Wadi Dayqat Dam

We planned a trip to Jebel Shams (the highest mountain of Oman) today but Mihkel has had some fever since yesterday and then we decided to skip that long (over 200 km) trip. His fever seemed to drop a bit in the late morning, so we decided to drive out of the city anyway and chose Wadi Dayqat dam as our destination, around 100 km from Muscat. It was a bit cloudy weather today but excellent for some driving and walking around. 

Dayqat dam is said to be the largest in Oman and yes, it was impressive! After walking around and taking photos we also enjoyed some picnic in the wadi, just like many other locals. We had another wonderful day out :)

Reservation lake

On the dam

Impressive sights to the surroundings

Down there we had picnic afterwards

In the wadi

Friday on photos... Nakhal and Wadi Mistall

On Friday we had another trip out of Muscat, we decided to re-visit Nakhal with another Estonian lady and her kids. Nakhal is about 100 km from Muscat, a town that has got its name by date palms. Besides green date palm spots it is famous for its hot springs. But instead of words, let the photos tell its story about our day:

In Nakhal, everybody got their feet wet...

... and we could enjoy fish therapy (all free!).

While Marie had her beauty sleep in the car, the others visited Nakhal fort.

Then we decided to discover some off-road Oman and followed the route to Wadi Mistall. First it was paved, then we followed the path in wadi (wadi is a (dry) river bed) until it got too tricky to drive on with the cars we have got, so we decided to park and take a walk in the village (without knowing exactly where we were).

There were breathtaking views...

...and we realized we were 2,5 km from the destination.

But we decided to leave it for another time and enjoy the moment: green plantations on the mountain sides...

 

...time for family photo...

...and photo-hunting the goats...

...until it was call for praying and the goats rushed away as well (for praying?).

But some stayed for more posing.

 We also had nice chats with locals:)

And this is how it all ended...

...but it was worth it:)

Organic food and ecological products in Oman

This is gonna be a bit different blog post, based on my interest in organic food and ecological products. I am not a vegetarian, only small part of my food is organic but I try to use as many ecological products as possible. Being here I have had several positive and negative surprises considering the topic.

Being vegetarian in Oman and junk food
My friend who is a vegetarian told me that it is very easy to be a vegetarian here in Oman. Selection of vegetarian dishes is usually good in most of restaurants. On contrast, international junk food chains are in every corner and - the locals seem to be fond of junk food as well.

Organic food
The big supermarkets have got some selection of organic food. In Carrefour there is a special counter for organic fruits and vegetables, and special counter for other organic food but organic products can be also found in between regular products. In example choice of raw cane sugar, stevia and similar is very good and the prices are cheaper than in Estonia. Lulu and Al Fair have also got many organic food products.

When it comes to regular food products, one always have to read the ingredients' list on the label, in example there are some juices that say 100% natural or 100% juice but when you see the ingredients there are very often added sugar or it contains some E-ingredients.

Ecological products in Oman
One of our first tasks here was to find ecological house cleaning stuff. In between huge shelves full of different home chemistry we were lucky to find few Ecover products. I have also seen some "natural products" shop in some malls but there was only cosmetics and body/hair care products sold. Well, better than nothing. And "natural" can mean anything here! In general, locals seem to have very little or no knowledge of what you mean by ecological/organic.

Organic food shop in Muscat?
Even if web search gave us information about a store called Organic House in Muscat we did not find it. After some more research I found one organic food store in Dubai that also delivers to Muscat (http://www.organicfoodsandcafe.com/)

Ecological/natural disposable diapers in Oman
...do not exist! This is my conclusion after many days of research: web search (only one article telling about the disadvantages of the usual diapers but when I sent the question to the person who wrote the article she had no idea if there were any ecological disposable nappies available here. At least she gave me some tips where to ask), sending e-mails (to Mothercare who has natural diapers in their UK webshop but the local unit said they did not export any nappies to Mothercare stores in the Middle East), asking in forums (got some hope when someone answered there were some natural diapers at Al Fair but we did not see any; another response was that such diapers were not available here at all). My only hope is to order some from Dubai.

EDITED: I found cloth diapers at Lulu! The selection of diaper covers was also good! Well done, Lulu! (It does not help with the problem of not having natural disposable diapers available, but a good alternative anyway).

How Omanis go to the beach

At weekend (on Friday) we drove to Al Sawadi beach, southern direction of Muscat. On the way we had a photo stop at Barka.

And we met some camels on the way.

After having delicious lunch at Al Sawadi Resort & Spa Hotel restaurant we arrived at the beach. Something that always makes me sad here is how little the locals care about their beautiful surroundings and nature. There is rubbish in many places (goats love to gather around rubbish pins and eat) and when you go to the beach the locals always drive on the beach sand, "the closer the better". It was same in Al Sawadi beach, cars driving forth and back, creating an imaginary highway while some families enjoying picnic between all that traffic or playing soccer. No chance for laid back time when you always have to watch out the cars.

We are back! Arrival and Al Sifa beach

We are back! We arrived about a week ago, this time we took plane from Riga via Istanbul to Muscat, flying with Turkish Airlines. The trip was OK, Marie slept the most, Mihkel fell asleep an hour before landing (and Andres had hard time to wake him up) and Märt wanted to close his eyes while landing but I managed to keep him up. We arrived around 7am, our rental car was waiting for us in the airport (to our big positive surprise! Things usually take time here) so that we could drive to our new home at Dolphin Village and catch up sleep. In the afternoon we met my dear German pen pal and her mother and had a nice chat over lunch. I am sure we will meet more during spring since she works here as a travel guide.

The first days have not been too hot, only around 22C and ocean's water felt even chilly to go for a swim, but I am sure it will warm up towards spring (it is winter here as well). At least we have got a heated pool here in the living complex and the boys have been enjoying pool fun on daily bases. Besides enjoying warmth and sunshine our evenings has been filled with shopping, shopping and more shopping. We still have not got all essential furniture either all essential household items. And - we still need to take care of quite some bureaucracy (the information keeps changing daily and we need to face new challenges almost daily).

Yesterday it was a holiday here (Prophet Mohammed's Day), Andres was also off from work and we drove to Al Sifa beach with another Estonian family. A lovely beach surrounded by mountains, some donkeys (who liked to steal food) and locals around. When we have gone to the beach the boys have usually taken the (foot)ball with them and it has not taken long time until some locals have joined the game. No need to find a soccer training to Märt!