Sights between here and there

The first photo is looking back at our campground from the night before - a memorable moment. The second photo was taken while driving through a town; at the time we were looking for a dealership because we went reverse down a mountain before our 4x4 kicked in and this made a distrubing red blinking light go off. I suggest you read instructions to all your toys before you use them. The third picture was taken after we had snaked our way through this very small town using narrow unmarked streets to find the mountain. The sun was going down and as we were winding up the mountain I caught the view of the town in the valley. The fourth is a fort in one of the towns we drove though. Barry took the fifth while I was sleeping - this is how you exercise camels. The sixth picture was taken in a very small roadside town - the board says "Sale of Foodstuff".

Camping by the water

This was a great camping spot and definitely better than our first night which was spent on the side of a road (sheltered by a large half-mountain) due to the fact that all of the potential camping spots had become construction zones or had the roads leading to them taken away.

The sound of the water against the rocks, a great campfire, the smell of sausage, great weather and a big bright moon.

Lunch and desert driving

It was hot in Oman this weekend. Barry and I stopped for lunch in the shade of a bridge. We weren't alone, there were some locals there who welcomed us with Omani coffee and some kind of jelly dessert; they prayed and then carried on their way. The next group to join us was a group of younger men (possibly early 20s) who layed down mats and, so far as we could tell, played games which involved clapping and singing. Our next stop was Wahiba Sands. We decided to try our SUV in the sand. We met up with an Omani guy who asked us where we were going - we didnt have a destination in mind. He said we should follow him because driving alone in the desert is not safe and because he is Omani, he is very good at driving in the sand. He was delivering water to one of the few camps in the desert. He stopped to help a stuck SUV and we decided we have had enough of desert driving until we had our Desert Driving Course.

Long weekend (Prophet Mohammed's birthday and Easter)

Here is a contrast: Prophet Mohammed’s birthday and Easter. These are the reasons we had an extra long weekend. Barry and I bought our SUV about a week before the long weekend and we were anxious to take it out. The first picture is a roadside shop where we got firewood; as you can see, they also sold National dress. The other photos were taken in Muscat (about a 5 hour drive away). Suzy did you eye those purses? In Muscat the dhows (old style wooden boats) shared the port with the cruise ships.