Oman
Oman is a country where a 4x4 is recommended to see it's sites. Since, they run about $100 a day and isolate you from the people, I decided to go it alone - it's expensive enough in this country. And so I've been doing a lot of walking.
I shared a taxi to Bustan Palace Hotel (my lord the luxury!), where the only other foreigners on my flight were going, and then walked ten miles to my hotel across from the fish market in Muscat. The walk was nice enough. Oman is mountains that go into the ocean with a small strip of civilization in between. White-washed mosques and buildings with brown mountains behind. Very pretty. And the Omanis all wear traditional gowns and skull caps all the time with the exception of the Indian workers who dress western. Every moment is picturesque. The people have been friendly, asking who I am and why I would come to their country. The Indians chat me up the most; they all seem lonely and missing home. One Indian even invited me to dinner and so we had vegitable soup and watched TV in his one bedroom apartment.
After seeing a millions forts in Muscat, I hopped a bus to Nizwa. From there, I wanted to go the Jebel Akhdar plateau, but lacked a 4x4. So, I decided to walk the 20 miles. Through a canyon and up a mountain, I walked for nine hours. I passed four terraced villages on the way, each time with people stopping what they were doing and staring. It wasn't just a "there's a foreigner" stare, it was a "what the fuck is he doing?" At the first and third village men came out, took my water bottles from me and refilled them. At the fourth, they invited me in for coffee, oranges and dates. Aparently, I'm Blanch Dubuois. Their kindness was much appreciated. I walked at night for the last three hours of my journey under a star-filled new moon sky. I arrived, hit the shop and had the most glorious dinner of a can of tuna, two Snickers bars and a Seven-Up.
Coming down was easier and I then headed to Sur, a city on the eastern-most point of the Arabian peninsula. Its location is near an important turtle nesting beach, so I broke down, rented a car and went out to see Mario's enemies. With an Italian tour group in the middle of the night, I watched the giant beasts poop out slimy eggs, bury them and make their way back to the ocean. Uterly amazing, but I did feel a little weird like I was interupting some sort of intimate moment as a voyeaur. Maybe it was because I was staring into a turtle's vagina after dark.
Not much time left here in sunny Oman and when I return it'll be off to a cold Afghanistan. Ug, Aghanistan.
I shared a taxi to Bustan Palace Hotel (my lord the luxury!), where the only other foreigners on my flight were going, and then walked ten miles to my hotel across from the fish market in Muscat. The walk was nice enough. Oman is mountains that go into the ocean with a small strip of civilization in between. White-washed mosques and buildings with brown mountains behind. Very pretty. And the Omanis all wear traditional gowns and skull caps all the time with the exception of the Indian workers who dress western. Every moment is picturesque. The people have been friendly, asking who I am and why I would come to their country. The Indians chat me up the most; they all seem lonely and missing home. One Indian even invited me to dinner and so we had vegitable soup and watched TV in his one bedroom apartment.
After seeing a millions forts in Muscat, I hopped a bus to Nizwa. From there, I wanted to go the Jebel Akhdar plateau, but lacked a 4x4. So, I decided to walk the 20 miles. Through a canyon and up a mountain, I walked for nine hours. I passed four terraced villages on the way, each time with people stopping what they were doing and staring. It wasn't just a "there's a foreigner" stare, it was a "what the fuck is he doing?" At the first and third village men came out, took my water bottles from me and refilled them. At the fourth, they invited me in for coffee, oranges and dates. Aparently, I'm Blanch Dubuois. Their kindness was much appreciated. I walked at night for the last three hours of my journey under a star-filled new moon sky. I arrived, hit the shop and had the most glorious dinner of a can of tuna, two Snickers bars and a Seven-Up.
Coming down was easier and I then headed to Sur, a city on the eastern-most point of the Arabian peninsula. Its location is near an important turtle nesting beach, so I broke down, rented a car and went out to see Mario's enemies. With an Italian tour group in the middle of the night, I watched the giant beasts poop out slimy eggs, bury them and make their way back to the ocean. Uterly amazing, but I did feel a little weird like I was interupting some sort of intimate moment as a voyeaur. Maybe it was because I was staring into a turtle's vagina after dark.
Not much time left here in sunny Oman and when I return it'll be off to a cold Afghanistan. Ug, Aghanistan.
posted by American Dilettante at
10:23 AM
1 Comments:
Wow what amazing journeys AD! The 20 mile walk sounds especially cool! It must have really built up your appetite for the can of tuna to be enjoyable, but I bet the snickers and 7-up did truly make for a perfect meal.
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shoffy22, at 6:49 AM
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