Crazy desert evening

Well I am finally getting a chance to post this! On Tuesday I was invited to go out to a town called Liwa with my roommate and a handful of engineers who work at the solar plant in town (apparently largest solar plant in the world). Anyway after saying yes to the last minute invitation we drove the hour out to a dune called, Moreeb Dune. This is supposedly the largest accessible dune in Arabia. It takes over an hour and a half to climb up it and our off road vehicles could barely make it up the steep dune. Apparently there are yearly races up and down the massive dune in tricked out vechiles that use some "fast and the furious" type of fuel.

After we almost died several times on the dune we went out several miles from the road dune bashing. When we finally picked a spot to park we had a campfire, bbq, and just an enjoyable night. There were some very interesting people we met in this small group. One man was an Emirate (he's the one who almost killed me with his crazy driving) and it was so interesting to talk to him about my kids. Apparently he said this western region is nothing like the cities or other regions. He said they are very rich here and very spoiled and that he was never like that. It was also reassuring when he mentioned how much he hated how his countrymen treat people from countries other than western ones and how he prays that will change soon. It was so nice to hear an Emirate speak about the issue that frustrates and upsets me the most here. It is a country that pays and treats people according to their passport and it is so wrong. Anyway besides him there was a British man who has lived in the UAE longer than the Emirate was even alive! He came right after it was really founded as a country and it was amazing to hear his stories of how this country started!!

Best part of the night though was firstly when two Emirate men drove up to our campsite and asked us if we wanted fresh camel milk. We said no but then they returned thirty minutes later with just a bowl of warm, fresh,  and foamy camel milk! It was such an interesting taste. I wasn't a big fan. The second and final best part was when Abdulla Z (the Emirate) taught us a game Emirate children play in the desert.  You stand at the edge of a dune and see who can jump the farthest. Trick is it is pitch black so it honestly looks like you are jumping into a black hole. I refrained from this since I knew the dune was a 15+ foot drop if you jumped to far out or ended up rolling down the slanted dune. Afrer getting lost trying to find a road again we finally made it back to civilization!  And I can now call my town civilization because just this week our first liquor store opened AND Starbucks all in one week! Madinat Zayed will be the next Dubai watch and see hehe. Here are some pictures of my adventure.

The sun looking massive at Moreeb Dune

Makeshift camping

Roomie picture

They got more than a little stuck here. .  .

And this is how you drink camel milk given to you by strangers . . .

Moreeb Dune

You can't see the top of the dune but the tire tracks show how many times the guys kept trying to see how much higher they could get. It is scary because when you cannot go any higher it almost feels like you are going to roll on the side of the car and roll down the dune.

This was the "smaller" section of the dune.

You can see my roommate in the car stuck