5 New Experiences from Abu Dhabi

I know I said that I wouldn’t have exciting pictures from popular tourist destinations in the UAE but as it turns out we did manage to do some pretty fun things.  Here I present to you my list of 5 new experiences I had in Abu Dhabi (in no particular order):

     1. Ate Baby Garlic-Cow. What is baby garlic-cow?  It is the imaginary offspring of a cow and a piece of garlic. Impossible you say? Oh I beg to differ… Let me back up a little. One night we ended up at a Brazilian steakhouse.  If you’ve ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, you know how tasty they are. If you haven’t, then go and find out for yourself. This particular place had all the usual tasty cuts of meat cooked as you like. They also had a magical type of beef. It was beer and garlic marinated beef. And it was amazing. It was tender and wonderfully full of garlic and steak flavor in perfect balance.  We named it baby garlic cow and it lives in infamy among those of us lucky enough to have been witness to its glory. And now, I will move on because I am making myself hungry.

     2. Went on a desert safari.  While a dessert safari might have been even cooler, the sandy dune filled kind of safari was pretty cool too. We left in the afternoon and met our vehicles on the side of some random road. After piling in and buckling up (it was a bunch of SLB people after all) we started out.  At first we went down a gravel road, drifting from side to side a little, no more violently or dramatically than we might at home on our road in AK.  That about as mild as it would get. We started the course as the third car. As we approached a dune, we watched the first car, then the second, drop suddenly and completely out of sight. Then it was our turn. From that point on, all bets were off. I alternately laughed hysterically and screamed for my life as we continued to drop off the front of dunes, slide sideways at angles that no vehicle should ever be at, and race around at high speeds in the giant sandbox.  We also saw a dead camel.

Our Desert Oasis

3. Saw a belly dancer. After our near brush with death and my near hysterical breakdown we arrived at the ‘Oasis’ where we would have dinner and entertainment.  After everyone tried on the traditional clothing, got henna tattoos, and figured out just how much work it is to climb a dune and slowly, slowly, slowly slide your way down, we got to the belly dancer. Now this was a family friendly show and it actually was a lot of fun.  We got to see a more traditional dance before the dancer started picking people out of the crowd to teach them some moves. It ended as a big dance party with the entire group.

Camel! 

     4. Rode a camel.  Somewhere in between the hysteria ending and the belly dancer starting, I rode a camel for the first time. I’ve ride horses, donkeys, mules, an elephant a very long time ago, and even sat on an ostrich but never a camel. While the camel didn’t seem particularly pleased to be walking in the same circle again with some random tourist on its back, once you’re up there it’s pretty much like riding any other kind of animal. Getting up there is a little more of a challenge. Anyone who has ever seen a camel get up from lying down can probably imagine. First the back legs go all the way up, then the front legs. But for a minute, you’re stuck there hanging on while the camel’s back is at a fairly steep angle and all you can really do is hang on.

Most terrifying rollar coaster ride ever...

     5. Went on the fastest roller coaster in the world- not many of you have cause to know this, but I’m not a roller coaster fan.  I’m okay with being on the ground in one piece and not hurling through the air at high speeds while my stomach attempts to reorganize its place in my body. Not for me.  But the chance to go on the fastest roller coaster in the world is just too much of an opportunity to pass up.  As I got on, I remember telling myself I’d survived living on Mexican oil rigs and I could probably handle 2 minutes on the coaster. Reaching a top speed of 240 km/hr in 4 seconds, is actually much more terrifying than your typical Pemex rig. The look of shear panic and terror in my face should speak for its self. Definitely something I only needed to do once. 

Ekansh, Me, Haniff, and Christina during our safari

So that’s some of the stuff I got to experience while in Abu Dhabi. I’m already working on writing about my weekend in Dubai, and then after that we’ll move on to my vacation in Spain.  Thanks for being patient as I slowly work to get all my stories out there! 

PS. Not all of these pictures are ones that I took. Thanks to Haniff and Huiberto (I think) and Ferrari World. The video is from Sergio.