This is the palace that belongs to the Crown Prince of Dubai...he's 25 years old.
Eisa had to go back to Abu Dhabi for work, but before his family left, they arranged for the four of us to have a private Land Cruiser take us for our Desert Safari Tour. Our Persian guide, Sammy, from Sunflower Tours picked us up promptly at 3:00 P.M. and drove us by Sheik Mohammad’s Palace where we saw about 25 beautiful peacocks of all sizes and then by the Sheik’s youngest son’s palace (he’s 18). We then made a quick stop at a market where we loaded up on candy and soft drinks while Sammy deflated the tires. As we pulled out of the parking lot, Sean asked Sammy why he didn’t get himself a drink since the vendors would probably give it to him for free to which he replied, “I don’t like to eat too much before we go to the dunes, so I don’t get a sick stomach.
Kyle and Mianna explore the desert
” Oh. We had already inhaled a bag of Skittles and a few sips of water. He soon turned straight into the desert and the fun began. About five miles into the desert, we stopped briefly to take some pictures and meet up with the other tour trucks (about 10 in all). We were the second truck in the line and we had a total BLAST dune bashing for about 45 minutes. It was better than any roller coaster ride any of us had ridden. We lost a few trucks due to passengers suffering from motion sickness; Kyle wants me to tell you that there were only two trucks left by the time we made it to the campsite—our kids were real troopers.
Upon arrival to the camp, we rode camels (eight feet tall), got henna tattoos (Kyle got a scorpion on his ankle and Mianna got flowers on her hand), tried on the traditional clothes, and purchased some souvenirs. We had a delicious BBQ buffet followed by belly dancing, which Mianna and Kimberli tried. On our way back to the main road, Sammy treated us to a little night dune bashing and we were shocked to find ourselves back in our hotel room ready for bed before midnight. Who knew you could have this much fun in the desert?
