I LOVE THE PILES OF SAND BUT I LOVE THESE TOO!

While out in the Empty Quarter, John and I saw lots and lots of sand piles.  You've seen the pictures!  I'm not complaining because I LOVE those sand piles, but I also LOVE to see wildlife....something...anything!  All the way down to Liwa, across to Hamim....nothing was moving except the blowing sand.

However, once we were heading north from Hamim we got to see this.....

If you are ever out driving on the road running north from Hamim, and you happen to be about 15 minutes south of the Auto Museum between 3:30 and 5:00 PM, you may very well see "the desert dude" on his four-wheeler taking his one-humped pets for a walk!  No kidding -- this is the THIRD time we have witnessed this and it has been a thrill to see each and every time!

So, of course, I took plenty of camel pictures that I simply MUST share!  But really, you just HAVE to see it to believe it -- these amazing creatures walking nose to tail, nose to tail along the road for miles and miles and miles is something you simply don't want to miss!  If you're lucky enough to live in the UAE, that is!

I think I've mentioned this before, but at the Center for Cultural Awareness I learned that camels must be walked every day or they will go mad!  Who knew?  (Yikes, can you even imagine what a crazy camel would be like?)

Thank you "desert dude" for keeping these creatures sane! 

Yes, I LOVE the piles of sand, but I LOVE camels too!

THE TILAL LIWA HOTEL IN THE EMPTY QUARTER!

I still have loads of sand pile pictures to add from our trip to the Empty Quarter!  (So sorry, but I just can't help myself!) But I've got some of the Tilal Liwa Hotel as well.  We failed to see it on our first trip down to Liwa, however, we found it last Saturday!  (Thanks to this sign and several others!)

The Tilal Liwa Hotel is another out-in-the-middle-of-the-desert-with-nothing-at-all-around-except-sand kind of places!  It is a bit smaller than the Banyan Tree and Babs Al Sham....but it is beautiful!

For some reason, I am in love with the lights that hang in these kinds of places over here!  See for yourself -- they are soooooo cool!

Not far from the lobby area is the outside courtyard.  It was very nice....

But I thought this was spectacular.  Views just don't get much better than this!

The pool wasn't really that big and the courtyard wasn't either.  But this was just put together so well -- awesome, to say the least!

Soon we were back on the road again!  The artwork around the round abouts (as well as the round abouts themselves)  this trip in the desert was memorable, to say the least!

Okay, so let's get on with the good stuff!  Yes, this is your lucky day!  I have a few more shots of piles of sand that I just have to put on this post!  After all, what is the Empty Quarter without the sand dunes?

Okay, so I grew up with snow trucks that removed snow from the roads.  But I'm thinking they need some sand removal trucks in the Empty Quarter!

Okay, I'm finished!  At least for today!  The pictures I posted are about 1/10th of all the ones I took!  Can you tell that I AM IN LOVE WITH THE EMPTY QUARTER?  But there was something even better that we saw on the road home from Hamim!  I'll tell you all about it ..... tomorrow!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE EMPTY QUARTER!!!

John, Teddy and I LOVED our first trip to the Empty Quarter.  It was absolutely beautiful.  However, when we got back and talked about it with friends, we learned that we missed out on driving down a little road past Liwa.  They told us that that tiny road leads to spectacular desert views! 

See the little rectangle in the middle of the Liwa Oasis?  That highlights the road we missed on our first trip to the Empty Quarter! 



(Thanks Ash and Deb for loaning us (yet again) your UAE Off Road Map and for telling us about this little tiny road!)

A ten hour road trip was ahead of us (approximately 3.5 hours to Liwa and 3.5 hours back to Dubai and add in some time to just soak in the beauty!) and we couldn't have been happier!

This is where I will simply stop talking!!  Words just can't describe the awesomeness (Is that a word?  If not, it should be!) that is the Empty Quarter.  So if, for some reason, you don't like breathtaking photographs taken in the middle of the  desert.....you best click off!!  Cuz here they are....and are....and are.....ready or not!

Okay, so that's it for today!  (Enough already you say?) I know that just because I can't get enough of the gorgeous sand piles doesn't mean everyone can't get enough!  It's just that when our time in the desert is over, I don't want to forget one single amazing view of it!

Why? 

Because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE

EMPTY QUARTER!!