Muscat, Oman vacation

Approaching Oman border

Last week was a second EID (religious holiday).  The kids got the full week off from school and Jake had 4 of the 5 days off.  So off to Oman we went.  Oman is a bordering country to the UAE (we can drive there!) but with very different terrain than where we are.  It is still very dry and has a desert but it is also very mountainous.  There were mountains on the drive there near the border as well as on the coast.

We drove to Al Ain - which is a border town on the UAE side (it's also an oasis and a destination in and of itself - but we'll have to sight see there another time).  We had heard that the border can get very backed up on holidays so we spent the night and hit the border first thing in the morning.  It still took us close to 45 minutes to get through all the check points but we're so glad we did it that way.  Some friends of ours who came through later in the day took FOUR HOURS to get across the border.  And why is that crossing a border by land feels a little scarier than at an airport?  All those border posts with soldiers in uniforms.  Yikes.  I know as a family with four small daughters, we're really a security threat but I couldn't help be a bit nervous as we crossed.  It also didn't help that we've lost our car registration - we officially needed it and proof of insurance.  We had proof of insurance and thankfully that was enough for our crossing - whew!

 

 

The drive to Muscat if very doable -probably something like five hours without the border stop.  Once in Muscat, we stayed at a hotel on the beach which also had a great pool (and lazy river).  We didn't spend a ton of time at the beach as it was actually a little creepy.  It was part of a public beach and it seemed a lot of men just came to hang out and see tourists in swim suits.  Since local women are *very* covered, I guess it's a real treat to see women in swimsuits???  Ick.  Makes me appreciate the women/ kid only beaches in Abu Dhabi (and the private beaches with no onlookers).  So I stayed covered on the towel and let Jake frolic with the kids in the water.  Next time we'll stay at a hotel with a more private beach.

 

We spent some time sightseeing around the beautiful city of Muscat.  It's a city of neighborhoods tucked amongst the mountains.  There are also a lot of old forts/ watchtowers that have been preserved.  I can only imagine what life was like when the hills and valleys had to be watched for invaders.  We also visited the souq (marketplace).  It's reportedly one of the best souqs in the middle east.  There aren't many (any?) old surviving ones in the UAE (they've been rebuilt and have lost a lot of their character).  The Muscat one is small and charming and although it doesn't have the history or size of the more famous ones in say Cairo, it's a pleasant place to meander and the merchants aren't aggressive so you can just stroll and enjoy.  I would have liked to have looked more and bought a few things but that was hard to do with four little kids (the youngest one was sick most of our visit and antsy).

We also took a dolphin watching boat trip (we left Jake and Anna behind so it was just the three big kids and me).  Although we didn't see any dolphins, just being out on the boat was lovely getting to see the beautiful, rocky coastline.  The boat ride was so soothing that both Meredith and Jane conked out and took a little snooze.

I am definitely signing us up to go back another time.  I would like to hit a desert camp as well as see the turtles - Oman is a huge nesting place for large sea turtles.  Although Oman and Muscat were wonderful, it wasn't actually our best vacation.  Anna was sick and unlike our trip to Dubai when she was a cuddly sick, this time she was a grumpy sick (and didn't sleep well at all).  So even though she is usually a pretty easy baby, she was uncomfortable and had a hard time on this vacation.  So I want a "do over" when she isn't sick!  Thankfully, she's doing much better now and seems very glad to be "home."