After almost 6 months living our routine lives home in Sint Maarten, we returned to where we started our Middle East tour, which is part of our world tour.
It’s strange to realize how fast you get used to your surrounding, wherever you are. Once being back in Sint Maarten, within days, our experiences of the past 12 months started to fade away in the back of our memory bank and daily routine became the new norm. The big difference was that life went from living the day to day experience, to the week to week experience. The weekend became the moment we were looking forward to, instead of each next day. Even looking forward to the next stage of our tour was not on the radar anymore.
Today, we are back in the Middle East, in Oman. Making a stop in Dubai then flying to Muscat, we realized what a peaceful and welcoming country Oman is. At least that is how we experience it. Where Dubai is hectic, focused on grandeur and high consumption, dealing with the rise of “western illnesses”, Omanbholds tradition, culture and moral values in high esteem.
From the airport we went straight to the MB truck dealership, where the truck was kept for service. An amazing job was done by the MB technicians and also the living unit was in perfect condition with everything operational as if we haven’t been away.
The heat was another thing. We knew it from the last time and Sint Maarten was also unusual hot this year. There are not many places on the planet where you can escape the effects of a changing climate.
We took the truck to a hotel in Muscat, where we could park and get organized. Due to the heat (and the high humidity), working during the day was not an option. So we woke up very early morning and worked until the sun started to punish us and we continued again after an early diner in the evening.
Letting all our stuff go through our hands again, we knew again what we were carrying with us and store it at the right places.
An issue was the new tires. Since we wanted to be there during the tire change and also we wanted a specific type of tire, we had to wait for a couple of days. Making international payments was not as sophisticated as we expected and a weekend putting all on hold, didn’t help either. However, staying in a nice airconditioned hotel, was not a punishment and after a busy 6 months and the traveling, a bit of a break was welcome.
We were able to meet people we had met before and on several occasions we had great evenings. Meeting local as well as expats in a country you visit gives you intresting information about a country you won’t find in travel guides. Often as a tourist you visit the nice locations in a country and focus on all the positive. But for us visiting a country is not complete, if we can’t visualize how people live, work and eat in a country. We want to compare, see differences but also experience similarities.
Often you hear or see the same things people talk or are concerned about. But also what they like to do or experience. People like (good) food, but different dishes have evolved over the world, which in turn is part of our discovery tour of the world. Like Oman, which has a rich history of maritime trading, bringing flavors and people from far away corners of the globe, has many culinary surprises.
Zanzibar, Pakistan, India, all these flavors can be found in streets of Oman, besides the many Arabian delicacies.
During the day, besides the many cars you see hardly anybody outside on the roads, parks or beaches. But once the sun starts her last hour to the horizon, people come out of their houses and wonder along the boulevards and beaches of Muscat. Families bring their kids, men play football on the beach and people do their exercises. Actually activities you would see in so many other countries in the world. And all together we watch the beautiful sunsets, which brings us to moments of reflection and admiration.
After a 6 day wait we finally got our new tires. The people at Mercedes truck in Muscat were very helpful to get the rims with the new tires installed. Special care was needed for the proper re-installation of the tire in/deflate system.
When we left the garage it was late already so we decided to park in the old town, near the fish market and behind the mega yacht of the Sultan. Still hot but early in the evening we took a walk over the Cornich (seaside boulevard), we actually did the same walk the first time we were in Muscat as well.
It’s still one of the cooler areas in town and many people come out to catch the occasional little breeze coming from the ocean. Getting a cold fresh fruit juice or smoothie from one of the many juice stores on the Cornich is a nice way to cool off of bit as well.
Early morning we woke up from our first night in the camper. All worked fine and especially the airconditioning gave us a good night sleep. We visited the fish market in the early hours and we almost had forgotten how much fish and how many different fish species are caught in waters of Oman.
Next to the fish market there is the fruit and vegetable market which we also visited and we got ourselves some nice fresh fruit and veggies.
Having visited a large supermarket on the day we got the new tires installed, we were now finally ready to go. Our goal that day was the UAE, which we reached in the early afternoon. Crossing the border was easy and the first stop we made was at the Kalgan Bird of Prey Centre. A rehabilitation and breeding center for endangered birds of prey (those which are found in the Arab peninsula).
Too early in the season and too early or late for the day. It was hot like an oven to walk around there. We felt sorry for the birds, most of which were tied with a little rope on a leg to the stand they were standing on. These are huge magistic creatures, who actually should fly high in the sky. But now they are here, to help to avoid the extinction of their species.
We left and tried to follow the road along the coast of the UAE. We thought that only Dubai and Abu Dani were built up with packed coastlines, but the Emirate we entered was similar. No free spots on the beach left all the way up to Musandam (Oman).
We heard of another piece of Oman in the UAE, not Musandam. It’s an enclave surrounded by the UAE called (Magda) But within that enclave there is another enclave which is a part of the UAE called (Hamlet Al Nahwa). The last one is high up in the mountains and is only 4km2 in seize. It has its own police and fire station, school, medical clinic and power plant. About 300 people live in this enclave. We parked the truck in the middle of a valley, which we found a unique experience. It’s the only place of its kind in the Middle East.
They heat and humidity remained a big issue for us. Even though we were outside, we were soaking wet. Cooking we did outside on our exterior kitchen. Hamburgers were on the menu.
In the early morning we woke up from the battery alarm. The airconditioning had taken so much power, that the batteries were dangerously low in energy. (We had the same problem last year). Even tough we had full sun the whole day for solar energy and we drove a lot and so using the generator of the engine, it was probably not the enough.
It was only after starting the engine, that I realized that the truck generator was not charging the batteries. So we had to wait for the sun to come up. To protect the batteries I had shut off all power supply and the heat was unbearable.
We left the valley early, making a stop in the old part of the hamlet (which has a nicely restored part with a tiny museum). Due to its small size, you are out before you know it and back in the small (75km2) Omani enclave. A brand new highway has been cut through the mountains to nowhere and left and right there is no sign of any human activity. Near the end you take the only paved side road and after a short while that road ends in a gravel wadi with some houses and some small date farms. The wadi is green with date palms and other trees and seems like the only livable area (besides the little town of Magda).
Near the end of the wadi we reached the border and we were back in the UAE. We continued driving towards Musandam. The idea was to get in Musandam from the coastal road at Dibba, but we were sent back at the border post. Our truck was too big for the narrow mountain roads, according to the border officials.
So now we had to make detour around Musandam through the UAE to go to the other side of the peninsula, towards the town of Rad Al Kheiman. Again, a pretty much built up area, especially along the coast.
But then you reach the border (again) between the UAE and Oman (Musandam). Very friendly and very easy going. The border guards provided us bottles of cold water, towels and not many questions were asked. We were back in Oman again.
A beautiful new coastal road along high cliffs on one side and the Arabian Gulf on the other side, brings you to the capital of Musandam (Khasab). Before we reached Khasab, we stopped at the parking near a family play ground. Our next campsite for the night. A beautiful location with great view over the Gulf. In the evening when no people were around, we took a dive in the water. For women (especially if you are not moslim), you are limited with your outfit. You have to cover your entire body, also when you go swimming. So with the sun down, Marja could just jump in the sea in her bathing suit. The water of the Gulf felt like bathtub water. It was around the 30 degrees Celsius, so not really the water temperature you like to cool off.
Unfortunately we woke up early again because of the low batteries. This time really early. So we realized we really had a problem, or we did something wrong.
We drove to town (Khasab), to a recommended coffee shop. With a large parking next to it and an exterior outlet, we were allowed to charge the batteries via land current. In the meantime we spent a nice time in the airconditioned coffee shop. The staff was very nice, they are from Kenya, spoke English and had a good sense of humor.
I was now in contact with the manufacturer of the camper to figure out what the problem could be. Since it was so comfortable inside the coffee shop, we stayed almost the whole day and also had some other work done.
End of the day we drove to another nearby public beach to spend the night there.
This large beach is one of the very few places of Khasab where the locals can drive their cars on the beach up to the waterfront. From around 18:00 till around 23:00, it’s a coming and going of cars. Most just stop for a little while, people stay in their cars, look at the sea while drinking a coffee. So we had some action around us.
We went through a good night of sleep, thanks to the well charged batteries. Even better was, that when we opened the windows of the camper, we had dolphins swimming right in front of us (we were parked very close to the shoreline). Wow, what a way to start your day!
The day before we noticed a little fishing boat near the cafe (ChafChafCafe), and the owner, an elderly fisherman. According to the guys in the coffee shop, he could take us to the fjords. So we went back to the coffee shop, asked if we could charge the batteries again and while we were organizing that, the fisherman arrived. Within half an hour and after a good cup of coffee we were in the boat….
