To the desert...

Having seen the remarkable development in Dubai, we ventured out into the desert to learn a bit more about what life was like here before the growth of this new city.

Yaser, our tour guide (for the second time, as he took us out last year as well!) drove us to the desert and educated most of us along the way about desert life. Fred, however, opted instead to "go fishing" en route! 

Equipping us with trusty sun and sand head protection, we hopped into the vintage Landrovers and headed out to the conservation area to drive on some of the dunes.

There are not too many animals that live out in the desert but we managed to spot some gazelles and some oryx feeding on the land. The desert drive was a quiet one, with many photo ops and some slightly less dramatic dunes than hoped, but it certainly gave a sense of how vast the desert is and how quiet a life it must have been before the city was built.

After a nice ride, we headed to the Al Maha Hotel and were treated to showers at the their spa before dinner. Having washed the sand off of ourselves, we headed to the lobby  for a glass of celebratory pomegranate juice (the hotel was alcohol-free because of the new year holiday) and then sat down outside overlooking be desert to enjoy a serene and delicious meal.

As we made our way back to the hotel after an ambitious day, many of us joined Fred in "going fishing" for the ride home.