Planning for adventures

Hello again from Muscat! It's 6:45pm here on this hot and sunny Tuesday, April 7th.

The four of us were spoiled with a fun evening last night! The Turkish brothers insisted that we were in "their home" and that we should be treated with all the hospitality that their guests would have. They took us to The Turkish House restaurant, in the Al Khuwayr region. The food was amazing - there were heaps of hummus, baba ganouj, long slabs of flat bread covered in sesame seeds, salad greens, spanakopita, plus the fresh grilled grouper that the girls ordered and lots of lively conversation about life, families and relationships.

Before dessert, we were introduced to the custom of soaking your hands in cologne (I kid you not) to remove the oil and flavor of the meal. The cologne was so potent (a heavy, sweet musk) that my eyes watered each time I lifted my fork to my mouth. I think the fumes actually intoxicated us because we burst into giggles each time one of us caught a scent.

Dessert was something called a Turkish Delight - cream cheese, honey, butter, served in a cake style, baked with shredded wheat on top, accompanied with a Turkish coffee (yum!). After we finished our meal, and haggled over who would pay (realizing that it was very North American of us to be so pushy), we left for the Intercontinental Hotel, and the Trader Vic's bar. Trader Vic's is designed in the Tahitian style - lots of bamboo, tropical fixtures, women dressed in Hawaiian print dresses. They had a live band playing Spanish music - so we took up residence on the makeshift dance floor and danced for hours! In between sets, we sat outside and chatted about jobs and traveling and other hobbies.

Around midnight, we headed back to our hotel. We were pretty wound up from dancing, coffee, jet lag and sugary drinks, so we stayed up for a few hours talking and catching up. It was well after 3 before the girls went to bed. I think I stayed up a couple of hours longer before crashing.

Needless to say, we woke up at noon. Oops! All of us were feeling ready to depart Muscat and head for some new adventures, so we headed over to the Muscat Diving and Adventure Center to plan the rest of our trip. After a few hours of deliberation, appropriately over a delicious Lebanese meal of falafel & hummus and meat for the girls, we made the following decisions.

- Stay in Muscat another day so that we can go snorkeling/dolphin watching tomorrow (Wed)
- Then the four of us are going to hire a car (a 4wd!) and all our camping equipment and head West of Muscat to Wadi Al Abyad. We'll camp there overnight (for the full moon!). (Thurs)
- Head Southeast to Wadi Ash Shab and Wadi Tiwi and camp again overnight on the beach. The wadis are great to explore as there are villages situated in them, fresh water holes to swim, and lots of lush greenery to see. (Friday)
- Head to Ras Al Jinz to watch the turtles at 9pm. The turtles bury their eggs in the sand to keep cool during the day, and at night, the eggs hatch and the turtles take the little turtles to the water for a swim. That night, we'll sleep in some funky barasti huts. (Sat)
- Head to the desert! We'll meet up with a guide along the road, and he'll take us to a Bedouin family in the desert. We'll pitch our tents near this family. If we prefer, we can just sleep out in the open under the stars on mattresses!! (Sun)
- Head to Nizwa, and the mountain region, where we will spend three days hiking, seeing old forts and sites, traveling through the mountains. We'll stay in that area so that we can time seeing the Bedouin's bring all their livestock to the market at 7am on Friday. (Mon-Thur)
- After the market, we'll head back to Muscat and figure out what we want to do when we get there.

This is pretty adventurous traveling for all of us, and I'm so excited! We are getting some detailed directions and instructions - but from what we've heard, read and seen, it's a safe place to travel around. The roads are in great condition, there are a lot of gas stations around, and we are getting good at asking for directions. Also, it's Easter in Europe, so the roads and Wadis should be full of other travelers.

Hopefully, I'll have a chance to check in over the next few days!
Bye for now.
~ Lala