In the desert, the mighty desert…

For all the toll the desert takes of a man it gives compensations, deep breaths, deep sleep, and the communion of the stars.
-Mary Austin

Since you have last seen me I have become a desert expert… or least I should be. In December, I finally got to run up and down and roll around giant sand dunes when we traveled to Wadi Rum, Jordan. This is something I had wanted to do since I can remember, maybe not advisable with the hard contact lens I wear but I nonetheless loved it! Now under my belt are several other journeys to the dunes in Oman known as the Wahiba Sands or Sharquia Desert including both Joel and my parent’s visits.

My true desert experience though came along due to the fact that the High School was short on female chaperones for its annual ‘Discover Oman’ four day field trip week. I, temporarily forgetting my ‘immense’ fear of teenagers, eagerly agreed! The trip I agreed to chaperone along with one other male teacher was known in the High School as the ‘camel trek’ and was the most popular trip to go on!


We set out the morning after Joel’s parents left. We drove about 45 minutes by 4X4 into the sands (about 2.5 hours from Muscat) when we came upon our ten camels and 3 guides awaiting us and there we were quite literally dropped off the middle of the desert. (The 4X4’s were gone before we could say … ’I change my mind…’).



The first part of the trek (where ½ the kids rode camels and then they alternated mid-way) was 6 km to our night’s first camp. To say I think camels are one of the most interesting animals to photograph and watch is an understatement (ask Joel – we still stop on the highway every time we see one); traveling with us was also two young camels (~1 yo) that walked along beside their moms. Camels make the most unreplicatable noises and their lower lips bounce up and down as they walk.



I learned how to read the dunes to tell where the sand was a bit crustier so I wouldn’t sink too far in. It really is an art to walking in the desert; I wore my running shoes the whole time and am still removing sand from them! However others preferred to walk in their socks or bare feet.




Our first night we set up Bedouin tents to protect us from the chilly desert air (~ 3 degrees Celsius at night) on the top of one of the 32 major dunes that travel north/south and span what is the Wahiba Sands. (Check it out on Google Earth – it’s amazing to see from above!) Our food and tents were brought to our camps by trucks and the camels slept several meters away on the other side of the dunes from us, their Bedouin caretakers by the fire.


The next three days we trekked up and down three of the major dunes (~ 25 km) and stayed the second night in one of our Bedouin guides camps (he and his extended family live in ~ 3 huts year round). The treks up the dunes were tiresome and you feel the sun beating on you, but the excitement of reaching the top of a dune to see what awaited you on the other side kept you going. Once on the top of a dune, you could cool yourself by running down the other side and letting the wind air you out!






At nights, we listened to Bedouin music by the guides, made Arabic bread in the fire (similar to making Bannock) and of course told ghost stories. The good thing about doing so much walking in the sun was that the kids were usually so tired that this shy, soft spoken chaperone didn’t have to tell anyone to be quiet or worse ‘Get out of the Boys Tent! They were great; everyone was super at drinking plenty of water and applying lots of sunscreen!




Every evening from ~ 5- 6 PM just before the sunset the students wrote in their journals and I had some time to sit on my own dune and reflect on how enjoyable Joel’s and my life here in Oman is and imagine how we made it here and how far away it seemed from where we were last year! It was also a great time to take photos. One truly can never have enough dune and camel shots and these moments are my favorite from the trip.





About a week after Joel and I returned from our respective Discover Oman trips, my parents came over from Kelowna. It was fun to show my parents around a lot of the places we love here in Oman. Unfortunately, their visit coincided with Joel having to be away in Cairo, Egypt for a sports event and so my parents only had me as their guide! But thanks to their visit, I am now finally confident enough to brave the Omani highways and roads, something I had only done a handful of times since arriving here (usually to get myself to the mall to shop!).














We had a few days in Muscat with Joel and then we took off down the coastal road where we stopped for a picnic lunch (after unsuccessfully trying to find the “sinkhole”). We saw some of the devastation along this road caused by last June’s cyclone, ‘Gonu’ and how they are slowly repairing things.

Our destination was the 1000 Night’s Desert Camp where we had gone with Joel’s parents which is about 30 minutes into the Wahiba sands. My dad took the reins as I was too chicken to drive in the sand and let’s just say we only had to get the KIA ‘unstuck’ once with the help of a Bedouin man driving by who got the car out by deflating the tires to increase traction. We all had to sigh and say ‘this is fun!’

The next day we drove from the desert to the town of Nizwa where we went to the 7:00 AM Friday morning Goat market which was bustling with even more activity than when we had been there before. My dad estimated about 300 people milling around and about an equal number of goats, cows and bulls.

My parents and I traveled to a few forts before embarking on what Joel and I have dubbed the ‘up and over’ which is a 4X4 trip that literally take you up and over the Western Hajar mountain range (2500 M high). The south side is steep but paved and the north side is not paved and contains many switchbacks. My dad once again drove and navigated us down the road through several mountain villages with date palms and canyons ending in a dry river bed known as Wadi Bani Auf. The trip was reminiscent of the drive we had to take to get to Tembagapura (where my parents lived in Indonesia).

It was wonderful to have my parents here if even it was for a short time! It was hard to see them off! My parents were off to Portugal next for some golfing! Sorry for the length, I have trouble sitting down to write these and it was definitely my turn!

Familiar faces

"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves."

-Gail Lumet Buckley


Shortly after returning from Syria my parents came for a 10 day visit. It’s been 6 months since we were last in Canada and it was fantastic to see them again.



The first few days were spent getting over their jet lag and re-enacting Christmas dinner here. Under the fine leadership of Tina and help from my mom “Christmas” was fantastic. After that it was time to take off to various areas of the country.



We first ventured into the interior to Nizwa, the former capital of Oman. Very early on Friday morning, after a night’s stay complete with ants, we met Bedouin from the region who were converging on a small goat market. Here they swap livestock in an extremely lively bartering session – goats, camels, cattle, etc are all paraded around and auctioned off. It’s a truly unique atmosphere. In fact, I got so caught up in it I traded Tina for 17 goats. Afterwards we headed to some of the Gulfs finest forts and castles, and wandered through a walled village known to be the home of “spirits”.









































Following a few days on the beaches surrounding Muscat we headed off to camp in the Wahiba Sands desert. Driving through the red sand dunes for 40 km we hit our camp for the weekend. A few hikes up the dunes and some failed “crazy carpet” attempts later we shook the sand from our nether regions and departed. On our way back we drove beside a young Bedouin boy running his camel. He was equally as interested in us and for a brief moment I considered his offer to trade camel for car. Having doubts about my earlier trade of Tina for goats I passed.





After a short 10 days my parents were off for Jordan and Egypt. It was great having them here and we only wished they could have been here longer.


In a few days Tina's parents will be making their Middle Eastern debut. We are really looking forward to their stay.



On our next blog we will detail Tina’s 4 day trek through the desert with camels.

Yalla Syria!

"We, in Syria, our point of view stems from our experience".

-Bashar al-Assad (President of Syria)

As we prepared for this trip and told people we’d be traveling to Syria we got two very different responses. Those that have been there told us how much they wish they could return. Those that hadn’t asked, “Why”?!? If, for nothing else our anticipation was peaked by the unknown. Leaving Jordan we wondered what the next few weeks would have for us. (Tina for the most part was wondering if there would be heat in the rooms or hot water?

Crossing the border from Jordan by bus immediately brought us back to the time we spent in Russia. At the border the toilets were filled with large women washing their stockings in the sinks, the men smoking like chimneys and the border guards sorting through stack and stacks of old passports. We crossed the border behind a truck that the guards revealed to be carrying loads of people under canvass sheets. As they got waved through we were fairly sure that we too could enter.

On New Years Eve we arrived in the Old city in Damascus. The city lays claim to being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It is a center of Islamic culture and a wonderfully charming location. We spent the next few days wandering through the walled town and soaking in the thick atmosphere of the old souk. It had been a very long time since I felt that a city had such an incredible air about it. But Damascus truly is special. After a relatively sober New Years we pushed on to the interior and the desert ruins of Palmyra.

Palmyra is an ancient ruined city that was the major site of Roman influence in the region. At one point the female leader turned on Rome and defeated the empire’s armies several times before the Emperor himself was forced to drive her from the city. There are very few tourists and you walk onto the site for free and can wander around as you like. The atmosphere is remarkable as you stand in the desert at the edge of the palm fringed oasis (hence the name “Palmyra”). It really had the feel of a far flung Roman outpost. We were tempted to head north east to the sparsely populated region dominated by the Kurds but as time was an issue we turned instead to the interior city of Hama.

Hama is well known through the Middle East as many claim that the moaning sounds of the wooden wheels echo through the region. The wheels are used to help scoop water from a painfully low river to the irrigation system above. The city is also well known for being destroyed in the 80’s by the government troops for sympathizing with rebel groups. We trudged into town in the pouring rain, slightly lost and getting cold. Thankfully we found our way and in the next few days enjoyed the town and a trip through the rolling country side that included an Ismaili castle and a giant castle the Crusaders left behind. Having played “hide and seek” for hours we carried on to our final stop, Aleppo.

Aleppo remains a more traditional city and the souk (market) is still alive with day to day shoppers. The atmosphere of the covered souk is unreal. We strolled by stores selling meat from a camel carcass, intricate rugs, thick incense, gold, silver, and all items of daily use. Brilliant.

Leaving Syria we felt that the sites of Jordan were very impressive but that the atmosphere of Syria and the kindness of the Syrian people was truly special. It was not uncommon for one of to hear a passerby murmur a ‘Welcome’ that only could have been directed to us. Our journey to another section of the Middle East has increased our knowledge and understanding of many of the people of the area. No longer I feel, will we solely associate these wonderful areas and peoples with the newspaper headlines they have come to be ‘known’ by. We were tired and cold but immensely impressed with both counties as we headed back to Oman and life in Muscat.

As we missed a New Years edition blog entry, we’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

The Hashemite Kingdom

" Jordan has a strange, haunting beauty and a sense of timelessness. Dotted with the ruins of empires once great, it is the last resort of yesterday in the world of tomorrow. I love every inch of it. "

-King Hussein I

Smack in between Iraq and the Palestinian Territories, Jordan offers some of the most intriguing sights, hospitable people and fascinating landscape we’ve seen. Two massive surges of Palestinian refugees and a recent surge of over 100,000 Iraqis, brings a very diverse population that has somehow remained the most stable in the region. Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, etc all in the midst of the Israeli/Palestinian situation…we were excited to see what it was all about.

After landing in Amman we headed to the southern point of the nation renowned for its diving – Aqaba. Sitting on our balcony staring across the gulf at Israel’s cities, and Egypt’s desolate Sinai it was a bizarre crossroads to be in. To add to the mystique thousands of people from all over the Middle East were returning from the Hajj pilgrimage through this bustling port town. People watching aside, since we both forgot our water wings we didn’t get in the water but instead turned to the land of Lawrence of Arabia….Wadi Rum.

Wadi Rum is a landscape filled with red sand poured between massive red monoliths resembling blobs of melted candle wax. Christmas Eve was spent rocking to the lumbering beat of the camels we rode and attempting to make sense of the views in front of us. We continued on with the help of our one-humped friends and stayed the night in a Bedouin camp with two young guys from the desert. A full moon was out that night and we walked through the moonlit desert while one of the boys sang from his tent. A different, but brilliant, way to spend Christmas Eve. Rest assured Santa did drop off a few gifts in the desert that night and we spent the next day hiking around the area and sliding down rock faces on ill advised decisions. Getting older, but not smarter.

As the sun went down Christmas night we made our way to Petra. As a solid member of the 7 wonders of the world (as well as highly recommended by Tina's grandmother), Petra had a big billing to live up to. With no one else there we went through the gates around 6am and started up the Siq. The Siq is a natural, thinly sliced path through the rocks that winds for 1.2 km and adds so much tension to your anticipation. Finally seeing the Treasury (as seen in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) emerge as you round the final curve couldn’t have been done any better if they tried to create a “tourist entrance” today. Truly jaw dropping. We spent two full days hiking as much of the area as we could in this ancient Nabataen site. As a people that gained their wealth charging taxes on the traders that past through their area, they might very well be some of the worlds most famous “middle men”. After two long days we entered the gates on our final evening to walk the Siq and see the buildings illuminated with 1,500 candles and the stars above. Tons of tourists, very cold, lots of walking but man was it incredible.

From Petra we pushed on to some of the political and historically intriguing aspects of the country. We based ourselves in the small town of Madaba, filled with ancient mosaics and holy relics near the River Jordan. From here we went to Mount Nebo, where Moses finally saw the Promised Land (coincidently so did Tina) and looked onto Jeruselem, Bethleham, the West Bank and all that it encompasses. Winding down through the hills on the King's Highway and into the East Bank we drove past donkeys, camels and Palestinian camps as we headed for the Jordan River. Washing our faces in the river at the exact site of Jesus’ baptism was a moving, memorable experience.

Our final stop was the lowest point in the world – the Dead Sea. The sea is 30% salt (ocean water is normally about 4%) and got its name due to the inability of anything to live in its waters. A misty thick cloud of evaporating salt water hovers over the site and adds to the unease as you first enter. Admitedly we spent way too much time laughing and floating around in the water to be taken seriously. It was ridiculous but was unlike anything we’ve done before. As I side note I now know the exact location of every cut on my body. A few tears were shed.

The incredibly varied sites that Jordan packs into such a small country are staggering. Hopping around the country you can really appreciate the difficult position of the nation and be impressed at the stability amidst all the tensions of the populace. We stayed the night in Amman as we prepared for Syria.

From here we set out on the road for Damascus…..

Masirah Island and Merry Christmas

" I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end".

- Margaret Thatcher (1925 -)


Our last blog entry was all about our friend Tish and his visit to Oman. Unfortunately, Tish left at the beginning of a long holiday weekend. His flight departed at the pleasant hour of 4am and sleep deprived and weary we left at 7:30am for a camping trip. Wise planning.

We headed, with our good friends Lucas and Tennielle, for Oman’s largest island – Masirah. We had heard that getting to the ferry crossing at the earliest possible time was vital. We did not heed that advice and decided we were waaayyy to wise for these words. Five hours of driving later and we arrived at the “ferry crossing”. The scene was filled with piles of cars all vying for the opening that allegedly lead to a future boat. Having just missed a boat we began asking around about the ferry, etc. The predictable flurry of contradicting answers ensued with all having one thing in common – “tide going out, no good. Next ferry, than 7pm (dark).” Uh oh. So as the next floating collection of metal parts chugged into the “terminal” we got into our cars and joined the massive game of chicken. Forcing our way towards our rightful place in line we arrived at the loading point only to see all the cars had filled the deck. The deckhands all waved us on, and with swirling hands and wobbling heads convinced us to contort our car onto the rear loading flap. We grabbed anything we valued out of the car as they placed wood boards around
our wheels and raised the flap, lifting our car to a 45 degree angle. One wise gentleman kindly leaned his head into my window and said, “handbrake”. Yeah buddy, I got that.

Arriving on the other side we drove around the sparsely populated island and found a place to camp on the southern end. The scene is other-worldy. The middle of the island is piled with Hershey Kiss shaped hills, followed by gravel desert leading to the white sand beaches that ring the island. Vegetation was extremely limited and there was very little protection from the elements. The days were spent swimming in the crystal clear waters searching for the turtles that had dug holes on the beach the night before and watching herds camels feeding together. The nights were not as relaxing as they were spent holding our tents down from the winds that were tearing them from their supports.

We departed to a similar ferry scene taking the expected one hour and forty-five minutes to cross the 9km straight. Next time we’ll bring our own oars.


Christmas:

As you might imagine for a pair of Canadians celebrating Christmas in 30 degree heat is not the norm. For whatever Oman lacks in “festive spirit” we’ve been attempting to add our own as we decorate our 3 foot tree, download Christmas movies and I moonlight as Santa (I can’t lie about that one, Tina has pictures). We will be away for Christmas and are very excited for our trip.

We will be in Jordan and Syria for three weeks. We will be spending Dec 24th travelling on camels through Wadi Rum (Lawrence of Arabia) and staying in a Bedouin camp that night. Christmas morning we will ride the camels back and then head to Petra that evening. We are hoping to have Christmas dinner at the foot of the Petra site. We will fill you in on the rest when we return.

As excited as we are for our Christmas, we will greatly miss our family and friends this season. We wish you all the very best over the holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Tish's visit

"Only your real friends tell you when your face is dirty."
- Sicilian Proverb

We chose the quote above since that’s the kinda thing Tish revels in telling you about. Then, he brings it up in awkward moments for years to come. Classy man.

For those that don’t know Tish, he is a good friend of Tina and mine from back home in Canada. He came all the way out here to visit us, consume our limited alcohol supply, and see a piece of the Arab world. We gladly agreed to all three.

Tish arriving on a plane from Dubai seemed no problem, except for the fact that his flight was sandwiched between planes from India and Pakistan. Both of which were filled to the brim with labour workers that are hassled through customs and then herded onto a waiting bus to go to work centers. If it wasn’t for a few quick waves, our Canadian friend of Indian/Fijian heritage might well be still somewhere in Oman, wearing a blue one piece suit working way too hard. Heavily moustached faces wobbled in agreement as Tish and I exited the airport averting a near misunderstanding that would have lead to years of good banter.

In the first week in Oman we took Tish around our city and into the surrounding hills. We headed to the mountains as soon as he dropped the bags at the house and weaved through villages, past camels and palm oasis’ on the way to Oman’s highest peak. The rest of the week was spent in Souks (markets), beaches and around the city sites. After a few days we headed Dubai.

Shy of social commentary I will merely suggest that for all the economic brilliance of the Emirate it is an environmental catastrophe. But it sure is crazy. We drove in late at night and had no idea where our place was. We ended up in the old area of town and it was great. It was seedy, extremely fluid and very multiethnic. Our place catered to East African traders that were in town on passes as their boats lay in the creek. They could only enter town to go to the grocery store or trade goods. If they abided by the rules they could leave tax free (all this info comes second hand) Made for a lively lobby as the men piled their goods in the entrance and stayed up all night watching it.

The newer parts of the sprawling city are all the modern shopping malls, luxury hotels and audacious development that make Dubai the world’s largest water consumer and an architect’s dreamland. Indoor ski hills, island communities shaped like palm trees and the world, underwater hotels and 7 star resorts on the water left you shocked by the disregard for the environment, impressed by the architectural brilliance and humbled by your inability to afford any of it. We couldn’t even afford the entrance fee to walk into the lobby of the Burj Al Arab.

Apparently all of this development has helped Dubai to lower oil to only 2-3% of its GDP and will enable it to be prosperous beyond the drying up of its oil reserves estimated to be in the next 10 years.

After completing our weekend in Dubai we headed back to the border stopping briefly to rip around the red sand dunes wearing goofy helmets and giggling like little kids. We capped off the trip back in Muscat with some relaxing evenings outside and some days at the beach before we had to send Tish back to the cold realities of an upcoming Canadian winter.

It was great having him here and look forward to our next set of visitors soon. We would love to show as many of you as possible this wonderful part of the world.

Enjoy your holiday seasons. You are in our thoughts.

Lesson Learned

After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value.

-George Macauley Trevelyan


Many apologies for the delay in writing. As always excuses will fill the first paragraph and then we will get onto our stories.

We helped host the school volleyball finals for the region - hosting schools from Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Syria and Oman. Report cards were due and Tina was helping with our school's musical production. All took time and energy away from sitting here and typing away. Excuses over.

For some time now a few guys at school and myself had been wanting to do this trek we had heard about. Rumour had it that it was a 24 km, old donkey trail, 2100m rise and fall, 2 day, hike through barren, empty hills from the coast to the interior. We would split into 2 groups of 4 starting from either end, pass each other in the middle and drive the other groups truck back home on the final night. Our group had tons of experience with guys that have done the Pacific coast trail, written books about trekking through Egypt, etc. No problem we thought. So on we went.

Our group of 4 started at the ocean and after a 400m climb on the wrong trail, came back down to have the boys of the village lead us to the start of the proper trail. This "trail" was nothing more than sporadic paint markings on stones made for travellers coming from the opposite direction. With no landmarks we relied mainly on GPS and old notes about the trek. The heat rose sharply and we started going through our water much faster than we had anticipated. For many km's we followed the bells of a couple of donkeys we saw earlier on the path. Passing only a cave village, the odd goat and two young herders the entire first day we "had the place to ourselves". We realized quickly that we would not make our agreed upon meeting point to camp with the group coming the other direction so we trudged on past an old cemetery until night fell and laid down as the sun sank.

At dawn we rose to cover as much ground before the sun became too strong. We finally passed our friends we were to have met the night before. Neither group looked good and neither group passed on good news to the other. We left knowing we all needed to hurry to beat nightfall and ration our water as we were all down to our final 2 litres (started with 6.5L). At one point our group of 4 was lost, with precious little water, and completely exposed in scorching heat. We were greatly helped by finding an abandoned donkey trough and drinking from it, along with finding the occasional cave to huddle in for shade.

After 10 hours of hiking on the final day we trudged into our destination and savoured the water in the nearby village. The other group arrived at our starting point (their end point) hours later. They were in tough shape and the boys in the village below carried water up to them and helped them make it down the steep decline in darkness.

We collected our stories today and have been totally humbled by the desolate elements. Lesson learned. That mistake won't be lost on any of us.

Meanwhile, Tina had a "girls weekend" with one of the other halves of the treking guys. Her weekend was a world away; filled with lounging by the Grand Hyatt pool, sipping cocktails, watching 'Biographies of Supermodels' and relaxing. Sadly, where she had hoped to get a manicure and pedicure had no available appointments - should teach her to pre-plan. No debate here on the smartest gender.

We are very excited to be getting our first visitor from home. Tish arrives next week and we are going to take him to Dubai and out to camp in the sand dunes near our place. Should be great and for those of your that know Tish, it will be full of ridiculousness.

Thanks again for the many notes that you have passed on and the mail we've received.