Winter Break part 2: Oman

Day 4: Friday continued

The drive to Oman wasn’t bad at all, we quickly reached the border which is where the day’s adventures began. We didn’t know what to expect at the border crossing. As we prepared to leave the UAE they informed us that we needed to pay and exit tax… We weren’t planning on having to pay anything else so we hadn’t really saved up any money from Dubai. We quickly grabbed all the bills we had and found out we were short. We then scourged for coins and were able to come up with the exact amount needed and nothing left over- a true Christmas break miracle!

New country means new money

The rest of the border process was relatively and no more miracles were needed until we reached Muscat. Once we arrived in the capital we realized that we had no way of finding apartment of the guy who had agreed to let us couch-surf with him. He had given us his address but it was confusing and impossible to locate on a map.

Since our phones weren’t working out of country, we decided to head to the mall and try and find free wi-fi. Unfortunately we couldn’t connect to the wi-fi. Next we decided to talk to the cabbies to see if they recognized the address of the area that our host was describing. However, they were just as lost as we were. One nice cabbie let me use his phone and I searched the internet for the name of the market he lived above- no luck. He told us that he lived across from the sand dunes parking lot. Not quite sure what that was I googled sand dunes in Muscat and was directed to a boutique hotel nearby, off we went.

Al Wanis Market, the hardest to find market in all of Muscat

We found the hotel quite easily and I went in to talk to the front desk staff. The man didn’t recognize the address either, but he did confirm that there was a market nearby with the same name, he just didn’t know where it was. Luckily he let us use the hotel Wi-Fi and we did some more searching. After no results we headed back to the car. We shared the Wi-Fi info with the other PCVs and when Nate connected to it he got a message from our host!

Our host was out camping in the desert with some other foreign friends but had left a key for us in the market and send a pin with its location. We headed in the direction of the pin and finally found the building, but the market was closed and we were locked out! Luckily there was a Swiss girl also staying there and she had a key but wasn’t home yet. We waited there for about an hour until she showed up to let us in. Finally, we had made it

Day 5: Saturday

The previous night had been a little stressful so we made sure to sleep in and let ourselves relax. It was our first day in Oman and we didn’t really have anything planned. The Swiss girl gave us a tip for a beach to go to and off we went. On the way we came across a grocery store and ventured into by some snacks for the day. Realizing then that we hadn’t really eaten a meal in 24hrs, we decided to venture into the restaurant next door. It was our lucky day and we found ourselves in a small Indian restaurant with hot plates full of chicken biryani coming our way, it was glorious! After devouring all the food in sight for a mere ($3 a person!) we headed back to the beach.

Pristine waters and wonderful cliff-divers

The Omani coast is B-E-A-utiful! It’s made of white rocky landscapes and crystal clear turquoise waters. It was also a balmy 80 something degrees. We were in heaven. We spent the rest of the day relaxing on a pretty private beach and doing some jumping from the cliffs down into the water.

Our fishermen friends in the background

While we were enjoying ourselves on the cliffs, two guys who were fishing called us over and asked if we could jump in and grab whatever they’d caught on the end of their line. I gladly complied and swam over. While I approached they told me it was a squid and I almost lost it. Aren’t squids the giant creatures that terrorize sailors!? Lucky for me they lost it right before I arrived. It turns out that it was a squid, but not dangerous nor as large as I would imagine. They really just needed someone to grab it or put it in a bag since it lost its form once it was reeled in out of the water. What a fascinating creature!

Not quite the squids you were looking for

That night we found ourselves at another random restaurant specializing in SE Asian cuisine. I ate some of the most delicious and spicy chicken pad thai (I may have also mistaken the green beans for peppers…). Once I had sweated out the spice and finished my plate, we returned to the apt and finally met our host, Hamed.

A super salty sea is only really good for one thing- floating!

Hamed is amazing! A single Omani man about our same age, he loves having foreigners stay with him and is very hospitable. We got to know him better, and he helped up plan out the next three days of our trip. We opted for a 3 day 2 night excursion into Oman and he outfitted us with tents, sleeping bags, and other necessities including a portable Wi-Fi hotspot that we could use to get directions and stay in touch with him in case we had any problems. People had told me about the amazing hospitality of Arab culture, but I didn’t have a frame of reference to think about it. Now we were experiencing it first hand and I was amazed.

The Muscat Opera house

Day 6: Sunday

We woke up early and set out on our newly planned Omani adventure. We detoured by the mall to top off our supplies and then headed south to our first destination- Wadi Shab the famous Omani oasis.

Following our trusty guide Habbib

My friend Amber had been in Oman last March and made some friends, she connected us with them and one of them, Habbib, agreed to show us around. We met him in the parking lot and he gave us some instructions and then we were off. We first crossed over in a small boat and then set off on an easy 45 min hike back into the oasis. One we reached a larger swimming hole, Habbib told us to leave everything behind that we didn’t want to get wet. He also offered to take a few cameras with him to keep dry and record some of the journey.

Swim/hiking through the oasis

Next we were wading and swimming our way deeper into the oasis. Eventually arriving at a small passage into a watery cave. Habbib led the way and we swam into this hidden cave. It was amazing! The water was deep all around so you had to tread water the entire time, but there were a few placed to hold on to the rocks and rest. There was also a waterfall and several places to climb up and jump from. Initially the entire process was terrifying- climbing slickrock, maneuvering around high on the cliffs, and jumping down into the water below. After a couple tries we all loved it and spent a good amount of time swimming and diving all over the place.

The water cave in Wadi Shab

After the cave, Habbib led us back to our belongings and we could see all of the people relaxing by the swimming holes completely unaware of the amazing cave nearby. We gathered our things and headed back towards the entrance. We stopped at a location with several tall cliffs which had been used for the Red Bull Cliff Diving championships. There Habbib showed us what was safe and where we could jump from- he estimated that it was about 15 meters or 50 feet above the water.

Group action shot

Finally we made it back to the parking lot. Knowing that Habbib wouldn’t accept any money, we tried to get some food together. However, Habbib ended up treating us to the food as well. Seriously this hospitality can’t be beat! We spent some more time with Habbib, got some advice, and then we were on our way to our next destination near the town of Sur.

Group selfie with Habbib

We passed through the town of Sur, famous for its ship building, and ended up on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula in a town called Ras Al Hadd, famous for the endangered green sea turtles which come to its shores to nest their eggs. We followed the instructions from Hamed and set up our camp near the sea on the beach and then headed to get dinner.

Setting up camp

When we got back from dinner we found that the winds had picked up and done a number to our camp. We fixed and reinforced things and then headed back to our car to find that the battery had died. After remedying that problem we were ready to head out and try our hand at finding the famous sea turtles which come ashore at night.

Habbib had given us some vague instructions- drive to the flashing tower, park 200 m away, walk to the tower, head down to the beach, look for turtles; but since that was all we had to go off of we made it work. Soon we were wandering the beach in the dark looking for turtles. January is the off season so they say it is harder to find them than in the fall when hundreds come ashore each night. However, it was still possible.

Hot on the turtle trail!

After walking for quite some time we came across the tracks of a turtle who had recently come ashore but there were no signs of it anymore. We walked some more and then decided to head back to the car. When we were almost back to the flashing tower we stopped dead in our tracks- there was a massive turtle crawling out of the surf onto the beach! It was amazing. We ran to get closer and one of the others quickly snapped a pic.

Next we hear shouting and a truck that had been driving up the beach stopped and a man gets out to yell at us. He calls us over and begins to ask us what we are doing on the beach at night (I think he was patrolling for poachers). He gave us a good little scare. His last words to us where, “Do you understand me!? Turtle die now. Turtle dead. You kill turtle!!”

The controversial turtle shot

Apparently flash photography scares the turtles and they don’t stay to nest their eggs. We did some research later and saw that loud yelling and car headlight are just as terrifying for the turtles so we don’t feel so bad. We also didn’t read anything which said that the turtles would die… I think we are ok. Either way we decided that it was best to head back to our camp and give up our turtle searching activities for the night- no one wanted more turtle blood on their hands.

Back at camp we recovered from the scare, built a fire, and enjoyed the rest of our evening under the stars. It was warm and sandy but I still slept like a baby.

Day 7: Monday

Waking up to the sound of waves breaking in the surf was great. I would say it felt like home, but you’d have to replace the waves with farm animals to get the same effect. Our plan for the day wasn’t very full so we had plenty of time to just sit around and do nothing. Once we had cleaned up our camp we decided to drive back to Sur and visit the rental car office (one of the only ones in the country) to see what we could do about the battery. It ended up being a smart move, because they needed to replace the battery, but it also took over two hours of our day. We had to scratch camel riding in the desert and watching the shipbuilders, but I assume it’s a case a better safe than sorry.

Some fishing boats near where we camped

We started our drive inland and got to our first destination Wadi Bani Khalid which was another oasis. This one was full of huge deep crystal clear pools and just as fun to explore. This time I brought some swimming goggles along and I was able to see all of the fish swimming around. They even had those tiny fish which eat the dead skin off of your feet. We just didn’t have time to sit and wait for them to nibble it all off.

Wadi Bani Khalid

This oasis visit was also a great opportunity for us to bathe ourselves since we hadn’t been able to really wash our hair or anything after playing in the sea and oasis the past two days. When you have to spend a lot of time in a car with people, it’s best to try to make sure each person’s smells aren’t too overpowering.

Pristine waters

After another hour of driving we reached our next campsite out in the middle of the desert. We drove to the end of the pavement, turned off into the desert, parked the car, climbed some dunes, and set up camp near some trees. This time we were more careful with how we set things up, to avoid any more problems with the wind.

We found our next campsite

After setting up camp we took the easy route and decided to drive back to the nearest town rather than bother with cooking on our own. The restaurant we found said traditional Omani on the sign and we hungrily entered. The workers seemed generally surprised to see foreigners in the restaurant and there was quite a language barrier, but we worked it out. We ended up sitting on the floor eating with our hands and having a great time. Who knows what we ate, but for the most part it was all pretty good.

Our first true Omani meal

We had a lot easier time finding out camp in the dark and built another fire in the sand. We spend the rest of the night lying in the sand and discussing the wonders of the universe (or just playing would you rather and talking about Peace Corps). That night we fell asleep to the sounds of some camel doing who-knows-what in the distance while sand swirled around in the air and piled up in and outside of the tent.

Our desert campsite

Day 8: Tuesday

The night was a lot cooler, and the morning seemed to come sooner with a misty sunrise and the sounds of the morning call to prayer wafting through the desert to our tent. It was beautiful. However the peaceful moment was destroyed by bodily needs as we each had to head out into the desert, find a secluded place and do our business.

Misty morning

Our drive that day took us into the mountain region and to the city of Nizwa where we toured their large ancient fort, learned more about Omani history, and shopped their famous souk (market). After being out in nature for the past couple days we quickly grew tired of the city and decided to move on to Misfat al Abriyyin, a nearby town that Hamed had recommend that we visit.

Nizwa fort

We didn’t know what we were getting into by heading to this town, but it was fantastic. It ended up being a small village built into the hillside over another oasis. We wandered the beautiful streets and explored the oasis. The sights were wonderful, once we were tired we were invited to a covered patio area to have water, coffee, and some Omani dates- which once again were given to us without price.

Misfat al Abriyyin

After relaxing for a bit we explored some more of the village and climbed up to an old tower. On the way down we took a wrong turn short cut and ended up crossing through some villagers stable area full of farm animals and tried to politely get back to the car without getting kicked by a donkey or offending anyone around us. I figured the least we could do would be to try and not offend anyone given their incredible hospitality.

The tower we hiked up to

It was then time to return to Muscat and catch up with Hamed who was excited to hear about our adventures. We attempted to find some famous restaurant and failed miserably- navigating Oman with it’s never ending roundabouts and confusing streets is not an easy task. However everything ended well and we went to bed early, exhausted from three days on the road.

Day 9: Wednesday

Muscat's Grand Mosque

We had finally reached the last day of our trip. We got up early and loaded the car for our trip back to Dubai later that day. We then set off to visit the Grand Mosque nearby. It wasn’t as impressive as the one in Abu Dhabi, but it was much more peaceful. It also boasted the world’s second largest chandelier- over 14 meters tall! It was a beautiful and calm oasis in the middle of a bustling city.

Massive chandelier

Our last stop was the souks built up for cruise ship tourists, but it worked in our favor and we were able to do much better bargaining there than we had been able to do anywhere else in the country. We left the souk with many trinkets and then found ourselves back at the same grocery story and restaurant we had visited on our first day in Muscat. Another delicious Indian meal later we were ready to drive back to Dubai.

Leaving the mosque

The drive was a lot less exciting this time around since we knew what to expect. We made it back to the airport on time and dropped off the car and then waited for our flight which wasn’t leaving until later that evening. We took off around 11:30pm and landed in the amazing Doha airport which was hard to really take advantage of since it was midnight and the only chance we would have to sleep that night.

Last stop- shopping in the souk

We finally touched down in Tbilisi with some trepidation on Thursday afternoon. Our dream like vacation was over and it was time for us to go back to our towns and villages to continue our volunteer work.

Just trying to hold on to sunny memories now that I'm back in the cold...

The Gulf States had treated us well, especially Oman. The hospitality of the people we met was amazing. We were definitely strangers in a strange land, but they made us feel at home. I’ve never studied mush about Islam or Muslim life and culture, I just know they there is a lot of misconceptions out there. The world is a big place full of a wide variety of people, but no matter where I go I am welcomed by kind and caring individuals. I am sure that Islamophobia will continue as long as there are wars in the Middle East and the threat of global terrorism continues, but I am glad that I will always be able to remember the time I spent visiting their mosques and experiencing a sliver of their culture. Travel really is fatal to prejudice and ignorance.