A month after my trip to Dubai and I'm still finding sand in my pockets, as well as in my shoes and even my handbag. The fine grains linger like a
bad haircut and it reminds me of Dubai's
sea of construction, dirty-gray skies and most importantly, the heat without
humidity. (For a girl who grew up in the tropics, heat without humidity is a very strange sensation. I like my warmth to hit me like a brick wall, thank you very much).
Why so much sand you ask? It's because Dubai was established in the land of red-planet-like deserts as far as your eye can see. The sand is everywhere, even piled up curbside - like snow in the colder regions of the world. (Between the sand and the extreme heat, it's a wonder that cars function there at all.)
The sand in my pocket, I suspect also comes from taking part in a
desert safari. You see, I was hoping for Khaki pants, a white hat, binoculars and yelling "tallyho!" in an English accent until I realized it wasn't
that type of
safari. So instead, I indulged in rolling around in the sand, delighting in climbing the sand dunes and generally covering myself with the coral-colored particles.
See? Bad Riani.
In the moments that I wasn't burying myself in the dunes, I'd look across the desert and marvel at the pockets of vegetation - bushes of pink flowers and palm trees scattered about. In such a dry land, nature has still be able to plants that can survive such climates. (Oddly enough, I also recalled seeing fruit and vegetable farms on the outskirts of town. If you consider the cost of nutrient-rich soil and potable water in such barren land, you'll realize that with petro-dollars, you
can do anything.
I had asked Arian (one of the guys I work with) what he wanted from Dubai - "sand" was his response. So after emptying the contents of a peach-flavored water bottle in my stomach, I filled the container with high-grade Emiratean sand. It's still sitting on his desk. Sometimes I wonder if I should add the sand currently occupying the bottom of my purse to his collection, but I figure he already has plenty.
Alright, I must get back to my reports ... God knows I love to curl up in an excel spreadsheet once in awhile. I'll be posting a series of blogs about Dubai in the coming week, please stay tuned!
