Ready, Set, Go!

We finally went to our first camel races, something I've been wanting to see since we moved here. They were the last camel races of the season, and we watched the races right before the finals, the sheiks' camels. We stayed to watch about 6 races. It was funny watching them line all the camels up.

Then, there is this brief moment right at the beginning where they are starting to move, and it always seems like a few of them are heading the wrong way!

They sure move though!

Here you can see that instead of human jockeys, they use tiny little robots. Tyler kept referring to them as "droids."

Here you can see some of the owners driving alongside the camels on the outside of the track.

We'd watch them start and run off a ways, then run over to the finish line to watch them finish their race.

Here they come!

As we were leaving, some guards let us in to see the camel pens in the back. I think they could tell how absolutely fascinated Owen was with the camels.

Here he is, cheering on the camels as they line up for their races. He kept trying to count them, but since he can only count to ten he kept having to start over...

I stopped and took a picture of the prizes for the races - 80 million dirhams (approx 20 million dollars) worth of brand new cars. And a sword as the grand prize for first place (no picture of that though :)

Ken and I have decided on an exciting new business plan - camel breeding and racing! Who's in??