After a great party for Ballbar's birthday at Ted and Janine's, I needed a sleep-in. I can tell you that there a couple of fun nightclubs in Muscat too! I then caught the 4:30pm bus back to Dubai which got in around 10pm and snuck into Anna's place and went straight to bed. I was then up bright-and-early this morning for a visit to the camel racetrack in Dubai with Anna and Jen. Anna and I were a bit of a hit with the camel riders - shouts of 'I love you' and 'come and ride with me' (complete with patting of the comfy seating spot in front), were heard a few times and we giggled like school girls, of course...
A group of camels in training. Some camels are trained with remote-controlled whippers on their backs - apparently there was controversy a few years back about very small children being sold into the camel trade as riders...

What a beauty!!!

Ahhh an oasis... Not quite but looked nice (and provided us with a bit of a perceived barrier between the rogue camel riders and us).

After the race track, we visited the Dubai horse and camel shops - kind of like Bunnings but much cooler. There was even a barber shop - I guess for all those rogue riders that feel they need a trim before bedding in with their camels? Sorry :) I bought some cute little camel earrings - basically long beads interwoven with cloves, with pom poms on the end. They must help block out the camel smell. After this we all went to the huge Carrefour in the Mall of the Emirates - which is a grocery store complete with a fantastic deli, electronics section and lots of clothes. It was then home for lunch before the Desert Safari, Anna and I were booked on.

After being picked up with an English and Ukranian couple, we got a brief intro to our driver who did 155km/hr consistently on the freeway. Anna was a little worried but I was happy he was confident as first stop was DUNE-BASHING. Basically flying through the dunes at all different angles, slipping and sliding. It was an absolute blast! There is no doubt that if I lived in Dubai, this would be one of my favourite past-times.

An intro to how to do it.

Our driver behind Anna, and some other driver behind me.

The desert sands behind.... Ahhh so much empty space (and no visible highrises!!! Yes we drove for a while to get out of Dubai city).

After the dune bashing we got to the Bedouin style camp where we would ride a camel, eat Bedouin food, belly dance and get henna tattoos. Oh and dress up like the locals and meet the owner of the business (& get a few free wines :)).
Sunset in the desert. Anna and I in front of the camp.

We met one of the hunting falcons. Training these birds is a great tradition and a trained one can be worth 100,000 dirhams (~$40,000 AUD).

Anna really was not so sure and the guy was telling her to just stand still.

Meanwhile I was in love!!! (But I was glad Midori wasn't there when the little eye-cover came off, Midori would have been dinner!!)

60-second camel ride anyone?

What a lucky bloke! Me on the left.

Anna and I giving it a red hot go with the belly dancer - Anna in the black in the middle of the pic, me in the red top, next to her. Look at all those enthusiastic audience members... Not quite.

Pic with the belly dancer (we were the only ones allowed pics and only because the camera holder was the owner of the business! Lucky us.)

Really had such a great time tonight, I really don't want to go back to the cold and miserable UK. Of course, I have to. But I have had such a great time during my little taste of this part of the Middle East! I think I want to travel more in this part of the world in the future.

Nighty Night - I'm off to the airport for my 3am flight to London.