Saturday, January 26: Yesterday, I arrived safely back to Muscat from Nepal to find my car battery was dead. 😦 I called AAA Arabia, who sent someone directly to start my car. Lucky for me! After arriving home in Nizwa 1 1/2 hours later, I unloaded all my stuff, unpacked, made a huge pile of laundry, and started loading pictures on my computer. I’ll start posting soon about my trip to Nepal, but it won’t be on this blog. I’ll post on catbird in south asia, beginning sometime today. Insha’allah.
in the garden at Kathmandu Guest House, Kathmandu, Nepal
I got a surprise on my return home: we have a holiday today for the Prophet’s birthday! Thank goodness for small favors. I am definitely not looking forward to returning to work.
As of today, I have exactly 5 months remaining in Oman. I will make the best of it, but I am really of the mindset now to return home to the USA. I will use the next 5 months to explore the remainder of Oman, as well as revisit some favorite spots. I’ll spend time with my friends here. And I’ll begin work in earnest on my novel. I’ll also start reading and planning for my upcoming trip this summer to Spain and Portugal. I’m thinking now of omitting Morocco from my trip; maybe I feel this way because I’m exhausted from travel at this moment.
I hope to catch up with all my favorite bloggers soon, but I hope you’ll be patient with me. I haven’t forgotten any of you!
Katmandu, I’ll soon be touchin’ you And your strange bewilderin’ time Will hold me down
~ Cat Stevens: “Katmandu”
The day after my boys left Oman, on Saturday, January 12, the University finally announced that IF we worked REALLY hard invigilating final exams and marking papers during this week, we would get a semester break from January 17-25. I have been waiting for this announcement and was about to give up hope that we would get a break at all. I had researched 6 places I was thinking about going if we got a chance to escape: Sri Lanka, Prague, Kathmandu, Casablanca, Beirut and Zanzibar. When it came to decision time, Kathmandu had the best price, the shortest flight, and the promise of cool, but not freezing, weather. So, on Sunday, I booked a ticket to Nepal for 166 Omani Rials ($432). I fly out tomorrow at 12:45 p.m.
I recently read one of Pico Iyer’s travel essays from Video Night in Kathmandu: Nepal: The Quest Becomes a Trek, which, inspired me to visit Nepal, much as his Lady and the Monk inspired me to visit Kyoto, Japan in January 2011.
My colleague, Mona Lisa, spent several months in Nepal and loved it. She highly recommended the Kathmandu Guest House (Kathmandu Guest House), so I promptly arranged to stay there. I downloaded to my Kindle the Rough Guide to Nepal and Lonely Planet Nepal and started reading. I have not had time to do any planning, but Mona Lisa stocked me up with trekking essentials (which I’m not sure I’ll use since I don’t plan to do any long overnight treks), a city map, a walking stick, and miscellaneous other essentials. She also sent me the link to some Tibetan incantations, music that will soothe my soul in Kathmandu, music that she says I will hear everywhere on the capital’s streets, music that captures the soul of the place.
Another colleague, Zida, told me she hated Kathmandu because of the filth, pollution and chaos, but she highly recommended Pokhara, which she says is stunning. I think the Kathmandu Guest House will help me book a flight to Pokhara, home of Phewa Lake, Mt. Machhapuchhare and Annapurna.
I really have no plan and have no idea what to expect. But I hope to bring home many beautiful pictures!!
If you care to follow my trip to Nepal, please follow me on: catbird in south asia. I won’t be posting about my trip on this blog. 🙂
Sunday, January 13: The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is Illumination: Lights are functional — everyday objects in our rooms and on our streets. Yet lights can be powerful symbols: signs of life, curiosity, and discovery. We’re interested in seeing what you come up with for illumination — particularly your creative interpretations and more abstract approaches.
a lantern at a Muscat restaurant
the streets of Abu Dhabi, UAE, at night
a lantern in a niche at Kargeen Restaurant in Muscat
Friday, January 11: Tonight I take the boys to Muscat for a last dinner together before they head back home to the U.S. tonight at 10:50. Of course, Adam requests that we make a stop at a Restaurant/Coffee Shop near Bidbid for a cup of tea.
We make a stop on the highway near Bidbid, so Adam can stop at one of his favorite coffee shops for tea.
After taking our seats at The Left Bank, we order glasses of wine so we can toast to our latest adventure in Oman, and to the boys’ great and successful year ahead in college. They start their spring semester classes on Monday, January 14. Both of them are excited about going back to school and continuing their period of self-discovery.
Alex, Mike & Adam enjoying our last meal together at the Left Bank in Muscat
Adam orders some delicious butternut squash ravioli, which all of us want to eat. Sadly, it’s his dinner and he doesn’t care to share more than tiny bites.
Adam’s butternut squash ravioli
I order my favorite chili fried prawns and goat cheese en croute topped with cranberry compote. Alex orders a vegetable curry and Mike orders vegetable spring rolls and side dishes of spinach and mashed potatoes. We enjoy our meal together, but I can tell they are all anxious to go. I can understand; when I am getting ready to take a long flight, I get impatient and irritable myself.
a bird’s eye view of our meal
Alex is excited to get home and thinks he will never come back to Oman. Adam, who is always enthusiastic about everything, thinks he could live here full-time. Mike is glad he came; he took great interest in reading a book I’ve hardly touched the whole time I’ve been here: Oman: Jewel of the Arabian Gulf by Georg Popp with Juma Al-Maskari. When he had down time at my flat, he perused the book and educated us on different aspects of Oman’s history and economy. From the chapter on “The Date Palm, Oman’s Tree of Life,” he told us that the lifespan of a date palm is about that of a man and having a personal tree is a guarantee against starvation. There are an estimated 8 million date palms in Oman, approximately four for every Omani. He tells us that by consuming 15 dates a day, a person gets all the essential vitamins & minerals necessary for an adult person. After learning this, he and the boys made a trip to Nizwa souq, where they stocked up on dates, and Mike proceeded to eat 15 a day each day he was here.
Adam and me. So sad to see them go!
Adam tells us his favorite places were Camp Al Areesh and Wadi Shab. He pauses just a minute and then says, “Oh! And the Balcony Walk at Jebel Shams. Oh! And I loved Wadi Muaydin!” And so it goes. Alex feels the same enthusiasm about Al Areesh and Wadi Shab that his brother does. Jebel Akhdar still tops my list. And Mike found it all interesting, but didn’t seem overly enthused about any one thing.
I loved having my family here to share in my life. One night Adam told me that I’ve inspired him by becoming a teacher; he likes the idea of influencing people’s lives through teaching. He’s still trying to figure out what direction he wants to take in his life. Alex has developed a real interest in history because of a great professor he had last semester. He plans on taking a course in Russian history with that same professor this semester. I’m glad to see them finally opening their minds to things they might have never considered before. That’s what the college years are about, as far as I’m concerned. Heck, I’m their mother and well over 50, and I still haven’t figured out my direction. Maybe they will inspire me to explore some avenue I’ve never even considered before.
We go early to the airport because they want to get checked in. I have burdened each of them with one suitcase, the first of my shipments back home. On previous trips, when I’ve flown here with Qatar Airways, I was allowed 2 50-pound suitcases to check. Lufthansa tells them they only get one each, even for an international flight! Luckily Adam only has a carry on backpack, but with my three suitcases, and Alex and Mike’s 2, that makes 5 for three people. Mike can carry my smallest one onboard, which he’s not happy about, and then he pays for the other at the exorbitant charge of 40 Omani Rials, or over $100!! Ridiculous!!
Oh well, I have a lot more boxes to ship in June when I leave. This only puts a dent in my burden.
I hug all of them and bid them adieu ~ until I see them again in early August. At that time, they won’t be able to get rid of me. 🙂
Friday, January 11: This morning, we walk the back road to Nizwa Souq from my flat, past farms and modern Omani houses, past several mosques, past “Gents Tailoring” shops and “Foodstuffs and Luxury Items” shops, through the old gate and into the ruined village of Al Aqr. This traditional Omani landscape of two- and three-story mudbrick houses, though in great decay, is home to much of Nizwa’s large Pakistani community.
Adam, Mike and Alex at the gate to the Nizwa ruins
the gate into the Nizwa ruins
On our walk, we pass Omanis pulling goats behind them with ropes, or driving them out of the market in their pickup trucks. We arrive at the south side of the souq, where we head directly to the Goat Market, home to Nizwa’s Friday Market where locals come to trade livestock, particularly goats and cows, sold by auction. However, we find we have come too late for the goat auction. All the buying and selling of goats has already occurred, as evidenced by the Omanis leaving with their goats in tow, and the goats tied up by rope to various poles and fences.
goats at the goat market
the goat herders
Now the cattle market is in full swing. Omanis are pulling their cows and bulls around a circular promenade, yelling out prices and haggling with other Omanis bidding from around the perimeter and the interior of the circle. I hear “Ashroon! Ashroon!” in a conversation between a bidder and seller, which is 20 rials, or about $52, and I can’t believe that can be the price for a whole cow! Maybe I misunderstood, as my Arabic is quite elementary, and rusty as well.
Click on any of the pictures in the gallery below to see a full-sized slide show.
the cattle market in full swing
cows for sale!
the goat herders
cows on parade
inspecting the cows
promenade
a chaotic state of affairs
cattle auction
The market is quite frenetic as the sellers can’t always control their cows, and some try to break away, like bulls running through the streets of Pamplona, dragging their owners behind them. A couple of times I regret wearing my red and blue plaid shirt, remembering that bulls in bullfights like to charge at the color red. I jump back away from the sidelines several times as I see cows running helter-skelter in my direction!
serious contenders
I can’t believe that, in the year and 4 months I’ve been in Nizwa, this is the first time I’ve been to the cattle market. It’s a crazy scene with hollering Omanis and out-of-control cows and even quiet Omanis either just sitting and observing, or playing with their mobile phones, or participating full force in the auction. In addition, there are the requisite number of tourists trying to find good vantage points to take videos and pictures of this event.
the modern & the traditional
I am caught up trying to take pictures, so I lose track of Mike and the boys. The boys at first seemed interested, but later I look up to see them sitting on a bench with Mike, looking quite bored. Or irritated. I’m too caught up in the action to pay them much mind, but when I go to seek them out, I find only Mike, who tells me they decided to leave. He said they were getting increasingly upset with how the animals were treated, and they just couldn’t take it any more. Being vegans on principle, because they love animals and hate their mistreatment, they didn’t want anything more to do with this affair.
corn, peppers & lemons for sale!
Mike and I soon leave the cattle auction, with him explaining how the boys felt and why they left. We wander through the Fruit and Vegetable Souq and then through the pottery & crafts market of the West Souq, where I buy a beautiful turquoise lantern that I can send home with them on their flight tonight. Then we head back down the road to my flat.
produce for sale!
As we are walking, Mike tells me not to say anything to the boys about their leaving. “Just accept that’s who they are,” he advises me. “You’re not going to change them.” I wonder why this advice is necessary as I haven’t said one word about their departure. I take offense, as I always do, at his (or anyone else’s) unasked-for advice. I say, “I don’t think you need to tell me how to interact with my own sons.”
small chickens?
This kind of thing is one of many issues in our marriage; some of our myriad problems have come back full force during our time together here in Oman. Some of these things I have forgotten over the years we’ve been separated, or I’ve glossed over them. But this kind of attitude on his part – that I’m incapable of knowing how to interact with my own children, after I gave up a career to stay home and raise them for 15 years – always stymies (and infuriates!) me. I know Mike has witnessed many heated arguments between the kids and me over our years together, and I know these confrontations make him extremely uncomfortable. He always tries to jump into the fray to resolve our differences, even when they don’t involve him at all. I feel this is insulting, as if he thinks we are incapable of resolving our differences ourselves. I know it has to do with his need to always be in control, and his discomfort around any expression of emotion. I am just the opposite, never afraid of emotions or of expressing them, even if it involves confrontation.
parakeets for sale
nuts & crunchies
I feel sad today, one because I know they are all leaving tonight, but also because I haven’t felt any opening up on Mike’s part to any kind of reconciliation. I feel he is totally closed off. We never discuss our situation during their visit, and he never makes any effort to spend time alone with me. I feel, with great certainty, that he has already closed the door to me, never to open it again. The thing that saddens me the most is that he doesn’t even have the courage to tell me.
How can two people be together in a marriage if they can’t even communicate about anything?
Mike at the pottery souq
I need to step back and evaluate our experience together. I know without question that I always love being with my sons. But with Mike, it’s much more complicated. I’ll take some time to reflect back on these 10 days together in a couple of weeks, after I’ve had time and space to meditate and consider. Is it possible for us to reconcile? I honestly don’t know. At this moment, I’m highly doubtful.
Thursday, January 10: We’re pretty exhausted after our week of activities and our walk through the hot Bahla Fort, so we stop in Al Hamra at the ubiquitous “Restaurant” for a lunch of vegetable biryani and rice. Adam loves these restaurants in Oman, and today he decides he will eat like the Omanis, using his right hand to shovel rice and vegetables into his mouth.
“Restaurant” in Al Hamra
Alex and Mike
Adam eats like the Omanis
We then drive up to the village of Misfat Al Abriyyin, where we follow the flag-marked trail down the terraces deep into a jungle-like plantation. We follow twisting lanes, covered passages like wind tunnels with cool air blowing through, gateways and serpentine flights of stairs. We’re surrounded by terraces of date palms, banana palms, lemon trees, pomegranates, and Bougainvillea.
banana palms at misfat
Alex & Adam next to their favorite fruit: banana palms
Alex poses reaching for bananas
Adam
banana palm leaf
stone wall
terrace
the view to the valley
Alex and Adam on the path
Mike takes a rest
Alex and Adam strolling through
Alex the monkey
Alex and Adam, tired out from 9 days of being on the go!
We originally planned on taking a much longer hike, but I think our 9 days of being constantly on the go has finally gotten to us. All of us are too tired to take another step. We decide to head back to my flat to relax on this, their last night in Oman.
On the way back, we come across a small group of camels nibbling away at some trees. The owner is sitting on a nearby rock and he doesn’t seem to mind us mingling with his animals. Each camel has its four legs tied together with a rope, so it can’t move very quickly. They all seem quite docile and friendly. We stop to check them out, along with about 10 other random passers-by.
Thursday, January 10: I heard a rumor recently that Bahla Fort had opened its doors to the public after a 25+ year restoration project. I figure I better take the boys to check it out this morning. We are pleasantly surprised to find it is in fact open, and it just so happens that today is our lucky day, since the fort has only limited operating hours: Thursdays from 8:00-4:00 and Fridays from 8:00-11:30 a.m.
Entering Bahla Fort
exterior of Bahla Fort
inside the gates
The Fort is believed to have been built by the Al-Nebhan dynasty, the dominant tribe in the area from the 12th to the end of the 17th century. Some scholars, however, believe that parts of the fort predate the Islamic empire. The fort continued to be used as the official office of the Wali, or govenor, until the early 1970s (Bahla Fort: Virtual Tour).
Click on any of the photos in the galleries below for a full-sized slide show.
the crenellated walls of Bahla
one of the towers overlooking Bahla
Omanis descend from one of the towers
One wall and tower
inside Bahla
Alex in a room with niches
interesting architecture
The ruins of the immense fort, with its walls and towers of unbaked brick and its stone foundations, is an impressive example of this type of fortification and attests to the power of the Banu Nebhan (UNESCO: Bahla Fort).
exploring the nooks & crannies of the fort
interesting passageways
looking down at Bahla and its old city walls
a section of Bahla’s old city walls
view of the fort’s interior and Bahla beyond
The Bahla Fort sits on a flat outcrop at the highest point in the oasis, giving it an all-encompassing view over the whole of Bahla. The fort’s ruined adobe walls and towers rise some 165 feet above its sandstone foundations. It has a triangle form with six towers in the corners, completely built by mud-brick with a stone foundation. There are a total of seven wells inside the fort itself, and in later years three cannons were used for defense. Excavations at Al Qasbah, the oldest part of the fort, revealed the foundation of an earlier tower and the team also unearthed the foundation of four rooms (Muscat Daily: BAHLA FORT MAY SOON BE THROWN OPEN FOR PUBLIC).
Alex and Adam inside Bahla Fort
Massive doors in the fort
The fort was not restored or conserved before 1987, and had fallen into a precarious state, with parts of the walls collapsing each year in the rainy season. The fort was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 and was included in the List of World Heritage in Danger from 1988. Restoration works began in the 1990s, and nearly $9m was spent by the Omani government from 1993 to 1999. It remained covered with scaffolding and closed to tourists for many years. It was removed from the list of endangered sites in 2004 (Wikipedia: Bahla Fort).
up in one of the towers
Mike comes down from the tower
me insdie Bahla Fort
We all enjoy exploring the fort, climbing up its walls and towers and looking out over the whole of Bahla. The grounds of the fort are quite warm, while the rooms, with their thick walls, provide relief from the heat as we dip into them. We are all drained from exploring the huge fort in the heat, so we take off for Al Hamra for lunch and then a trip up to Misfat al Abryeen.
Wednesday, January 9: I’ve done the Wadi Bani Habib hike too many times to count already, but I never find it boring as there’s always something new to discover. The hike is atop my favorite “Green Mountain” in Oman, Jebel Akhdar.
Mike and Adam with the first village of Wadi Bani Habib behind
Mike, the boys and I park at the end of the road past the modern, but characterless, village of Bani Habib. We walk down winding stone steps into a narrow gorge filled with walnut and apricot trees and flowering shrubs. The greenery contrasts nicely with the brown bare rocks of the mountains and the sienna-colored ruins of two villages, made of stone in various stages of dereliction and clinging to the edges of steep sandstone cliffs. Down the wadi a bit is another village. It’s wonderful to stand in one village and look down the wadi to the other village. A spectacular view.
the view from village 2 to village 1
The hike down the steps is quite easy, but it’s difficult to make our way up through the first village because of the ruins blocking the path and the rocky and uneven footpath. However, we gingerly make our way up where I take the boys into a painted house, where it’s obvious someone had both wealth and a love of color.
Click on any of the photos in the gallery below for a full-sized slide show.
me in the painted house in the first village
Adam in the house
Mike, Adam and Alex
Looking over the ruins of the first village down the wadi to the second village
Adam, Mike and Alex
ruins in the first village
We follow the trail through the village where Alex swings from a tree branch, and further on where Adam squats down along the path, facing the first village in a meditative Buddha-like pose. The boys climb high to the top of the rocky mountain, and I make my way higher up into the village than I’ve been before. In this second village is another beautiful painted house I’ve seen before, where we stop for photos. Further up, we discover another one with the lower half of the walls in royal blue and the top half in crazy brown and cream designs. Someone obviously had a streak of wildness.
Adam: ohm.
entering the second village
looking at the upper houses in the second village
a wild & crazy painted room
the second village
Mike, Adam and Alex in the painted room
me in the painted room
Alex does some exercises
descending into the wadi before we climb up the mountain again
heading through the path off the wadi
I guess everyone can tell by now what is my favorite place in Oman. 🙂
Tuesday, January 8: We drive up Jebel Akhdar and park at the head of 3 hanging villages looking over Wadi Al Ayn. The first, Al Aqr, is famous for its rose gardens (not in bloom currently). The next, Al Ayn, perches on a dramatic rock outcropping. The third village, A’Sherageh, leads down to terraced plantations with splashes of green.
a cute little cat peers down at us at A’Sherageh
Click on any image in the galleries below for a full-sized slide show.
Beginning the hike to Al Aqr on Jebel Akhdar
Alex in a tree
the farm on the plateau
Adam crouches on the falaj
Alex under a walnut tree
a little pool in the wadi
plantation
a mosque in the 3rd village
Alex on the falaj
terraces
terraces
square plots
cactus
Wadi Al Ayn
terraces
Mike climbs up
Alex & Adam
terraces
and more terraces
Alex, Mike and Adam with Wadi al Ayn behind
the first village
terraces
splashes of green on the terraces
terraces in the sunlight
Alex, Mike and Adam with a village behind
After our hike, we head to the Sahab Hotel for a spectacular view of the sunset, accompanied by wine and dinner. As seems to always be the case in winter, we shiver and hunker down as we drink wine by the pool, and when the cold gets overwhelming, we move inside for dinner. I have Sahab Mary Rose (a smoked salmon appetizer), Mike has a pineapple chicken salad he says is mediocre, and the boys have vegetable noodles with fried egg. Then Mike decides he will tackle the long slow drive down the mountain with the Terrain in low gear. We return to my flat, where we rest our tired bodies for another day of hiking on Wednesday.
Sunday, January 6: Al Alam Palace (“Flag Palace”) in Muscat is one of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos‘s six royal residences in Oman, and apparently the most important.
Al Alam Palace
We walk up the long pedestrian boulevard between two arcaded colonnades, and the boys find themselves with the urge to do handstands in front of the palace.
Adam does a handstand in front of Al Alam Palace
Alex does a handstand in front of Al Alam Palace
The palace was built in 1972 and is a flashy example of modern Islamic design, with two wings attached to a central cube-like building with a flat roof, supported by blue and gold flared columns.
Al Alam Palace behind its iron gates
The palace isn’t open to the public, but it’s fun to come here at different times of year to see the colorful palace with its rotating flower gardens in the foreground. Last time I came here, yellow, red and pink marigolds framed the entry to the palace; this time terraces of lavender, pink, violet and white impatiens are in bloom.
impatiens in bloom in front of the palace
Adam & Alex in front of Al Alam Palace
Adam, Mike and Alex
Alex in the colonnaded arcade
Adam in the arcade
We walk around the grounds where we see a large complex of white government buildings. On a stony hill to the right are the original city walls snaking up the hill, punctuated with three watchtowers glowing in the waning light.
the old city walls
On our way out, we pass by a pretty mosque with colorful stained glass windows.
a mosque with pretty stained glass windows
We head to Mutrah, where we wander along the corniche and then into the alleyways of the souq. None of us are really looking to buy anything, but Mike does buy a small incense burning kit. We just enjoy watching the people and looking at all the enticing things for sale.
along Mutrah corniche
the harbor viewed from Mutrah corniche
entering Mutrah Souq
pretty trinkets
incense burners
Aladdin’s lamps?
After our wanderings, we head to Medinat Sultan Qaboos to The Silk Route for dinner. The Silk Route is a pan-Asian restaurant, and we are surprised when they bring out an iPad menu for each of us. We can scroll through the menu, enlarge the photos of the food, and then add our order to a shopping cart. We are certainly impressed by this nice touch, and we enjoy playing around for quite some time with these fun menus. After we order, the waiter comes by to double-check our order, and then we have a fabulous meal of Shrimp Pad Thai, vegetable noodles, basil cauliflower and sweet & sour vegetables.
Adam checks out the iPad menu at The Silk Route
Mike & Adam at The Silk Route
Alex and his iPad menu
Alex and me 🙂
After dinner, I sadly have to drive back to Nizwa, while the boys spend the night at Safeer Suites. They plan to go to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque tomorrow, but as I’ve been there already, I won’t go with them. Some of us have to work, after all. 🙂