Tenting and Sur

This weekend we decided to try camping/tenting in Oman. Weathers are perfect for tenting here, it also does not get cold in the nights and there are not any (or well, very few!) mosquitoes, plus it seems you can put up your tent anywhere. Tenting seems to be rather popular in Oman, among locals and tourists. Grilling/BBQ seems to be even more popular and one can often see locals having BBQ right by the highways – something that always looks very funny to me – but since they do not have forest here and more lonely places are probably difficult to reach, they probably do not have much choice either.

Anyway, around noon we drove to Sur direction, exactly where I was with Andres' colleagues a week ago. We decided to have our first stop in Wadi Ash Shab again where we went for a short walk to show the impression of the site. To my big surprise the water had got really down that meant in the beginning of the path we did not have to cross the river – there was no water any more. It was actually good when being there with the kids. After our short walk we decided to explore the seaside of Tiwi and have some snacks. We did not find any very nice/sandy beach at once but at the one where we stopped there were many lovely stones and shells to collect:) The sky was very cloudy and grey and with that kind of sky we knew in Estonia thunderstorm would begin, so we were doubting very hard about tenting. But finally we decided to take a risk and still go tenting for a night. Since it started to get dark in some hours we were trying to find a nice beach in the surroundings and finally we chose a place where there were some other tents up as well (ok, we thought of the other tents as “quality sign” of a good tenting place:)), we became neighbours of a nice family of an Englishman with his Oman wife and kids. When we had put up the tent we decided to go to nearby village to have some warm dinner (we did not have any BBQ equipment with us) and we found a lovely “restaurant” where we had some delicious chicken and bread. We were the stars of the evening – there was not any other tourists but lots of locals (all men, of course!) where they gather in the evenings to talk. There was one local who talked very good English and he became our translator for the Indians who run the restaurant and who could not understand much English but he also stayed with us while we were eating and telling more about the local life and asking many questions about Estonia. Yes, Omani people are very open, friendly and curious, they always want to know where you come from and what's the life like over there and usually the conversation ends with them sincerely saying you “Welcome to Oman!” that makes every tourist very much waited in their country:) After delicious dinner we drove back to our tenting place and we went to “bed” early. Next morning we had a breakfast picnic and then spent several hours on the beach, just swimming and relaxing. Before noon we headed to Sur where we first had lunch and then went for a walk up to the lighthouse. There were very narrow and very dirty small streets on the way to the lighthouse and most of the houses were small and old but there were also some nice villas. And goats everywhere, of course. We could not get into the lighthouse but we could walk around the building and enjoy lovely views to the sea and to the town. Then it was time to head back to Muscat. On the way back i also showed the Sinkhole to Andres and to the boys that also meant I saw the place in the daylight. It was another wonderful weekend!

I have again added new photos to our web gallery.