My feelings towards the desert are something extra.
I read about Echo and her Sahara life at a very very young age and always dreamed about going. So when school was finally finished I found myself a job in the desert and didn’t hesitate a second and jumped on the plane.
And my oh my, was it a wild ride.
I left the desert for about 5 years now, but the life I had there, forever has a soft spot in my heart. The sunset is different from any other places, the water is different from any other beaches.
I don’t know about other countries, but in China, you get three days off over The New Years, and it might sound crazy to a lot of people, but I booked a flight and decided to go to the desert for a quick weekend getaway. I’m newly single, and I need my supporting system. Plus I really miss my girlfriends over there. Adding all that up, I booked the ticket and went straight to the airport after work.
Well, it is kind of crazy, even the guy at the check-in counter said it’s crazy. It’s not from Germany to Spain, it’s not from Shanghai to Phuket. It’s a solid 10 and a half hour flight, it’s like going to Paris for a weekend and come back. But I went for it. I followed my heart and I knew it’s worth it, and it was way beyond my imagination of how wonderful the trip was.
Half Desert, Half My Heart
I didn’t even go to Downtown the first day, I stayed with my friend Marina, the brain behind the Fashion label Marina Qureshi London at The Villa, outside of the city and I can’t wait to go into the deep desert with her.
Other than the Christmas Eve we spent in the desert for Moroccan tea and talk 7 years ago, Marina hasn’t done any desert safari before and I decided that it’s time for her to experience. For people who don’t know desert safari, a desert safari involves a jeep drive through enormous mounds of sand (called “dune-bashing”), you have to flat your tire first before you hit up the hills. We were only paying for it for the sake of Marina’s safari experience. The rest of the packaged deal of camel riding and belly dancing etc are just too touristic for us, and we decided to escape. Also, I think the camels there were crying and it’s too sad for me to watch, let alone ride.
As we sat back in the car and headed back home, we saw the sunset and decided to against the GPS’s will and to do a little detour, and we found the perfect desert that just there for us, no one else. I always loved a good desert sunset, You hear the wind, the prayers far from the mosque, it’s something that I call “beautifully sad”. It’s so grand that you, and everybody else, seem so small within.
I came down here for some consolation, not necessary from people. I know if there’s any place in the world can keep me grounded, it’s here, with my barefoot in the sand. I always consider here as the starting point of my adult life, This land kept a lot of my “First”. It might seem strange to someone that home is not the place where I feel most comfortable at. But at home, I can’t be completely who I am, I’m my parents’ daughter, my little siblings’ big sister, my grandparents’ sweetheart and all the other hats that are me, a real me too. But at some level, subconsciously I behave the way that they want me to, not exactly what I wanted to.
But here, I can be truly who I am. I can walk down the beach at 4 am, I can drive to the desert for the sunrise. I can eat as many shawarmas as I want, at any time, any place. (Well, actually the best two places to get shawarmas are Zaroob in Sheikh Zayed Raod and Al Malah in Al Satawa. ) I am a little bit out of control, and I feel free anytime after midnight. I would not consider moving back here because life is all about moving on right? But what this land gave me is something I will cherish forever, whenever and wherever. And that, my friend, in a city where money can literally buy everything, is precious and certainly priceless.
Photo by Marina Qureshi and me, shot in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.