Author archive
20 January 2011
Ammi and Salome offered to collect me from Sur today, saving me an early morning bus ride to Nizwa via Muscat. It would be about a 3 hour detour for them to get to Nizwa through Sur. It was very kind of them … and Salome had the back seat in the Jeep which was […]
19 January 2011
Around Sur Today our driver took us around for a brief tour around Sur before leaving for sights further afield. Sur is famous for handmade dhows so it seemed appropriate we started at a dhow-building yard. Text continues after this gallery. Heavenly Wadi Shab The highlights were meant to be Wadi Tiwi and […]
18 January 2011
Above: Token photo from our accommodation in Sur, since photos weren’t allowed with the turtles. Teaming up Ammi kindly dropped me off to the bus station this morning for my 7:30 am bus to Sur. Sur is a seaside town that’s often used for excursions to watch the leatherback turtles nesting. Unfortunately Sur is still a […]
17 January 2011
I had originally planned to Muscat today for the Wahiba Sands … large expanses of dunes. It’s stuff I had done before in Dubai and Morocco, so I opted to stay in Muscat today. These things have a certain romantic novelty value and are expensive … twice is enough. The day quickly disappeared … researching and […]
16 January 2011
The layout of Muscat is a little unusual. It’s like several towns that are not quite joined. I took the baisa-bus (shared minivan) to Mutrah this morning. This is the port-side part of the city. It’s quite pretty walking along the Corniche which links it to old Muscat or Muscat proper. While there wasn’t many […]
15 January 2011
Following my long but rewarding transit in Doha, I then continued my journey to Muscat where I was picked up by Ammi. He and his wife Salome (and their super intelligent cat Jackson Pollock) are hosting me in Muscat. We met in Syria last year. I was super-tired when I arrived.
15 January 2011
Long Day I woke at 0430 in Penang to begin a long day: 0h55 flight on Malaysia Airlines to KL at 0640 arriving at 0735 2h35 of self-connect transit time in KL 7h45 flight from KL to Doha at 1010 with Qatar Airways, scheduled to arrive at 1255 but delayed slightly due to headwind 7h15 […]
14 January 2011
Today I went to the Butterfly Farm near Teluk Bahang. The bus ride took me through Batu Ferringhi which is the beach-hotel district. There were some nice resorts and the sea looked quite blue further out but brownish in many parts closer to land … I’ve been told by many that they don’t bother swimming […]
13 January 2011
Above: From the AirAsia inflight magazine on my flight from Medan to Penang. Begs the question … is there a minimum age for carrying a kavadi? He hasn’t got any body piercings … no skewers through the cheeks, no limes attached to his back with fish hooks (I think, since we don’t have a photo […]
13 January 2011
I fly back to Penang from Medan this evening, so there’s enough time to do the sights around Medan. I’ve done the Chinese/Nyonya attraction (Tjong A Fie mansion), so it’s time to do those related to the Malay royalty and the Muslim population. Firstly to Masjid Raya which is kinda next door from the hotel […]