Describe an enjoyable activity you did recently

The activity I want to describe is sandboarding, which I tried for the first time about two weeks ago. It is like snowboarding, but you go down on the sand dunes instead of snow. I always wanted to try it, but I never got the chance.

We did it in the red dunes outside Riyadh, about one hour drive from the city. We went in the late afternoon, because in the middle of the day it is too much hot. The dunes there are very high and the colour of the sand is really orange, especially when the sun go down.

I went with my two cousins, Faisal and Nawaf, and my younger brother. Faisal is very sporty and he had done it before, so he was teaching us. Honestly, I was falling many times at the beginning, and every time I fell, my brother was laughing at me so loudly. But after one hour I could go down without falling, which was a big achievement for me.

I enjoyed it because it was something completely new and exciting, and I felt like a child again. After that we did a fire and grilled some chicken, and we sat under the stars and talked until late. Nobody was looking at their phone, which it is rare in my family. It was one of the best evening I had this year.

Something I really enjoyed recently was sandboarding, which I finally got round to trying a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically snowboarding, except you're sliding down sand dunes instead of a snowy slope.

We went to the red dunes about an hour outside Riyadh. We set off in the late afternoon, because in the middle of the day the sand is far too hot to even stand on, and by the time we got there the light was turning everything a deep orange. Some of the dunes are surprisingly steep, so standing at the top for the first time was quite nerve-racking.

I went with my cousins, Faisal and Nawaf, and my little brother. Faisal's been doing it since years, so he took it upon himself to teach the rest of us, which mostly involved him shouting instructions while I fell over again and again. My brother found my wipeouts absolutely hilarious, but after an hour or so I managed a whole run without falling, and I was ridiculously proud of myself.

I think what made it so enjoyable was the combination of the adrenaline and the people. Afterwards we lit a fire, grilled some chicken and sat out under the stars talking until nearly midnight, and for once nobody was glued to their phone. It felt like a proper break from routine, and we've already planned to go back next month.

I'd go for sandboarding, which I tried for the first time a couple of weekends ago and haven't stopped talking about since. For the uninitiated, it's essentially snowboarding on sand: you strap your feet onto a board and carve your way down a dune, or, in my case, mostly tumble down it.

We drove out to the red sand dunes, roughly an hour west of Riyadh, and timed it for late afternoon, once the worst of the heat had passed. That turned out to be the right call, because as the sun dropped, the whole landscape glowed a sort of burnt orange, and from the crest of the highest dune the city was just a smudge on the horizon.

There were four of us: my cousins Faisal and Nawaf, my thirteen-year-old brother and me. Faisal is a seasoned boarder, so he appointed himself instructor, although his teaching style was mainly yelling "lean back!" as I somersaulted past him. My brother nearly cried with laughter at every fall, but by sunset I'd strung together a clean run from top to bottom, and I don't think I've felt that elated in ages.

Why did I enjoy it so much? Partly it was the thrill of doing something I was genuinely bad at and getting better within an hour. But it was also what came after: we built a fire, grilled chicken and lay back on the cooling sand, picking out constellations. Nawaf, who claims to know them all, got about half of them right. Nobody checked their phone once, which in my family is practically unheard of.