Family break!

We are a bit more than halfway into our round-the-world trip. We are taking a well-deserved break with our family in Poland.

We will probably take it easy with the blog in the next 2-3 weeks.

After Poland we visit the land of Maradona!

Stay tuned.

Oman pictures uploaded

You can view the latest pictures. We have more than one hundred pictures for you. As I said before to view them in order click on a thumbnail, click on "Oman Trip", and click on the first picture.

Hope you enjoy!

Oman Wrap-up

The Great : Where do I start :

• Mohammed;
• Mohammed’s family;
• Snorkeling with Faisal;
• Sleeping under the stars in the desert;
• Trekking and swimming in the fabulous wadis;
• Omani hospitality;
• Omani generosity;
• Omani arts and crafts and Omani gold and silver;
• And finally, Mohammed again.

The Hidden : The whole country is hidden. Really. There are only a handful of tourists who visit the country every year, and the vast majority come from Dubai and only stay in Oman for a few days. Unbelievably hidden.

The Overrated : Castles and forts in Oman. You should certainly visit a few of them, but we found castles and forts in Oman to be quite austere in comparison with their European counterparts. Don’t expect richly ornate castles or you’ll be disappointed.

The Ugly : The scourge of developing nations, plastic. Muscat is very clean but in small-town Oman, plastic bags and plastic bottles are everywhere. Goats become ill from chewing and swallowing all this plastic. The government is aware of the problem, and awareness campaigns are underway. Finally.

Other observations :

• Oman is covered with ancient ruins. An unexpected detour can take a whole cultural twist.
• There are at least a dozen different types of mangoes available for sale in Oman. They come mostly from three countries: Oman, India, and Pakistan. We had a mango tasting session, and I can tell you that not all mangoes are created equal!
  
• When you visit Oman, you’ll have to adapt to the Omani time schedule. And the Omani time schedule says that nothing should be opened between noon and 5 PM. So you may not want to take a break while sightseeing but you’ll have to take one anyway. Why? Because life literally grinds to a halt: all shops close down and streets become deserted. Small villages become eerie, almost like ghost towns. The though part is finding what to do during these 4-5 very long hours. Ideally you want to flee the very hot temperatures but air conditioned shops are closed down. As I said it can be very hard to entertain yourself during Oman’s brutally hot afternoons.

A tripple-A destination

We are wrapping up our Oman tour and all I can say is WOW. Oman is THE discovery of the year. With this blog Ania and I wanted you to discover new countries and hear our perspective on things. If we can influence you on your next destination, then your next destination should be Oman.

Oman has it all: stellar hospitality, stellar people, stellar landscapes, and stellar tourist attractions. Oman is a world-class tourist destination that should be on par with the great tourist destinations of France and Australia.

Will you get a chance to make friends in Oman as we did? It depends how you approach Omanis. An open mind is essential, and don’t hesitate to practice your broken Arabic. You’ll be surprised at the kind of reception you get when you greet people with “As-Salamu Alaykum”. Smiles will come from all directions and next thing you know you’ll be invited to a family dinner.

We leave Oman with sadness in our hearts; sadness to leave Mohammed and his family behind, and sadness to say goodbye to all the other Omanis who gave us such a heartfelt “Welcome”.

Oman will remain at the top of our short list of “Must Go Back”. So, dear Omanis, au revoir et à bientôt.

Smile!

Omani are very straight-forward people. They love having conversations with strangers.

We learned a lot from them and we often had a really good laugh, too. Here are some of our favorite quotes:

Gentleman talking about the speeding problem on Omani roads:

"They go so fast, they don't know why! We try to help them..."

Gentleman we met in the town of Nakhal (with a beautiful fort and hot springs):

"Welcome! This is our village. Nobody stops here."

A guy who came to help us because he saw us driving our car into the water (even though there was a perfectly good way around it) and then hopelessly trying to get it out:

"Ok. What's the plan here?"

(Well, actually there was a plan but a stupid one :) )

Gentleman telling us that he once met a German girl on the plane. She insisted that he must be rich because he was an Arab:

"Did she think I have oil coming out of my pockets?"

A student at Ibra international college:

"I want to speak English but my friends - arabic, my wife - arabic, my work - arabic..."

Our discussion with students from the same college:

Student 1: Can you have two wives in Canada?

Marc: No.

Ania: No, it's illegal.

Student 1: Why not?

Student 2: Two wives - no problem. Three wives - maybe problem.

The organizer of our camel ride when Marc let me go first:

"You Europeans! Always ladies first!"

Trip monthly update

May 9 2011 – Jun. 8 2011

Summary of the seventh month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 2 (well, three if you count a stopover at the airport in

Pakistan :) )

Number of flights taken: 1/ 2 (same as above)

Number of posts added to our blog: 18

Number of marital conflicts: A few minor ones, I must admit. And they all happened in Oman. There seems to be a relationship between our marital conflicts and the means of transportation we are using. Generally, we get along better when we use buses than when we rent cars. Despite the fact that night buses make some of us grumpy :)

Best overnight stay: definitely the night in the desert. See my earlier post for romantic and cheesy details :)

Worst overnight stay: only good places this month! For the worst night we will simply have to take any night spent on the bus in Thailand...

Best Call we made: staying in Oman longer than originally planned. We had first planned to stay only 10 days. I can't say how happy I am that we changed our plans!

Worst Call we made: trying to take a shortcut when driving from Bat to Ar Rustaq in the Jebel Shams region. The road was supposed to be asphalted, that’s at least according to our map.

Well, it wasn't. And the further we went along this road the worse it became. As Marc said we ended up rearranging two hundred meters of this crappy road to move any further. A terrible call on our part.

Driving in Oman

Oman is a car-friendly destination. We already knew about the new highways of the United Arab Emirates but didn’t know that Oman had also an equally impressive road system.

For those of us living in winterland, mangled roads and potholes are an inescapable reality. Speeding on any roads in April before potholes are covered is a sure way to pay a visit to a mechanic.

Oman doesn’t have this problem. Highways are in flawless condition with wide lanes and ample space for everybody. What our friend Mohammed calls “heavy traffic” is a mere 20 minutes distraction in downtown Muscat; Montreal drivers would cry tears of joy at the prospect of such traffic.

Not all is pretty on Oman’s road though. Speeding is an issue that needs addressing. The speed limit is set to 120 kph on highways, but locals simply do not abide by the rules. Not by a mile. It happened quite a few times that I drove at 120 kph on the right lane only to see angry drivers push me to accelerate. Some cars overtook me at such speed that I felt as if I was going 60 on a highway in Canada. They must have been going north of 170 kph. Driving in Oman can be hazardous no doubt.

Also Indian and Pakistani workers crossing highways on foot adds another concern to the driver. As you can imagine the risk to these fellows is extreme and the possibility of them being turned into hamburger is real. I had to hit the brakes emergency style when a group of workers decided to cross the highway about 70 meters ahead of me. Overpasses for pedestrians are urgently needed.

Also a word of caution: do not drive a 2wd in the Jebel Shams region. We’ve tried it and we can report that driving a 2wd in this region can seriously wreck your saloon car (it is “saloon” and not “sedan” over here). We got stuck on a terrible road deep in the mountains and had to rearrange the road to remove all the big rocks that could destroy the underbody of the car. It took us 90 minutes to clear 200 meters of the road. You don’t want to do this kind of physical exercise in 45 degrees heat. High clearance is a must.

The standard, free roadmap offered in Oman is not of stellar quality. You should not rely on it too much to make your decisions., as we got lost for a few hours in the Jebel Shams region for doing so. The fact that we lost so much time meant more to us than the fuel we burned for nothing. That’s understandable because the price of fuel is – hold your breath – a measly 28 cents Canadian per liter. :)

From Far Away

Warning! This post will be very cheesy and will involve etching sunset, star gazing, sitting by the fire and so on and so forth. So, dear reader, don't complain after reading it - you have been warned!

I couldn't imagine visiting Oman and not spending at least one night in the desert. And so we found a desert camp we liked and made all the arrangements.

Traveling in Oman in low season may have its downsides (it's hoooooot!) but, on the other hand, we were the only guests at the desert camp and it definitely made the night special.

We arrived at the meeting point an hour early and were full ready to wait in the car. However Rashid, the owner of the camp, wouldn't have us waiting outside of his house. We were invited to spend some time with him and his brothers and we were treated to Omani coffee and dates, while waiting for the temperature to cool down.

Then it was time for camel riding. Personally, I found camels much more comfortable to ride than elephants. And it was rally refreshing to see the way Rashid treat his camels. The animals went towards him right when they heard his voice and he clearly enjoyed spending time with them. I was also very happy to see that the camels received treats after being so nice as to not shake me and Marc off their backs.

Later Rashid took us in his 4x4 landrover about 20 km through the desert to the camp. On our way we passed the house of his parents. Rashid comes from a Bedouin family. “Bedu” in Arab means "from outside" or "from far away". And indeed, Rashid grew up far away from towns, in the desert. Now his parents moved closer to the town because their daughters go to school there. But they still live in traditional huts and refuse to spend nights anywhere else than in the desert.

After watching (here it comes!) a beautiful sunset in the middle of the desert, we went to the camp for dinner. The camp was very simple and built in traditional style. Guests sleep in huts built of date palm leaves with carved doors. Rashid doesn't like very much the idea of electricity in the desert (unlike other desert camps), for it takes attention away from the immense space around and the sky above. The camp is lit mostly by oil lamps and candles. The only concession to modernity are a couple of lamps in the eating area, which are powered by solar panels. In this respect Rashid and Marc are definitely kindred spirits.

After dinner we made a small fire. A carpet with was spread next to the fire. We spent the rest of the evening (and part of the night) there, watching the stars enjoying the peacefulness of the place and talking, talking, talking. Rashid spent the whole evening with us and seemed disappointed that we decided to go to bed some time after midnight. We were initially a little worried what we would do a whole evening in the desert without electricity. As it turned out, we couldn't believe how fast the time flew by.

And to make the experience even more incredible, Rashid had our beds moved out in the open air. We slept directly under the stars with our beds on the desert sands. Amazing.

Granted, it was a little less amazing around 5:30 in the morning, when it turned out that sun had risen at a slightly different angle than expected, which meant that we were directly exposed to the brutal desert sun. And believe me, you don't want to stay in the desert sun, even at 5:30 in the morning :)

And God created the wadis

Quite simply the wadis (“wadi” means river bed, but a few wadis have water flowing all year round) in Oman are the most beautiful features of Mother Earth I’ve ever seen in my life. Of course lava flowing into the ocean in Hawaii was more impressive. But the sheer beauty of wadis in Oman has no equal.

Wadis come in all shapes and forms. Some are 1 km large and 20 km long. Some are so narrow that one has to swim cramped between mountain walls. They are mostly defined by their beautiful date palms surrounded by rocky background. Driving through the desert and stopping by any wadi feels like a breath of fresh air.

The best news is yet to come: one doesn’t have to venture in remote areas of Oman to enjoy the wadis. Most of them are located within an hour or two from Muscat, the capital.

The most stunning are Wadi Shab and Wadi Bani Khalid. Wadi Shab is a long, winding valley with stunning pools of crystal clear green-turquoise water. Wadi Shab is fairly long so it is best to spend a whole afternoon there. Wadi Bani Khalid is easier to access and shorter. Both are unique in their own right. We visited other wadis but these two are the most beautiful.

Oh and ladies, you’ll have to cover up while you swim. At the very least your knees and arms should be covered. It may be cumbersome and frustrating, but it will save you a lot of hassle. Trust us.

A competent autocrat

I am no fan of autocrat rulers. Most are plunderers who like nothing more than lining their pockets and the pockets of everybody in the family. Not surprisingly countries ruled by autocrats tend to be dogged by high-level corruption and poor economic prospects.

The current sultan of Oman, Qaboos Bin Said Al Said, seems to do better than the rest. Since his ascent to power in 1970, the man is credited with bringing his country out of poverty by pushing daring economic reforms. Oman has also become more tolerant than other countries in the Arabic peninsula, with minorities having their religious and economic rights somewhat respected, which is to say a lot in the region.

For example Qaboos Bin Said Al Said is credited with imposing a ban on large scale fishing from factory ships. The destruction of local fish stocks had required a swift response, and the sultan provided immediate leadership on the issue. Again, not your average autocrat.

The sultan can see beyond the oil. Whereas next door Saudi Arabia has yet to open a tourism office, Oman is moving quickly to grab its share of the fat tourism pie. The sultan has ordered the complete restoration of Oman’s major landmarks and infrastructure for tourists is mushrooming everywhere. No serious restoration work had been performed on Oman’s major historical landmarks before Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said.

The sultan wants tourists, but not at all cost. The infrastructure is being developed in a way that seeks not to repeat Dubai’s famous mistakes of building high concrete towers and leaving no place for the common man to live. There are strict limits on architectural designs and height. High-priced, chaotic urban design will simply not be allowed in Oman.

To give you an idea of the changes that occurred under the sultan’s watch, at the beginning of 1970 Oman had 7 km of asphalt road, one hospital with 20 beds, no university, and only a handful of schools. The sultan’s record is impressive, to say the least.

This may well explain why Oman has sailed through the “Arab spring” relatively unscathed. While many Arab nations have fallen into anarchy as a result of popular uprising, most Omanis remained staunchly behind their sultan.

All in all Ania and I have been impressed by the actions of the Sultan. He remains an autocrat and that in itself is a problem. But it looks like at the helm of Oman is one the few autocrats with a vision.

Snorkeling with an expert

We had the chance to snorkel with Mohammed’s brother Faisal. I must say I was very impressed.

The man can free dive (breath-hold underwater dive) down to 8 meters. He wants to follow a course to take the 20 meters limit. I really tried to follow him under water but I couldn’t.

He showed us specific spots to find the most beautiful fishes. We had never seen many of the fishes he showed us. We even saw turtles mating and a turtle eating coral!

Then we went looking for oysters with pearls inside. We picked a few ones and pried them open on the boat. The result was unfortunately negative. But the thrill of looking for pearls inside oysters is great though. I felt the same way in Australia when we noodled for opal. :)

But the real reason I am truly impressed with Faisal is that throughout our snorkeling he carried a bag to remove any plastic objects as he would see. I was totally in awe. What a great man. He loves the sea and wants to keep it clean. I reckon that the earth needs a few million Faisals to turn things around. Maybe there is still hope.

Secret location revealed: our first day in Oman

We started our first day in Oman by going down to the reception in our hotel in Muscat to ask some questions about the city and about taxis to go to the old town. The clerk at the reception, a guy named Mohammed, seemed very nice. We had a friendly chat and then Mohammed offered to give us a lift himself since he had some free time.

Instead of simply dropping us off in the town, he gave us a tour of the landmarks, went with us to the souq (market) and later for a drink. I am ashamed to admit but I was very skeptical at the beginning. My experience in Asia (and especially in Thailand) taught me that such generosity is usually paid out in cash. I kept asking myself whether we will be billed for the trip or not.

However, after spending a few hours with Mohammed I was blushing for my suspicions. It turned out that he was the son of the hotel owner and he simply liked helping others and enjoyed spending time with Marc and me.

Late in the afternoon we came back to the hotel. To our delight, Mohammed suggested that we have dinner together. He also insisted that I take one of his sim cards so he could contact us in the evening and to make our stay in Oman generally easier.

Later in the evening we went out with Mohammed and one of his sisters. We did some shopping, tried local fruits and nuts, wondered at all kinds of spices and generally spent a very good time together. And the day was crowned by a dinner in a restaurant, which we had in company of Mohammed's family and friends.

I couldn't imagine a more perfect first day in a new country. And I promise you: it only got better afterwards!

If you can't imagine how, think a boat trip with Mohammed and his brother Faisal, an invitation to a wedding, and a visit to an international college... and who knows what is yet to come?

Shh!

Should we tell you about our current destination? Should we tell you that this country is our “coup de coeur” of the year?

Maybe we won’t tell you. Some places should be kept secret lest they are discovered by mass tourism and spoiled.