Salalah

It's raining in Muscat this morning! This reminded me that I have yet to post about our 3 day trip a few weeks ago to Salalah in the South of Oman, bordering Yemen and Saudi Arabia. 

Each summer between mid June-September Salalah, Oman's second city, catches the tail end of the Indian monsoons bringing with it mist and rain. Al khareef as it is known locally, turns the area into a beautiful green oasis and people flock in their 1000s from all over the Middle East to escape the stifling heat of the summer elsewhere in the region. We didn't quite make it for the khareef but travelled during half term at the beginning of October when the crowds had quietened down but the greenery had not. 

Salalah is over 1000 km from Muscat, a very, very long car journey with two impatient kids so we made it easy for ourselves and took a flight with Oman Air, arriving in Salalah 11/2 hours after leaving Muscat. We picked up a car up at the airport and drove to the relatively new Juweira (not to be confused with Jumeira) Boutique Hotel which is situated in the new marina area. Construction is still taking place to build a Club Med resort as well as another high end hotel but this was very unobtrusive and we barely noticed the diggers, lorries and piles of sand in the distance. The hotel is contemporary and small and seemed very quiet compared to our experience of Muscat hotels, in fact we pretty much had the pool to ourselves during the day time. 

                                     

On our first afternoon we ventured out to Wadi Dharbat, an estuary that joins the Khour Rouri and during the rainy season waterfalls can be seen spilling over the cliff face. Unfortnately we missed these and as you are unable to swim in the wadi due to potential bilharzia bacteria this made our trip slightly disappointing (not to mention the mini pedalos, rubbish and popcorn sellers). It was however great to experience the greenery but at the same time it seemed strange to see a field full of camels! 

King of the Castle! Looking at the views from on the way down form Wadi Dharbat

On day 2, after a lazy morning around the pool, we visited Mughsayl beach, about 45 km from Salalah. This is a beautiful and rugged beach where during rough seas water shoots up through blow holes caused by the water having eroding the rock and formed caverns. The natural rock face of the cliffs are also covered in part by different coloured seaweeds, forming a layered effect which is quite dramatic. The seas here however can be quite unpredictable though and during the week we were visiting 2 people had gone missing after swimming in this stretch of water so we contented ourselves with walking along the long sandy beach and stone skimming.

On the way back to the airport we stopped off for some local small and sweet bananas, coconuts and coconut water, drunk straight from the coconut through a straw. I loved this part of Salalah, with it's banana plantations and coconut palms and streets lined with stalls all selling exactly the same things. The colours and atmosphere reminded me of Sri Lanka. 

Our trip to Salalah was long enough to enjoy but not so long that the kids grew bored of sight seeing and of this small, quiet but beautiful part of Oman. 

Eid al Adha Break

Half term was early for us here in Oman so that it coincided with a 9 day public holiday for Eid al Adha. Eid al Adha is the Muslim celebration which marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). 

As newbies in Muscat we are still getting to know people so we were delighted when one of our neighbours invited us on a 2 night surfing trip to the East of Oman. We had already booked a trip to Salalah 1100 km from Muscat in the South of Oman for part of the week (post to follow) but not wanting to miss out, we decided to go along for one night and were so glad we did. 

The Arabian Sea Motel near As Siwayh was the location, a  low rise, basic but clean hotel situated in a huge bay. The surfing was provided by a company from Dubai (http://www.surfshopdubai.com) who regularly visit this spot to provide water sports facilities including surfing, kite boarding and stand up paddle boarding.

We drove 3.5 hours from Muscat to get there in convoy with a few other families, through some very dramatic mountain scenery, past wadis we would like to visit, through the fishing town of Sur and past the turtle reserve at Ras al Jinz.

The first surfing lessons and boards had been pre-booked for the kids, once again thanks to our lovely neighbour, and the first lesson took place on the afternoon of our arrival. There were 13 kids with mixed abilities but this was a new experience for my girls and I thought my little miss sporty (the youngest) would find it easier than her less active big sister but it seems that this is not always the case with surfing and our teenager in the making was every bit as capable as her little sister, a great confidence booster.

The surfing guys were excellent with the kids and really encouraged all of them to have a go and by day two had pretty much all of them standing up. This was all being watched from the beach by the gang of parents, whilst also admiring the skills of the kite boarders and an amazingly cool stand up paddle boarder who made the whole thing look sooo easy and even made me want to get up and have a go myself. 

The hotel served up a good breakfast but breakfast is the only meal that is offered so we had all arrived with cars full of BBQs, camping chairs and cool boxes full of food to share. The evening was spent BBQ-ing, marsh mellow toasting (kids), beer drinking (adults) and chatting to the group of great people we had met, most of them for the first time that day. The kids all had a ball and exhausted from the days activities and went to bed without any complaints at all. :-) 

Unfortunately we had to leave before the mum's surfing lesson took place on the afternoon of the 2nd day, which was such a shame as I would have really liked to have given it a go and have since heard that it was a lot of fun! 

We did however somehow manage to bring home an extra guest homw with us though...Ahhhh!!!

Some people have lived here for years and never seen a scorpion so how we managed to find one and bring it home goodness knows. I think it was a bit shell shocked from all the screaming but we managed to catch it and deliver it safely back to the desert .

Birthday Bliss

As usual my family gave me some very thoughtful and lovely cards and presents on my birthday. This card from my eldest daughter made me laugh as I have never really considered myself much of a shopper but she clearly does! So probably just as well the options are limited in Oman.

But this one from my husband  is spot on...I generally have to ask my children to show me how to do most things involving laptops, ipads, phones and even how to turn the TV on...

A present to help transform my frizz! I love the fact that this Nuxe dry oil is made from over 98% natural ingredients, it is multi-purpose as I can also use it on my skin and it smells gorgeous too.

Goodbye Hotel Chocolat and Hello Patchi! Beautifully wrapped and extremely moreish, uh oh I have discovered the delights of Lebanese chocolate brand Patchi...

I am not sure what my husband was thinking when he bought me this but I love it anyway!

Happy days! 

Feeling blessed

Yesterday was my birthday and as it fell on the weekend we decided to see a bit of Oman and do something that all of us would enjoy as a family. So we booked a 3.5 hour dolphin watching, snorkelling and coastal cruise trip in a glass bottomed boat. We left Marina Bandar al Rowdha near al Bustan , about 20 minutes or so outside of Muscat, at 0830 with the temperature a balmy 33 degrees (well balmy compared to the 40 plus degrees it was until last week). Not long after leaving the marina and heading out to sea, we encountered a school (or pod, I'm not sure which is the correct term...) of what seemed like around a dozen dolphins. We think they were common or spinner dolphins which apparently are the most common types found in the gulf of Oman. 100 or so photos later and I think that I managed to get 1 or 2 reasonable shots of these amazing creatures, showing just how close to them we were.

A little further along the coast, past a couple of fishing villages and a few big exclusive hotel resorts (I made a mental note to visit sometime!) and we pulled into a secluded cove surrounded by coral reef. Here we spent some time snorkelling in the warm waters which due to high salinity made it seem particularly easy to float, a bonus in my case as I am not a particularly strong swimmer. We saw several different types of colourful fish that are only found in this area of the World such as the Majestic Tang with it's yellow fins and bright blue fringe, the electric blue, yellow tailed Tang as well as an eel-like creature...hmmm wasn't so keen on that one!

On the way back to the marina the captain pointed out places of interest along the coast including the Parliament buildings which looked as if they were practically on the beach and the popular Oman Dive Centre which we plan to visit sometime. All in all it was a relaxing and very enjoyable morning and the perfect way to spend a birthday, feeling blessed!

Finally, I had to include this quote of the day as it did make me laugh.
Husband (pointing to dolphins)' you don't see that in Goring'
Youngest daughter (pointing at the sun) ' no and you don't see that either!'

Qantab Village

Al Bustan village

First impressions

View from the Crown Plaza hotel 

Arriving in Muscat in mid-August it was quiet, very quiet...in fact for a while it seemed as if we were the only people on our compound, there were no lights on anywhere. With so many people away it did however mean that there was less traffic on the roads and so it was a good time to orientate myself and start driving in the Middle East again, a very different experience than in the UK...lots of changing of lanes and weaving in and out and forget it if you leave too big a gap between you and the car in front, it will take you forever to get anywhere. Assertive driving is what's needed but I still needed to psych myself up to get in the drivers seat. Luckily our tank of a car gave me a sense of protection from what seemed like madness around me.

Sunset at Shatti Beach - The cooler part of the day

My first impressions of Muscat and living in Oman

• Muscat - With its beaches, mountain back-drop, palm trees and brightly coloured bouganevillea, Muscat is a beautiful low-rise city with friendly people   
• The heat - I hadn't forgotten from my Doha days what it is like to live with the summer heat in the Middle East; staying inside until late in the day, living with air conditioning and keeping children occupied when it's too hot to run around outside...these are just some of the things I am having to get used to again. I had however forgotten about the humidity, my hair just hates this weather and no amount of product seem to be able to tame my frizz!
• Eating out - How many fast food restaurants?! They are everywhere! I have yet to find a truly healthy hang out even though we have tried a few restaurants already, Thai, Indian, International, Italian etc we have been reasonably adventurous but I'm not really sure they exist here in Muscat. In fact food has been a bit hit and miss for us and sometimes even disappointing even at the more expensive establishments. By far the best food experienced in Muscat was the traditional food served at the home of an Omani. Local fish, herbs and spices, chicken and coconut curry, traditional Omani bread and rice, delicious!   
• Shopping -No more Tesco and Riverford organic deliveries for me. I have found myself making trips to 3 or more supermarkets several times a week. I can't find everything I want but I have found some organic food and a few health food products (which cost an arm and a leg) but for now we are trying to eat more fresh fish and well washed local produce. I have however heard that Organic foods in Dubai make a delivery to the Wave in Muscat once or twice a month so I shall shortly be investigating. Oh and I am trying to summon up the courage to visit the local fish market too, goodness knows what I'll come back with though... As far as clothes are concerned, well let's just say I think I shall be taking a trip to Dubai a couple of times a year!  

View from our roof terrace

Overall, our first 6 weeks in Muscat have felt pretty much like a long holiday, knowing no one and without too much to do except find our way around. However, since school started a couple of weeks ago I have started to feel like I am actually living here, probably due to having more of a routine and the fact that our shipping finally arrived after 2 months at sea. We also now have a list of things we want to do and places we would like to visit here in Oman and so have started to put some dates in the diary; Salalah; desert camping, boat trips and Opera house visits so watch this space for the pics. 

A new life in Oman

Like many things in our lives over the last 10 years or so, our move to Muscat was slightly unexpected and unplanned.  My husband accepted a job offer and left the UK within just a couple of weeks in March of this year. With the school year to finish for my two daughters aged 11 and 9, a nutrition business to wind down and a house to pack up, we followed just over 6 weeks ago and are now just about starting to make a life for ourselves in Oman.
Rewind 5 years and we were in a similar situation moving to Doha, Qatar. At the time I toyed with the idea of writing a blog to record our time in the Middle East and to keep our friends and families up to date with what we were up to. I may have even got as far as writing a couple of posts but that's about as far as it got, but I now wish I had. We only ended up staying in Doha for a year, but that's another story...So here we are again after 4 years back in the UK and here is my blog. I must add to that that I am no writer and my grammar is often awful. There is also no set agenda, although nutrition is likely to feature often, what and where we eat, shop and cook. Travel is also high on the list as we are just embarking on new adventure and plan to make the most of it.