{"id":2639,"date":"2013-10-17T17:21:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T16:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2026-05-24T06:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:13:13","slug":"oh-man-were-off-to-oman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2013\/10\/17\/oh-man-were-off-to-oman\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh Man, We’re Off To Oman"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Heading
Heading up to the Hajar Mountains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monday became a travelling day; a long one.\u00a0 The Pajero was loaded with four days of ‘stuff’ for the four of us, and we left Abu Dhabi heading east to Al Ain and the border with Oman.\u00a0 We arrived at 11am, queued to leave the country and then queued for hours to get in to Oman.\u00a0 I’ve never seen such a stationary queue.\u00a0 We took it in turns to eat our lunch in the air-conditioned car, though Rodney and Ramsay spent most of the time in the hot stuffy building, standing in-line at, what may have been, the slowest line ever.\u00a0 Nearly three hours later we were allowed to pass through the last checkpoint and drive south along the edge of the Hajar Mountains to Ibri.\u00a0 Around 3pm we reached Ibri and turned east again over the Hajar Mountains. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"They
They don’t ride them now, they give them a lift !!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The landscape changed completely to an almost lunar landscape; every shade of brown and grey, layers and layers of crumpled jagged teeth-like edges.\u00a0 It was fascinating.\u00a0 Having just been discussing how the weather forecast always says \u201csunny\u201d every day, with a temperature somewhere between 34 and 40\u00b0C, it took us quite by surprise when it started to rain.\u00a0 As we arrived near to the edge of Al Rustaq the road was under heavy flood, the brown muddy water in a fast running river had broken across the road. Cars were backing up and all the 4WDs were weaving around them and ploughing through the water.\u00a0 Ramsay did the same and waves were flowing past us.\u00a0 On the far side of Rustaq, it happened again.\u00a0 After driving through so much barren desert and dry and dusty mountains, it did seem strange to be travelling in the rain, on roads that seemed more like rivers.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Flooded
Flooded road near Al Rustaq<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

About 20kms further on, the scenery started to flatten out again, and we drove over to the coast of Oman at Al Masnaah.\u00a0 Somewhere along the route, we then hit a dust storm; I really was beginning to wonder when the locusts would be arriving….!\u00a0\u00a0 Finally a sign said 150 kms to Muscat, but I was starting to wish we were already there.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"and
and then a dust storm….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the Intercontinental Hotel we checked in at 6pm, keen for our free drink and nibbles in the Club Lounge, but unfortunately the holiday festival of Eid means no alcohol from 6pm on the first day for a whole 24 hours. We had arrived on the dot of 6pm on the first day, so it was cappuccinos all round and no chance of a cocktail by the pool all of the next day.\u00a0 I imagined we would all be in the bar at 6:01pm on Tuesday evening and yes, we were!\u00a0 We drank water and ate our dinner that first evening at Mumtaz Mahal, an Indian restaurant set on a small hill with views over the twinkling lights of Muscat.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The atrium inside the Intercontinental Muscat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning we all met for a long, late breakfast and it must have been 11am by the time I dipped my last date in the chocolate fountain to end my breakfast session.\u00a0 The next three hours were spent lazing under an umbrella by the pool, cooling off in the pool, and strolling along the beach on the other side of the palm garden. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Strolling
Strolling the beach at Muscat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fishing
Fishing off the beach at Muscat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Later in the afternoon, Ramsay drove us across to old Muscat and the Al Alam Palace, home of the Sultan Qaboos of Oman, which is a very different style of architecture and quite colourful with its gold and blue facade.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Al Alam Palace, home of the Sultan Qaboos of Oman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Beside
Beside the Al Alam Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"One
Jalali fort in Muscat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Sultan’s palace from the port area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a bit of a nose around we headed back to the hotel and arrived just as the Ghazal Pub and the Club\u00a0Lounge bar were re-opening, with alcohol available.\u00a0 And at 11pm, after drinks in both places and a meal at the pub, the girls retired to bed and the boys settled in, with quite a number of Omanis in traditional clothing, to watch England v Poland play soccer. Rodney enjoyed the game, probably because England won, but he was also fascinated to watch one of the Omanis being ejected from the pub for loud and objectionable behaviour; obviously too many beers after waiting 24 hours……<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"In
In the Ghazal pub at the Intercontinental Hotel, Muscat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Monday became a travelling day; a long one.\u00a0 The Pajero was loaded with four days of ‘stuff’ for the four of us, and we left Abu Dhabi heading east to Al Ain and the border with Oman.\u00a0 We arrived at 11am, queued to leave the country and then queued for hours to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8350,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions\/8350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}