Dubai UAE

We arrived in Dubai and boarded a caravan (about 25) 4X4s and headed to the Dubai Conversation Park and the Mugham area of the desert. It’s about a 45 minute drive from the airport and we got our first impressions of just how BIG things are in Dubai. To call it sprawling would be an understatement. As I’m fond of saying, I’m prone to hyperbole, but I don’t have a superlative that accurately describes this city. And that, dear friends, says quite a lot.

We were hoping to take a short off-road desert drive to see a falconing demonstration. Falcons are very popular in Dubai. People who own faclons actually get passports for their falcons to travel on. Again, I am not making this up.

Our driver told us falcons are a pretty simple-minded bird. Well, the falcons were the ones who looked smart today. Despite a frightening, whipping, sun-darkening sandstorm, our intrepid caravan drove around in circles in the desert for 2 hours. It was like mogul skiing. Over Volkswagons. Wearing blinders. (Thank you John Theide for pulling the plug when you did!)

It took 4 hours but we made it to The Grosvenor House exhausted, disoriented and sugar-cookied in red desert sand.

It took a little refreshment but Tamara and I joined the Wiliams sisters for a digestif at Buddha, an outpost of Buddha in Paris. It’s a little bigger than the original but just as oh la la. The clientele of bankers, models and international business execs are young, chic and stylish. We stuck out like sore thumbs in Agra but here, we could really blend in. Kidding.