Oman 2: The return hike to Muscat, The Grand mosque, and Jabal Ahkdar's first abandoned village

   From the museum, we took a winding road up to a view of Old Muscat.  We continued on to the trailhead of the Mutrah to Riyam Park, where we stopped at a coffee shop for drinks to bring with us.

  We passed two people who had just come down from the hike, but after that, we didn't see a single soul for the entirety.  It was steep at first, but then flattened out, before heading downward.  The views were fantastic.  We ended up down by a stream. I had to pack away my camera, so I can use handholds to avoid getting my feet wet.  I still ended up putting my foot into water once, but Miles avoided it.  He was a bit irritated with the heat and had not gone on a hike in a while, so was getting needlessly frustrated.  This was not helped, when, at the very end, we couldn't find the path that would have, in two minutes, finished the hike.  We doubled back, following the Alltrails map, but the path did not exist.  We returned to where we thought it should end and then I saw the final Oman flag marker for the trail.  Two minutes later we had completed the hike and the road followed directly into town.

  I outlined the path of our walking and hike of the day, with the dots where we stopped along the way.

  That night, I was absolutely exhausted, and my stomach was bothering me.  As a result, i brought Miles to the KFC two doors down and I picked up a plain sandwich at the coffee shop connected to our hotel.
  We woke up the next morning and our second checked bag was finally delivered.  This day was planned to be an easy day.  Around noon, we visit the Souq, which was not particularly impressive.  I tried a side alley to see how expansive it was, but once we diverted down another alley, we discovered mostly abandoned passages.  I had taken some pictures, but in my grogginess after a nap afterwards, I accidentally deleted them.  It was so unspectacular that I didn't go back to retake the pictures.

  On the other side of the Souq, we walked to a tailor that got good reviews for their dishdasha, the traditional male Omani clothing that I think looks fantastic.  It ended up being a tailor shop where you could see a bunch of workers through the window, but there were no premade outfits to buy.  I will have to try again later in the trip.

  We departed again in late afternoon to visit the Mutrah Fort.  It was a pleasant and easy walk, with beautiful views of the city.  Afterwards, just a short distance away was a takeout restaurant with rave reviews.  The place was clearly a non tourist destination, with prices merely a fraction of what we paid elsewhere.  I was so uncertain about the low prices, that I ordered us both two dishes, just in case I was accidentally ordering appetizers.  They were normal portions.

  The next day, we packed up and left early, to visit the Sultan Qaboos Grand Masjid, as Miles finally had appropriate clothes to wear.  They close at 11 AM on weekdays.  I was a beautiful set of buildings.  You had to take off your shoes and deposit them in cubbies before entering the two buildings.  Looking up at the large chandelier in the larger building, it made me think of a city in the sky.  The pictures do not do it justice.

City in the Sky

  From the Mosque, it was a little over a two hour drive to our next location, up a mountain to Jabal Ahkdar.  To drive up, you are required to pass through a government checkpoint and must have a vehicle with four wheel drive.  The process was smooth and up we went.  The road is well paved and I am not quite sure I understand why a four wheel drive was necessary.  They have two lanes on the way up, to allow for slower moving trucks to have their own lane.  The views were blocked for large portions of time, I assumed, because people might use that second lane to stop and take pictures.

  Our hotel here is magnificent, and we were upgraded to have our own chalet, with a massive living room and massive bedroom.  The internet is also extremely fast, which allowed for gaming.  There seem to be relatively few quests, as it is likely off season for them.  After unpacking, we drove fifteen minutes away, to Wadi Bani Habib.  This small hike brought us down to a small, abandoned village.  I followed a guide that I found online, but we ended up missing what I believe was a side path to a second village.  After exploring the first village, I took out my insect lens for a couple of lizards and some insects, who were making hives in the holes in the building walls.

  To complete the hike, we continued along the dry river bed, which became more and more littered with garbage, and over infested with thorny bushes.  We caught sight of a huge frog, but it escaped into the crevasse of a wall before I could photograph it.  Growing weary of the bushes, we climbed a small wall into an abandoned tiered garden, and then over a bent fence to a drainage system, which led us to the stepped ascent.

  One more point of note is the bathroom situation of Oman.  Two days before my trip, it popped into my head that they might not use toilet paper.  The internet seemed to confirm that this was the case, and they use a hose connected to the wall, as a form of a bidet.  This has not altogether been true so far.  The toilets use both options.  I have discovered, shockingly(to me), that I vastly prefer the hose system.  When the water pressure is strong enough, it is the fastest and easiest way to clean that I have ever experienced.  If I wouldn't get side glances, I would install the hose system for my bathrooms at home.  Yes, seriously.

Oman 1: The difficult journey and some time in Muscat

   The morning of our flights started off well enough.  We drove the hour and forty minutes to the airport, left our car in long term parking, and headed over to our terminal.  I wanted to arrive three hours before our flight because we were not allowed to check in the night before, I wanted to give us plenty of time in case there was an issue with the airlines accepting our visa and checking us in.  There wasn't.  There was no line, we checked in, and breezed through precheck.  We walked to the gate, found a remote corner to sit down and take off our masks, and began the wait.

  All seemed well.  The plane had arrived and the flight consistently showed as "on time."  However, when we were supposed to board, nothing happened.  I overheard one worker explain that they were simply cleaning the plane.  After further delay, they announced that a crew member was sick, and that we would be awaiting a replacement member.  There was a single worker at the gate and a long line to see her, that barely moved.  I stood on the line just in case.  After about an hour, she announced that a new crew member had landed and would reach us in about fifteen minutes.  Since I had a two hour and fifteen minute buffer for our connecting flight, I stepped out of line.  It took them nearly thirty five minutes to arrive, and then another fifteen before they began boarding.  Since I had stepped out of line, it was going to be impossible for me to speak to the agent.  I had to decide whether we should go, knowing it would be extremely tight.  There didn't seem to be any alternative flight options when I looked, so I decided we should.

  It took quite a bit of time for the plane to begin to move, and then we taxied for a while on the runway.  When we landed, we had twenty five minutes to cross to the other terminal and board our flight.  The attendant asked people to let the people with connecting flights off first, and people surprisingly listened.  I had to decide to take the bus or the auto train.  Normally I would have taken the train, but the bus was right there.  I asked the worker if he thought we should bolt for the train or wait there and he assured us that the bus would be fastest, though it would take nearly ten minutes for it to arrive.  We crossed the space between terminals quickly, but in the new one, we had quite a distance to cover.  Since I was pulling and carrying three out of our four bags, I had Miles run ahead, and I alternated between jogging with my pants falling down, and walking, all while wearing the mask.  As I pulled up to the gate, the plane was three minutes from scheduled takeoff.  The door was closed.  They called the plane and asked them not to leave.  They bumbled around with our passports and eventually opened the door for us.

  The consequence of this short connection, which we would not discover until later, was that our two checked bags did not make it onto our plane.  This was a seven and a half hour flight to Frankfurt, which went by quickly.  We had a two hour and twenty minute layover before taking our final flight to Oman.  Miles wanted to find waffles, but we decided to get to our gate first, and I am glad we did.  We took a long bus ride to another terminal, walked down multiple long corridors, and then encountered a long line which culminated in another bag scan.  To make matters worse, this scan required every single electronic to be removed, from laptop all the way down to charging cables, which explained why the line moved so slowly.  We arrived five minutes before boarding and asked the gate agent to check to see if our bags had made the connection.  Once boarded, they were kind enough to send someone over to alert us that it had not.

  This flight through Oman Air was the only flight without the choice of seating.  The closest that I could get us together was one row apart.  A family of three, with extra leg room, ended up moving to the window, and the stewardess allowed Miles and I to take the three seats that they had vacated.  This made for an extremely pleasant flight.  The in flight tv gave the option to review the Quran and identified us as flying over the state of Palestine.  We landed, went through passport control, put in a claim with the baggage handlers, picked up our rental car, and drove ten minutes to our airport hotel.  Our flight had arrived after 7:00 pm at night, and it had been a long day.

  Without our bags, I was unable to have Miles wear long sleeves, so we had to skip our planned visit to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Masjid.  Instead, we went to the Royal Opera House of Muscat.  Even Miles was impressed by its grandeur.  We had a short narration by a tour guide through the handful of rooms that we were allowed into, mostly detailing where the raw materials had come from.

  Just down the road was a grocery store, where we picked up snacks as well as replacement toiletries in case it took longer than expected for our bags to arrive.  Our hotel is located along the Mutrah Corniche, a seaside road with a fish market on one side, along with ships as big as a cruise liner, and vendors, a fort, and the Muscat Souq on the other.  That night we kept it simple by resting and then going out for dinner.  I chose the Bait Al Luban Omani Restaurant because the ratings were decent, the pricing was reasonable, and it had numerous Omani dishes that I had read about online.

  We sat across from what I believe to be a prayer area, as I saw one person make use of it this way.  I ordered Pakora, a fried set of vegetable dumplings and a traditional dish called Harees Dijaj.  The waiter asked me if I was sure that I wanted this, as some tourists found it to be challenging.  I went ahead with it anyway.  Despite its unappealing look at texture, the taste was quite decent.  For dessert we had a sampler set that included halwa, qashat, mahoo, and madlouka.  I enjoyed three out of the four desserts.

  Our next day was to be a long one.  We began by walking 3.6 kilometers, along the flat walkway along the water, towards the Muscat Gate Museum.  Along the way, we passed the entrance to the Muscat Souq, and spotted sea life along the side of the path.

I have been unable to identify this sea creature.

I saw these sea creatures bouncing on the rock.  

This gate housed a tiny museum.

  The museum ended up being just one large room.  It was free, and no one was inside.  Next, we stopped at a small convenience store for drinks.  Inside, I found my favorite Asian sports drink.  I got two.

  Just a few minutes down the road, we passed through a car tunnel, and then went along the water to view Al-Mirani Fort and Al Jalali Fort.  Al-Mirani is temporarily closed and Al Jalali is only open on Thursdays through Sundays, so we just missed it.  We were also able to see the back of the Al Alam Royal Palace.

  Continuing along the road led us to the front of the palace, and then opposite, was the small, but elegant National Museum of Oman.

The National Museum of Oman.

My favorite piece of the museum.  I have absolutely no idea why they had this Japanese display.

The previous Sultan's throne.

  Before beginning the walk to our hike back to the hotel, we stopped at one last museum, the Bait Al Zubair.  Once outside, I asked Miles if he wanted to skip it.  He said we should go, since we were already there.  To be honest, it was quite boring.