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Published: November 8th 2008
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Nuweiba port
Before getting on the ferry to Jordan I've been less than diligent with the blogging, my apologies. I didn't think I had much to post on here until I realized that I have some Jordan photos and videos stashed away in my camera, so I'll put them up. Also, I wanted to tell you all about my upcoming trip.
I've been spending the past few weeks mulling over travel options for Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), which is a Muslim holiday that celebrates Abraham's sacrificing of a lamb to God in place of his son Isaac. (At least I think that's how it goes, I really should brush up on my biblical/Qu'ranic history.) I get a full week off from classes the first week in December, so I was thinking somewhere exotic and a little out of the way. It took me only about 3,000 or so flight searches to come to the firm conclusion that reasonably priced airfares in and around the Middle East simply do not exist. I was able to find a decently priced airfare to Nairobi and was thinking Kenya and Tanzania for a week, but (a) visas are $100 for each country, (b) I'd rather do Kenya/Tanzania when I have a
few weeks or a month and (c) I don't feel that yellow fever is a particularly appealing way to spend my holiday given the scarcity of immunization clinics in Cairo. I then looked at Morocco and was about to commit to that but overnight they jacked up the price of a flight to Casablanca by over a hundred dollars. Back to the drawing board. At that point I looked at a world atlas and starting typing random cities within 1,000 miles into the search engine, and made a discovery. A round-trip fare to Muscat is the cheapest international flight you can take from Egypt.
Muscat?
Yes. Muscat.
The capital of Oman, it sits on the northeastern coast of the country on the Arabian Sea. Oman is the easternmost country in the Arabian Peninsula; east of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, north of Yemen, and south across the Gulf of Oman (the mouth of the Persian Gulf) from Iran. After being in the region for a little while, you tend to become familiar with names of out-of-the-way locales that everyone here knows about but most Westerners have never heard of. Muscat is one of these places, but I
knew nothing about it, and very little about Oman for that matter.
I did some research though, and was very surprised with what I found. Oman is an exceedingly beautiful country with much to offer, and is a well-kept secret among those who travel off the beaten path. Its interior contains some of the lushest areas of wilderness in the Middle East due to monsoons originating in India/the Indian Ocean, featuring green mountains, wadis, valleys and waterfalls, all prime spots for hiking and trekking. It has thousands of miles of pristine, untouched beaches. You can camp almost anywhere in the country with no permit and it's one of the safest and stablest countries in the entire region. And it has, from what I've heard, the richest and most diverse culture you'll find in the entire Middle East, along with incredibly friendly and hospitable people.
I know all that sounds like something I copied and pasted from the website of the Omani Ministry of Tourism (interestingly enough, there is actually a Ministry of Camel Affairs in Oman), but I did a lot of research and it really does sound that good. So I'm flying to Muscat on Dec. 3
Aqaba
Jordan is pretty and wandering for 9 days. Besides Muscat, I'm definitely going to Nizwa, a town back in the mountains that I can use as a base for some hiking and camping. Also going to Salalah in the far south near the border with Yemen, which is famous for its frankincense and myrrh (you know me, I'm such an avid collector of exotic fragrances) and also for really nice beaches. I'm planning on camping some, or at least sleeping on the beach for a night or two. Not because I'm
that broke, but because it's not every day you get to sleep under the stars on a beach on the Arabian Sea. I might take a bus from Muscat to Dubai to meet up with a friend who's working for a contractor in Kabul right now, but that's up in the air so we'll see.
I'm sure despite all my research Oman will throw me for a loop, so when I get back I'll tell you firsthand what it's really like. And I'll bring back some good photos too. As for current photos, I'll post the rest of the Jordan ones right now, along with a video I think I have.
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