http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , Oman en-us Thu, 03 Dec 09 14:49:55 +0000 Thu, 03 Dec 09 14:49:55 +0000 During the course of my work it is necessary for me to visit the hotels and resorts that are included in my companyrsquos holiday programme Luxury Hotel Holidays.Luxury Hotel Holidays is an independent specialist tour operator promoting an extensive programme of quality holidays to the most popular worldwide destinations. The hotels have been selected by our experienced staff who have assessed http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-445516.html http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-442977.html Khasab TownKhasab Town is the regional center of Musandam Sultanate of Oman. It is located very close to the Strait of Hormuz about 60 km away from Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates about 2 and half hours from Dubai. It is known for fishing and diving Khasab is currently evolving as a tourist destination the diving in the area being well known for its challenges. Mountain safaris are http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Musandam-Peninsula/Khasab/blog-438895.html Just returned from a fantastic trip to Abu Dhabi Oman This was a wonderful itinerary which was put together in conjunction with Explore Holidays Abu Dhabi Tourism. I was the Etihad Airways escort for a group of Travel Agents on a trade mission to expericence what the region has to offer to the Australian travel market.Day 1 Departing BrisbaneOur Group flew from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi arriv http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/blog-397033.html It took us five days to get to the United Arab Emirates cruising on one engine at about 12 knots. We had plenty to do on board. The shiprsquos staff came up with a number of interesting parties and events such as an Indian Ocean sundowner party the officer talent show and the annual Jimborsquos truck stop caf dinner. We had a party for our group on the aft deck on a beautiful evening with http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-393733.html 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 friend http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Dakhliya/Nizwa/blog-389312.html Unfortunately the photos for this entry have been lost due to a technical glitch at Travelblog. I will get around to reloading them soonWe 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 cou http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Dakhliya/Nizwa/blog-388678.html We decided not to take the 10 hour bus journey from Salalah to Muscat. Instead we flew with Oman Air saving ourselves an awful lot of time and discomfort.On arrival at Seeb International Airport we took a taxi to the Muttrah Corniche area of the city. Now Muscat isn't really a city as such it is more of a collection of towns squeezed between a small mountain range and the coast with fairly large http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-387914.html Muscat Oman.29th marchWe had a later start to our day off ship so decided to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and natter with some friends. We thought that there was no rush to get off as there did not seem much to do at this port. It was a lovely sail in though pretty and moody. It was a very hot day32ish degrees. Murdo had bought me a foldup Vietnamese straw hat which worked a treat even if I di http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-387304.html 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 sunshineSalalah 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Dhofar/Salalah/blog-386700.html Before leaving the Middle East I have squeezed in one last road trip to Oman my favourite Gulf country. I drove from Ajman to Muscat then the next day set off up the coast stopping off to explore Wadi Tiwi which was beautiful and a local Omani showed me around. I was impressed that after only 7 weeks Arabic classes I actually managed to have a conversation Another stop in Sur a fishing town on http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/blog-376363.html ...da sind wir wieder...Diesmal mit einem kleinen Bericht zu unserem 2. Ausflug in den Oman.Ursprnglich hatten wir geplant mehrere Tage in den Oman zu fahren. Daraus wurde leider nichts weil ich kurzfristig fr den nchsten Tag ein Vorstellungsgesprch 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 Kste entlag http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-372238.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/blog-371285.html Muscat the capitalThe 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. B http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-363807.html ...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 wel http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Sharqiya/blog-363806.html Doors en masseWhen 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Sharqiya/blog-362454.html 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 SuQuaim Ras al Kaihman und haben nach einer kleinen Suche auch die Grenze zum Oman entdeckt.Der Grenzbergang ist natrlich nicht so einfa http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Musandam-Peninsula/Khasab/blog-361973.html Five days on the road or how to crash a car in OmanIn 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 anyo http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Sharqiya/blog-359662.html 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.Arr http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-357654.html Happy New Year and all my Wishes to all of you. Let's hope 2009 will be as good as 2008Welcome to 2009 What a better way to close 2008 than by a little dive trip. The challenge was not that easy thistime...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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Oman/Muscat/blog-357586.html