Travelling in Oman

[Danny]

^ Aaaand there it is.

[Mercury Bullet]

How good are those roads!

How heavily are they policed and speed limits if any?

[mcflux]

xxx000 - if I've swayed you to consider Oman then this thread has served its purpose!

scoupedy - fair enough, I have/had preconceptions about Bali too, although over the recent years I've become fairly open to going anywhere really. I'm surprised you've included Vietnam on your list of 1st world countries - for decades it was a no-go area, and it's still a developing nation (Oman on the whole is far more developed & wealthy than Vietnam - I can say this with confidence without having been to Vietnam). I'd like to visit Vietnam one day.

I saw the earlier version of your post but I was on my phone & not able to reply properly. I got pretty close to Yemen, and I had to pass through a military checkpoint. The soldiers took a while processing our passports, but only because none of them knew English (fair enough) and mainly deal with Omanis/Yemenis crossing the border for commercial/family reasons. They were fine with us passing through once they were able to transcribe our details into arabic. I was told there were perhaps another half-dozen checkpoints beyond the first, and they're all in constant communication regarding the movements of persons having passed through.

The Dhofar region is fairly tough terrain to navigate. You'd have to either sail the coast, drive along THE road that climbs 1.5kms up into the mountain range that's right off the coast (with the 6 checkpoints), or navigate the wadi canyons/plateaus by foot.

North of Dhofar's mountain range you've got fairly empty desert that also borders Yemen, but again there's a concentration of military checkpoints dotted throughout (and off) the road network there.

We were told that the Omani border town of Sarfayt was a bit Wild West for inexperienced tourists, but we stopped a good 20kms short of there as we were interested in the landscape rather than skirting the border.

This is Mughsayl Beach, maybe 50kms from the Yemeni border:





Here's a random little beach further along, not easily accessible and the river valley is perhaps the shallowest/broadest of the rest along the way:



This is perhaps another 20kms closer to the border, altitude of about 1000m :



This is a zoom-in of the above image:



This is another 10kms closer to the border, perched on a ridge perhaps 1500m altitude, about 1km beyond the military checkpoint:

Looking inland. The brown haze you see in many of the landscape pics is sand/fines higher up in the atmosphere, we didn't see any smog in the cities as Oman only has about 4 million people and the Muscat/Muttrah/Qurum/Seeb coastal stretch has say 1 million people all up.



Looking to the coast from the same photo stop. There was a steep drop of several hundred metres directly behind me, and the plateau below was still several hundred metres above the coast.



Mercury Bullet - cops are EVERYWHERE, as are army vehicles despite Oman not really being a heavily militarised country. Having said that the only time you saw cops pulling over people it was for those doing dangerous manoeuvres on the city roads, or pulling over dangerously loaded trucks/obviously unroadworthy cars.

Most of the cops we saw seemed to just sit behind the wheel reading the paper off the side of the road, or just cruise up one section of road before pulling off & cruising down another section.

If the cops pull you over, it's because you've done something wrong, and you're screwed if you try to argue with them - they're known to pull over military vehicles and the military guys fear the cops.

The cops operate very differently to here - we were driving through roadworks, 110 in a 60 zone (because the rest of the traffic was doing 110), and we passed a cop car. The cops didn't pull anyone over because they saw the traffic was flowing nicely and there weren't any roadworks personnel nearby/exposed to the high speed traffic.

Another time I was driving on the freeway & was slowly gaining on a cop car (I was doing 5 over, cops were on the limit). I went to pull in behind, & my mate urged me to keep going / *speed up* a little. This was because the cops are perfectly happy with people behaving confidently around them, and are instantly suspicious if drivers try to back off, etc., and will THEN go and pull you over. The only time you slow down for the cops is when you're doing 150 in the desert, where it's a 120 zone, and if you slow to "130ish" then they see you're respecting them and will leave you alone.

Speeds are typically 60/80/100 in built-up areas and 120 along the arterials or out in the desert. The multi-lane divided highways have speed cameras every 2kms with a ~19km tolerance, and I was told the cops have a similar "gut-feel" tolerance. So you can pass a cop/speed camera doing 139kph and they're cool with it.

The cops don't do bribey-bribey in Oman as they're in well-paid secure jobs.

* * * * * * * * * *

Getting back to this earlier photo I took (below), this was also perhaps 1500m above sea level at the top of an epic climb, which made me all the more impressed with this old hilux for making the climb. This was on the way to an important multi-faith religious site known as Job's Tomb. It's known as Ayoub's Tomb according to the religion starting with the letter "I", and Iyyov's Tomb according to the other Abrahamic Monotheistic non-pork-eating religion - it's fascinating that the names are all phonetically similar. The tomb itself is currently housed in a fairly 20th Century (albeit partially dilapidated) site, but still it felt pretty zen stepping inside to the quiet area & breathing in the frankincense haze. I didn't take any photos out of respect. The destination itself could be considered fairly underwhelming - apart from the experience of tranquility (remember I'm not a religious guy) - but the journey there is one that any keen driver should do, be it by motorbike, 4WD, luxo-barge, boy-racer or muscle car. The journey is actually a loop up into the mountains and back down to the coast again, rather than backtracking where you've already been.



Thanks again for reading

[nuthin' fancy]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

xxx000 - if I've swayed you to consider Oman then this thread has served its purpose!


Mercury Bullet - cops are EVERYWHERE, as are army vehicles despite Oman not really being a heavily militarised country. Having said that the only time you saw cops pulling over people it was for those doing dangerous manoeuvres on the city roads, or pulling over dangerously loaded trucks/obviously unroadworthy cars.

ABC News just showed a comparison of military expenditure as a % of GDP, Oman was at 19.2%, the highest in the world.

[mcflux]

Really?!? Well there you go. I would've agreed with "most heavily policed" as there are police headquarters everywhere, and the cop cars seem to outnumber the military vehicles (same for same, ie landcruisers) 10-to-1, or at least what you see on the road.

I guess they're dealing with ongoing issues next door in Yemen, and Saudi Arabia & Iran are the two big rivals in the area so they appear to me to take a bit of a Switzerland stance.

Hopefully they come up with an alternative primary income stream rather than oil, otherwise this time of prosperity will come to a crashing halt at some point in the future.

[lra]

Originally Posted by scoupedy

I have no desire to go to any of those types of countries won't even catch me in Bali. Would rather Japan Hong Kong Vietnam I usually prefer 1st world countries.

Seems that a lot of people have forgotten that Vietnam was not a desirable tourist destination 50 years ago, even though it had thousands of Govt sponsored 'tourists'.

I find this thread very interesting, even though I prefer my travels to be within Aus, to places that very few other Aussies bother to get to see.
Ghia5L, you're lucky that you have an Omani mate to show you around the place, rather than get off the plane, and head to a MacResort like the average tourist.

[winlucky]

thank you for this post. Very interesting to read about a destination that's less travelled.

breathtaking sunrise

[kazawaki]

Thanks but no thanks,i started travelling overseas in the early 80s Bali was first and this was when Bali was Bali did that 8 times until the ninety's when it started to turn to **** and haven't been back since.Thailand was where i headed next,did that three times in the ninety's and then went nope its turning to **** so of to Fiji we went 3 times then of to Vietnam i went ,been there 4 times and heading over again this year and probably for the last time as we have covered pretty much most of it.In my work trips done hongkong, china and tiawan more times than i can count.The thought of going to a Muslim country is not appealing at all,we will now be going to New Zealand next year probably twice to spend time on each Island and see it properly.

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by lra

Ghia5L, you're lucky that you have an Omani mate to show you around the place, rather than get off the plane, and head to a MacResort like the average tourist.

Definitely, we still could have managed the desert roadtrip to the south, but it would have been challenging and unnecessarily uncomfortable not knowing whether a local was curious or suspicious of us (despite - after translation through our mate - they were all surprised/delighted to see us). A pair of white tourists in a fairly deserted area in the middle of the off-season is quite unusual down there. The markets ("souqs") down there were deserted, they must be bedlam during the Khareef season.

Having Abdullah with us for that part of the trip made everything hassle-free.

The rest of the trip which we did on our own, in the more populous/developed north, was fairly easy-going. The two resorts we stayed at were obviously fairly touristy/filled with Europeans, but we actually found that several tourists were like-minded to us. One particular part of the country where, as independent self-guided travelers, we kept leap-frogging the same people.

kazawaki - each to their own I guess. Perhaps another view may be if you're not a fan of deserts/dry places, or arab-style marketplaces, or the food, etc.

Religious practices aside, they're just people like you & I, although on the whole I found Omanis more welcoming than fellow Aussies - zero "menace" factor you get if you sometimes end up in the wrong place here (dodgy train station, outside a pub on a friday/saturday, etc). We both felt perfectly at ease walking along city beaches & streets by ourselves at dusk.

Actually, let me differentiate on a couple of other factors:

* Beef or turkey "bacon" is a poor cousin of proper bacon. It's orright, but bacon is bacon and should not be messed with!
* Alcohol-free beer, whilst refreshing, doesn't have the same enjoyment factor of "lawnmower beer" when you're beating the heat in a shady area. I could see alcohol seriously destroying people in the summer 50*C heat though, and drink-driving is a bit of an issue with a small proportion of the locals - yes some muslims sink tins & then go to the mosque the next day, but alcohol is a relatively recent thing there & they're (the small proportion who consume it are) struggling to deal with it. Finding Bundy ginger beer ("Ginger Bev") at a random servo was a delight though. Our local friend doesn't drink alcohol & pretty much sticks to "the rules", his way of blowing off steam involves either arab-drifting on quiet roads or blowing up stuff in the desert lol.
* Some of the dudes look more dapper in their local gear than the suits you see in Melbourne or Sydney. But then others are set for the VICE Middle-East edition of the fashion "Don't" section. (Most of the women in various degrees of conservative attire were fairly glamorous actually)
* My wife wonders how the hell the women - who dress conservatively - manage the summer heat. She was sweating in the *winter* heat after covering up when visiting the Grand Mosque. I've got photos of the Grand Mosque if anyone's interested.

I've never been to south-east asia, that's an impressive list you've racked up there! You should post up an NZ thread when you've been there, another place I'd love to visit.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by Danny

^ Aaaand there it is.

And your issue with the post before yours is what exactly?

[mcflux]

Several posts were edited/deleted by mods, so Danny's post has lost its context, as have a couple of my posts that appear to be responding to no-one.

Main thing is this thread's not locked :-)

[scoupedy]

Originally Posted by Ben73

And your issue with the post before yours is what exactly?

My original post was modified due to me pointing out the well know ethics of certain countries/ destinations.
Well all know the problems with places like Bali.
Many of the stories I have heard through Indonesian and UAE friends. My housemate from UAE told how the shieks can snort cocaine in front of the police and nothing happens, meanwhile westerners ( a friend of his ) got 13 years jail for a gram of cannabis.
Balinese has the same corruption where you get years in jail for a extacy pill meanwhile in jail its full of heroin.
I would never break laws in another country as I hate it when people do it here. But I just don't trust these places.
P.s I wasn't including Vietnam as a first world country just a place I trust the people more and I am interested in the Australia army history.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by scoupedy

My original post was modified due to me pointing out the well know ethics of certain countries/ destinations.
Well all know the problems with places like Bali.
Many of the stories I have heard through Indonesian and UAE friends. My housemate from UAE told how the shieks can snort cocaine in front of the police and nothing happens, meanwhile westerners ( a friend of his ) got 13 years jail for a gram of cannabis.
Balinese has the same corruption where you get years in jail for a extacy pill meanwhile in jail its full of heroin.
I would never break laws in another country as I hate it when people do it here. But I just don't trust these places.
P.s I wasn't including Vietnam as a first world country just a place I trust the people more and I am interested in the Australia army history.

Non of which has any relevance to Ghia5L's original post....."I just thought I'd start an ask-me-anything thread regarding a holiday I recently went on, to Oman."

So lets just leave it there shall we.

[mcflux]

scoupedy, I understand a group of Australian ex-Vietnam Veterans fought as mercenaries during the Dhofar rebellion in the 70s, on the side of the Sultan (& British SAS). I'm sure given your interest in Australian army history you could probably find more genuine/comprehensive articles than the wiki pages I found.

[Sox]

Wow fantastic thread, and photos.

I'd like to go to places like this someday, but I doubt I will, I hate plane travel.

Keep up the good work, looks like you're killing it.

[mcflux]

Sox, you could always do it the slow way & catch a ship there (cruise or freighter)!

[scoupedy]

My piont is would not go there and become a hostage for the terrorist that are all around that area like Yeman abit like going to the south of the Philippians or coming to Australia as a non swimmer and swimming out side the flags sorry Gasoline if its a touch off topic

[scoupedy]

Great photos I wonder what the surf is like in those areas can see some nice looking reefs.

[PridenJoy]

Nice write up and pics.

Oman really is a fascinating country. I've been to Oman, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar and I would rate Oman second only to the Emirates. Beautiful scenery and nice people but i found it to be too expensive, 1 Rial at the time (2007 i think) was worth 7/8 Aussie dollars so wasn't very economical. We stayed at the Shangri La which was very close to the Sultan's Palace from memory and what a sight that was.

Security Forces presence even then was quite significant, felt quite safe and the police seemed friendly and more than willing to help just to be nice. The Sultan is very much loved and revered there by EVERYONE, we got talking to a couple of cops one day and they informed us the Sultan regularly travels through the city in his massive barricade and he always................... wait for it........................................throws money out the window of his Sultan-mobile for the masses

But the next day we were at the souq near the esplanade in Muscat and there was a sudden rukus and people were running around everwhere, we then found out the Sultan's barricade was passing by on the esplanade so we joined everyone and ran to see it. And wow what a barricade! I'm talking armoured vehicles with 50 cals on front and rear, at least 20 vehicles in total plus all the motorbikes. In the middle was the Sultan in his Phantom (i think) and yep he was throwing Rials out the window That alone was worth going to Oman to see.

Nice place, would go again.

[mcflux]

scoupedy, there have been no terrorist attacks in Oman. Their crime rate, particularly violent crime, is comparatively very low compared to the western world. You have every right to not feel safe in wanting to travel there, but to state that you don't want to travel there because being taken hostage is likely to occur as per being in Yemen or the southern Philippines is simply inaccurate. To compare to your swimming analogy, Oman is the kid's pool with a lifeguard on duty.

As for their surf, yeah there were some pretty decent waves. The locals love their "beach picnics" (or picnics anywhere really) but tend not to go swimming. Not quite surf but still swimming-wise, we went to a wadi where you had to swim between a crack in the rocks to access a hidden chamber + waterfall, and apparently it's a drowning hotspot for Indians who stereotypically love water but can't swim..

This wadi required a boat ride across the river, then a hike through the canyon for about an hour, and then you had to wade/swim upstream another 10 minutes to reach the chamber. Probably the highlight of the trip for me.











PridenJoy, thanks! I'd love to visit all the other gulf states, maybe one day...

The conversion rate is currently 1 OMR = $3.40 AUD, so about twice as good as when you went there!

Yes, the Sultan's image is everywhere and everybody still loves him, although his health is failing now & there's been an impression amongst the locals that he's stood back somewhat from running the country, compared to how he used to be at the reigns for everything.

That motorcade would have been a sight to see! It almost sounds Disney haha. The 2nd time we went down to Muttrah most of the roadsides were blocked off with cops everywhere as the Kuwaiti Emir was in town. We saw no sign of the Emir while we were there, and the locals must have been spewing about the lost trade. Meanwhile every taxi in Muttrah must have tooted at us as we walked the length of the corniche to get to the market. The locals hate walking places & will often do laps of carparks waiting for a closer spot to open up, rather than walk the 50 metres...

We stayed at the Shangri La prior to flying out, not a bad way to end the trip! This was where I had the great burger too, second only to US burgers, waaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of our burgers (& we do pretty good burgers here, the hipsters made sure of that).





Prior to that we were at a desert camp where the camp founder shipped an old fishing dhow from the coast to the desert in 3 pieces, on a 60s Bedford truck. I don't know how the truck made its way out here! The dhow now serves as a bar next to a pool, and the truck's seen better days.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

This was where I had the great burger too, second only to US burgers, waaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of our burgers (& we do pretty good burgers here, the hipsters made sure of that).

Pics of Burger not loading

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Pics of Burger not loading

No insta-pics sorry, but here's something close I found on google:

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

No insta-pics sorry, but here's something close I found on google:

image

Aren't those steamed hams? Not hamburgers if my memory serves me correctly

[mcflux]

It's an Albany expression

[nuthin' fancy]

That stupid show on Ch 9 - Travel Guides - goes to Oman this week.

Might be worth a look (with the sound down).

[mcflux]

I had to look up Travel Guides, and regretted opening the 9now website :(

[mcflux]

So that Travel Guides show was painful to watch...

So it was essentially an extended advert of the Shangri-La resort just out of Muscat.

At least the show gives you a bit of an idea of the dunes around a desert camp, and some shots of the Grand Mosque.

"Stack & Mel"... got cringe factor?

At least the general reviews from them all were pretty accurate.

And now I feel dumber for watching that.

[nuthin' fancy]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

I had to look up Travel Guides, and regretted opening the 9now website :(

Sorry bud,

It was a painful way to see something related to your original post but a strange coincidence that they happened around the same time.

Clearly the Shangri La was the main sponsor.

[mcflux]

Haha, it's all good, at least it shows viewers aspects of Oman, even if it was edited for 'Strayan viewers.

[mcflux]

Bump.

My Omani mate sent me a Youtube vid of an Audi RS3 punting around the southern Dhofar region, this video does far more for giving an understanding of what Omani roads are like than my photos ever would.

The video starts at Mughsayl Beach, then has a lot of shots of the coastal/mountain road that heads towards the Yemeni border. And whilst the road appears closed for filming, it was *almost* this quiet while we were down there, the roads truly are deserted outside of the Khareef season.

The scenes with the camels/cattle show what older Omani roads are like compared to the new road network that's being built at a phenomenal rate right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvoc8rzEJOg

Now picture fanging around on these roads in a 5.0 Mustang or an RS Focus