai Fort, which is now converted into a museum

The entrance of the Museum

The outdoor displays

The outdoor area of the museum

These were the dwellings of the Emiratis in the early days

Dwellings of the Emiratis in the early days

Some of the outdoor displays

There are also a ton of indoor displays in the museum

Indoor displays

The depicts the livelihood of the Emiratis in the early days of UAE

Indoor displays

The depicts the livelihood of the Emiratis in the early days of UAE

This exhibit talks about the dressings of the Emiratis

The depicts the livelihood of the Emiratis in the early days of UAE

Al Bastakiya – Oldest District in Dubai

We exited the museum and wanted to head over to the Dubai creek. Our original plan was to take the dhow across the creek and then take a taxi from there back to the hotel. As we were heading over to the creek, we came by this bunch of traditional looking houses. These houses are the Bastakiya, which is the oldest residential district and was famous for its narrow lanes and wind towers. These houses are now converted into either guesthouses or art galleries. I felt these houses are rather artificial, and not that old. They all looked kinda new to me, perhaps there has been some refurbishments to these houses. We wandered into a couple of them. The first one we went to was some government office. It had a sign that says “Visitors welcome”, so we popped inside. The entrance of this house led us to the courtyard, which was moderate in size. We saw the roof and wanted to go up, but can’t find the way. Moreover, the staff inside the house doesn’t look welcoming (hmmm…. what happened to the “Visitors welcome”?), so we left the house after taking some pictures of it. We then wandered along the streets of Al Bastakiya area and saw this art gallery that seemed to be opened to the public. We went inside more to see the house and the roof then the art. We browsed through the photographic art pieces on display and asked the staff if we could take a look at the roof. The staff here are more welcoming than the other house we “barged into”, they gave us the green light to go to the roof. At the roof, I can see the houses and the wind towers. However the air-con compressors are sore to our sight, and it made the whole area looked fake. We did the touristy bit (taking some pictures) and headed to the direction of the creek. Soon we found ourselves near the creek. There is a mosque by the creek and this mockup desert area with sand and a real camel. I guess this is for the tourist to try taking a ride on the camel. As we were walking along the creek, we found this water taxi pick up point. It looked kinda deserted, just when we were waiting for a dhow to pull up, we saw one floating past us. We tried to give it a chase to see where it would stop at, due to time constraints, we gave up and took a cab back to the hotel.

Streets of Al Bastakiya

Streets of Al Bastakiya, which resembles a lot in the streets of Old Yazd in Iran

Streets of Al Bastakiya

Wind tower of a building in Al Bastakiya

View from the roof in a building in Al Bastakiya

Panoramic shots in Al Bastakiya

Mosque around the corner

The mosque in Al Bastakiya

Inside a building in Al Bastakiya

Dubai Creek

Venturing into Dubai Desert

Once at the hotel, we pack up our stuff and checked out. Left our luggage at the hotel concierge and went over to the pickup point for our overnight desert camping trip. The guide who is supposed to pick us up was already waiting for us, despite us being 10 mins early. Soon we were heading out of Dubai and into the desert area. The drive to the desert conservatory was about 1 hour. As we were driving long the parameter of the conservatory area, our guide pointed out a desert oryx gazing by the fence. Too bad my camera has insufficient zoom to capture the oryx. I was fascinated by the desert landscape once we were inside the Dubai Desert Conservatory. I have not been to a real desert, and this is the first time I have seen a desert other than those images on TV and the internet.

We pulled up to a convoy of vehicles, where it seemed to be the gathering place of some sort. Hordes of tourists are already in the sand, taking pictures and running in it. I got out of the car and ran up to the nearest dune to take a closer look at the desert. The wavy sand on the dunes, caused by the wind that often blows across the deserts was amazing. Running on the sand is a different experience. My feet were constantly sinking into the sand, it is quite fun. Once the guide had deflated the tyres of his vehicle, we went back on board for the next part of the trip – dune bashing. As the convoy of vehicles departs the gathering area heading towards the somewhat marked dune bashing area, I was rather excited as I read that some people who have done this described it as a roller coaster ride. The initial part was alright, however, I got bored after a while. I felt it would be more exciting if the driver had driven at a faster speed.

Driving towards Dubai Desert Conservatory

Oryx sighting

Arriving at Dubai Desert Conservatory

Desert!

Inside Dubai Desert Conservatory

Just love the wave pattern on the sand

Inside Dubai Desert Conservatory

Dune ride

Inside Dubai Desert Conservatory

Sunset in Dubai Desert Conservatory

Sunset in the desert

The sunset makes the sand turn golden

Sunsetting over the horizon

Me in the desert

Sunsetting over the horizon

Dinner in Desert

After some 30 mins of dune bashing, we were driven to this large campsite for dinner. The entrance marked the words “Al Sahara”, I guess this is the name of this artificial camp constructed purely to do tourist business. This is where we will be having our dinner for the night. We walked around the campsite, everything looked very fake to me. Oh well, it would be fake since the sole purpose of this camp is to entertain tourists. We found seats by an Irish couple, and we started to chat. The Irish couples are very friendly, we chatted about the places we have been to, our countries. This is the part I liked about travelling, you get to meet and talk to people from all over the world. Dinner was served shortly, first appetizers than the main meal and then desserts. There was a belly dancing show after dinner. It felt like some cheap production as there is only 1 dancer. I didn’t like it because I find it boring. I have seen better belly dancing. Having said that, I do admire the stamina of the belly dance, who was able to dance non-stop for about 30 mins (perhaps more). After the belly dancing segment, the lights to the camp was shut for about 10 mins, perhaps done so that people can see the starry night skies. After 10 mins the lights came on, we left the camp for the site.

Al Sahara

Up close with a falcon

Desert beyond the fences of Al Sahara

Inside Al Sahara

This is where our dinner was served

Inside the Al Sahara

Getting ready for dinner

Dinner is served

We enjoyed some belly dancing with our dinner

The stamina of this belly dancer is just amazing

Overnight in Dubai Desert

We left the dinner camp for our campsite where we will be spending the night at. Our tent is already pitched up the moment we arrived. Our guide told us he saw a baby falcon earlier on when he was pitching the tent. He said the falcon can be sold for as much as 30,000dh! My friend and I climbed to the nearest dune and watched sunsetting. Watching the sunset in the desert was rather refreshing. This is a good photographic opportunity, as the day turned into night, the moon replacing the sun to illuminate the desert. Soon star began to blink in the night sky, we spent some time trying to take pictures of the night sky and identifying the various constellations. I can only recognize 2, the Big Dipper and the Orion. We were experimenting with our camera, trying to take good pictures of the stars in the sky. The desert in the night was cooling and emitted a sense of mysticism. After taking pictures, we sat on top of a dune, chatting under the blanket of the desert night starry sky. It is a very rare opportunity to be doing this and indeed felt very relaxing. It is a nice feeling. As the guide was waiting for us to retire into the tent before he goes to bed, we got off the dune and headed for our tent. As the night went on, the desert wind turned from cool to chilling. I was not well prepared for the desert nights and did not get too much sleep. Nonetheless, I tried to get as much sleep as I could, hoping the sunshine would come sooner to heat the desert once more. Despite being ill-prepared for the desert nights, spending a night in the desert is a rare chance for a city-dweller such as me. If not for my friend’s suggestion, I would have given this rare opportunity a miss.