Dubai Day 6 - Desert Safari

Because we didn't have any solid plans until 2:30pm (our car pick up was scheduled then for a desert safari), we had the day to do whatever we wanted. Rich and Ryan hit the pool deck at Ry's behest, while my parents and I walked over to the nearby BurJurman Mall. Burjuman had a Daiso and a Carrefour there, and we needed provisions (I also tend to gravitate where ever offers strong air conditioning).

Lovely 80+-degree pool water...sort of like a tepid bath in the desert heat. I'm sure it felt...great.

Later that day, we got ready for our much-anticipated desert excursion. The desert safari experience that we purchased from Luxury Tours was touted as having a VIP pick up in a 4x4 Land Cruiser, and would include sand dune (bashing), falconry, camels, ATVs, traditional costumes (to try on), sand art, welcome dates/tea, a meal under the stars and entertainment. It sounded lovely for Ryan and my mother, and we were all looking forward to it.

Despite the forced smiles you will see, it was most definitely NOT lovely. It was less than satisfactory. That being said, I'm still grateful we had the opportunity to do it, really. I'm still glad we did it even if it was rough. I tried very hard to plaster a chipper smile on my face and mask my disappointment and frustration from him that day, as he tends to mimic whatever emotions I'm visibly feeling. I really didn't want to ruin a fun experience for him.

First, the pictures...so that my commentary does not ruin the visual experience for you. ;-)

Just call me the falcon whisperer. I think we related well to each other, that bird and I. We were both born with frightening talons, and we both wanted to get the hell out of that desert. ;-)

I was too sick to hop on the camels, plus I wanted to get pictures of Ryan on the camel. 

 Hee hee. There is little I love more than period-costume or traditional costume dress up. I may be shallow, but shallow people have more fun.

Ryan of Arabia

Those are the pillows and tables we sat around (placed around the sage) to eat dinner and enjoy the entertainment. There were various booths inside to get your henna tattoo, buy souvenirs/snacks/drinks, dress up in costumes, buy sand art, etc.

 

The tannoura dancer was, in my opinion, the hit of the show. There was also a fire dancer (a staple of Hawaiian luaus) and a belly dancer (meh), but I love the whirling dervishes! I'm always in awe of their incredible suppressed motion sickness abilities.

At one point, and this is going to sound cheesy (but it was pretty riveting in person), his entire outfit/skirt lit up like a carnival! We were oohing and aahing 5-year olds!

I can't deny that we weren't well fed...but the food quality was what I'd call a step above cafeteria-quality food.

There are way too many reasons to list why the experience wasn't ideal, so I'll try to keep it short- it took a half dozen emails to actually hear back from the company, then the driver we paid for showed up 45 minutes late without explanation or apology, he drove like an absolute mad man, using two cell phones at one point (risking our lives and getting half of us carsick from slamming on his brakes and gas), the dune bashing that I requested to skip THREE times (since it would make my mother very ill) still happened despite my pleas, even in the car(!) from a second driver who was an even bigger jerk, we were nickle and dimed on what we were led to believe were 'included' activities, the food was not good (when do you ever see me leave a full plate? Nev-er.), the activities were all very run down/shoddy, the welcome tea/dates were covered in flies, the bathroom smelled horrific and were filthy, the camel ride lasted a whole minute, it was an assembly-line, tourist trap 'bait and switch' operation...and that about sums it up. 

So again, as bad as it was (I was car sick half the evening and could barely move for fear of puking), I'm still glad we did it for Ryan's sake. I think he had a decent time, and so it was worth the experience and the funny-one-day-but-it's-still-too-soon memories. I did my due diligence as a consumer and notified Groupon that they're sullying their reputation by aligning with such a shady tour operator, and gave one hell of a review on Travelocity in hopes that I can save other families disappointment and dollars. These things happen from time to time, and I suppose I should be grateful that it hasn't happened to us more. All's well that ends well.