...da sind wir wieder... Diesmal mit einem kleinen Bericht zu unserem 2. Ausflug in den Oman. Ursprünglich hatten wir geplant mehrere Tage in den Oman zu fahren. Daraus wurde leider nichts, weil ich kurzfristig für den nächsten Tag ein Vorstellungsgespräch bekommen habe. Also wurde aus Plan A wie so oft im Leben Plan B und aus 3 Tage - ein Tag. Plan A: Wir hatten eigentlich geplant an der Küste entlag bis nach Muscat (= Hauptstadt) zu fahren, dort zu übernachten und uns am nächsten Tag Muscat anzusehen und dann ins Western Hajar Gebirge zu fahren und dort zu wandern... Plan [View Full Entry]

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Christmas and New Year in a land where men wear dresses Two years ago dad told us that we were going to visit a country called Yeah Man. Back then we thought daddy was joking with us. Dad's jokes are so silly and stupid that you wouldn't believe it. And a country just can't be called Yeah Man. But it turned out that there actually is a country called Yeah Man. Well, strictly it's called Yemen but that is almost the same, isn't it? If you want to read about our adventures there you can follow this link. [View Full Entry]

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...and yes, I simply love sand dunes After we left Sur and the coast our first stop was Wadi Bani Khaled. Oman is a dry land. One of the few places where fresh water can be found is in the valleys, the so called Wadis. Since there is water in the wadis that is also a place where you can find some vegetation and where you can have a swim. A swim in fresh water is a rare thing in a country where well over 90% of the land is desert so it is quite understandable that the wadis are popular [View Full Entry]

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Muscat - the capital The capital of Oman is named Muscat. I spent time there in the beginning of the trip, in the middle of the trip and in the end of the trip. But I left it to the last of my blog entries to actually write about it. Most of the time I was in Muscat I stayed in an area called Muttrah. It is in Muttrah you find the cheapest hotels and that was the primary reason for me to be there. But Muttrah is also a nice part of Muscat and it has a few attractions so [View Full Entry]

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Doors en masse When Jordi and I were in Sur we walked through the streets of the Old Town. Maybe the name Old Town is a bit misleading because I don't know if this part of the city is any older than any other part. But to me it looks like and old town so I call it Old Town. In the Old Town I especially liked the doors of the houses. The houses themselves were mostly quite dull to be honest, but the doors were nice. Almost every house had an interesting door. The doors came in many different colours [View Full Entry]

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Gestern haben wir einen Kurztrip in den Oman gemacht. Ziel unseres Ausflugs war Musandam. Dies ist die Spitze der arabischen Halbinsel und man ist erstaunt wie nah man auf einmal dem Iran ist. Wir fuhren durch die arabischen Emirate (Dubai, Sharja, Adjman, Um Su´Quaim, Ras al Kaihman) und haben nach einer kleinen Suche auch die Grenze zum Oman entdeckt. Der Grenzübergang ist natürlich nicht so einfach wie der in der EU. Wobei das Schwierige nicht das Ausfüllen der Papiere oder die 2-3 unterschiedlichen "Haltestelle" je Grenzland waren, sondern wir mussten für den Grenzübergang Geld bezah [View Full Entry]

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Five days on the road or how to crash a car in Oman In this blog entry I would like to start by writing a little about Oman as a country and how it is to travel there. Oman is situated on the edge of the Arabic Peninsula. The neighboring countries are Yemen, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The people here are very friendly. In the days I have been here I have not seen a single trace of anyone disliking me or having a grudge against westerners or tourists. I have for instance been invited to private homes and [View Full Entry]

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Happy New Year and all my Wishes to all of you. Let's hope 2009 will be as good as 2008! Welcome to 2009! What a better way to close 2008 than by a little dive trip. The challenge was not that easy this time...wanted a place where I could depart from Luxembourg between the 26th December and be back on the 2nd January. A place were I could dive, in a country I hadn't visited yet. My shortlist ended up with Djibouti, Cuba and Oman. Really want to see Cuba, but seems that at the only great reef, the boats are [View Full Entry]

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Oman revisited. On leaving Yemen I heard that a German UN worker and her parents had been kidnapped. The Locals seemed to think that they would not be harmed as they were just being used as leverage by the tribesmen against the government. I was quite pleased to be going away from all the smoke, it was beginning to affect my chest. Even at Sana'a airport I could not find a spot to avoid the smoke. Arriving in Oman at 11pm I had reserved a room in a hotel in Seeb a town about 40 kms from Muscat. It was slightly [View Full Entry]

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Sand dunes beat the hell out of snowdrifts For this year's Christmas vacation I decided to go to Oman. People have for the last couple of months asked me why and I couldn't really explain. Well, here is the best explanation I can come up with. Oman • Daylight - 12 hours a day • Temperature - 25 degrees in the shade in the daytime • Typical weather - sunshine Sweden • Daylight - 4 hours a day • Temperature - hovers around 0 • Typical weather - cloudy sky and rain Add to this that I found a cheap flight [View Full Entry]

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