Dubai reminds of Las Vegas, not only for its extravagant architecture, shopping malls and lack of pedestrian urban spaces, but also for the surrounding landscape. Both cities are characterized by vertical manmade expansion in the horizontal yellow-red horizontal desert landscape. Even more in Dubai, the desert offers a fluid changing sand dunes shaped contrasting perceptions from the urban rigid manmade environment.
The desert offers a totally different environment from the urban places, perceptually and culturally. Below are a few views from one of the tourist favorites: the desert safari. A 80 kilometers drive takes to another extravaganza: a fast four-wheel drive into the dunes.