The UAE is oriented towards the sea.

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Qawain and Ras Al Khaimah face west to the Gulf. Fujairah faces east to the Indian Ocean; Sharjah touches both bodies of water.

The explanation for the waterside population centers is easy: Between those bodies of water is not much more than desert. One of the driest deserts in the world. The Rub Al Khali, or Empty Quarter.

Most of the year, you don’t go into the Empty Quarter without a good reason. It is extremely hot, often trackless among shifting dunes, and offroaders have been known to perish out there.

But in the winter? Now?

That’s when Emiratis love to go inland, and perhaps race up the side of what might be the world’s tallest sand dune.

The Liwa International Festival is this week. Liwa Oasis is the most remote population area in the country, right on the edge of the Empty Quarter, near the notional Saudi Arabia border.

But now that things have cooled off, it is a good place to gather and put up tents and race camels and show off falcons — and do some dune-bashing, as it is known here.

When you have the Tel Moreeb Dune out there (photo above, credit Chris Pike/The National), a mountain of sand, all 400 feet of it, well, if you have a buggy or a four-wheel drive, the temptation to run on up to the top has to be powerful.

Races are organized, during the festival.

Most of the year, the 8 million residents of the UAE huddle along the shoreline, with a few expections.

But this month and the next few months, the desert loses its edge and becomes a playground. Much more fun, that way.