Wadi Sahtan

Some weekends ago we drove to Wadi Sahtan. We had few destinations within the wadi in mind but finally turned back from the first road. The road was steep and we were "alone", so we decided it was better to leave it for some other time. But we met some camels in the wadi and had great views, so the trip was worth doing :)

Camels in wadi Sahtan

Zig-zag, going up and up...

Villages in wadi Sahtan

Dolphins and turtles

During the last month we went to both dolphin as well as turtle watching. Not in same place and not on same day, though ;)

As for dolphins' watching, I better show you some photos:

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Some weekends ago we drove to Ras Al Jins with my dear friend and her family. We had booked the turtle watching tour at Ras Al Jins Scientific and Visitor Center about a week in advance. We had decided to go for evening tour, starting at 9pm, had to pay 3OMR for an adult and 1OMR for a kid. We were first taken by the bus nearer to the beach, then the guide gave us some information about the turtles nesting while other guide was already further on the beach to look for turtles. After a short walk we arrived very close to the sea and first we could see a turtle that laid eggs: flop and flop, one after another. Then, we saw some turtles who already returned to the sea. Then, another one who was covering the nest with sand. And finally a tiny turtle baby. The guide said we were lucky that we could see so much.

It was not allowed to take any photos (to not scare away the turtles) and it was disgracing how some south-European tourists just could not understand it and the guide had to explain them over and over again that taking photos, even without lighting, is prohibited.

Royal Opera House in Muscat

Muscat's one of the most beautiful buildings seems to be Royal Opera House. So far I had seen it only from the car window but now when my cousin was visiting us it was a good chance to go to see a performance there. Around Christmas, "Broadway On Ice" was played. 

We arrived early to collect the tickets (that I had bought online about a month earlier; I chose tickets that costed 10OMR (around 20€) per person; there were cheaper and more expensive tickets available) and then we had enough time to go for a short walk around the opera house (but we could not go all around; it seems one side of the opera house and garden is VIP zone) and enjoy some cakes in a café nearby. Then it was time to go back to the opera house. Our handbags got scanned and we had to go through security gate - what an experience! I mean I have never visited any theatre with that kind of security control. Then, I was curious to see what the locals wear in the opera house. Actually there are some strict rules about dress-code in the opera house's webpage: The dress code is formal or business including suits or dinner jackets for men and conservative dresses below the knee for women. Dishdasha and Massar for Omani. No jeans, t-shirts, or tennis shoes. 

There were relatively few Omanis enjoying the performance, most of the audience seemed to be either tourists or expats. And to my surprise not many women cared about conservative dressing and there were many skirts or dresses above the knees and some naked shoulders. Not among Omani women, of course, they were wearing abayas (with more decorations than usually seen). But I also did not see anybody sent back from the door, so I suppose they are actually rather relaxed about the dress-code.

The performance was great! I had never seen figure skating live, so I really enjoyed the performance with beautiful and advanced choreography and beautiful music. While watching the performance I could not help but wonder how relaxed Oman actually is. I mean, the skaters were wearing "common" short skater skirts and there was quite some passion in the performance. But maybe that's why there were so few Omanis enjoying the performance because it is still "over the limits" for some locals? Anyway, it was a very enjoyable evening. 

Christmas and New Year in Oman

Winter Wonderland in one of the biggest malls in Muscat

It was for the second time we spent Christmas in Oman. Of course, the locals do not celebrate Christmas and no free days are given during Christmas but yet, the big supermarkets have Christmas trees up and there are whole departments that sell Christmas stuff.

Another Winter Wonderland in another mall in Muscat

We also bought a small artificial Christmas tree and put it up rather early (in Estonia we bring the Christmas tree only at Christmas Eve or a day before). I had a good reason for it - it had to remind me that Christmas were coming. For me Christmas always associate with winter, cold and snow (although we also do not have snow every Christmas in Estonia and sometimes we also have plus degrees). Here, having around 27C on daytime, with sunshine and blue sky it was difficult to get a right Christmas mood.

Homemade gingerbread cookies

My cousin who was visiting us over Christmas brought us blood sausages and it was probably the most traditional Christmas food on our Christmas dinner. Otherwise, we spent rather different Christmas Eve than we had had it in Estonia: in the morning we found lots of small envelopes under the Christmas tree with our names on them (and in the envelopes there were hints about where the presents were hidden by the dwarfs), after some schoolwork with Märt we spent time in the pool, then had early dinner and the evening was spent by visiting a museum and a souq.

Us at Christmas Eve in our garden

 New Year is not celebrated by the locals either (because Islamic New Year in 2014 started in October). Thought, the international hotels and communities organize New Year's Eve dinners and parties (it is same about Christmas). Andres had been ill and so we decided to have a quiet evening at home by watching TV, eating and drinking.

Our pet did not want to miss the fun either and looked at us from the ceiling during whole dinner.

During New Year's Eve, we also visited an amusement park in a mall nearby.

Kids enjoying some amusement park fun

Before midnight we went outdoors, hoping to see or hear some fireworks but there was none. As I could read later there was not any fireworks nowhere in Muscat.

Lemon mint was also in our menu at New Year's Eve

Wadi Al Hawqayn

On Friday we chose Wadi Al Hawqayn as our destination. It is situated around 160 km from Muscat, near Ar Rustaq. It has been described as one of the most beautiful wadis with year-round streams and waterfalls. Indeed, on both sides of wadi there are lots of green spots, there were lots of streams and finally we also saw some waterfalls. Look!

The road leads to the wadi

Date palm plantations

Waterfalls that are "created" by falaj irrigation system

A small rainbow in the waterfall

Not quite sure why the locals needed to drive there... but the rope in our car became handy

Village ruins

 On the way back we had a dinner break in Nakhal.

Nakhal Fort

Weekend in photos

Sunset cruise on dhow-boat

Sultan's Palace from the seaside

Sunset in Muscat

Full moon

Wadi Rehab

Picnic on the beach

Ras Al Khaimat, UAE

Oman had a National Day on the 18th November but for some reason the free days are given in the end of the month, so Andres has two extra days off this week, making for 4 days off in row. It was a good opportunity to make some longer trip. We had several destinations in our mind: i.e. Salalah in the southern part of Oman, around 1000 km from Muscat or Masirah Island in the east or Musandam in the northern part of Oman. We were discussing the options back and forth: spending only for 2 days in Salalah sounded «pointless» because we had needed other two days to drive forth and back. Masirah Island had not been as far as Salalah but we were afraid it would be too windy to spend lots of time on the beach with the kids (and the sea water is already chilly as well; «chilly» by local definition;)) but also, the accommodation was all booked out, so this was crossed out as well. Musandam, the most northern part of Oman can be reached via mainland (through UAE) or by the ferry (by the way, on the ferry that travels to Musandam have several Estonian employees, so we have renamed it to «Estonian ferry»:)). The ferry prices for a car and 5 persons forth and back had been out of our budget but the accommodation in Musandam was also pretty much booked out (at least reasonable priced accommodation), so we had to cross that destination out as well. But then we got a good idea (at least it sounded like a good idea but in the end... you'll get to know later): to travel to the UAE, Ras Al Khaimah, that is situated about 80 km from Khasab (a city in Musandam), stay overnight there, spend some time there but also make a trip to Musandam. UAE is visa-free for Estonian citizens since March, so in theory it looked easy to cross the borders, even several times per day.

We left around 9.30am on Wednesday and by 2pm (most of roundabouts on the way from Muscat towards Sohar had traffic jams and we spent quite some time waiting) we arrived at Khatmat Malahah border that was the closest border point on the way to Ras Al Khaimat. We knew we had to get exit stamp of Oman to the passports to be able to enter to UAE but there were no clear signs about the procedures and finally we were waiting in a loooong queue together with other cars and it seemed it was the first place the cars stopped on the border... In 2 hours! yes: t-w-o h-o-u-r-s it was finally our time to give our passports and car documents to the man in the control booth but he said we needed to drive to the parking lot and go to the bigger building nearby with our EU passports. When Andres had entered the building (me and the kids decided to wait in the car first) he texted me there were lots of people and some of them had waited for already for 2 hours! In some time he texted me he could give our passports to the border guy and our passports were at least on his table. Sounded promising, eh? By then me and the kids also decided to go into the building, hoping «the end» was close (and secretly hoping our fair-haired kids would help to hurry up things a bit), there was no specific queue, people were pretty much just jostling in front of the desks. Then, another European tourist was asking the border guy if he could stamp his and his family passports with UAE entry stamp because in addition to stamping the passports they also i.e. issued visas for those who needed (and that, of course, took much longer time than stamping the passports) and then it was the moment of truth: the poor guy's and his family's as well as our passports missed Oman exit stamps that meant we had to drive back to Oman border and get Oman exit stamps to our passports first, to be able to get UAE entry stamps to our passports. Needless to say how angry we were because of the lost 3 hours! We decided to give it up on that border and drive back some 50 km to try another border near Hatta (that is one of the borders on the way to Dubai), hoping it had shorter queues. Before, of course, we had to get Oman exit and Oman entry stamps to our passports in Khatmat Malahah border. Fortunately it went quickly and we headed to border near Hatta. There was almost no queue at all and of course we were wiser this time to look carefully where is Oman's border booths/buildings where we could get our exit stamps. Things were much better organized in thar border and in 45 minutes we were done with all exit and entry stamps! Yet, we had lost around 4 hours on the borders:( We had hoped to have half of day in Ras Al Khaimat on Wednesday but with all the mess on the border we arrived only by 8.30pm. We had late dinner at hotel's restaurant and that was it for that day. After that experience in Khatmat Malahah border we had no desire to try out any other UAE/Oman borders in the north and our idea of driving to Musandam did not sound that good any more at all. We decided to spend rest of the days in Ras Al Khaimat and its surroundings.

We spent Thursday by the hotel's pool but also had a nice walk and dinner on the corniche in the evening. Ras Al Khaimah's city line consists of high buildings here and there, there are lots of hotels and beautiful corniche. The city as well as many cars were decorated with national flags and photos of their president because UAE celebrates its 43th birthday on the 2^nd of December.

On Friday we discovered a bit of the surroundings. We drove to Jebel Al Jais (Jais Mountain) and enjoyed a beautiful view over the area to the sea as well as mountains on the other side. 

In the evening we went to Dhayah Fort, it was time of the sunset, so everything looked even better:)

On Saturday we started to drive back home right after waking up, around 11am, not knowing for how long exactly we would need to spend on the border this time. Before we left Ras Al Khaimat there was one more “mission impossible” to solve: to fill up gas. Doesn't seem like a difficult task in a “kingdom of oil”? But oh, it was. In the 3^rd gas station there was finally some gas (and long queue).

It went rather smooth in the borders. There was some queue on Oman's border but being Omani residents we did not have to wait in the long queue in the border building but could get our entry stamps in the booth outdoors. At 5pm we were back at home. It was maybe not the most relaxing holidays but we could at least get the first impressions of the UAE.