Visit to Sultanate of Oman

Oman is east of the UAE. Parts of Oman are greener than the here and there are more trees. There is also a huge rocky mountain range called Al Hajar. Life in Oman is quieter and slower as well. About 50% of the population lives in or near the capital city of Muscat which is where we stayed. There are old forts and buildings all over the place which makes it feel so much more historical than Dubai.

Driving there - we took the kids out of school early and headed out around noon. The drive was pretty through the mountains. We passed a big bunch of loose camels crossing the highway. Crossing the border between the UAE and Oman is a challenge. We had been warned ahead of time that it might take a long time. Here are the steps

• Stop to have your car searched
• Stop to get your exit stamps in your passport
• Cross the border
• Park and go inside to get your visa for Oman. Since we have a UAE residency visa we can get an Oman visa on the spot.
• Stop one more time to have our passports checked and show our car insurance'

The process was long but only took around 45 minutes. We've heard stories of it taking 3 hours.

Once we got into Oman we realized that every round-about had a nice middle. We took pictures of several of them just for fun.






Luckily we found our hotel pretty easily. We stayed in a "4 star hotel" but we certainly would not call it that. Our first room was not acceptable as it was not bigger than a closet. We upgraded to a suite which had space for the kids blow up matress. FYI there are no double doubles (hotel term meaning 2 double beds in a room that will accommodate 4 people) in the middle east. You are not supposed to have more than 3 in any one room - kinda silly if you ask me. Any how the suite allowed us to be in one room. Once we were settled we went out on the town.

We wanted to find the beach and take a moonlite walk (it was a full moon night). We found a nice park that we poked around in for a while and several "cheesy light streets" as the girls called them but not the beach. We opted to get some dinner instead. Her are some photos of the lights.






The next morning we headed for the beach. As we got out of the car we noticed an awful smell. As we approached the water we saw many dead fish. Unforatunately the Omani beaches were experiencing the red tide. What a bummer! Even if we could get past the dead fish smell we couldn't get in the water. There are 2 big beaches in Muscat on either side of a penisula so we decided to hit the other beach, but it was the same.




We decided to explore other parts of the city, which turned out to be a great thing. There are ruins and absolutely beautiful moutains every where! Later we met Larry's friend from work and her boyfriend and we all went around Muscat exploring and then went to the souke. We didn't take any pictures at the souke because there were too many Omani people - you should to ask before taking their pictures.




















The next day we drove to a small town called Niswa. In Niswa we saw a lot more Omani people. We visited the fort there and tried to visit the souk, but it was closed from 1-4 as many things are in Oman for siesta. The fort was very interesting and then we drove around town. Larry was an amazing driver navigating EXTREMELY narrow streets and of course the GPS would not work in the small down either.



























We made a pit stop at Hoota Caves.












As we left the caves the sun was setting. A few hours into the drive home we hit a huge sand storm. The noise of the wind while driving was very loud. It looks much like driving through a snow storm only with fog.

Water

I wrote this post in early September but just now finally got a picture of our water tank - see below. Larry had to go on the roof to check out a problem. We were getting water all over our back patio. Turns out our water tank was leaking.

Drinking it - Most people here drink bottled water. The tap water is actually safe to drink, but its the pipes that are the problem. Some pipes are very old and plumbing here is just like everything else - built fast, no attention to detail. The water comes from the Arabian Gulf (Persian Gulf to us). Tap water is desalinated (and the salt is dumped back into the ocean which is bad for the fish but they are working other processes to help with that). We buy bottled water but also use tap water to cook with and even to drink sometimes.

Bathing in it - During this time of year the hot is cold and the cold is hot. Here "cold" water is put in a container up off of the sand to help keep it cool (the sand gets VERY hot). The hot water is held in a small water heater in each room - there is a small hot water tank in the kitchen and one in each bathroom. In our villa the cold water tank is on the roof and the hot water is in the water heater in the ceiling of each room.... so when you turn on the cold water it is coming from outside in the hot sun and the hot water comes from inside where the air conditioning is on and its shaded. Since the cold water is so hot you keep the water heaters turned off otherwise all you have it hot water. Weird huh? I assume in the winter this will be reversed. I will keep you posted on that.

The drive to school

Since I have commented on my treck back and forth to school several times so I thought I would take the time to draw a map for your enjoyment. The school is very close to our villa... yet it can take a hour round trip. Crazy huh?

A trip to Al Ras

We decided to get a GPS. Of course it wasn't easy. We needed one that would work for on-road and off-road, plus work here and in the US. I found one model that would do everything but I could find only one store in Dubai that sells it. The store is in the Al Ras/Deira section of Dubai. Meaningless to my friends in the states, but people here would cringe and say you have to drive where?? Deira is the MUCH older section of Dubai. Hey, I love old things, but would still rather not drive in that section of town. Most of the streets are single lane where people park on both sides and then even double park so you can't move at all. Parking is pretty much non-existent. Also I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but aren't street addresses here. I knew what street this store was on, but it's a long street with hundreds of hole in the wall dirty shops. Traffic of course is crazy too.

So I'm driving down the street trying my best of read the names of the shops, maneuver between people crossing the street pushing carts and carrying bundles on their heads, taxis waiting beside parked cars, etc. It's a little stressful. I was only honked at twice. Good thing that I brought my favorite Secret Super Plus deodorant with me from the US.

I finally find the shop. Now to find a place to park. I circled around for about 20 minutes and finally found a parking garage - or so it was called. It held about 6 cars per level. The ramp to go down was so narrow I was sure I would scrape the car. But I managed. And I squeeze my big ass American Dodge Durango into a tiny spot too.

Relieved to have found parking I headed for the surface to find the shop. The stairs in the garage brought me out the back of the building where I was greeted by an old man standing in a falling down building with a spray painted sign on the wall that said "no pissing here." Honest truth! The path away from the garage was littered with trash and I had the feeling that I wasn't supposed to be there. But I forged forward pretending that I looked confident and knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going.

I found the shop pretty easily. Thank goodness that I have good navigation skills. Of course there were only men in the shop, but I found what I needed, made the purchase and got out. I saw no other women on my journey. I found the parking garage again pretty easily and maneuvered my way out and home.

I would do it again if I needed something, but....

Again I wish that I had my camera, that no pissing sign was priceless!