Monday, February 23, 2015

Oman - Part 4

We woke up a bit early so that we could make it to the Grand Mosque.  This was built by the Sultan using the best of everything.  It has one of the biggest hand woven carpets in the world.  It is just a beautiful place to be and stunning to look at. 



    
Iman's Corner
   


    





Oman - Part 3

Thursday was just a lazy day.  

Friday is the first day of the weekend so we went on a bit of a road trip!  Our first stop was the Bemmah Sinkhole.  This is a 30m deep sinkhole in the area between the foothills and the beach.  The area is very flat around the sinkhole.  It is an amazing spot.  The water is a beautiful blue green and at 11:00 is still a bit cold!  We swam for about 30 minutes while the little fish gave us pedicures!



 

 
After swimming we sat and ate roasted chicken, hummus and pita in one of the gazebos around the park.  Funny think about the park instead of birds or dogs hanging around to beg food they have goats!

Our next stop was Wadi Ash Shab or Wadi Shab. This is a watershed, stream and canyon that you walk up about three quarters of then swim/walk up to the cave at the top.  The walk up isn't hard but it was about 98F/37C and there was little shade in the first part.  There is a part about a third of the way up where people cliff jump but we kept on walking!  You can see in the first picture how tall it is and the second picture what the water looks like just after the cliff jumping section. 






Along the way there is a pipe where they are getting water from the stream.  Farther up though there is a purpose built concrete channel to send the water down the stream.  For this section you can actually walk along the sides of this channel.  We even found frogs at one point.  

The last section is a mix of walking through shallow water and swimming through deeper sections.  It was very nice and you could take your time going through this section if you wanted.  Unfortunatly because of the water I couldn't take my phone so I didn't get pictures of this part. At the farthest end is a cave that you can swim into.  The entrance is a bit tight and you only have a few inches of clearance on each side of your head and you have to dog paddle in because you hit the walls if you use your hands, but you are rewarded with an amazing waterfall and cave.  

It is definately worth the trip to this site!













Oman - Part 2

Had another lazy morning, until Abi came by to pick me up and take me to school with her for the last class.  She works at Al Sahwa School. Her school has two sides, a boys and a girls.  Everything except a few science classes, the library and the IT suites are separated.  Even in the shared spaces the boys or girls are not allowed to cross a certain point. The kindergarten area is the only co-ed area.  Other than the seperation of boys and girls the school was pretty typical in that it is a school!  

After school we went for a walk along the beach front. If the tide is out you can walk for probably five or so miles along the beach in either direction.  We stopped off at the Candle Cafe.  This is where I had my first Lemon Mint drink which is very nice to have after a long hot walk. 


After our walk we had Thai for dinner before quiz night at Feeney's Pub.  We had a great time and I was actually able to help with some of the answers!

Wednesday morning Abi left me the car so that I could go to the Opera House to tour the inside. Unfortunately it was closed due to rehearsals but what I saw as amazing! So I decided to go to the mall and get my toes done!

Driving in Muscat is super easy and the roads are very nice.  I made it back to Abi's school after a few U-turns! We decided to go to Qurum Park for our walk. It is a nice intercity park which is being developed.  There is from the map much more of it towards the ocean than what we walked. 

For dinner we decided to try Kargeen Cafe for some traditional food.  We asked the waitress to help us pick something.  She suggested the bread with dips for starters and a traditional lamb and rice for the main.  They were both very, very good.  The drinks were also amazing!


  


     

Oman February 2014 - Part 1

So I booked tickets to visit Abi in Oman, but had no real idea what to expect when I got there. My only reason for going was to visit her and have a good holiday.  I have been pleasantly surprised!

It started on February 14th with a night flight, which I just loooooove.  We landed at around 8:00 Sunday morning. Which would usually be a school day for Abi but was an inservice so she was able to come and pick me up at the airport which was a bonus!  I went back to her apartment to sleep and she went on to school.  Later she came by and picked me up and took me to the beach near an after school BBQ. It was nice to meet some of the teachers and hang out.  Best part of the day was when we were about the leave and a mounted police patrol walked by!  They were riding grey Arabians which was a bit different!  

So day to started with a late morning!  I then decided to walk over the to small shopping area near Abi's house known as MK. I had lunch at Subway and walked around a bit.  While I was there I looked around the parking lot and with the types of cars you could have been in the SW of the US.  There are loads of pick up trucks, Suburbans, Jeeps, and other American muscle.  It was good to hear! 
 
When Abi came home we drove out to the Muttrah Souk.  It was very interesting especially if you like the whole digging for treasures idea! One of the shops had a container of old money, I could have spent hours looking at it!

The walk up to the Souk along the waterfront was very nice as the area has all be developed since the 70s.  Before then it was basically nothing! My favorite part were the giant jack looking concrete thingys that they were using to protect the road base.  They looked like something out of Gulliver's Travels.  The footpath and the statues were also amazing!

                                     
     



















The day ended with a trip to Abi's favorite Sushi restaurant, Wasabi Sushi