I'd say that "riding a camel in the middle of Dubai" is truly one of the weirder things I have done. I actually was so busy trying to hang on, I could barely take pictures and eventually, thought I was going to be seasick.

Riding a camel is nothing like riding a horse. Their long, bendy legs and ginormous, strange feet make for a really uncomfortable and wobbly ride. I've heard that while they're running, their pace evens out and it's a nice smooth ride. It's not one I was willing to try out.

While in Dubai I got to do quite a few interesting things, namely having a three hour tea in the Burj al Arab (the hotel that looks like a giant sailboat) and becoming addicted to hummus.

The most interesting part, though, was the Falcon Hospital near Abu Dhabi. Falcons are an integral part of the area's history, and though they are no longer used as the hunters they once were, they are still kept by families and are revered almost as family members. So, just like a specialized veterinarian, there is a falcon hospital in the UAE.

Falcons come to the hospital for all sorts of different things, and one is the rather odd concept of replacing a feather. A feather? Yeah- a feather. If a wing feather is broken, they're replaced. The team puts the bird under anesthesia, snips off the offending feather, and glues a new one on. Within ten minutes, the bird is happily flapping around again.

The bird above, I nicknamed "Mork," for the obvious reason that he/she looks like an alien.

All the falcons wore these little leather helmets to blind them. They could see and probably smell each other, but just like horse blinders, what they couldn't see, they ignored. Falcons would attack each other if they could, and of course that's not what you would want to happen. Their helmets were removed when they were fed one at a time- a ritual involving wearing a leather glove and holding a piece of raw quail in it for the bird to crunch and rip its beak through. It was pretty disgusting, if you ask me!

I did get to hold one (not while it was eating!!!) and the vet instructed me to bob my (gloved) hand up and down, and this magnificent bird flapped it wings for me. The wind it created simply blew me away, in more ways than one.

I don't particularly like parrots or big birds (I like ducks, though, but run screaming from geese) and these falcons were nothing like the big scary staring macaws I've seen. The falcon truly was a majestic bird, and I can understand why they have their own passports and get their own plane seat on Emirates airlines.

Well.... mostly understand.