Blogs from Oman, Middle East - page 21

Not far from Dubai lies Oman, and in Dubai lives my sister with her family and for this reason I find myself writing about a little camping trip that she took me on. Six Arabian nights we spend under the moon of Oman, and in doing so I discovered what beauty is hidden away in the folds of the Hajar Mountains of this country. Now camping with a family is of course different than camping with friends, but my nephew Teagan of five and my niece Zara of three behaved very well considering the amount of driving and hiking they were put through. Of course there was the usual fighting, bickering and crying, but on the whole I can say that they kept themselves very good and I think they enjoyed it as much as the ... read more

Unfortunately the photos for this entry have been lost due to a technical glitch at Travelblog. I will get around to reloading them soon! We left Muscat behind and battled the traffic until we got past Seeb International Airport. Then it was plain sailing and we continued on towards Nizwa with very few other cars on the road. There wasn't much to see on the way and the one thing we tried to, we couldn't find! Therefore we found ourselves in a seemingly deserted Nizwa in time for lunch. We ate in a cheap biriyani restaurant where the food was good, but we had to sit in a side room. Such is life in some Omani restaurants when there are women in your group! Strangely though, there was only one toilet which it was fine to ... read more

Oman, the land of Frankincense, or is that Yemen?! Well, the two countries probably share the moniker. We were happy just to be in a land of rugged coastlines, beautiful beaches and hot sunshine! Salalah is located in the South of Oman, not too far from the Yemeni border. We stayed for a few days with Peta who we had met during summer school in Damascus last year. It was wonderful to catch up with her and her friends, and to learn all about life as an ex-pat teacher in Salalah. It's now high on our list of future possibilities!!! Peta was an excellent host, leaving us to do our own thing (like sleep off the effects of the 16 hour bus journey from Dubai!) when necessary and showing us around the area when we felt ... read more

...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 B: Wir sind in Hatta über die Grenze gefahren und sind dann bis zur Küste und dann die Autobahn 01 Richtung Muscat an der Küste entlang gefahren. Leider führt die Straße nicht direkt an der ... read more

...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 to visit. Wadi Bani Khaled is one of the most popular and most easily accessible wadis in Oman. There is a big parking lot at the entrance to the wadi and walking paths leads to ... read more