Keeping it Real

Only 70 years ago, Dubai was a sleepy pearl fishing village. A few huts on the edge of the water and that was about it. It was a time when the Bedouin way of life was predominant. Tribal rule, camels, sand - a little bit like Lawrence of Arabia, but less exciting (surely).

Today, ask anyone with a healthy TV habit and they will be able to tell you that Dubai is the "Las Vegas of the Middle East". Bright lights, fast cars and lots 'o the money.

Walking around the central business district in April reminds me of doing the same in Houston, Texas in July - minus the oak trees.
It's got that same "we got rich quick on some oil" feel to it.
And like in Texas, (or Louisiana) there is a very conscious effort to retain some of the authentic cultural heritage that makes the locals, well, localish. Texas has rodeos and "Cowboy City"; Louisiana has the Acadian Village and the Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Dubai has it's own Heritage Village and, among other things, shopping malls. Yes, they put heritage up anywhere they can.
This past Ramadan, there was a heritage show scattered among the retail outlets of the new Dubai Festival City shopping mall.

It featured the kinds of reconstitutions that you can see in some American Indian reservation museums, and displays like the ones at Acadian Village in Lafayette, La. Lifesized, mechanized effigies of horses, camels and their riders inhabited papier maché houses, and sold their wares in front of cardboard storefronts. But the culture and heritage was infused with modernity.

Shoppers could take a break to catch up on email in the hot spot in front of the Arabian Horse/Falcon display. Or you could sip your Starbuck's while examining the intricate creek life exhibit in the central plaza/food court.

These displays showed men in impeccable dish dashes (traditional white robes) and women in elaborate abayas and shelas (black robes and head scarves) in these "old-fashioned" living quarters and market places. Today, Dubai houses are sparkling mansions and markets are state-of-the-art malls with indoor ski-slopes, but the dish dashes and abayas are still the same.

The contrast between the old and the new is still palpable. The camel farmers live 20 minutes outside of the city. You frequently see a camel in the back of a truck with a colorful hand knitted muzzle on its nose, streaking down the highway between the skyscrapers.

The fishermen still repair nets on the beach. They sit in front of elaborate waterfront palaces, strings held between their toes as they examine the knots in their nets and scrutinize the bikinis strolling by along the edge of the water.

After watching the Discovery Channel extreme engineering report on how the Burj Al Arab was built on a man made island and was designed to resemble a sail boat, many people feel that everything built in Dubai is fake, a mere reconstitution of culture (or a ski slope). But that very reconstitution of the old among the new is the REAL Dubai. That's what Dubai is, for real.

Call of the Wild

Ok, ok, OK. I've had enough people comment on my lack of blogging to actually get back to it. I have to say that I was much inspired by my friend's blog, Paris Lights. This girl is a real blogger! Also, I was inspired by some actual exciting (relatively speaking, of course) events in my life.

Last Thursday, the cool weather and relative drop in humidity really made me want to get out of the city. Ideally, I would have liked to camp out like we did last November...

Ahhh, our camping trip of November 2006 (I really do suck at keeping up a blog). We struck out with 2 other cars (a minimum of 3 is required when going out - you'll understand why in a moment) to a spot discovered by an adventurous colleague of Philippe's.

It was a place where the wadi meets the dunes. The scenery is fantastic. Camels roam, the moutains seem to cut through encroaching dunes. And most of all, you can drive on the rocky wadi bed right up to the edge of the dunes. The best of both worlds, hard rocks for easy driving and soft sand for comfortable sleeping.

As we approached the spot, clouds appeared. The first we'd seen for 11 months. As the wind picked up and we approached the dunes, the car ahead of us slowed to a stop in what appeared to be a puddle of sand. It was a large puddle, and by the time we realized what had happened, we too were up to our axle in sand.

We were already near the edge of the dunes, so we pitched the tent as the rain started and decided to dig out the cars later.

In the end, the rain only lasted 20 minutes, the cars only needed a little digging and pushing and we spent a lovely evening looking at the stars.

The best is the morning, though. Coffee in the desert with the sun coming up over the mountains.

So last Thursday, these last images were clear in my head as I called around to drum up 2 other cars for a spur of the moment camping trip.

No go for the camping, but an expedition of 6 cars was going out for some desert driving and sunset picnic on Friday - we were welcome to join.

Based on our singular previous experience, Dune bashing consists of taking your car out into the desert and then digging it back out. Last Friday's trip only reinforced this theory. This time with body damage to prove it.

Here's the bullet point version of what happened:

• Drove to the edge of the dunes - let some air out of the tires for larger wheel coverage
• 2 attempts to top the first (not so impressive) dune - second one was successful only with the help of 6 locals who were driving by on quads when we were teetering at the top
• Got stuck
• Dug it out
• Got stuck 10 meters from the first place we got stuck
• Yanked it out with another car - busted the front grill
  
• Waited for the other 4 cars that got stuck to get unstuck, restuck, unstuck
• Drove back over the first dune back to the edge where we started
  
• Set up the picnic and watched the sun go down

Total distance traveled into the desert: 2 kilometers
Total dunes bashed: 1 (and to be honest, it bashed us)

No photos available due to a feeling that if I started snapping pictures, the car wasn't the only thing that was going to sustain damage....

So, maybe in another year, we'll try again.

To Be or Wadi Bih

Having a 4X4 in Dubai is almost an obligation. Our first reason for justifying a gas guzzling Ford Explorer was to have an imposing (safe?) vehicle on the Dubai highways. The traffic accidents I see here are some of the most spectacular I've every seen.

The second, and maybe truer reason is to be able to set out on the weekends and explore some terrain. Dune bashing and Wadi bashing are popular passtimes here. Dune bashing consists basically of bringing your car out into the desert and getting stuck in the sand (at least this has been OUR experience). If you're an experienced and daring driver, you can create your own roller coaster ride on the dunes. So far, we haven't been tempted to try this ourselves. One trip with a tour guide was enough to scare the kids into wanting to stay on more level ground.

We have, however gotten into Wadi bashing. According to wikipedia, a wadi is a dry riverbed. In the UAE, a wadi is a well maintained path running through the mountains that happens to follow the path of a river.

Last weekend, we went to Wadi Bih (pronounced BEE). It's a route that traverses the Hajar mountains from the Arabian Gulf on the west to the Omani Gulf on the east. It has some amazing scenery - alot like the grand canyon in places. This is a photo from the highest point on the drive, 1000 meters.
The most fascinating thing in these places are the areas that are cultivated, the shelters made of rocks and signs of habitation in general. You always think, what made people want to live here? We stopped at a terrassed area for our picnic.

The guidebook said that these terrasses date back to the 1300's. Through time, they have been maintained and cultivated, providing a lovely picnic area for tourists of the 21st century.

I would love to be able to say that we were all alone and cut off from the rest of civilization, but as we ate, we saw no fewer than 20 cars go by, about 6 of which stopped to do the same thing as us... get away from it all in the oasis.