At this point, my vacation is in the history books, but because
I came back sick and then had another quickie the next weekend, I haven’t
really pondered the trip.
The destination was selected for warmth and although it was much
colder than expected (meaning high 50s, 60s and low 70s instead of the 80s-90s
that I expected and I came away with a bad cold, it was glorious. I aimed for
the desert, hitting up Muscat, Oman and both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
The plans included the snorkeling in Muscat and the Burj
Khalifa and malls in Dubai, but I really wasn’t sure about Abu Dhabi. By that
time, I was mall’d out; I think at one point I’d been to four in a day, and I
am not a mall person. It’s just the thing to do in Dubai, so I went with the
crowd.
Anyway, upon advice from friends, I did the desert safari
thing from Abu Dhabi. These things are billed as once-in-a-lifetime excursions
and this makes No. 3 for me, so that’s kind of relative. I did one in Morocco
when I set up that tour, and of course that will forever remain the best, and
then I did the one in Wadi Rum earlier this tour. But the one in Abu Dhabi
involved just a quick excursion into the desert and “dune bashing,” which is
when you get in a Toyota Landcruiser with five strangers and a driver and play
follow-the-leader up and down sand dunes for about 30 minutes. I’m actually
kind of environmentally opposed to these things, but there wasn’t much else to
do there, unless you’re into malls.
I did the excursion at night, which means I got picked up
from my hotel at 3 p.m. – this was a little snafu, because I was told “at 3
p.m. sharp” and when I stepped outside at 3 p.m. sharp, the concierge guy said
oh, you’re waiting for them? They were here but left 15 minutes ago. He called
them for me and they came back. The concierge, who was Indian, said, “Oh, you
know how Indians are!” But they did circle back and get me.
After meeting at a certain spot and letting a lot of air out
of our tires, we played follow the leader in a group of about 12 Landcruisers
(seriously, there were no other makes or models). We’d go 5-10 minutes, then
stop again for something, like to see camels or just take in the view. I think
this was to keep us from turning green. I saw one person – not in my Toyota –
who was really sick.
The dinner trip dropped us off at a Bedoin camp, which is the
same thing I did in Wadi Rum. In Morocco, it was the same thing except it’s
called Berber there. But it’s fun. We had a nice meal and then there was a
dancing demonstration – a guy and then a bellydancer. I was really amazed they
could spin in circles for 5-10 minutes without throwing up!
At that spot, we were able to do little camel rides (like
petting zoo rides, almost) and try our hand at sand boarding. Our little crew
of Landcruisers got there first (all told, there were a couple hundred people
at the event) and I went straight to the hill to try that. I wasn’t about to
stand up, but I did drag the little board up the dune and sled down it about 10
times. It’s much harder going up than down!
It was a fun little trip, and I can’t imagine there’s
anything left for me to do in a desert. Morocco is still the No. 1, in part
because it’s Morocco and in part because it was an overnight trip. I remember
seeing a shooting start and into Algeria. Toyota can’t beat that.
But once home and back at work, when people asked my highlight
of the trip, it wasn’t the desert. Or the mall. After really thinking about it,
it was stumbling upon Tim Horton’s. Oh, man.
For those who don’t know, Tim’s is a Canadian donut chain
that has the best Canadian Maple donut ever. While living in Detroit, I went to
Timmy Ho’s many a time. And when the chain expanded into the U.S., my area got
a store in Livonia, so that was just phenomenal.
At some point, Wendy’s bought it, and then at some point,
sold it or spun it off or something, plus lost the apostrophe. I personally
refuse to drop the apostrophe, because Tim Horton, the hockey player who
founded the chain, did not have an “s” on the end of his name. As far as I’m
concerned, it’s still Tim Horton’s.
And there it was, in Muscat. Muscat was one expensive city
and I was counting my rials, but when I saw Tim’s, I hesitated not. Well, that’s
not true. I was walking and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that I
swore was a Tim Horton’s, but knew it couldn’t possibly be true, so I kept
walking. When I realized it WAS Tim’s, I stopped dead in my tracks, then bulldozed
in for a Canadian maple. And relished it.
Later, when I took a cab from the bus station in Dubai to my
hotel, I saw another! After my trip to the Burj Khalifa, I walked back to the
hotel – around an hour and a half walk – and found that one again and bought
six donuts for my three breakfasts in the city. It was amazing.
Then, in Abu Dhabi, the last day after visiting the mosque,
I went to the waterfront mall to try to find Five Guys. I got there around
10:30 in the morning and it was just too early for a burger, so I found Timmy’s
again and had a chicken panini and another Canadian maple donut.
And you know what, it’s
everything I remembered it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment