27 January > 9 February                                         Home

In the evening of the 27th January, we were already sleeping, the police visited us. They knocked on the car and asked to come out, I first checked through the roof window what was going on and asked what they wanted. They just wanted to know what we were doing, and where we came from. After they checked our passports they apologized for their visit and went off again. We think they were just curious and of course not many foreigners come to this part of the world in their own car!
Next day we made a trip through the Musandam peninsula, trying to get to the town of Khasab. Starting from sea level the road winds through the narrow gorge at Wadi Khabb Shamsi, then over a pass through sheer rugged mountains and back down into Wadi al Bih. The graded road was well maintained and the views were spectacular.
At the turn-off to the right for Khasab there was an Omani checkpoint, but although we explained that we would like to go to Khasab by this road the soldier at the gate refused to let us through!
He said we had to go to the official border post at Tibat on the west coast. To get there we had to drive through Wadi al Bih to the city of Ras al Khaymah, and from here further along the west coast.
After passing the Emirates checkpoint we arrived at the west coast again, but because we could not find a suitable place to stay for the night we decided to go back to the Daba beach again were we had stayed the previous night. And around 8 o’clock in the evening, it was dark already, we were back in the same place we started that morning!
Next day we decided to stay at this beach just to relax a bit. And also in the late afternoon of this day local people came to visit this beach. There were also group of young men with 2 cars trying to drive up against the steep dunes, a spectacular sight! We also had a chat with 3 Canadians, one of them living in the Emirates the other 2 visiting him from Thailand were they lived. They too were planning to come and live and work in the Emirates. Also Lex got a lot of attention again, and many pictures were taken! That evening we went to Daba to do some internetting.
After we did some shopping, we went back to the beach near Kor Fakkan the next day. Because Thursday and Friday are the weekend in Oman and the Emirates many people go out to the beach or to other nice places to have a pick-nick, and also on this 30st January it was busy on the road and the beaches. When we arrived at our spot on the beach, it started raining and we had to stay inside the car that evening.
Next day the sky was clear again, and after breakfast we walked through the palm plantations to the oldest mosque of the Emirates just nearby. This mosque was build some 500 years ago, and has a distinctive structure especially its roof consisting of 4 pointed domes and supported by an internal pillar is unusual. There was also still some restoration going on. Because Lex was with us, José decided to stay outside the premises with him. The guard showed me around, but I was not allowed to take a look inside!
After this we walked back through the palm plantations and a small fishing settlement were mainly people from India were living. There are a lot of people from India and Pakistan living in the Emirates and Oman, almost all the shops and companies are run by them. They also do the less attractive work which the people from the Emirates and Oman don’t like to do themselves!
In the late afternoon we walked to a cliff which stretches into the sea, from here we had a great view over the beach and the palm plantations.
The morning of the 1st February was cool, with only 16°C. Its amazing how you get used to these high temperatures. In the evenings when temp. drop to 24°C. we feel even cold!
This day we tried to get a permit to enter Musandam at the checkpoint we had been before. We went to the police station in Daba, after explaining our plans the officers got a bit confused. They did not know if this was possible, and after talking to a senior officer they advised us to go to the official border post in Tibat! So, our only chance to enter Musandam now was at this border. We decided to take a chance, and went of to the west coast again through Ras al Kaimah up to Tibat. In the afternoon we arrived at the Tibat border post, leaving the Emirates was no problem after paying 40 Dirhams. But when we came at the Omani side, a lot of trouble began! In the first instance they said it was not possible to enter Oman with our car with Dutch number plates! After some phone calls this problem was solved, we were allowed to enter Oman with our car with Dutch number plates.
Next problem was Lex of course, they needed a permit from the Omani ministry of Agriculture. We knew we needed this permit, and we already had applied for it when we were still in Holland. A vet in Muscat had arranged this permit and had send it to us, the only problem was that this permit was only valid for 1 entrance. If we showed them this permit here, we maybe could not enter the other part of Oman! Because we never had any trouble bringing our dog into other countries, we just wanted to give it a try. It turned out that the Omani custom officers were very strict on this matter, as we also would experience later on during our journey. After some discussion they decided not to let us enter Musandam! We returned to Daba that same evening.
Next day we stayed at the beach, we did clean the car inside and washed some clothes, there was enough water in this place because there was a watertank just near the beach.
In the morning of the 3rd February we moved on again, this time to the main part of Oman. We took a road through the desert to the oasis of Al-Ain close to the border of Oman. When we arrived in Al-Ain there were now signs for the border, but with the GPS.we finally found the road into Oman.
After paying 40 Dirhams again it was easy to leave the Emirates. After some 10km.we arrived at the Omani borderpost. After checking our passports they wanted to look inside the car, and of course they noticed Lex. First thing they asked for was the permit, but this time we could show them this important paper! After all the present officers had taken a look at this permit we were allowed to enter Oman! We think they had never seen such a permit before!
Now we could start our first 3 week stay in Oman, because we had multiple entry visa we were allowed to stay for 3 weeks every time we entered Oman
From the border we headed to the coast again, and near the town of Liwa we found a place to stay for the night.
Next day we went in southerly direction along the coast, towards the town of Sohar. This town used to be an important harbour, but nowadays its just a quiet town. We went to the fish market were all kinds of fish are traded. Because this market is close to the sea, the fish is brought in straight from the small fishing boats. From Sohar we went back inland again to the town of Yanqul, in the middle of the Hajar mountains. The graded road was very rough at some places, and also very steep as well.
The more we came in the mountains the scenery became very nice. There were even some pools in the wadi al Bih. In the late afternoon we found a nice place to stay for the night, between some big old trees surrounded by mountains. In the evening we made a fire to keep warm, temp.had dropped to
22°C.! In the morning of the next day it was 14°C. only! This day we continued our trip through wadi Hibi, and after a while we saw a camel caravan following the same road.
We also filled our water tanks at one of the water filling stations, these filling stations you can find all over Oman. Just when we had finished a car stopped, and the driver invited us to have coffee at his home nearby. He was accompanied by his daughter of about 20 years, she spoke some English.
We had a warm welcome by his wife, and we also met his mother and father and a younger daughter.
Coffee and dates and other fruit were served outside in a shady place, were we were sitting on carpets on the floor. Of course they wanted to know were we came from, and we showed them our photos of our family and friends in Holland. By the time the 2 daughters had to go to school, the oldest as a teacher, we also left this kind family.
We continued to follow some wadis in the direction of the town of Rustaq, but once on our way again there was a hard bang! It turned out to be the inverter, some parts had exploded. Why this happened we never understood, but the problem was that we could not charge the batteries of our laptop anymore!
Next day we arrived in Rustaq, I already had opened the inverter to see what had happened. Some fuses were blown, and one glass fuse was exploded causing this bang! In Rustaq we went to a TV. and radio repair shop, this shop was run by Indian people and was full of old model TV.sets and radios. We hoped by replacing the blown fuses and soldering a new support for the glass fuse the inverter would function again. After the friendly owner of the shop had replaced the fuses and soldered a new support, I connected the inverter again. But unfortunately the inverter did not function anymore, probably more parts were damaged. We decided to send an e-mail to the company in Holland were we had bought this inverter, after all it was just a few months old.
That evening we went to the wadi Bani Awf to stay for the night, we knew a place were we had been 4 years ago during our first visit. We also decided to go to Muscat to buy a new inverter, it would take some time before we could expect a solution for our inverter problem.
But on the 7th February we first went to another wadi, the wadi Abyadh, some 25km.from wadi Bani Awf. This is a very nice wadi, because water flows all year round. From the blacktop road you have to drive about 10km.through the wadi until it is impossible to drive further. On this spot we found a good place to stay, near some palmtrees and flowering oleander bushes. Because this place is visited frequently in the weekend there was a lot of rubbish lying around, and we first cleaned up this place.
We collected 8 big plastic bags full of rubbish!
In the evening we walked down the wadi, along the ‘blue pools’were this wadi is noted for.
The colour of the water is caused by the light reflecting from calcite, a white mineral which lines the bottom of the pools. In some pools the calcite is in suspension giving the water a milky colour.
When we returned to our car we saw a few vultures sitting near the bags with the garbage, they probably were not happy with our clean up!
Next day we went to Muscat to get a new inverter, but after we had visited several shops none of them had an inverter…Other problem was that most shops close between noon and 4 o’clock in the afternoon. After we waited somewhere in the shade for a few hours we started our search again, and finally we became an address and phonenr.of a shop who might sell inverters. But now we had the problem to find this shop, after an extensive search I phoned the shop to get directions. But the very kind Indian owner decided to come to the place were we were at that moment to guide us to his shop!
And indeed he had just one inverter for sale, but after telling our story he maybe could help us to repair our inverter! He knew a friend, a TV.repair technician, who maybe was able to repair our inverter. Together we went to the shop of this friend, he soldered some new parts on the print. After returning I tried the inverter again, but there was still no output! So, after all we bought the new inverter of the friendly Indian guy. We think it was the only inverter for sale in Oman!
In the mean time it had become late again, and it had become very busy on the streets and in the shops. It turned out to be the evening before the Eid al Adha festivities, a major Islamic festivity which lasts 5 days. We decided to go to a beach some 20km.from Muscat to stay for the night, but because we ended up in an enormous traffic jam we had to take an other and a longer route to get to this place. At 10o’clock in the evening we arrived at the beach near Yiti, I first connected the new inverter and now we could read the e-mails again who were send to us. We also received some photos of our cat Zoë, who now lives with friends. The same friends we became her from at the time.
Finally we could get some sleep after this weary day.
Next day we returned back to wadi Abyadh again, we had to drive back through Muscat again but this time there were no traffic jams. For some 50km.you drive through well maintained gardens alongside the road with all kinds of flowering plants and shrubs and everywhere flowering Bougainvilleas in several colours
11.30h. that morning we were back on our nice spot under the palmtrees in wadi Abyadh. The rest of the day we spend relaxing.