Last weekend was the first SIT group excursion and, due to my late arrival in Muscat, the first time I'd spent a few full days in the company of the whole group. Orientation for the Egyptian displacements, if you will. It was AMAZING.
On the first day we drove southeast to the Sharqiyyah region, through two hours of mountains and palm groves. Very suddenly, the desert showed up, and after a quick drive off the highway we arrived at the camp.
These camps, it should be said, are not portable-yet-photogenic living compounds assembled by real-life nomads who carry their water supplies on the back of camels. They're very permanent, with toilets and electricity and running water. That being acknowledged, the tents here were actual canvas tents with thatched roofs, the dining area was an open-walled area with rugs and cushions and pretty colored lamps, and to get anywhere you had to truck up and down hills of sand. And there are camels.
Once we got out things stowed away we piled into three old SUV's and indulged in an amazing pastime called "dune bashing." Let me explain: take one manual transmission SUV, preferably with no bells and whistles, like a 90's Jeep Cherokee. Fill her to brimming with tourists. Add one crazy Omani driver, take advantage of ridiculously cheap oil prices, and let loose on sand dunes. The result is 45 minutes of the best roller coaster you have ever been on, interspersed with moments of tranquil sightseeing and utter terror. It's amazing. At the end we were dropped off at the top of one of the bigger dunes (did you know that sand dunes are 40% air?), where we took advantage of the beautiful lighting to take pictures (see the facebook album!) and watched the sunset. That night we ate a huge Omani style meal (no utensils), listened to Bedouin musicians, and smoked sheesha while gazing at the moon.
The next day we fooled around the camp for a bit (and paid small children extortionist prices for camel rides) and headed off to the camp near Sur. The ride was supposed to be over 5 hours but we made it there in less than 3, thanks to our driver Abdullah. Is he a time lord? Can he do the time warp? The theories ran thick and silly. Once there at the second camp we took advantage of the free time to go to the beach, where we swam and played soccer. I scored the first goal of the day!
That night we ate in a similar style, and again, sat under the stars and the moon smoking sheesha. This time, however, we were accompanied by Ali, the manager of the campground, who provided the sheesha and looked a bit like an Arab James Franco. He was a really cool guy -the kind of guy who makes me love traveling, really. One of those people who loves traveling and travelers, and who's always happy to share a story or show someone around. When he wasn't poking fun at us he sang Arabic love songs while gazing into the flames of the campfire. That night, with the moon, the conversations, the songs, the tea, the sheesha... everything, really... was one of the best evenings I've had in recent memory. Getting dive bombed by the occasional bat was also kinda fun.
After a few-hour-long nap, we all piled into the bus at 4:00am to go to the turtle reserve. We spent a few hours there watching a couple turtles digging nests in the sand, although to be honest, coming from Hawaii I've had more exciting turtle experiences. The turtles were huge, though, and our guide was very knowledgeable and pronounced "turtles" as "tee-urtles." This led to much speculation on the people's socialist party of tee-urtles, or whether communist tee-urtles in the gulf refer to each other as "comrade."
Later that morning we left to go see Sur, and spend an hour in a dhao (wooden sailing boat) factory. Those things are pretty freaking cool. If I have the money to be ridiculously self-indulgent one day, I'm going to buy one and listen to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme non-stop. After that we drove to the Wadi, and spent a few hours hiking into the back to reach a prime swimming location.
Again, I'm going to have to direct you to the photos on facebook. It would be really difficult to portray the vast sense of space and beauty within the wadi, or how clean and clear the water was, or jaw-droppingly gorgeous the cliffs were against the sky, or how relaxing and refreshing it was to finally jump in. Check out the pictures. They speak for themselves.
Finally, our trip (which was only a weekend but felt like so much more) came to an end, and we made the final stretch back into Muscat. We were taken back to the learning center, where our usual bus drivers picked us up and took us back home. But not before we all stopped at a Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Because our perfect weekend needed a cherry on top.
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