Dune Bashing

Desert scenery is one of the most iconic sights of the Arab world, and what better way is there to appreciate it than by rallying a Land Cruiser over the sides of giant red sand dunes? While in Kathmandu last week I e-mailed a desert safari agency in Dubai and booked a "Dune Bashing" tour, one serious can't-miss activity for any visitor to the United Arab Emirates.

After arriving this morning from Nepal and checking into another free four-star hotel room compliments of American Express, I walked to the historical center of Dubai, which sits along Dubai Creek near the coast of the Persian Gulf. The Bastakiya Quarter in Dubai is a maze of narrow alleyways and late 19th-century Middle Eastern architecture. Originally the area was home to many of the wealthy Persian traders in Dubai, but today it houses several distinctive art galleries and one tasty cafe.I stopped in at "Basta Art Cafe" for a an early lunch. The name "Art Cafe" is well deserved at that place. I ordered the "Jacket Potatoes" and got a giant, soft, baked potato with chunks of chicken and raisins smothered in a mild honey mustard sauce. I large salad came with it and I also ordered the Basta Cocktail (non-alcoholic, of course), a smooth green mixture of lime juice and sharp mint flavoring. After the meal I wandered through several of the galleries in the Bastakiya Quarter. I visited "Sahory Gate", which specializes in Arabic Calligraphy, "Archiglass Display", which featured colorful abstract creations made completely of glass, and "XVA", a modern art gallery with giant painted canvases selling for over $60,000.My next stop was at the nearby Dubai Museum. The entrance to the museum is housed inside the 19th century mud walls of Old Dubai, but just inside the gate the museum becomes a modern, underground, air-conditioned facility just as suddenly as Old Dubai became a world-renown cosmopolitan metropolis. Several exhibits described the heritage of Dubai, from it's beginnings as a small traders village to it's modern, jaw-dropping development sparked by the discovery of oil in the area. Before visiting the museum I had no idea that Dubai started out as a regional center for the pearl diving industry. Pearl diving was the reason Dubai existed in the 19th century, and the century-old diving equipment and giant wooden boat inside the museum illustrated that well.

Later this afternoon I wandered through a few of Dubai's famous souqs. A souq is an outdoor marketplace similar to a Turkish bazaar. At Dubai's spice souq several local traders pulled me into their shops, excited to introduce me to their fresh vanilla beans, Iranian saffron, and aromatic frankincense. One merchant told me proudly that he originally was from Iran, then asked me where I'm from... "I'm from America." The man smiled and grasped my hand, shaking it slowly. He spoke to me solemnly... "Iranian, American people are old, old friends."In an effort to jam as much of historical Dubai as possible into my one day of sight-seeing in the area, I finished up with quick, self-guided tours of Dubai's Al-Ahmadiya School and Heritage House. The Al-Ahmadiya was the first semi-formal school in Dubai. Before the school existed local children were taught by a local Al-Muttawa, an older man with a wealth of knowledge of writing, arithmetic, and the Quran. The Heritage House depicts the typical household as it existed decades ago in Dubai. The house was once owned by wealthy merchants, but has since been restored by the government and converted to a museum. Both the house and the school consisted of several rooms opening into a large, central courtyard.Back at the "Le Meridian Dar Al Sondos Hotel" an Indian driver named Shajie met me in the lobby and we headed off in a Land Cruiser for a night of dune bashing. On the way we stopped at another hotel to pick up a family of five who had also booked the trip for the evening. Shajie flipped on the radio and Indian pop music blasted from the speakers. The family of five, who came to Dubai from their home in Karachi, Pakistan, instantly recognized the song and started singing along with Shajie. I can't say that I knew any of words myself... or that I understood any of the words for that matter.

Fifty miles South of Dubai we turned off the road with a small caravan of Land Cruisers and Shajie showed us what he really could do behind the wheel. The man's driving abilities would have made Cruella de'Vil proud. I braced myself with my feet and the Pakistani kids shrieked in the back seat as Shajie sped at sharp angles along the edges of the dunes, rallied over sandy peaks, bottomed out, hit the chassis of the car several times against the sand, and generally abused the vehicle in a way reminiscent of my high school days with the Astro Van.Dune bashing alone would have been well worth the time and money I invested in the evening, but it turned out that the tour also included a huge Arabic barbecue buffet and a night of entertainment in the middle of the desert. I paid a few extra dirhams to do some rallying of my own on an ATV. Later I chowed down on pita bread with hummus, barbecued beef , pasta, lentils, beans, and several other dishes as a belly dancer performed for the small crowd. The lady moved her hips, back, belly, and shoulders in ways that I didn't know were physically possible, then she pulled several individuals from the crowd and encouraged them to imitate her.Before piling into the Land Cruiser for the ride back to Dubai, I gave my camera to the Pakistani man and had my picture taken with the belly dancer. As I walked back to the car I pulled the photo up on the screen of the camera and showed it to Shajie. Shajie nodded approvingly as if posing with the dancer were a great accomplishment, "Ohhhh... Well done sir."