Blogs from Oman, Middle East - page 26

Middle East » Oman » Dakhliya » Nizwa December 29th 2007

This had to be one of our most boring days on the road so far. We set off from Sur early in the morning again, after a lovely complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Mum and dad spied some packed lunches being made and decided that it would be a great idea to get some of those for the trip as we weren’t so sure how long we would be on the road today. However I declined the honour of one of these lunches, quite rightly assuming that it wouldn’t really be to my liking. Our travels today took us only on tar sealed roads, and after the adventures of the day before it really was totally boring. But would you believe that Pa Ade still complained about the bumpiness of the road, and how it was ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 10

Middle East » Oman » Muscat December 28th 2007

Mum and I having lunch

Chellebelle

Well today was a HUGE day. We got started really early as we couldn’t wait to get out of the horrible hotel that we were staying in. I have to say that it was probably the worst hotel that I have ever stayed in (and I have stayed in plenty), in terms of the overall impression of the place. So if you are ever in Muscat STAY AWAY from the Majan Continental Hotel. Go somewhere else. So we were all up nice and early (5:30am for Chelle and a little earlier for the elder Ade’s) and managed to get out of the door of the hotel at 7:45am. We hit the road out of Muscat with quite a bit of glee inside us (very glad to get away from that horrible hotel). Ma Ade was a ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 9

Middle East » Oman » Muscat December 27th 2007

Ma and Pa Ade

Chellebelle

Today we hopped back into the car to visit some of the beaches near to Muscat. In particular we were heading towards Yiti and As Sifah. The route we needed to take took us very close to Muttrah where we were yesterday. After navigating our way through the Muscat road system we found ourselves at the start of the route. For some reason I had thought that the start of the route would be a peaceful little turn off, something akin to a turnoff to a beach in Christchurch. However as a complete contradiction the start of the route actually turned out to be this crazy little town, with tiny winding streets, that were full of people, animals and children. After this little part of town the route to the beach then rose steeply, and I ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 8

Middle East » Oman » Muscat December 26th 2007

Mum and I at lunch

Chellebelle

The shopping day! Today was officially dubbed the shopping day by mother, before the day had even began. After the events of yesterday the elder Ade’s had mutinied and decided that they were not getting in the car today and that they wanted to spend the day walking around Muscat. Little did we realise that Muscat is rather spread out and that you can’t really walk around it in the sense that you would walk around a city like Prague. The first task of the day was to find somewhere to clean the car. This actually turned into quite an eventful little mission. The first service station that we pulled up to didn’t have a car wash so we headed back onto the road to find another. The car wash had a queue. And I mean ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 7

Middle East » Oman » Muscat December 25th 2007

Mrs Klaus

Chellebelle

Well the day began as many a Christmas day has begun in the Ade family with a walk along the beach. Except this time the beach was in Sohar, Oman. A little different to little old Eastern Beach or Ohope Beach. Following the beach walk we settled down to the serious business at hand. That of opening up the enormous stack of presents that had accumulated. I must admit that I felt more than a little bashful when I surveyed the stack of presents as most of them were for me. Only 5 of them were for mum and dad (I had bought mum’s airfare over to Dubai as part of her xmas present). I must admit that I received a lovely haul of gifts, from the fantastic ‘Jaffas’ tee towel from Kathryn to the Bucklands ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 5

Middle East » Oman » Musandam Peninsula December 23rd 2007

The stormy coastline

Chellebelle

Well today saw the Ade family circus leave Khasab to venture back into the wilds of the UAE. We counted our blessing as we left Khasab that we had done the dhow cruise the day before as a rather stiff wind had blown up overnight and one thinks that the people on today’s dhow cruises would not have had as enjoyable time as we did the day before. Quite frankly the wind was more than a little stiff and cold. So tucked up in our nice, warm little jeep we started our journey back towards RAK. The trip down to RAK was rather uneventful with the only exciting event being the waves crashing on the beach. This was remarkably different to when we came up as the beaches were completely still then. It was exciting enough ... read more

The Ade Tour Day 4

Middle East » Oman » Musandam Peninsula December 22nd 2007

Mum on the Dhow

Chellebelle

Well today saw us getting up and making our way off to our Dhow adventure. I had booked a dhow cruise for us all in the fjords of the musandam. When we arrived at the wharf there were about 7 dhows all lined up and the nice man who greeted us told us that we were on Dhow #4 today. So we climbed over the first three dhows and settled ourselves in on Dhow # 4. Out dhow soon filled up with Indian families and we got a rather large surprise when the owner, and our host on board the dhow Mohammed, came over to us and asked if we would prefer to move to another one of the dhows, in fact if we would prefer to move to the European dhow. I couldn’t believe that ... read more

United Arab Emirates & Oman

Middle East » Oman December 10th 2007

Up close and camel personal

Fruit Meidley

Dubai, United Arab Emirates Salaam Alaykum! (Hello in Arabic) From Nepal we went to the Arabian Peninsula. First stop: Dubai, the most populated of the 7 Emirates in UAE. We were in culture shock after stepping off the plane. Dubai is a metropolis of elegant hotels, expensive shopping, and traffic jams. Where no one walks outside, even if it's just to cross the street. Luckily for us, Emanuele moved to Dubai 2 months before our arrival so that we had a free place to stay. We had access to a pool and squash courts; next door was the Raffles Hotel, a 5-star hotel where they wouldn't let Paolo through the entrance with his shorts on! The day after our arrival Dimpy came to join us for 2 weeks. Her distant family friend took us on a ... read more

Burj Al-Arab, the World's only 7 star hotel

Salalah, Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman

Middle East » Oman » Dhofar October 28th 2007

Oman - Taqa Castle

MandiT

The port stop today was Salalah, Oman. Salalah is the second-largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city in the Dhofar Province. Once again the cruise dock was a little out of the way. We had decided to use some more of our "credit" and took a ship's tour called "Oman Heritage" which travelled into the 'real' Oman. First we went along the easterly Cornish to the coastal village of Taqa where traditional rafts and boats are still made. We took in views of the village from the cliffs, and then visited the castle (for which the town is most famous) which was previously occupied by the Wali (local tribal chief). We rejoined the coach and were taken a further 20 km to the tomb of Bin Ali who brought Islam to southern ... read more

oman

Middle East » Oman » Muscat » Muttrah October 14th 2007

renzo59

oman... read more

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