Pete’s Adventures in Salalah Part 5

Road Trip to Dubai

 

 

 

After about eight weeks in Oman our Visa’s were due to expire.  We had extended them once and we tried to extend them a second time but we were told the only way to do this was to leave the country and return. Some of the crews elected to return home but due to financial constrains we elected to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UEA) as did some of the other crews.  There were different options to travel, Fly, Coach, or Drive.  There were four of us who decided it would be a real adventure to drive the 1600 KM to Dubai so a ROAD TRIP was planned.

The Crew.  Ian and Glenda from Lucy Alice, Allden from Chisel, and me from Fai Tira.

The Crew

 

The route took us away from the coast and into the desert. As you can see the senery was dazzling. Nothing for mile after mile. None of us had experianced anything like this before and when we got out of the car the heat was overwhelming.  The road was deserted as well we only saw the odd car and truck on the road.

 

Occasionally we took a slight detour to find a loo spot or to visit a village.  Here is one of the old mud villages just outside the town of Nizwa. http://www.nizwa.net/

 

We eventually arrived in Muscat and found our appartment which suited us all.  When we arrived we chilled out in front of the satellite TV for a while before heading down to the hotel restaurant.  We returned to the apartment to watch more TV which is a real treat for someone who hasn’t seen a good film on TV for a very long time.

 

The following morning it was time to explore Muscat.  We headed for the old quarter and the Old Muttrah Souk.  We had a great time in there talking and haggling with shop keepers.  We walked around the old part of town and bumped into a herd of goats.  We then walked along the front to get a better view of the Sheiks massive yacht.

 

 

It was fortuitous that we found the entrance to the old fort that overlooks the town. We had the fortitude to climb up the forty steps but unfortunately we were thwarted by the fact that it was closed.  The views from here were great and we could see four forts on the surrounding hills.  We then headed back down the forty steps to the bottom.  The whole exercise had taken us forty minutes. We all felt fortified by the experience.

 

 

 

This is main palace of the Sheiks many impressive palaces.  We waited at the gate for an invite but didn’t get one suprise suprise!!

 

Everthing was highly polished.  Here are two examples. 

 

 

Try to spot Allden in these photo’s.  He is the one drinking the Lager in an Irish pub with Tim and myself.  Tim has a Bruce Roberts (BR) boat and lives in Muscat and works as a police inspector.  We met through the BR owners web group.  We spent a great evening with Tim whilst Ian and Glenda met up a friend.

 

The following morning we headed off to Dubai but on the way we called into the Sultan’s Grand Mosque.  This impressive building and grounds took six years to build at an unknown cost.

 

Here are a selection of photo’s.

 

 

 

All the arches and floors are made from marble which was all imported from Italy.

 

The centre piece of the Grand Mosque is the dome with it’s 14 metre high chandelier hanging from the apex. It contains 6000 bulbs and has a man living permanently inside to change any blown bulbs.  Impressive.  The whole off the dome and the walls of the mosque are covered in mosaics all displaying traditional designs.

 

 

Allden doing his Dell boy impersonation.  OK grandad I have it!!!

 

The carpit took 600 women 5 years to make and is reputedly the largest carpet in the world.  It wheighs 22 tons.   Just look at all this marble!!!   

 

 

We drove across the boarder into the Untied Areb Emertes (UAE) and arrived at the amaizing city of Dubai with it’s sky scrappers and the tallest building in the world.  It took us some time to find our hotel as the place is so big and split up into three different  area’s. 

 

  

 

As we had driven there we had the luxury of having transport to get about.  The road system is very different to anywhere else I have been, and navigating around the city took some time to get used to it. 

 

 

We ventured off to find the Palm. This is a man made residential area that is built into the sea in the shape of a palm tree.  The houses are very exclusive and has owners that are in the same echelon  as the Beckhams.  There is also an exclusive hotel on the palm called the Atlantis and is at the end of the trunk.  It’s impressive architecture boasts this massive Arabian gateway.

 

It was time for Breakfast so we headed off to the Marina which is in the process of having this twisted building completed to complement the existing skyscrapers that surround the waterfront. 

 

 

The famous 7 star hotel in Dubai.  The cheapest room here will cost you $1500 a night.  It’s worth googleing this place to see the photos of the inside.  The outside isn’t bad either.

 

Glenda was not feeling too well so it was a boys day out.  We managed to miss most of the shops but, we did stumble into the old souk by the river.  We got there just as they were all closing as it was time to visit the Mosque, so it wasn’t all back. 

 

The river taxi’s looked interesting so we took one across the river just for the experiance.  When they docked there seemed to be no co-ordination between boats so it was a first come first servered basis.  This resulted in a type of dodgem fight to see who got into the quay first.

 

The afternoon saw me heading for the ski slopes.  Dubai boasts the largest indoor ski slope in the world.  It has toboggan runs, chair lifts and a blue and red run from the top.   

 

 

I spent two hours here.  GREAT although I did get a little bit cold.  All the kit including clothes was provided as part of the package.  It was 30 degrees outside and -5 inside.  I hope they have good insulation??

 

 

It was time for the road trip to head back to Salalah via Muscat, so we had a nice breakfast at the Marina and then headed back across the Deserts of the UAE and Oman. 

We all thoroughly enjoyed the Road Trip and we even got our visa’s extended for another 30 days.  Only 2 weeks now before the ship comes to pick up the boat and take it to Turkey.