Blogs from Oman, Middle East - page 29

And I've got nice teeth too! I'm talking about the camels of course. Salalah, Oman - down near the Yemeni border. Our camping/driving holiday from Al Ain, UAE to Salalah, Oman (near the border with Yemen for those of you without an Atlas close to hand) went pretty well. Only bogged once, only 3 hardship causing windy nights and a few other misdemeanours based on camping incompetence. The windy nights hardship went as follows: (and they weren’t all consecutive thanks be to Allah). Night 1) caused food preparation to take place in the boot of the 4x4, but dinner was achieved sans sand - an impressive feat, you had to be there - wind died down around 8pm and we experienced a glorious first nights camp in the middle of nowhere. (Okay, for those of ... read more

What a country!!!!! Some of the sights of Oman simply have to be seen to be believed...but we'll do our best to convey some of the magic of this country via the blog... First couple of days we lashed out and stayed at the Chedi Hotel. The architecture, ambience, food, service and general experience was just divine. Spent days lying under an umbrella on the beach, evenings playing tennis or grappling with the treadmill and nights eating the most delicious delicious food! We reluctantly checked out of the Chedi to give the credit card a breather and moved into another...'interesting' Omani establishment, the Qurm Beach Hotel. Think 1970's arab kitch design meets bollywood...doozie of a hotel! Spent a few hours wandering around Muscat in the heat of the day and were left wondering why we always ... read more

This is an amazing canyon, some 3000 meters high. Access to it was through a 1.5 hours drive on bumpy roads into and up Wadi Ghul, with a 4WD. All the efforts were worthwhile once I got on top of the mountains, where I don't think words or even the photos could describe its beauty wholly. It is just a spectacular place one should not miss when visiting Oman. Just one thing to note: it could be quite dangerous on the edges of the cliff, as, if one is not careful enough, you or your vehicle could fall down 3000 meters unnoticed. Better go there with a local driver. There is place to stay on top of the Jebel but it is the most basic accommodation. I was based in Nizwa instead, which is an oasis ... read more

The beauty of the Middle East is that everything is so close, including other Muslim countries that appear to serve as Qatar and UAE's equivalent to our Mexico or Cuba. Oman is south of UAE and is absolutely gorgeous, but also friggin' hot. A few of us from work decided to go for a long weekend and check out Muskat, Oman to see what all of the fuss was about (all other expats rave about this country). Well, we're converts now. We've jumped on the bandwagon of the ravers. I won't really go into details about what I did over the weekend, as it will probably put most of you to sleep. My sole intention of going there for the weekend was to relax and de-stress and that I did. The days were filled with lazing ... read more

Had a great day today the guy in the Internet Cafe had my photo software on his machine and he has burned me copy of all my photo's which I will airmail home in the next week. It is bloody hot here today and the place I plan to visit tommorrow registered 43 degrees. So I aint looking forward to the trip down there. I went to the souk which was easily the best yet, I found heaps of presents for Ruthy, I was so excited about the perfume bottles I rang her and in 16 minutes we were on the phone decided to go to New Zealand early next year so I am happy with that. Anyway getting back to the souk there was an excellent range of quality goods although they are more expensive ... read more