Surfing The Desert Sands Of Dubai

CEBU, Philippines - Visiting the fabulous hotels of Dubai like the unique Burj Al Arab or the fabulous Atlantis Jumeriah gave us the impression that Dubai City is a tourist Mecca, with all its great hotels filled with tourists. But in the Middle East, real fun in the desert sands means going on an off-road Arabian Desert safari adventure ride. Decades ago, they used camels to roam the desert. But today, they use off-road 4x4s.

It was our final day in Dubai with the Cebu Travel agents Travelways International’s General Manager Alan Carvajal, Fortune Travel’s Sales & Marketing Mitchell Uy, Grand Holidays Manager Cristine Tan, Leisure Travel Sales Manager Elena “Rosi” Mancao, Grand Hope Travel Asst. Manager Clavel Su, Blue Horizon’s Manager Cecilia Saa, Rakso Travel’s September Ape, Global Link Travel Manager Jeanne Teh and Southwind Travel General Manager Desiree “Cookie” Chan, Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA) Passenger Sales Executive Jewel Sanchez and Meteor Philippines General Manager Ligaya Tabirao.

We were assured that our last day in Dubai would not only be fun, but memorable. And indeed it was an unforgettable experience! The Desert Safari started late in the afternoon, where three Toyota 4x4 Land Cruisers fetched our group at the Dhow Hotel for the 45-minute freeway ride to the desert. With me on the second vehicle were Cecile Saa, Christine Tan, Jewel Sanchez and Ligaya Tabirao.

Actually, the whole of Dubai is located at the edge of the Nahabab desert. Right before getting into the main sand dunes for our off-road experience, we made a pit-stop to a curio tourist shop for a little shopping, while our driver Sadhik Ullathel had to deflate his tires to a low of 15 lbs of pressure in order for the tire to grip the sand dunes.

Sadhik is half-Filipino. His mother came from Bogabong, Mindoro and got married to an Indian from Kerala. Sadhik was born in Dubai, but he speaks Tagalog with an Indian accent. He is a jack of all trades, driving tourists in a Toyota Land Cruiser which I consider the best job in the world and last year when a Filipino Film crew came to shoot a TV Series entitled “Code Name Asero” with Richard Gutierrez, Sadhik acted as a thug who had a fighting scene with the Pinoy actors.

Finally we loaded up the Toyota Land Cruisers and into the desert sand dunes for what I would call a roller-coaster ride. Nothing in the world has a ride that is so thrilling as you are inside the vehicle that brought you to the desert and now you’re climbing up and down the numerous washes, experiencing jumps and bumps in a 4x4 vehicle. At the highest point in the desert mountain, we stopped to rest. We got out of our air-conditioned vehicle and realized that it was a hot 46 degree heat!

From our vantage point, we realized that there were many other vehicles playing in the desert sands. When the sun started to go down, we rode once more in the same roller-coaster fashion all the way to the freeway where we joined a caravan of 4x4s also headed to their evening camps. Just riding towards the camp facing the sunset was thrilling enough as the desert dust sort of filtered the sun, making for great sunset photos.

At the camp, we were treated to a camel ride and were given the option to dress up in real Arabian clothes, a Jallabia or Abayah for women and a Thobe, Tagiyah and Ghutra for the men. Of course dinner was a sumptuous feast with dates, chicken, beef kebab and lamb. Oh, in case you need to go to the washroom in the middle of the desert, the camp offers first class amenities which had the only tiled floor in the camp.

Finally, it was time to ride back to Dubai City, still with our driver Sadhik behind the wheel. But this time the ride was a bit slow as it was night time and you can only rely on your headlights to light up the desert tracks. After reaching the edge of the desert, we made a final stop to put air back on the tires and drove the freeway back to the hotel to pick up our bags and off to the airport for the flight home. You can fly to Dubai daily from Cebu via Cathay Pacific Airlines (CPA).