Intermission: Chch Boys in the Desert

Rowan-ville, Oventown

On my way to Nepal I decide to make a brief stopover back in the UAE, since homeslice Rowan has just moved to the piping hot oasis city of Al Ain to work at a water park. My dates coincided neatly with his mid-week weekend, so we got up to some mischief in the ongoing near-50 degree heat..

Surfing in the Desert

1. Surfing in a man-made wave pool! Did I mention this is the middle of the desert? Floating on my board in the line-up with the scorched desert rocks in the backdrop, I had the curious sensation of drifting in a mirage made reality - possibly the dreamlike source of all mirages that have appeared to all those countless dying desert travellers of the past.. Perhaps they wondered why there were ghostlike figures in that body of water, apparently walking on top of it, as they choked their last sandy suffocated breaths. Would make sense to a Christian I suppose..

Perhaps the pre-eminent petrol company in the Emirates.
Supposed to be a falcon but I know it's really an angry salamander

2. Travelling in a 20 year old sun-blistered BMW across the desert about 5 times in total. This car felt like a fitting merger of two worlds: the stupidly rich gulf with its plethora of luxury cars, and two kids from east Christchurch who never owned a new car in their lives. It was easy to witness the hostile natural world fiercely at play here: just imagine breaking down midday on the highway in the midst of a sandstorm; without working A/C and a substantial backup supply of water this would be a nightmare - a potentially deadly one. No breakdowns - good times!

Some friends are just really special.
Plus I had no photos of the water-park so you get this instead

3. Enjoying a hangover at the most expensive water theme-park I've ever seen; wasn't a bad way to overcome the booze fumes. Puking all over the kids in line for the vertical slide was a great way to get kicked out too*.

Wakeboarding on a ski-lift in the desert

4. Wake boarding on yet another man-made lake-pool-thingy in Abu Dhabi - pulled around on a kind of ski-lift machine. Thoroughly enjoyable, apart from the awesomely crap service and the rich little Arab kids who didn't believe in lining up. As a flip-side, we paid for an hour and got 2 - crappy service has its pros and cons I guess!

Intermission over, time to head for the 3rd world - next stop Nepal!

I was convinced for a minute that the safety demo video with fly dubai features cartoon ducks.
Silly me - you'd think I'd never seen a woman in my life before!

* (Just kidding. We didn't get kicked out at all.)