Falaj Daris Hotel Nizwa

The last 24hrs have been an absolute NIGHTMARE. I never ever ever want to travel alone again. Oli and I were together up until Fukuoka airport, where we separated for Oli to go to Seoul, and myself to Kansai. I arrived at Kansai airport a good 6hrs before my flight and 4hrs before I could even check in. I like airports, even by myself I kept entertained parading my cart back and forth infront of shops and using the free wifi. Finally it was time to check in, and the problems began. <br ...

Despite intensive investigations I failed to locate a public loo in Muscat today; well, I did <br>see the entrance to one near the souq, but it didn&#8217;t look like the sort of place I would want to<br>hang out in, despite my desire to continue scientific research.<br>I did, however, make a little progress on the &#8220;what do they wear underneath&#8221; question.<br>Sitting at a cafe sipping coffee and indulging in a couple of little ...

... get us to our intended picnic site by lunchtime. I'd heard that there was now a tarmac road over the mountains which would speed our passage, and that Wadi Bani Awf was a spectacular trip. Here was my first mistake. Unfortunately I omitted to check that the tarmac road and Wadi Bani Awf where one and the same route. As it turned out, both set off from roughly similar areas, and both headed up the mountain in a similar direction, but unfortunately Wadi Bani Awf has no ...

So, today I got a ride to the Conference intending to sort out my screwed up schedule and see what trips I could manage to take still. I really wanted to see Nizwa but when I got to the tour desk, was informed that it had already left. *SIGH* So, I grabbe the laptop I had wisely brought intending to get online and update the blogs but ran into Peter, a nice older gentleman from Australia that I hadd ridden from the hotel with and he said, "Are you coming to Nizwa?" So, obviously it ...

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel.  Luckily there was lots of coffee as I desperately needed some of that.:-) Once we had eaten, Nizwa Fort was our destination for the day.  Mubina said it was amazing to see and that the Souk was good for shopping.  Darn. As we drove around, I was amazed at how organized this country was!  Up until 15 years ago, there had only been about 10 miles of paved road in the entire country but now the entire has amazing roads.  People ...

... Friday prayers at lunch time. At the foot of Jabal Shams mountain we entered a very well developed cave run by an Omani-Lebanese company. The cave is 5km long and famous for some lakes which are home to blind fish.The rock formation and the shear size of the interior is breath-taking. The guide was nice but not comparable to guides in touristically developed areas. Will be on my way to Bombay tonight.

I hit Nizwa, a town in the mountainous inland part of Oman (to distinguish it from the mountainous coastal part) at night, well after dark. So it wasn't really until the next morning that I really knew where I was. Mountains dotted the horizon as I drove into the centre of the city to look at, well, what I look at in every city (in Oman at least); the souk, the fort and the mosque. This was a special souk, though; it was a livestock souk, and much ...

We woke up early determined not to be so lazy and actually see some of the country. We headed back to the Ruwi bus station and took the early bus to Nizwa. Nizwa was about two hours from Muscat and is known for its several century old for as well as its palm tree studded mountains. There is also really nifty monument to books in the middle of a traffic circle. The castle was built around 900 A.D. on the site of a ...

Trying to post pics 1st. Hopefully I'll get back to the updates... Back in Stockholm now &amp; put up some more pics. Oman was great, but I think an even better way to see the country would be to rent a car for 2-3 weeks and driver yourself around. The roads are good, though you need 4WD for some things. People are friendly &amp; helpful &amp; I found the country very safe. I think there is probably a slightly untapped (though not for long) market for more adventurous &amp ...

... once we arrived at our destination there was plenty to explore and look at. To get to Ghubrah Bowl, we had to travel through Wadi Mistal. Along the way there were some houses and fascinating vegetation wherever a Falaj had been built ( Falaj is like an aquaduct or irrigation system for water). Check out the photo album for this entry to see what I mean. Ghubrah Bowl ...