Continuing the story I posted the other week about Hamed, the UAE national we met who raises falcons and salukis, we finally went out to visit his saluki center in Abu Dhabi. Right from the start it was clear this was going to be a most successfully random day. After joining him (and his bird, which of course was sitting on the table) for a nice breakfast at the Royal Mirage, we got in our quality rental Renault and tried to follow him on the highway to Abu Dhabi - no easy feat considering he was doing at least 170km/h in his SUV, and even with the pedal literally floored, our crapmobile was barely keeping up.
When we got to the center it was clear that he tours a lot of VIPs through the place - for what is essentially a kennel to breed dogs this place was pretty dang posh. From the giant lounge stocked with paintings of his falcons and dogs to the kennel with at least 30 dogs and two litters of fresh puppies to the kitchen where all of the food is prepared complete with a chef he hired from a 5-star hotel restaurant (no shit, these dogs eat so much better than we do) it was no surprise to learn that his dogs are pets to many of the royals here.
After the grand tour, some quality time with real non-ankle biter dogs, and plenty of Arabian coffee we rolled back to Dubai. And no, we will most certainly NOT be getting another dog.
