I just got back from holiday in Dubai. I had an incredible time; swam with dolphins for the first time, went on a camel ride, visited the desert, held a falcon, had cocktails in the world’s only 7 star hotel and lots more! There have been lots of new beauty products and new clothing purchases added to my collection with reviews coming shortly… in the meantime, here’s some photos of my holiday in the wonderful Dubai 
Wow, certainly looks like you had a blast!
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Three months ago I left the comfort of my home, family, friends and general surroundings in Australia. I left to move to the cold and cloudy, but ever so desirable London town. The initial plan was to move to London to study for a four month exchange and then travel for the following three months around Europe. Before leaving I was obsessed with the idea of travelling and seeing new things and doing it all independently. This was ‘my plan’. I admittedly still have this obsession to travel, however, since leaving Australia ‘my plan’ has changed, adjusted and turned into a greater and bigger plan I never really thought of upon leaving.
December 11 was the day I took off to do study and travel. The first couple of weeks saw me in The Middle East. This was one of the best encounters of cultural brilliance I have had. What made it brilliant was what makes most cultural experiences great and that is the people and the mere enlightening encounter of something foreign.
My time in Dubai saw me riding camels, eating delicious chicken shwarmas, smelling spice markets, getting lost walking the magnificent suburbs filled with the most extravagantly crafted palaces and homes. I’m not quite sure why I fell so in love with Dubai. Possibly it was because this was my first destination upon leaving home. Or it probably was because this was my first taste of delicious and real independence.
Beautiful picture, you really look happy!
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One of the biggest paintings I’ve done to date got out. 70x100cm; 27,56×39,37in. Oil on canvas. The painting portrays a huge female figure contemplating. The figure stands for an open and constantly working mind, the size of it shows what it is capable in each of us while the female sex was chosen because of its ability to give ‘birth’. The desert is a symbol of non-conformity which ‘big’ mind’ tend to create, usually leaving ‘contemplator’ alone though.
Great painting!
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The Sahel is mostly savannah and desert and it is often desolate. The dominant colour is sand. Women living in the area wear brightly coloured clothing which covers them from head to toe, which is not surprising given the heat and brightness of the light. The area is lonely, dry and surprisingly beautiful. At first glance, it often appears to be empty, but a second look will show people living in what appears to be an inhospitable environment. The desert conveys (to me, at least) a sense of peace and tranquility, but I suppose you only feel that when you have sufficient food and water. The overwhelming impressions are of silence, a horizon that lies far, far away and a desiccating heat the sucks the moisture from you. And, then surprisingly, where ever you go and no matter how far from human habitation, you can always find a plastic bag stuck on a tree, or caught on a rock. The photos were taken on a Ricoh GX 200.
Excellent picture. Sure hope things go well for the people in that area.
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Hasselblad 501CM with CFV16, Carl Zeiss Distagon 50 f/4 CF
During our summer holiday this year, we visited Råbjerg Mile, a desert like area in Nordjylland.
Awesome picture!
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I’m a little biased towards Chile because being in the desert really started to agree with me. I was a few days away from putting my hair in dreadlocks and settling in permanently. If you go to Chile, you must stop by San Pedro de Atacama.
The best day we spent there was biking through the desert to Laguna Cejar, the salt water (ice-cold) pool. And it costs us $6 for the bike rental. This city is where you will meet locals and go to the infamous desert parties, marvel at the amazing star-filled sky, and experience nature’s true wonders. Go, now!
Great shots!
Check out the whole post here at Kayosaurus Rex !
The Arizona desert really wasn’t as barren as I thought it would be. Where I was imagining large expanses of dusty landscape with nothing but miles of sand dunes as far as my eyes could see, the landscape was actually rather green, and full of life. We hit a Joshua Tree Forest on the drive back which was an amazing place. The cacti weren’t anything like the cartoon standard cactus branded into children’s untarnished minds, but more akin to a tree in height, with what looked like leaves on the end of the branches. These trees wouldn’t have looked totally out of place in the UK! The branches of the cacti spiraled away from the main branch of the plant in the most unusual interesting shapes that suggested the agility of a human limb!
Love the way the mountain is framed in the background!
To read the whole post, check out Heffwit !
The Te Paki sand dunes, an unexpected stretch of desert environment along the furthest north coast of New Zealand, guard the ocean like a science fiction scene. For a few dollars, travelers can rent an old, styrafoam boogie board and attempt to surf from the summits of these monstrous hills. But even the shortest dune takes 30 minutes or more to climb. My travel companion and I needed to rest after each slide down, knowing the hike back up would be a trip of seemingly endless limit. “Throwim way leg,” I would tell her, as we dug our toes into the sand.
“In New Guinea Pidgin, throwim way leg means to go on a journey. It describes the action of thrusting out your leg to take the first step of what can be a long march.” – Tim Flannery, Throwim Way Leg: Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds- On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea.
Whether you’re tramping up a 100 meter mountain of sand or stepping off the airplane in a foreign country, this is my good luck wish for you. Throwim way leg- may you reach the destination, never under-appreciating the challenge of your trek.
Great story and shot!
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“I live at the Center of the Universe, the Hopi Nation in northern Arizona. We are about 5,500 feet high and have been blessed to have our usual temperate summer – high 90′s, desert cools of fifties and sixties. We are now in the Monsoon season with cooling rains almost every evening. You can see corn leaves in my backyard garden of white, yellow, and sweet corn, melons, squash, and tomatoes. The desert blooms. “
Sounds beautiful there and nice shot!
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“So here you are, in the Great Thar Desert, with a fluorescent orange turban tied around your head, accompanied by a desert boy and a camel guide with the most unironic moustache outside of Movember.
It’s pretty hard not to get into character.
I mean, it didn’t take long before I was squashing scorpions with my bare hands, humming along to desert tunes, and watching the sun rise over a spoiled ash fire and empty bottles of Kingfisher.”
Great shot!
Check out the rest of the story and photos at where’s my toothbrush? !
Non-alcoholic beer, bare feet and a big dune. Bliss (except for that non-alcoholic beer. Extensive research proves Becks makes a much better booze-free brew. Efes? Not so good).
The colour of that sand is awesome!
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niven photography writes, “Huacachina – 2 days
Trip there…..
We took a cheap night bus from Huaraz to Lima. I picked the front two seats; bad mistake. The whole night the bus driver and his aid played loud music despite the angry and polite protests of many passengers. So not much sleep was had on the 9 hour bus ride.
Upon arriving to a dull, grey and smelly Lima at 5am we decided to bypass the sprawling metropolis of 7.6 million people and head to the desert oasis of Huacachina. Jumped on a 4 hour bus to Ica at 7.30am. Ica is about a 10 min drive from Huacachina so we jumped in an old guy’s taxi. The taxi has to be, by far, the worst car I have ever had the pleasure of travelling in. No wing mirrors, suspension or door panelling, almost every panel dented, half the dash missing but the temperature gauge did seem to function OK.
Huacachina is an old Peruvian elite retreat built around a stunning oasis surrounded by massive rolling sand dunes which is now a Gringo (Spanish for tourist) hangout.
We spent the next two days relaxing by the water, sand boarding and dune buggying. Both had a great time but could have taken just one full day here.
Sand boarding was incredibly fast and fun but hitting buggy ruts at the bottom at full speed are a killer. Tip, wear shoes so you can brake with your feet as the sand is like sand paper at those speeds with bare feet.”
The sand is incredible! Gorgeous and very fun photo!
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