Beaches, Forts and a few Adventure Sports :)

Hi everybody

It 17:50pm here in Muscat and its 27 degrees!! We've been lucky with the weather these past few weeks but all that looks set to change tomorrow or Friday, more on that later.

Its been two weeks to the day since my last post so here are some of the highlights. Last Wednesday the Red Arrows paid a visit on their way to the Dubai Air-show. It seemed like half of Muscat was out to see them display off the beach by the Intercontinental hotel. Overall a great afternoon out and I managed to get some great photos.

 

3 days later Dad's Arabic course was running a trip to the town of Nizwa for a look around its souks and impressive fort. What many people don't know is that Oman was once a major trade hub for the whole region, one of the most important commodities Oman traded was frankincense which is still being produced in the south of the country today. Old forts dot the country on what used to be the old trade routes across the interior of Oman down to the coast. Nizwa fort is very well preserved and offers amazing views out across the town of Nizwa. The information boards throughout the fort give you a great idea about the fort's role and how its defences worked. Including murder holes for pouring boiling date syrup to false floors for attackers to fall through! 

The top of Nizwa Fort

Looking west from the fort's wall's

Looking north-East from the fort's wall, the mountains in the background

are part of the Hajar Mountain Range

 

One downside to travelling around in Oman is the very long distances between places. As a result, driving is essential if you want to get out and do anything. Luckily, the roads networks in Oman are extensive and very well maintained so driving for the most part is a largely comfortable experience. With the long distances its a nice bonus that fuel is very cheap here. The picture below is the petrol pump display after filling up our Mitsubishi Pajero on the way home from Nizwa. We filled up with 47 litres of petrol for £7.50 (equivalent)!!! 

 

£7.50 for 47 litres......... go on then :)

 

Luckily, Matthew and I are able to drive out here, so we've been out and about in the Pajero. As we'll probably end up going off-road on some of our future trips Dad took us to practice on some empty sandy brush-land just down the road from our house. We had a great time and I can't wait to try it again soon. 

Me and the Pajero during our off-road practice,

So now we come to the last few days and my definite favourite highlight of the last two weeks. Learning to Kite-surf!! Matthew and I signed up for 6 hours of lessons on Alzaiba Beach about 40 mins from home. On Monday we started with learning how to control the kite in "the wind window" and how to use the kite to "body drag though the water.

Me and Matthew and our instructor, Oleysha, exit the water at the end of our Monday lesson

Me and Matthew

Yesterday proved to be quite challenging. The aim being to stand up on the board! Not as easy as it looked as I found out..... I managed a few 2 second attempts but the others largely ended in horrific face plants :/. Matthew managed a few longer attempts but we both still need more practice

Me preparing to attempt to stand up

And a few seconds later......

One of my better attempts :)

 

Unfortunately progress on kite-surfing has to be delayed for the next few days. The wind has died down and we're expecting a huge storm on Friday. Oh well, something to look forward to after the storm has passed :).

 

So what's next? Alongside kite-surfing, Matthew and I are going to be completing our PADI scuba diving course. The online course is now complete, all that's left is to head down to the dive centre for our confined and open water dives. After that, hopefully we'll be able to get some scuba diving in with Dad. Next weekend we're off to Dubai to watch the "Dubai Rugby Sevens" and take a look around there. Can't wait!

 

So that's it for this entry, thanks for reading everyone and see you next time :). 

Start of an Omani Adventure :)

Hello again everybody,

My latest post finds me in the beautiful city of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman (no I'd never heard of it either before a year ago!). Find the attached map to get your bearings.

I've been here for just under a week now and have been grateful for space to relax after what has been a hectic October. Lets start from my last few days in Israel;

I left Palestine on the 27th of September after an amazing 6 weeks, a few hours on the bus brought me to Tel Aviv for a final day of sand and sightseeing before my flight home the next day. After a long walk through the midday heat I managed to find my hostel for the night (The Florentine Hostel in southern Tel Aviv). I took the afternoon to walk along the amazing sea front and down to the old port of Jaffa to take some photos. The early evening was spent on the hostel roof having a few beers with the other people at the hostel before heading out at 10:30 to a nearby bar for drinks with the nightly bar outing. The bar we landed in offered an "all you could drink" menu for 100 shekels (about £15-£20), needless to say we all had a great time. I staggered back to the hostel around 1:30am (the morning of my flight home!) and collapsed asleep on one of the sofas on the roof. This wasn't out of necessity, I'd booked an outdoor spot to sleep on!

I woke up around 9 and had a quick breakfast before heading out to Jaffa for some last minute souvenir shopping. The sea air quickly remedied my fuzzy head! I picked up my bag from the hostel at one and after some final goodbyes departed for the airport. And so ended an incredible 3 months in Israel. It was an experience I'll never forget but it was nice to be heading home :).

 A stretch of the Tel Aviv sea front, in the distance is the old port of Jaffa

 

 Looking north from the edge of Jaffa Port

 

The roof of the hostel in late afternoon, I ended up sleeping

on a sofa just out of shot on the right!!

 

October was a bit chaotic as we have no address in the UK now (mum has moved to France whilst Dad is living in Oman). After being reunited with Mum and my brother, Matthew, we spent October splitting our time between our nana's house and our neighbours'. I caught up with a few friends that had remained in the area (many have bomb-bursted all across the country to start Uni) and managed to go on a few trips with my girlfriend. Matthew left for Oman on the 23rd of October whilst Mum and I stayed behind to finish up with the packing and for me to attend a briefing course for my trip to Nepal in January (more on that later). Mum and I eventually flew out to Oman on the 30th of October and we were all finally reunited in Oman after so long apart.

Destination number 2: Oman

 

So here I am in sunny Muscat, where its a lovely 30 degrees!! My time here is mainly going to be spent relaxing with my family and enjoying all this amazing country has to offer. Whilst I won't be living as independently as the last 3 months I still plan on having an adventure. Matthew and I have just started our PADI open water divers qualification and are well into the online learning portion of the course. We're also planning on trying out kite-surfing alongside any other kind of adventure that comes our way. 

 

 Me practicing mask clearing in our compound pool with dad's scuba gear.

Here, i'm filling my mask with water to simulate my mask becoming loose

 





Me and Matthew "buddy breathing" in the pool

 

I'll be out in Oman until the 15th of January when I fly out to Nepal for 4 months teaching English in a village outside Kathmandu. I can't wait to get out there but in the mean-time I'll make the most of my time in Oman. I'll keep posting whilst I'm out here so stay tuned for updates.

 

Thanks for reading, see you all soon :)