We did stop (on the road, we didn't risk driving off into the sand) at one point driving into the resort. Craig took a picture of me standing on the side of the road with the setting sun in the background.
And he took a selfie of us at our first sunset at Qasr al Sarab:
He also took a picture of the sunset that first night.
After watching the sunset and completing our check in, we were taken to our room. Craig took a video of our room (I appear in this one!), which is cut into two parts so that I could post it here.
For dinner our first night, Craig had made a reservation to eat at Al Falaj, an outdoor restaurant at Qasr al Sarab that serves an Arabic BBQ. They've got rugs spread out on the sand, with tables and benches for people to eat at. They served a wide range of foods, buffet style. But before we got our food, we took a minute to visit the animals. We didn't take a picture with the camel, but we did take some photos with the falcon.
The next morning, I woke up fairly early. I had a text from my little brother, so I got on Skype to talk to him for a bit. It's very strange to talk to someone who is going to bed just as you are waking up, and this is even more obvious on video chat.
Craig and I eventually managed to get ourselves to the breakfast buffet. The food was really good and there were so many things to try! We had decided to eat inside, because of the heat. When we saw the flocks of birds descend upon even briefly abandoned tables, we knew we had made the right decision!
After breakfast, we made our way out to the pool. The only shady spots left were near the children's area of the pool - which was also the only area of the pool that had a shade structure over it. We read our books and relaxed by the pool for awhile. Then it was time to head over to the spa for a couple's massage.
We had decided to try the "Arabian Ritual". Like all massages, this experience started with a dressing room. But in addition to the usual robes, they provided us both with paper underwear. One size fits most, I suppose, but we found it rather humorous that one size and style was expected to fit both of us. We had both left our phones in our room, or we would have had some rather indecent pictures. But we we both giggling when our massage started.
This two hour experience included a foot bath, a date/coffee scrub, a massage, and a scalp massage. Craig was asleep just seconds into the scalp massage. I had far too much oil poured into my hair to fall asleep. In fact, after our massage, I believe I washed my hair four times...and never got all the oil out. I'm not sure what hair type that oil was intended for, but I'm sure that my hair did not appreciate it.
After showers (several for me), we made our way outside to see the sunset again. We had considered walking up the dunes for a better view, but by the time we were ready to go out, we didn't think we'd have time to walk that far. Instead, we walked down on the sand. Of course, Craig took a selfie of us with the sunset.
We had our final dinner at the steakhouse. We were not impressed. The next morning, we returned to the buffet. Knowing what we wanted meant that we tried fewer things, which made it not quite as much fun. We returned to the room, where I washed my hair yet again and packed up our things. Then we set off on our drive back "home" to our apartment.
It's odd, when I compare this resort experience to the one we visited when we were staying in Dubai. I'm sure that this was a nicer resort than the other one. But my experience in Abu Dhabi has been so much better, that the escape wasn't as much of a treat. We had a really good time, but it was nice to return to our apartment.
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