After that, we continued on to Muscat. Our first stop there was at a house where one of Badr's friends lived. He agreed to drive some of us there since we didn't have enough room in the one car we had. We got there around 11 at night, and he brought out a whole bunch of fruit, cookies, sweets, and juices for us to eat. It was incredibly nice hospitality. We left after awhile to go to a sheesha cafe which was outside and filled with trees. We stayed there for awhile and finally headed to our hotel. Since we are all poor college students, we opted for the cheapest place we could find, and definetly got what we paid for. Most of our rooms were on the roof, though the were actual rooms with walls and a roof of there own. The elevator was a very scary experience that was not repeated. Our bathroom smelled rancid and the beds had a blanket and no sheets. But still, it wasn't horrible, it had air conditioning, and it got us through the night.
On Friday, we decided to walk around Muscat. Our first stop was the fish market which was a block away from our hotel. It smelled like a fish market, and we didn't stay long. We started to walk around after that, but it was still Ramadan and stores don't open until four or later during Ramadan. It was too hot to keep walking, so we went back, checked out of the hotel, and got in the car to see if we could drive somewhere nice. We ended up at something called 'The Gate of Muscat" (I think), which is normally a museum, but that was closed. We could still walk around the building and explore it. From there, we walked down to the harbor and found a rock filled beach to relax on.
After awhile, we needed to leave because we stilled needed to buy some food for camping. We drove around for a long time, hoping to first find a McDonalds or other Western food store that would be open to get lunch, but everything was closed. We ended up going to Lulu's which is a hypermarket (like Wal-mart) and to our amazement they had a complete kitchen and bakery where we could by lunch. Of course, they had signs up everywhere stating we couldn't eat in the store during Ramadan, so we ended up getting our food and eating in the car. The windows were tinted and no one could see in.
By the time we were done eating, Badr's friend had shown up with his brother and two friends. They had offered to take us camping on an island, so we decided to do that for Friday night. On the way to the harbor, we saw someone had taken out the guardrail on the top of an overpass and cars were parked all along the road. We parked and looked over. Apparently someone had flown through the guardrail and right off the overpass, landing on the road below, and it had just happened. Amazingly, the car did not seem too damage, but we didn't have time to wait around and see what happened. We got to the harbor after the sun had set, which meant we had to get on a small, light-less fishing boat in the dark and get to a place we hadn't seen. It felt a bit like a smuggling operation as we took off in the middle of darkness with no lights to speak of.
We eventually ended up in this cove. As soon as we got everything off the boat, we all decided to go for a night swim. The water there was amazing and filled with these organisms (I think they're called phosphorescents). Whenever we moved in the water, these little creatures would light up and sparkle. It was magical. They would get in our hair and on our skin and just shine. When we were done swimming, we cooked some hot dogs and vegetables on our grill and set up camp. I didn't get a lot fo sleep that night because we decided someone needed to keep watch all night and those keeping watch were not quiet.
As soon as the sun began to rise, I got up and started to notice the beauty of where we were. We were surrounded by desert mountains, the water was green and blue, and the beach was beautiful. I walked out to the each of one of the sides of the cove and found dozens of schools of fish swimming around. Later, we went snorkeling and swam with the fish and around the rocks. We also went for a hike and went cliff jumping into the cove. When all this was over, we discovered it was only 10 AM. I refused to believe this until some one told me the sun had risen at 5 AM. I couldn't believe we had done all that at it was only 10.
The rest of the day was spent swimming and relaxing on the beach. Badr's friend, his friends, and his brother had to leave, but the rest of us decided the beach was too nice, and we wanted to stay another day. Badr's friend said he would come back with the boat the next morning to get us. That night I took charge of cooking, which basically consisted off roasted hot dogs and putting cans of vegetables on the grill. We began to run low on water and decided to ration it. After another night swim, we lit a fire and sat around talking. At one point, Kay stood up and started saying "boat, boat." Eventually, we all got the clue and turned around to find a boat in our cove. A lot of boats had passed through our cove, usually just people fooling around, but this one had come in quietly, un-noticed by us, and with no lights. Needless to say we all freaked out. We tried to get the boys to go find out who it was, but them seemed hestitant. Someone shined a light on the boat and the boat shined one back at us and then later left. We found out the next morning that they were fishermen who were laying nets to catch fish, but we didn't know that at the time and set up another watch for that night.
We all made it through the night, and Hussein showed up two hours earlier than we thought he would in the morning. That was kind of nice since we were very low on water, but I was looking forward to a few more hours of swimming and snorkeling. Anyway, Badr's friend brought us back to his house so he could get some things, and then we all went off to a farm outside of Muscat. Here we were able to take showers which felt amazing after two days on the beach. When we were all clean, we got in the cars and headed to Nizwa where we visited the Nizwa fort, a hotel, and the souk. It was a nice experience. For dinner, we ate at McDonalds which is very expensive in Oman but also a lot better tasting than in the US.
Finally, we spent the night at the farmhouse, where we got to see goats, rabbits, and cows. We played with the goats for a bit. All of them were defly afraid of us except for one that would not leave us alone. He was adorable. It was really nice to see animals again. We left early the next morning to come back the UAE. The border crossings both ways were relatively easy, and we had no issues. The whole trip was amazing and we got the learn a lot more about the culture in this area of the world since we spent a good deal of the weekend with locals. It is definetly not the US here, and I was surprised to learn how strict parents are here.
Overall, I've been having a great break so far, though I kind of wish I was still on that beach in Oman. We have five days left, and I'm not sure what were going to do during them. I will write again when more has happened. Until then...
-Lindsay
Muscat at Night:
Our Cove:
Beautiful Waters:
The Gate:
The Harbor:
Nizwa Fort:
View of the Fort and Nizwa:
The Group:
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