Salalah, Day 2

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I wish I could say I slept better, but the hard beds caused me to wake around 3 am. I had to get up and walk around my room for a while. I was looking forward to seeing the stars, but it was quite hazy out. If I were ever to come here again, I would love to go into the mountains to see the night sky...

In the morning, I woke and tried to book my return flight from Dubai to Doha and what a nightmare that turned out to be! I stood on the balcony one last time to listen to the waves and see the beautiful beach and I noticed a man in orange coveralls, picking up all the trash on the beach. We had seen a similar guy picking up the trash outside the bakery the day before. One of my least favorite things about the middle east is the trash everywhere, particularly in Qatar, so it was so nice to see a place that took pride in their surroundings. Simply beautiful.

We did a breakfast repeat, and I actually saw a woman walk by as we ate! Seriously, we are all thinking this whole trip: "Where are the women??" We did not see a single woman the day before aside from the Indian tourist who wanted a photo with us (and the westerners at Crowne Plaza which don't count). I guess they stay inside? Is this smart or sad? Probably a toss up!

After breakfast and checking out, we made our way south and west this time. First stop: the Frankencense Trail! Jamie and I were both looking forward to this - on the map there was a line of frankincense trees making its way through the mountain road, the only road that seemed to go this way. I drove and the mountain road was steeper than I think any of us thought. Another nice, newly constructed road, and again, no beeping for the slow trucks that made their way up, up, up! When we got to the top, all we could think was how desolate this place is (and how thankful we didn't drive from Dubai - how boring!). There is literally nothing. Nothing. After a while, we started to wonder if we were going the right way (though, where else could we have possibly gone??). Then we see a sign for the "Frankencense Trail Nature Preserve" - YAY! We turned off, pulled up in the empty parking lot, and..... well. Yet again we were the sole visitors of a park that the country seemed to invest a lot of time and effort into. We walked down some nice stairs, where there was a bench area, which seemed to be a holding spot for something like a bus, only there was no road or anything. The bathrooms looked nice and the small Frankencense trees were obviously irrigated. We saw a couple of laborers in the distance that must tend the trees, and a few dust devils. We got back in the car and thought we'd off road it - I mean, we have a 4WD for a reason, right? So, I got us onto and obvious path which led to the next sign. A duplicate of the first. And a cliff. Nowhere to go. BUMMER!!! So, we made a dangerous illegal turn onto the highway and tried to find another route through the trail. There were a couple of turnoffs, but honestly nothing impressive. Very sad. We tried to go back to Salalah on a back road, but it ended in a town with suspect gravel roads leading in unknown directions so we turned back.

Next stop was Job's tomb, a prophet mentioned in the Old Testament and the Quran. Up another small mountain road, and another empty site. Seriously. We pulled up in the parking lot and the gate was closed and we walked inside "creeeeeaaaakkk" with the wind blowing at our backs. Surreal. One man was inside coming from the mosque and he seemed surprised to see us. But no museum or information or anything. The tomb itself required you to take off your shoes to go inside, but we just looked in the door. My friend says she had to cover up when she was there before, so maybe there are people there occasionally. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the lovely landscaping.

Our final location was the Mughsayl blowholes at the southernmost point of the Dhofar mountains, the last place you can go before heading up the mountains and going to Yemen. We stopped at a gas station to get snacks; a limited supply meant I got pistachios and stale Ritz crackers and a mango juice. Then we parked and actually saw someone at the seaside restaurant. You walk up the stairs and round the corner and WOW!!! What a view!!! So incredible! And even more surprising, we saw two guys enjoying themselves at one of the blowholes. There were three blowholes covered by crates for safety that you could easily access, plus you could see more blowholes along the cliffs up and down the coast. The waves were powerful and crashing into the rocks. It was a beautiful park, but again, empty! After playing with the blowholes, we sat and ate our sad little snacks and just enjoyed the view and our last vista of this terrific weekend. We reminisced about what we were able to do in such a short time, and lamented that so many people seemed to miss this amazing area. Maybe, in the "peak season" which is apparently July and August, there are actually people who come in swarms, but the weather was perfect now and there was not a soul to enjoy what we were. The government seems to have put a lot of money into these nice little parks and they're all free and easily accessible, but now they are just sitting waiting for the people to discover them.

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Photos

Mughsayl blowholes
Jamie is such a wuss

Mughsayl
We started to see people come as we were leaving, including this family

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Oman
Great shot.