Oman- Part 1: Buses, Sweat, and Nature

Hey everyone!

 I hope you all are doing well and that you’ve had a great week full of nice weather and good friends. I’m dedicating the next two posts to my trip to Oman; since there really was no way I could ever condense it into one. Depending on how succinct I am, it may turn into three posts, just a warning.

We had planned to go to Oman for a while, and decided that this weekend was perfect because it fit two windows- it allowed us to exit within the limits of our UAE tourist visas and renew them, and school-wise we were all off for three days because of a national holiday on Thursday. Oddly enough, we discovered that Saturday was a national holiday in Oman, so we were apparently on the holiday circuit.

Bleary eyed, we woke up and set out before 6 a.m. on Thursday morning. Knowing that we had a long day ahead of us, we plodded to the nearest metro stop and took the long ride to the other side of Dubai. After we got off, we went to find the bus station. A few members of our group had been there before, but the early morning had muddied our memories, and after ten minutes of wandering around we finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we couldn’t find the station. As a result, we grabbed a cab and made it there right before we were supposed to leave…or so we thought. To our dismay, the bus driver didn’t let us on because we did not arrive at the requested half hour before the departure. Fortunately, there was another bus company down the street that had a bus that was about to leave, so we sprinted off and the driver mercifully let us on, so we found seats and plopped down for the ride. Thankfully, we had averted disaster, though the trip had not exactly gotten off to a promising start.

After about an hour and a half, we reached the Omani border. We received our exit stamps on the UAE side, and after crossing into Oman we had our bags searched. Then, we headed into a large building to attain our Omani tourist visas. What greeted us inside was the exact sight we did not want to see- the building was packed full of people in long, snaking lines that completely filled the rotunda. Worse, it appeared that there was little to no movement. Resigned to the fact that we were going to be held up, we grudgingly took our places at the back of the line and started the waiting game. We soon discovered that the air conditioning was no match for the massive throng of humanity that occupied the room, and sweat soon covered our bodies and made us look like we all just taken a dip in the Persian Gulf. After moving fifteen feet in one hour, there was not much of a bright side to look upon, for cracking flat jokes about the wait could not stave off the insanity that was beginning to encroach upon our minds.

Four hours, lots of sweat, and very sore legs from standing later, we finally secured our visas. It became abundantly clear to us that the day that we thought was going to be used to explore Muscat was going to be taken up just by the trip. Racing towards our destination, the long bus ride did treat us to some spectacular views. Oman’s interior is filled with jagged saw-tooth mountains that are a deep hue of red, and have peaks pointed and sharp like a pencil’s tip.  After winding through these mountains for a few hours, the scenery began to slowly transform to a flatter landscape that was overshadowed by the mountains in the distance. Small towns began to appear, and the dirt and sand began to give way to various types of oasis-like foliage. These large green expanses contrasted with the red mountains in the distance and created a beautiful sight. Gated compounds encased large and flush gardens, which provided a myriad of different fruits. Storefronts ranging from sweet shops to tire garages lined the road, and it became clear that we were nearing the coast and in turn, the Omani capital of Muscat.

It was hard to tell where we entered the city and where we disembarked due to the darkness, but it was evident that Muscat was nestled in between towering mountains and sprawled out until it reached the coast. The air was thick and humid, but was a welcome change from the recycled bus air we were subjected to for a number of hours. After haggling a cab price (the cabs in Oman have no meters), we finally checked into our hotel, which was simple but cozy. Most importantly, it had air conditioning and fit a college student’s budget! Our room had a little balcony where we could step out onto and survey our surroundings, which was filled with ivory colored houses and dominated by the local mosque. The mountainous backdrop provided for a dramatic scene, and our little veranda quickly became our favorite spot to lean back and relax. We found a local restaurant down the street, and hungrily vacuumed up shwarma’s and fresh pressed juices. By this time, we had been traveling for around fifteen hours straight, and could barely make it back to our rooms in time before we collapsed into an exhausted sleep.

Friday morning finally saw our luck beginning to change- we found a great guy around our age that agreed to take us around in his SUV to three famous nature sites in Oman, and later he also ended up taking us into Muscat that night. After forcing down some early morning breakfast and instant coffee, we set off into the mountains to our first destination- Wadi Dayqah. We slowly gained altitude and gazed at the cut mountains that were dotted by little green trees like dark freckles upon the red background. Other than those shrubs, the rocky mountains were devoid of anything living, giving them a haunting appearance; as if some unforeseen force had stripped the slopes of life, only allowing the smallest and sturdiest of living forms left untouched. We pulled into an elevated parking lot, and got out to gaze at the environment around us. Wadi Dayqah is a valley that is filled to the brim with deep, cobalt blue water that is stopped by a large dam at the mouth of the valley. On one side of the walkway was the vast lake, an endless expanse of water that seemed out of place with the dry and barren mountains that served as its container. On the other side was the steep, concrete dam that spewed forth a controlled amount of water into a cascading deluge of water that landed into the mouth of the valley.

The spewing water and the sunlight combined to produce a stunning rainbow that arched over top the valley, providing a scene worthy of a postcard. The water trickled into the flatlands, giving the necessary ingredients for a large oasis of greenery and palm trees. On the banks of the dam-made stream was a small town filled with whitewashed houses that mingled with the tall palms of the oasis. After admiring for a little while longer, we piled back into the car and headed to our next destination. Despite the excessive heat, our host-turned-guide offered us traditional Omani coffee, which I gratefully accepted. Though it tasted much different than your standard Starbucks blend, it was still wonderful; with a combination of bitter and floral notes blending together to create a coffee experience that I had never before encountered but nonetheless enjoyed.

After about a half hour of driving, we entered into a flatland that had more plants, but these were not the deep green plants of an oasis, rather they were filled with savannah like foliage. Singular trees stood alone, and date palms with yellow fronds towered over the all of the plants. We got out and walked into the park. At first, I wasn’t entirely sure what we were supposed to be seeing. Don’t get me wrong, the scenery was pretty with the grasslands and the ocean in the background, but if that’s all there was, I didn’t really think it was going to be worth wilting under the merciless Middle Eastern sun. My fears were soon proved wrong as we walked up to what I at first thought was just a big hole in the ground. As I peered curiously over the side, I was blown away at what I saw.

As if a large meteorite had crashed into earth, the ground had been opened up into a perfect circle, and was a few stories deep. The inside of the cavity was filled with translucent blue water, and the hue changed as it got closer to the edge where it turned a deep navy. Steep stairs led down to the floor, where an island of land stood lonely amongst the surrounding water. After climbing down, it was amazing to spin around inside the massive cavity and look at the high walls and breathtaking water. After going to the waters edge, it became clear that the water became infinitely deep closer to the walls, and eventually led to a vast network of underwater caves. Little fish inhabited it, and treated us to a spa like experience- if you put your feet in the water they would come and nibble all of the dead skin off your feet! I had only ever seen something like this place in National Geographic magazines, and to be honest I never though I would get to see them. But there I was, looking down into the depths of water that was sliced through by beams of sunlight, and looking up at the vertical walls of tan rock that formed a perfect circle.

After climbing out, we walked around and admired the tall date palms, and then herded into our SUV to make the trip to our last site- Wadi Shab.

This marks the end of the first half of my Oman blog post- hope you enjoyed! I’ll post the second half in a few days- maybe it will add some suspense to my mainly informative narrative. Many thanks and even more love.

Andrew. 

Weekend in Abu Dhabi

Hello everyone!

Well, another month has come to a close in 2013, and I hope that your May was as enjoyable and eventful as mine! It’s quite startling to think that I’ll be going back to the U.S. at the end of this month, but I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel here. Actually, far from it. This last month will be packed full of trips, exploring, and schoolwork. On Friday and Saturday our little band of merry Clinton scholars journeyed to the capital of the U.A.E., Abu Dhabi, and this post will be strictly devoted to that trip.

Situated a little over an hour away from Dubai, Abu Dhabi is built on a series of islands along the Persian Gulf. Renowned for its ancient pearling tradition, it has since turned into an important governmental and economic hub for the region. Abu Dhabi is akin to Dubai’s older but less popular brother, and though it is more visited that it once was, it is still often overlooked despite being the capital of the country. The founding father of the U.A.E., Sheikh Zayed, was the Sheikh the ruled the emirate of Abu Dhabi before the emirates came together as a country. In sum, this city’s importance to the country and region is paramount.

Now that the history lesson is over, I’ll hopefully recapture your interest through our little sojourn. On Friday morning, we hopped on a bus for the trip and were treated to great views of the desert and little towns in between the two metropolises. Fortunately, the bus service that runs here is pretty inexpensive and one leaves for the other destination every hour, which allowed us flexibility as to our time of departure (in other words, we could sleep in a bit). Entering the city gave us a chance to see how Abu Dhabi was sprawled out like a sleeping giant over the expanse of a few large islands, with crystal clear water separating the landmasses. After getting dropped off at the city center, we found our hotel and threw our stuff in our rooms and decided to get lunch. We ate a quick meal at a small Lebanese place across the street, which was delicious. Their motto was, “We have good bite”. Indeed.

After some deliberation, we decided to head to the Heritage Village, a recreated village that represents traditional coastal life. Since the place was on a long, thin island that was across the water, once we got there we walked to the point of the island, which over looked Abu Dhabi on one side and the mouth that lead to the ocean on the other. Couple the beautiful clear water with the groves of plumeria trees, you could have told me that this was Hawaii and I would have readily believed you. We spent a good deal of time walking around the island and looking both the city and the water from different vantage points. By this time, we all were melting under the relentless Gulf sun and so we decided to go back to the hotel to regroup.

We spent the evening walking about and exploring the streets of Abu Dhabi. Devoid of the monstrous and modern skyscrapers of Dubai, Abu Dhabi has a much more Middle Eastern feel to it, as evidenced by less tourists, more local shops, and an abundance of cultural sites and architecture. As we were setting out, we decided we wanted to eat some Indian food. After wandering about and getting directions from numerous locals, some erroneous and some accurate, we finally found this little joint on a nondescript road not far from the city center. The place was so small that to accommodate our group of six, we had to head upstairs to a little room with a ceiling so small that a few of us had to duck our heads as we went to our tables. We quickly discovered that the place had no menus, but we happened upon a stroke of luck when we found a worker there that spoke Urdu, which is a native language to one of our group members.  In the end, our decision of restaurant was validated when the food came, and we had some fantastic and authentic food. Everything had a nice kick to it, and by the end of the meal our sinuses were clear and our eyes were watery. After exiting the restaurant, we stumbled upon an Egyptian bakery about a block over. Searching for a perfect end to a meal (and for some, relief from the spice), we went in to see what they had to offer. Inside, rows upon rows of baked goods lined the glass display cases, filled with baklava, sweet balls of sugary dough, and a type of corn bread drenched in honey and topped with almonds. Unsure of what to get, I went with the “one of each” approach. It was the right decision, and everything was sticky, sweet, and delectable.

Our bellies full and taste buds happy, we plowed on through the city, wandering about the little shops and taking in the city. After a while, we retired to our hotel for the night and happily surrendered ourselves to sleep.

The following morning, after checking out and grabbing a makeshift breakfast at a nearby convenience store (I had something called “happy mix”, I can tell you it’s false advertising), we made the trek to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I saw a glimpse of it as we entered the city the previous day, but it wasn’t until we pulled up that I fully realized the magnificence of the building. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, and can hold over forty thousand worshipers. Unlike some of the other big mosques, this one is all white which creates a dazzling effect in the hot Middle Eastern sun. Home to hundreds of gold leafed porticoes, over eighty domes, and four minarets of over three hundred feet in height, this was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. In my eyes, it was right up there with the Great Wall.

Upon entering, we gathered and gawked under the hushed arches in the hallway, admiring the exquisite and colorful inlay in both the floors and the pillars. The insides of the domes were transcribed with beautiful Arabic calligraphy, and little pools of tranquil water dotted the outer side of the hallways. During our visit, the call to prayer sounded over the speakers, and a reverent silence was spontaneously undertaken by the tourists. We lingered for a while, finding it difficult to tear ourselves away from the serenity that the mosque offered, but in the end we plodded outside to find a cab that would take us back to Dubai.

As I stated earlier, Abu Dhabi was quite different from Dubai, and is in an even more interesting transition. Despite keeping much of its Middle Eastern and local feel, there are still modern buildings popping up with regularity, more Western businesses setting up shop, and more migrant workers are streaming into the city every day. This isn’t to say that this is bad, though it will have cultural effects on the city that cannot be reversed. Instead, I’ve taken the frame of mind that I’m glad that I could visit the city now, when it still has some of its original flavor and voice left. I can’t say that it will still be present fifteen years from now. However, I can say that I know what it is like today, and that I enjoyed it immensely.

Adieu,

Andrew

Dodging Traffic, Riding Camels.

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all have had a productive and enjoyable week! I know last week I promised to blog twice these last seven days, but due to the fact that I had three days of class instead of the normal two, I didn’t really have enough material to do more than one blog.

Anyway, as I said, this week was predominately comprised of class for me. As a result of the fact that these are summer hours, the days that I have class I’m busy from 11 in the morning straight until 7 at night, which doesn’t exactly leave a whole lot of time to explore and do other fun things. So, I’ll spare you all the horribly monotonous details about my classes here and skip right to the stuff that you all read this blog for- the adventures and the food (oh come on, don’t even act like you’re interested in my classes).  

I had class this week Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday- so to be honest the only days that were even remotely interesting were Tuesday and Friday (Saturday will be included in next week’s post). On Tuesday, after doing homework for the better part of the afternoon, we went to the Dubai Marina for dinner and to walk around. Close to the beach, the Dubai Marina is a connecting series of waterways and man-made canals that wind between the high rising luxury residential buildings, and along the water are a number of restaurants and beautiful fountains. Littering the water are a myriad of expensive yachts that look like they’re straight out of a Bond film. Even though they vary in size, I’m reasonably confident in saying that even the smallest one would handily outweigh my four-year college tuition. We ate lunch that night at a Lebanese place on the water. A friend and I shared hummus with spiced meat, vine leaves (a mixture of rice and meat wrapped in the leaves), and a cheese and meat flatbread. To further compound the beautiful fact that we were on the water while eating, they had a number of soccer games on in the background, which made me quite happy!

Later that night, a few of us went back to the Marina for some ice cream and to sit at the fountains. The fountains were beautifully lit by lights underneath, and tall palm trees surrounded the water like sentinels on a nights watch (special shout out to you Game of Thrones people). Upon sitting down on the steps, I knew it would be difficult to tear myself away from the place. The water was timed so that it made certain melodies, and a number of children were playing in the spouting water, eliciting impromptu cries of joyous laughter. To the right a man was playing his guitar and singing a beautiful ballad in Arabic. At one point, I closed my eyes and was simply content to listen to the water, laughter, and music. The only thing that woke me from my reverie was the realization that the metro was about to close.

After discovering that the metro had indeed closed for the night, my friends and I were left with a choice- take a cab back to AUD, or walk. Since we were only one metro station down from AUD, we decided to walk it. Twenty minutes later, we realized that we didn’t recognize any of the buildings. A gnawing feeling of dread started to sink in, and we were forced to admit that we walked the wrong way. This brought us almost two metro stops away. I, being male, of course refused to ask for directions and was determined to walk back to AUD without the defeat that would invariably come with getting a cab. My companions, rolling their eyes at my superficial machismo, had no choice but to follow in my leaden footsteps. After getting back to where we initially set off, we saw that we would need to cross a few highways…on foot. No problem, I thought, I do this all the time at OSU. I’m a bona fide jaywalking expert. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for one of my companions, but for the sake of their pride, I’ll just leave at this- crossing the first highway was a near death experience for one of us. After an expletive laden rant from the driver, we hurried on. We were forced to traverse vast amounts of sand filled areas, long grassed groves of shrubbery, and neatly manicured lawns beneath overpasses. Finally, our destination was in sight. However, it required us to walk along the biggest highway in Dubai- Sheikh Zayed Road. This is a twelve-lane leviathan that has thousands of cars zipping past at rate that sometimes makes the Autobahn look like a kiddie go-kart track. Walking single file along a two-foot pedestrian lane, with Ferrari’s shaking my innards as they went by, we finally reached AUD. Will I ask for directions next time, or take a cab? Not a chance.

After classes Wednesday and Thursday, Friday saw my inner Indiana Jones come out in full force- in other words, we went on a desert safari. Our driver was this really cool older guy that was quieter than a mouse but drove like it was the Monaco Grand Prix. After an hour drive on the highway, we reached the ocean of sand. The driver, upon letting air out of the tires, looked back and with a slight smirk told us all to buckle up. Being the crazed maniac I am, I grinned knowingly back at the driver, eager to see what was in store. What happened next was some combination of action film car chase meets off roading meets “hey, let’s try to flip this sucker and end up in the hospital”. Fearlessly driving full speed up sand dunes, our driver was not afraid to go air borne and make us fly out of our seats. We were drifting like it was a video game, and the kid in me loved it. After we crested one particularly large dune, he looked back and asked, “Everyone ok? Good. Get ready…”. That run gave us all of a few backside bruises, but it was fantastic.

We stopped twice on the dunes for some pictures, and then continued to the camp that would serve as our last stop. It was set up compound style, with different buildings that served as different stations- food, drinks, shisha, henna, rugs, etc. Outside were a bunch of camels that could be ridden and a little four-wheeler track. Unable to resist the allure of the camels, I can happily say that I got to ride one. We bonded quite well, steed and rider. Pity that I couldn’t take him back to the States; though I bet he prefers the desert anyways. After a delicious buffet style meal full of traditional and not so traditional food (somehow spaghetti made the list?!), we were treated to belly dancing and another dance that I can only describe as a man that spun at a rapid pace continually for a long period of time. By this point, we were all exhausted and grateful to return to AUD. After having about a pound of sand on me in various places, it was nice to shower off!

I guess it turns out I did have enough for two posts after all, but that’s hindsight. I hope you all enjoy reading about my various adventures! One more thing- I want to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day weekend, and give a special and heartfelt thanks to our veterans and troops, wherever they might be stationed. Thank you for your sacrifice!

Many thanks,

Andrew