Oman...
March 3 - 9, 2001
I must say that I didn't really deserve this vacation, only being back at school for two weeks since my adventures in Egypt, but I will not complain about that!
Not too many people go to Oman, and some may not even have heard of it. Please pardon the obvious cheese - but Ohhhh Man is this place beautiful! If you are in the Middle East and you miss this gem, you are missing a lot!
My adventure begins a mere hour and a
half after returning to school from my one day work week. I was picked
up and taken to the airport to set off on yet another adventure. I
didn't completely know what to expect and like always felt unprepared. I
think that that is just the way that I like it though! We (myself and
Martha McCleary a Queen's grad and fellow Bahrain teacher) landed in Muscat
late on Saturday, exhausted from the work week! We headed to the hotel
and were informed if we waited for a little bit we could get an water front
room. Sounds great, it is important to get whatever you can when you are
staying at the cheapest hotel in the city! So we left our bags and
headed for the souq, which we had both been told was the best in the Middle
East. The ceiling of the souq are a colorful wicker array and the
lighting is very cool. We wandered around and I was immediately struck
by the fact that unlike Bahrain we were the only white people in there.
I think Martha was more aware of this as the eyes of the men present locked on
her and followed her until she was out of sight. We walked around
Muttrah until a little after midnight and then returned to the hotel in time
to catch CNN's special on the Hajj - before bed.
-- you're welcome Miss.
McCleary
The next day we enjoyed breakfast in the hotel before renting a car and leaving Muscat in the rear view mirror - our plan was to dive but being the well prepared travelers that we are everything was booked solid until the end of the week. We headed south from Muscat and the beauty of this unknown country was released upon me. It was honestly like nothing that I have ever seen before! Our first step was the village of Nizwa a little more then an hour from the city. Here we wandered through a fantastic fortress and the ruins of the old part of town. Before ending up in a small but incredible souq. We were the only white people here as well and I couldn't help but think about how life itself is a completely gendered experience! We had originally planned to pitch the tent somewhere in mountains surrounding Nizwa but I was uncontrollably drawn to a turnoff I had passed a little before Nizwa. As our plan was to go whichever way we were drawn we headed in the direction of my urge- to Wadi Muaydin (wadi - a dried up river bed that floods after rainfall; hello geography degree!). If you think there are a lot of SUV's in your city or surrounding area, maybe even too many then you are probably right - but you haven't seen anything until you have been to Oman, everyone I mean EVERYONE has one. The key difference of course in Oman YOU NEED IT! Not us, the frugal travelers that we are saved $40 (cdn.) a day and opted for the sedan - a Mitsubishi Lancer. Someone however forget to explain to me (the sole driver) that cars should be driven as cars and not SUV's. The "road" to the Wadi Muaydin was marginally better then the 401 - pre Columbus. We were amazed when after falling the trail for more then forty-five minutes a small village popped up out of nowhere! Eventually we reached a point in the road that even my pea-brain concluded was impassable, so I pulled the car over under a tree (narrowly avoiding the stray bull - not kidding) and we continued on foot. Our troubles were greatly rewarded and we camped at the bottom of the wadi, where mountains rose to the sky in every direction. Here we set up, and quickly went to sleep.
Our plan to camp to the west of a large tree for shade rewarded us immediately and we were able to sleep in until the sun awoke us - 8:00. As I yawned and emerged from the tent I realized that I was surrounded completely by mountain goats. They didn't seem to mind us invading there grazing space and they didn't both us so we managed to coexist in peace. As a young villager watched over his flock he seemed to be shocked at the white creatures that had emerged from the silver dome shaped space pod, but he too was content not to bother or be bothered. After we lazily took down our camp we hiked for a couple hours up into the wadi - that's right you guessed it - it was absolutely gorgeous! We ran into some radio operators from the British army who gave us cold water. I think that they would have traded anything for a word, they seemed terribly bored acting as a home base for a historical course of an old SAS battleground vs. the Omani rebels. After our hike we returned to find our car in one piece, and to our amazement we saw another sedan parked next to it! An Irishman was oiling up his mountain bike and inquired about our night and morning, he was a great guy who happened to work for Omani Tourism. He suggested we take a look at Wadi Bani Khalid and supplied us with the necessary maps. We bounced our way along the trail from last night and hit tarmac in what seemed like far less time. We pointed west and headed to Bani Khalid. It was a long drive, but the crazy hills, mad hairpin turns and 120 km speed limit made me glad that Martha couldn't drive stick. Thank-you Mr. Enticknap as your excuse to drive tape made for the perfect accompaniment. I have to say yet again how beautiful this country is! It wasn't long before we hit the turn for Wadi Bani Khalid where we grabbed the food that was absolutely necessary. The road into to Wadi Bani Khalid reminded me of cruising through Majorca a year early and was as gorgeous as any road that I had ever scene. The Wadi which was well signed from the highway proved difficult to find however when we got closer. We did some trial and error (more of the ladder) and asked some locals many of the children had blood stained feet and hands and seemed more interested in practicing their English (money, money). The blood came from the sacrificing of a goat for the Eid celebrations. We eventually found another 4X4 only road, which the Lancer and I defied leading to the bottom of the Wadi. It had been a very long day and despite the beautiful scenery I was anxious to see it without a steering wheel blocking my view! As we climbed up the wadi and I got my first glimpse it became apparent why two people had said not to miss this place. We hike down around dusk to get things for the night I really didn't like the way which people were watching us take out big packs from the car. I especially didn't like it when an Indian gentleman begged us to change our mind and sleep elsewhere for the safety of both the car and us. Not the kind of omen I was hoping for on our way in for the night. This guy made us both a little freaked but we headed on our stubborn path.
That night a spiritual revelation
occur. We made a deal with any and everyone that could possibly be all
powerful above and learning from my experience in Turkey offered in exchange
for a safe night (for both us and the car) to give away a bunch of money to
needy children. This calmed us and we had an incredible night swim in
the wadi and hiked and played the morning away neither of us admitting to our
nervousness. This place is incredible!!
An odd thing happened at this wadi something that I don't remember happening before.
It has always seemed to me that road or walk out of a place is always shorter
then the way in. However in this case as we walked toward the unknown
results of our car's lonely night it seemed to take forever. I had
already made a donation in good faith and was overjoyed to find a car in one
piece with tires full of air on my return. I immediately set down my bag
and headed to a family - or the male components of the family - who were
around a fire cooking something. One of them spoke very good English and
I explained my story to him and asked if it was alright if I gave some of the
children around some money. He agreed and we chatted for a long
time. I was not able to leave before he grabbed a palm leave, deftly
made a skewer of it and slapped some goat meat on it and threw it into the
flames. Having watched this goat get skinned on my way in I was intrigued
and welcomed the chance to enjoy some true celebration feast. The goat
was great and spiced incredibly, and I wished the entire group Eid Mubarak
before pointing the car back down the "road" in search of tarmac to
take us further east.
We found and with the red (PEI-esque) sands of the Waheba Sands to the right we headed to the beach town of Sur stopping to explore along the way. When we arrived at Sur, we were disappointed in the beach that we found so after exploring a little we turned - stupidly of course - onto another 4X4 only road and headed for Ras Al Hadd, one of the last remaining nesting grounds for the endangered sea turtles of the area. We knew it wasn't nesting season but thought it might be fun. This road was different then the others as it was more then 70 kilometres of "4X4 only" this ensured that pretty much everything free in the car was shook madly. We hit Ras Al Hadd and decided to stop for something to eat, there was a little place and its clientelle forced me to ask if it would be ok if a woman came in to eat. I was assured this was ok, but knew that this was an epic day in the history of the town. I think people actually went to get friends to get a look at the white woman. It reminded me of the Simpsons episode - come for the freak stay for the food. We both ate until we were filled and the made the necessary $2 Cdn. dollars that was required. The secret to eating cheap is find the towns that have not figured out what tourist tax means!! We left and headed for the beach of Ras al Hadd where we swam and frolicked, in the sinking sun's rays. There was a large festival going on so the beach was rather busy, I knew the giants we were hoping to see on the beach would not be seen tonight. I was a little disappointed at this, then our neighbour came over and asked us to come over for something to eat. We headed over and obviously have different ideas of what it means to have "a little" something to eat! There snack included freshly caught fish, chicken, bread and even a giant grab that they had caught on the beach that morning. Khalid helped his dad run a guesthouse in Muscat and he was there with a man who was only referred to as "uncle" and "uncle's" two sons. What hospitality! "Would you like some more bread?" "No I couldn't," "take it....take it" eventually we ate more and more and more! My second Eid feast in as many days and it was incredible. This foursome was not unlike many people I know in Canada, they were fisherman and campers, and whenever holidays allowed they left the ladies in the city and packed up their homemade trailer and pointed the car somewhere new. It was really incredible. We walked and waited but the turtles did not like the crowds and stayed away from the beach. There were however at least fifty dolphins swimming and jumping a couple hundred metres off of the beach - cool!
We awoke early in the heat and swam a little before gassing up (at a manual pump) and then began bouncing across the 70 kilometres of "off road" and then began heading back to Muscat. It was a long and beautiful drive and we stopped whenever we felt like it to see forts, ruins, or anything else that was in any of the four different guide books that made up the arsenal of the unprepared travelers. We arrived back in Muscat and decided we should check out some of the mountain drives before returning the car. They were amazing and the villages that were at the end were beautifully tucked into their coves. On the way to drop off the car we decided to head to one more beach, when we got there we realized it was private and owned by the Omani Dive Centre. There were tents on the beach and we both liked the idea of staying out of the hotel for another night. As luck would have it two people were in the process of canceling there dive trip for the next day, and we fit in just about perfectly. We called the hotel and the car rental agency and said we would be a day late and then canceled out dive reservation with the other company. We swam and ate and sat on the deck and played cards long into the night.
We woke up and grabbed a coffee before diving, I started cracking up as I saw three teachers from my school who had come to the centre for a day of snorkelling. Then flabbergasted when they told me they had just bumped into Mark and Elly - the other half of the Queens/Bahrain teaching posse. We had missed each other early in the week and we discovered that the night before had seen us sleeping on opposite ends of the SAME beach. Too much. They were snorkeling too and as luck would have it their boat would be at the same sites as our dive boat. Diving in Oman was great and we say lots - including massive honey comb morays, and smaller silver ones that look exactly like the reef; a sleeping ray; and more fish that were almost impossible to differentiate from the reef which camouflaged them. After the day on the water we ate with Mark and Elly and then all decided that we would go do a little shopping and hang out as they had to leave at midnight. I ended up with some frankincense and a traditional framed dagger - which was seized at Bahraini customs. My spending entitled me to a draw ticket, and the luck of the trip did not fail me as I won a crystal dish! We returned our rental car after taking it 1222 kilometres before having dinner with Mark and Elly wishing them safe journeys as they headed for the airport. The next day would be our last and as it was Friday of Eid, much was closed. We hiked and walked and killed time in juice bars and wherever we felt like it. We then took on the adventure of riding the mini bus - a far different experience for Martha the me as yet again she was the only woman - and ended up at an amusement park which easily sucked our last Rials before we headed to the airport to return to Bahrain.
In short - (save the smart alec comments thanks) - Oman is absolutely beautiful, friendly and is really still a hidden gem. If you ever get the opportunity go there! If you want any more specifics just email me. Thanks so much Martha for an incredible week! Thanks also to all the people who helped us and put us on the paths that we followed. If you want to see pictures click on the arrow pointing to the right below.
cheers,
mark
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