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Hello Everyone, Since I have joined carnity, I loved each and every trip along with you'll, My son & I always wait for fridays to join you guys. @Wrangeldyou are right - I can find symptoms that I am at risk of addiction ... actually I am addicted already This friday I enjoyed the most by driving at fossil rocks trip also faced new challenges, learned more about new skills & all thanks to @Gaurav🤘 and there was one more reason why I enjoyed more because I cut my car's half bumper from down and it was a fearless drive (not to get hit again at the edge of sharp dune while coming down ) and thanks to @Srikumar for great advice, It worked out really well 👍 I have attached the pictures of the new look of my car (adviced by Gaurav Bhai ) and I didn't spent a single Dirham to get this done, apparently I myself just cut it down 😝 .... Gaurav Bhai🤘 (last picture was before I did changed ) Also thank you so much for upgrading my profile 🙏🙏 Thank you team and see you guys on weekend.

Wow. Amazing to see so many people sharing their experience, this is part of what a community is about. Nothing better than to read the refreshing trip report from @Frederic and @Wrangeld. I feel shy to post anything after I have read such great trip reports and reviews. From my point of view, just to arrive 3 minutes after the meeting time and see so many enthusiasts already waiting to have a crack at the sands was energiser. To see @Frederic hard at work working out the different convoys, radio frequencies and later delivering his first Newbie brief was a proud moment. Its been such a great experience to have someone like him on the team and show the kind of commitment required to control such a big turn out. My team had an initial hiccup as we tried to set our radio frequencies right, once we managed that we marched on to the dunes. As is my style and most must have noticed we took it easy initially over some long range dunes to get everyone accustomed to their rides and how it reacts on the sands. As everybody got more and more confident and bored with simple ups and downs we increased the convoy pace to further get a feel for our rides. As we snaked our way through the awesome dunes in the Mahafiz area we tried out some more challenging dunes, to my surprise all managed it very well. Thanks there goes to @Rizwanm2 for an excellent second lead and twice averting danger by taking the convoy through a slightly better route. @Emmanuel for keeping the convoy moving with a watchful eye and his helpful nature. @sertac for watching the convoy from behind and making sure that @Emmanuel had all the backup required. This lead us to our play area where @Gaurav bhai's team was already having some fun. We stopped to have our own little fun too. Although the absolute newbies did not have a go, but all those who did enjoyed doing the sideys and it turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the trip. As we finished playing around and tried to move on to Fossil Rocks @Joe Biju Joseph had a starting issue, thanks to @Gaurav bhai team who came back and after trying everything the magic touch of our friend got the car to come alive again. We started moving quickly towards Fossil Rocks and once again I was surprised to see everyone manage so well and reach the top without any issues. Reaching to the base of Fossil Rock was a bit challenging though as we had a couple of refusals. As we reached the top of Fossil Rocks @Gaurav bhai's team had already gone through and we were in line for @Frederic convoy to descend. Just than we had an issue with @Jun Zamora Murano which was sitting on a rock. Luckily no damage and we managed to put in a rock in the gap and filled it in quickly with some sand before @Javier M recovered him with the rope. A quick decision was made and @Javier M lead @Jun Zamora through the alternate route. With @Frederic convoy down it was time for us. Everyone made it down safely and had some fun coming down the steep grade. All proper 4x4s were engaged in 4 Lo and 1st gear, this would have given everyone a feel of the low gear, why it is used and the importance of engine braking. At this point we quickly headed to the Adnoc station, to meet up with others, inflate and head back home. There were still a few who took on an intermediate drive for a couple of hours and had disappeared back behind the dunes. All in all another exciting day in the life of an off-road enthusiasts, meeting new people, learning new things and sharing some moments of controlled madness. Until next time do take care of yourselves and prepare for another week in the sands of UAE. I have uploaded my images to the Gallery.

Thanks @Lucky sAm for sharing this. It is indeed a fantastic DIY job you have done to trim the Nissan Patrol Y62 front bumper, also this new style looks more awesome than the stock bumper and very eye catchy. Also please share the details of how you did it, that can help other Nissan Patrol Y62 owners in the future, as it seems this front bumper is Y62 Achilles heel.

It is indeed the most precious and proudest moment for all Seniors, Marshal and Crew when we see new Marshal speaking the same language and frequency of the community that we all share.

@Rahimdad Rahimbhai Once more beautifully written and giving reminiscences of a drive I did not enjoy with you ... until now! Reading all the weekend's reports has been a massive pleasure as you add colour from your perspective as lead to the enthusiasm of the people in your convoy. See you soon in the sand

Thanks 🙏 @Rahimdad for the faith and guidance. Wonderful report that took us right through the adventurous dunes again.

Guys i want to be honest. Until now i haven't got over yet from the experience that Friday morning. Its like i found the missing piece in my whole 20 years life in UAE. Now i spent more time browsing Dubizzle and other sites for the 4X4 that i can afford. Hoping i can find the right one. I felt my Murano cannot handle my excitement in joining more adventures in the future. I am now a confessed addict and i need help. Indeed thankful to all of you and meeting new friends is such great experience. God bless and more power everyone. !

Remove the seats, all the carpet and fabric, ow wait, it is not about the car. I am struggling on and off with my weight due my work. For the info, I am a pilot and fly long haul. Going through different timezones, sleeping in different beds and I like a beer. Tried different diets, I don’t believe in that anymore. Yes it might work, but then u have to continue with that lifestyle and often thats too difficult. It is all about a balance of everything and have enough exercise on regular basis and good night of sleeps. This works for me; Start with a balanced diet with enough nutrients. For example, I start with 3 eggs half avocado, oat with blueberries and cacao, and some cheese next to it. Then I heavy lunch, more like a dinner for most people and in the evening a light dinner so I have a full stomach to go to bed. Whats important, if you start cutting stuff like meat or milk, what many people advise, you might have a lack of some acids that are important for your sleep. Don’t do these shakes and fatburners, change your lifestyle here and there. Start working out or walking, cut the desserts a bit and change the juices for water. It will take time, take small steps, all small steps come to a big change. If you take big steps and you will fall one time (fatburners, extreme diet, working out crazy), you will less likely start again. Good luck!!

My tips: * Reduce on meat consumption. Max 2 days per week little meat, and even less if possible. * 2 pcs of Fruit per day, some nuts, and enough veggies. * Walk a lot. If you are having a desk job, walk for at least 45min to 1 hour per day every morning or evening. Running is even better but for losing weight walking is a very good start. * Avoid alcohol, fizzy drinks, and anything that contains too much sugar. Try to start reading what's on the ingredients list. You'll be shocked to see what's inside in many cases. * Drink enough water. Many people gain weight because they don't drink enough. * Eat small portion 5-6 times per day. This sounds weird but it keeps your stomach from becoming lazy. A friend of mine used to work nightshifts and only ate one big meal per day and kept gaining weight because her metabolism was not working properly. And most of all: Forget about the ideal weight and BMI: try to find something that works for you. If that means a bit more than the average so be it, we are all individuals and as long as you're healthy and happy with yourself that's all that matters.

i had lost 23 kgs in 3 months a while back...what i learnt was in order of priority 1.cut out on sugar , white bread, white rice ( all high glycemic stuff adds to your lard fast if not used) 2.eat fibre/salad/veggies - slow digesting food will keep you satiated. 3.rely on low calories snacks when hungry (almonds , chicpea etc) 4. 5 or more short meals just to satiate. 5.Try skipping dinner ( not always healthy though) 6. do any high intensity interval training in morning ( kicks metabolism --> after burn effect). Note:dont avoid essential fats & proteins. carbs are not essential cut how much ever you can. cheers

Oh so this is a trim on the stock bumper. I've seen this on many shababs patrols and thought it's a ARB type steel bumper. And good job on the trim looks well executed by someone who occasionally gets his hands dirty and not by a first time DIYer

Sounds like a suspension squeak, but too difficult to catch a noise with outdoor and wind noise. Try to replicate the noise in basement parking to isolate the actual noise. Totally agree, all abroad forums are very informative as those cars break and they discuss stuff to help "EACH OTHER". In UAE, most cars are unbreakable or my friend knows it all.

Al Qudra Desert is a very good and versatile learning ground for absolute newbies for their first time desert driving thrilling experience. If you have already driven in sand before then you can learn more from experts having decades of offroading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridge to test your off-road control. Drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicle having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and front and rear tow hooks. You can bring your family, friends and kids, but if you are absolute new to sand offroading it is better to drive alone first to the learn offroading without any distractions. Drive will start with detail briefing, followed by 2-3 hours of driving in sand dunes and then followed by a break for refreshments over a feedback and assessment session for each offroader. What you'll learn: Introduction to off-roading Desert driving basics and etiquette Desert driving tips, techniques, myth and best practices Off-road and safety gear familiarization and recovery procedures Vehicle orientation, risk analysis, deflation and outdoor safety advice First time with Carnity Off-road Club: Please share your vehicle details below Prior off-road experience (Yes/No) Confirm front and rear tow hooks Level: Absolute Newbie, Newbies and above (All level) When: 21 Feb 2020 Meeting time: 6:45 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point : Al Qudra https://goo.gl/maps/FbLs4vy99taAEzbTA Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 12:00 PM - (much before Friday prayer) Friday Prayer Mosque: The Endurance Masjid - https://goo.gl/maps/SXmkx2jntnK85DzB7 MUST READ: First off-road drive checklist Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities Off road Driving Etiquette's Off-road Convoy Rules Off roading - Everything you need to know Please RSVP on the below calendar.

When I came to uae I was 65kg. I ended up getting to 105kg in a few months. Too much beer, rice and pizza. Carbs are my enemy. I used to drink 5-6 cans of beer every day, samosas and paratha for breakfast, biryani for lunch, rice and Filipino food for dinner. Sit down to watch movies and order large pizza out of boredom. Coke with every meal. Down to 85kg now. Lost 20kg in 4 months by cutting beer to once a week. One meal a day and only home cooked. No soda or fruit juices, only water. Fruit juice is all sugars and sugars make you fat. Avoid eating late at night too. When you eat late, your body won’t use the energy and store it as fat instead. I try to avoid snacking but if I can’t handle it, I’ll throw a handful of frozen prawns in a bowl and microwave them for a minute. Better to have a protein hit and feel full than eat empty carbs. If your body doesn’t need protein, you will poop it out again. Your body will always try to store carbs as fat. One of the best things I learned was that when you’re feeling hungry, you’re probably not hungry, you’re just dehydrated. A big glass of water can kill a lot of hunger. I don’t know if you eat meat, but look into keto. I know a lot of people who have had success with it.

I've sent him above replies. He will keep in touch with me and will keep this topic updated. He has leaf suspension at the back, but the noise sounds like a bearing that's failing. Let's see.

Congratulations Ale!

So many of us suffereing from overwight in UAE, I like to know what is the best way to loose weight consistantly every month in a healthy way. Only suggest wht you have tried and it worked for you and not on advertisemant and not on your super fit colleague taking proteins, fat burner and creatines pills 30 tiems a day.

Yeah, it's quite effective. Lost 10 kgs in roughly 45 days.

Movies, board games, cards, listen to music, play guitar, cooking, cleaning, pray wifey isn’t going to make me go out and buy groceries or watch her try on 100 pairs of shoes. Anything that involves staying at home is good with me.

Maybe just your sensor got bad. For most of the cars tire pressure are around 33-35 psi 51 is not normal at all.

Looks good! Another heavy weight! ☺️

My buddy’s H3 has developed a weird clicking noise from the back side. He brought it to his workshop but they were not able to figure this one out. The sounds are louder in the morning and decrease after 15-20mins which makes me think the diff oil provides better lubrication at operating temp and lessens the noise. Below a small video of the issue: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtvurdcx3fefrse/VID_20200209_165956.mp4?dl=0 @Tbone you complained about drive shaft sounds also lately. Does it sounds similar to this ?

I listened it again and yes after you mentioned bearing my mind was inclined towards bearing, but knowing H3 leaf spring initially my doubt was on leaf spring holding component like brackets, U clips etc. He can go to any auto pro for free tire check and rotate them to see if he hear any noise then it could be wheel bearing. If not he will have a full access to under body to give suspension parts a nice wiggle to see something is loose or broken.

hummerforums are very informative on such issues he can try searching it on this as linked below https://www.hummerforums.com/forum/

Unfortunately I have to bail out, also when the schedule will suite me. I changed the tires and wheels. Also the offset and size. Had to remove the mud flaps, but I am still not sure if in deflated condition, I will have any rubbings in my wheel fender. Beside this, I want first to get used to the handling characteristics to avoid any disruptions.

Congrats @Ale Vallecchi. No question, it's well deserved. See you soon in the sand

Love the look of the Patrol like this @Lucky sAm and such a shame we could not all celebrate your Fewbieness on Friday. See you soon in the sand ...

Check the cross of the drive shaft. If that has gone bad it might cause this noise. Tell your friend to go under the cargo and try to rotate the drive shaft by hand and see if there is any play.

Hmmm. Hard to say could be anything in the rear drive line from the shaft to the axels. Any accompanying vibes or shudder? Also have to make sure it's coming from the rear. It's hard to tell like this and the sound bounces off the toad. Could also be from the trans or xfer case location.

Congrats @Ale Vallecchi

Wow!! Thanks a lot for the trust. Very much appreciated, coming from this very fun and competent group of people. Sorry for getting back so late on the forum, but I am travelling abroad, and just saw the good news now. Will be back on Friday 14th (but too late for a drive). Perhaps can join a Saturday afternoon outing 😉. Thanks a lot to Carnity.

I thought so too, but 17 inch size Im not sure comes in 3 ton pickup. 275/65 R17 seems like Cruiser and Patrol type of size, specifically. Diamond always gets the best riddles for us to test, lol.

Eat sensibly and some cardio with some weight training

Awesome drive guys had so much fun and learnt so much. Thanks to @Frederic and our entire convoy. Cant wait for the next drive

As always picture perfect report from @Wrangeld . I am always exited to read his report same as the drive. 👍 I was with @Rahimdad convoy and he managed to give us the taste of every bit of sand dunes and experience fossil rock area has to offer. Thank you very much for offering me the second lead of the convoy. Your instruction and guidance was key for our smooth drive. Special thanks to @Emmanuel for his guidance from behind the convoy and helping us to overcome couple of refusal through out the drive . My key highlight of the drive was bashing play area dune for the first time. It was great experience and I loved it so much. Thank you again @Rahimdad. Looking forward to tackle the dune and practice more in future. See you all soon. cheers

To Richard, Rahim , Mahmoud and everyone . Thanks for your help when i got jammed on the rock . It happened for a reason guys, to demonstrate the used of kenetic rope , the power of Wrangler and the swift action of Javier to pull me out. Has somebody took photo of that scene ?

Special thanks to @Frederic, @Javier M, @Wrangeldand @Jeepie for their instructions and help in my refusal. Koleos is still in one piece and getting washed now Coming down from the Fossil Rock was amazing! It is getting more exciting and more challenging every week which is good. See you all next week!

Good morning guys, Yesterday's drive at Maliha Fossil rock was really awesome. For me as a newbie and driving an AWD is quite challenging. But thanks God i made it . Thanks Fred, Gaurab, Rahimdad, Shikumar , Mahmoud and everyone who shared us those informations during the early morning briefing, it really help a lot and the instructions on the radio ( Thanks Frederic for lending us your units) is saving us newbies from being stuck (i did twice ) Thank you Javier for the rescue and taking me to the safer route . You guys really did great being patient with us newbies ! I look forward for more adventures in the coming weeks, months and years. Definitely my Murano is not built for this type of thing. Hopefully i can find a pre owned jeep wrangler that would fit my budget. See you soon guys !

TRIP REPORT This foggy morning reminded me a bit of the winter season in my home country Belgium, so when I left the house I was a bit worried that the fog would remain for the whole morning. I was delighted to see most people made it on time, with @Tbone being the winner as he arrived shortly after me. Some came a bit later due to the fog, but these things happen and we need to keep safe in traffic. This was my first ever briefing so I hope i kept it a bit interesting and I heartfully thank the others that stepped in to help to complete and detail on some points. Also this was the first time we started using 3 different frequencies for the separate convoys. We will come back soon with more updates on that as it still needs improvement. After having split up the convoys in two newbie convoys led by @Rahimdad and me, and one slightly more thrilling newbie+ convoy led by @Gaurav, we hit the dunes and started enjoying the beautiful area. @balaji0007 was my second lead and I was really impressed in his calm and composed driving and clear communication. @Denizzalbayrak aka Koleos managed well, so as @Jun Zamora with his Murano. These AWD vehicles unfortunately possess lots of electronical gizmos so I can imagine it’s not always easy to unlock the full power. The next coming months with dryer sand coming up this might become even more challenging. Francesco and his 3.8 Pajero, the Wranglers @Rinelle Sanaani @Colin Jordan @Febin Frederic , @Ahmedmustafa90 his Xterra, were all driving great with their capable cars and with @Javier M as our center key player and @Wrangeld and @Jeepie in the sweep, i was surely in good company. The tow rope stayed in the car, only some small refusals kept us a bit busy and at the same time we got to learn something. Again thanks for Richard, Rahim and others who were at the top helping out @Jun Zamora and a special thanks to @Javier M to lead him around the mountain. My apologies for not having the proper place and time to do a full debriefing and feedback session after the drive, we lost a bit of time climbing over Fossil Rock. We will make that up on the next drives. I thank you all for joining us on this beautiful morning and hope to see you all back soon !

I am the whole month on standby, but who knows, maybe the rostering gods have something good for me.

Finally, the much awaited Liwa drive. Absolutely looking forward to it. It seems that Emmanuel is so excited that he is already been camping in Liwa for the past 3 weeks. So that's where you have been buddy. 😁

What industry do you work in? What job are you looking for? Maybe someone here can help? Dont forget to look at indeed, bayt and dubizzle. The market is tough at the minute. I’ve been searching for a new job for the last 3 months and I’ve been getting offers but most of them have been stupid offers. Last offer I had was 4K per month to manage a garage. 2 years ago that would have been a 15k minimum job. There are so many new people coming to Dubai looking for jobs and offering to do the work for a quarter of the price, so the older more experienced people are getting pushed out. Racism is a big issue too. When you read the ads you see, European only, kabayan only, Indian only, Pakistani only. Illegal, but nothing is ever done about it. A lot of people get hired because of the colour of their skin, wether they can do the job or not. When I first came to UAE I had a hard time getting a job as a mechanic. People would always tell me white people cant be mechanics. Of course they can, I’m from a white country, all the mechanics are white, but here people looked at me like some sort of novelty because only brown people can be mechanics here. Then you’ve got wasta and nepotism. People will hire people they know, just because they know them. It doesn’t matter if they can do the job. You really need to do something to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Have something nobody else has and make yourself noticeable. I used to have people sending me CVs every day. Most of them went straight in the bin. But, a good CV will stand out and be noticed. Change your CV around and make it applicable to the job you are applying for. Don’t just make one generic CV and send it to everyone. Changing a few sentences here and there can make it seem like you’re really interested in that particular job and make you stand out. You need to sell yourself. It’s not the employers job to make you shine, it’s yours. I won’t lie to you and say the job market here is awesome, because it isn’t. Finding a job takes persistence and hard work. When you’re working you work 8 hours a day, maybe more. When you’re not working, that’s 8 hours a day you should be spending looking for work. The most important thing is don’t give up hope. Keep searching. If you try hard enough, you will get there in the end. It will take time but you will get there. Stay positive, keep applying. Print your CVs and go and visit companies in your industry. You can always sell yourself better personally than you can from an email. Good luck