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Sink hole park stairs Oman

Oman: Day 5 (Part 2) – Fins beach, Sinkhole Park — and saying goodbye

Date: 29th October, 2014

After having lunch from Sur, we were now driving back to Muscat.

Beach road Sur
The skies were still grey
Flooded road traffic Oman
The earlier rains had flooded the roads
Omani house
Passed through a few local neighbourhoods before hitting the highway
Quriyat-Sur highway Oman
We were now on the Muscat–Sur coastal road, also known as the Quriyat-Sur highway

It was awesome cruising along the coast line, but it was hard to capture the feeling when you are travelling at 100+ kms/hr.

Oman Arabian sea highway
We stopped on the side for a bit, just to take in the sea breeze
Quriyat highway town Oman
Some seaside town along the way
Quriyat Sur highway drive Oman
It rained a bit along the way
Muscat Sur coastal highway Oman
We got off the main highway to get to Fins beach
Fins beach tourists Oman
But we didn’t have any time to visit the actual beach
Fins beach rock Oman
Erm… so here are photos of waves crashing into rocks
Fins beach rock waves panorama
Don’t know how far these rocks went
Fins beach rocks Oman sea
But it seemed like this for miles
Plastic garbage Fins beach Oman
Sadly, there was a lot of trash out here
Flooded village Oman
We left Fins beach and drove through a few smaller roads to get to our next — and final — destination
Hawiyat Najm park Oman
We had a 30-minute stop at Hawiyat Najm park. What’s the big attraction here?
Sink hole park stairs Oman
This!
Hawiyat Najm crater park information Oman
Hawiyat Najm is a natural sinkhole, now turned into a tourist attraction
Hawiyat Najm crater panorama Oman
It’s pretty big
Sinkhole lagoon panorama Oman
We walked over and decided to go down
Hawiyat Najm sink hole Oman
The water looked so tempting but alas…no time

Hawiyat Najm crater height Oman

Tourists jumping sinkhole lagoon Oman
They were having a ball
Hawiyat Najm down lagoon Oman
I wanted to see if the water was flowing out anywhere or into a cave
Hawiyat Najm edge panorama Oman
But it doesn’t

Here’s a brief video I took on my phone:

We went back up as it was time to leave.

Sinkhole park crater lagoon Oman
One final shot
Muscat highway Oman
And that was it, the official end of our Oman tour!
Muscat highway mountains Oman
Goodbye mountains!

It’s funny, on the day we arrived, I wasn’t very excited seeing Muscat city. It all felt similar, but compared to Manama and Dubai, Muscat felt a bit dull in comparison. It got better on the second day, when we went dolphin watching, and a visit to Sultan Qaboos mosque just before leaving Muscat. But where Oman’s beauty really shines is once you get out of Muscat. The wadis, the desert sands, the remote villages, Jebel Shams — they really do make you go “Wow!”. Oman is far from boring, but you need to get out of Muscat to realize that.

What really stood out for me from this tour was realizing just how nice and laid back Omanis were. Growing up in Bahrain, I’ve seen my share of Arabs who will do their best to leave a poor impression about them (especially the Saudis that frequented Bahrain). But Omanis are not like the rest. Much calmer, less shout-y, they seem to smile a lot more and far less materialistic compared to their Emirati and Saudi neighbours. Omanis are probably the friendliest Arabs I have ever encountered!

I guess some appreciation must be given to the rulers too. After all, they decided against turning Muscat into Dubai or Doha of the past decade. The rat race is far less visible here. No skyscrapers allowed in Muscat apparently, because the sultan didn’t want to cover the mountains, which he felt was Oman’s true beauty. And he is right! Unlike the other Gulf states, Oman’s natural beauty is what makes it so special!

Anyway, once back in Muscat, we still had a few hours left until we had to all leave for the airport. Majjid dropped us off at the Haffa House Hotel before ending his day. Poor guy hadn’t slept the previous night.

Mithun Aseem Manjulika with Majjid in Muscat
We took one final group selfie before bidding Majjid goodbye
Haffa hotel bed room Muscat Oman
It was disappointing I couldn’t spend the night in this bed… because it was really comfortable!
Haffa house hotel Muscat Oman
This is Haffa House hotel
Muscat at night Oman
Myself, Aseem and Manjulika stepped out to do some last minute shopping
Muscat City streets at night
Although I did manage to pick some sweets and nuts from the small shops we went to, I wanted to go to Lulu mall to buy many other items I had in my list. So I took a taxi and to the nearby Lulu supermarket.

With a carton fulls of Chips Oman and other stuff, I returned to the hotel and re-packed my bags. After bath, I went downstairs to have dinner.

Omani food Haffa hotel Muscat
I made the most of my last meal in Oman and took in as much of the local flavours as I could
Desserts Haffa hotel restaurant Muscat
Finished off with some not-so-local desserts 🙂
Muscat airport at night
Once we were all ready to check out, we headed for Muscat airport

The present airport is nothing fancy. It’s quite old actually, but they are building a newer and much bigger one.

Amouage Muscat duty free shops
Even the duty free shops seemed limited compared to other airports. But I’m sure the new airport will solve all that.
Mercedes SL350 Muscat Duty Free
What’s a Gulf airport duty free without a luxury car raffle, right? 🙂

I’d love to return to Oman when the new airport opens. Aside from that, there was much more I didn’t get to see. Salalah was on my wish-list but given how far it is, there was no way we were driving there. The waters of Musandam still remain untouched for me. Then there’s turtle watching, but that’s a seasonal event. I’m sure there’s much more to see and do in Oman. You can find all the details on the Oman Tourism website.

For now, I was just happy that I got to be one of the lucky few to be selected for this tour. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as always, I hope my readers enjoyed it too!

Previous posts in this series:

Oman 2014: Day 5 (Part 1) – Wadi bin Khalid; Dhow factory in Sur

Oman 2014: Day 4 – Jebel al Akhdar; dune bashing and overnight camp in Wahiba Sands

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 3) – Misfah and Jebel Shams

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 2) – Nizwa Fort and Jabreen Castle

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 1) – Sultan Qaboos mosque (Muscat’s Grand Mosque)

Oman 2014: Day 2 (Part 2) – Muscat bay viewpoints, Qurum beach, The Cave restaurant

Oman 2014: Day 2 (Part 1) – Dolphin watching tour in Muscat

Oman 2014: Day 1 – Landing in Muscat; Al Alam Palace, Mutrah souq and more

Nizwa fort main tower Oman

Oman: Day 3 (Part 2) – Nizwa Fort and Jabreen Castle

Date: 27th October, 2014

We began our tour for today by first visiting the Sultan Qaboos mosque before leaving Muscat.

Oman highway to Nizwa
Now we were cruising along the highway to our next destination: the town of Nizwa
Majjid driver Oman
This was our driver-slash-guide, Majid, who was pretty laid back and fun 🙂
Nizwa mountain highway Oman
Oman’s mountainous landscape is quite a sight
Highway to Nizwa Oman
In fact, by evening we would be even higher up the mountains
Nizwa fort road Oman
An hour later, we had reached Nizwa souq
Entrance to Nizwa souq Oman
I believe there is an fee of 500 baisa (₹82/$2.6/€1) to enter Nizwa Fort but Majid took care of that for us
Nizwa souq clay pots Oman
There is the souq part (souq = ‘market’ in Arabic)
Nizwa souq shops Oman
We headed straight towards the fort

Continue reading “Oman: Day 3 (Part 2) – Nizwa Fort and Jabreen Castle” »

Grand Mosque interiors Muscat Oman

Oman: Day 3 (Part 1) – Sultan Qaboos mosque (Muscat’s Grand Mosque)

Date: 27th October, 2014

Today we were going to drive out of Muscat and head off into the desert mountains. But before leaving Muscat, our guide (a new one) took us to see the Sultan Qaboos mosque, a.k.a the Grand Mosque.

Driving to Grand Mosque Muscat
The Grand Mosque was a short drive from the Radisson Blu
Gardens Grand Mosque Muscat
There is no entry fee, but the mosque is only open to public from Saturday to Thursday
Ladies robes Grand Mosque Muscat
If you are a lady, you can only enter if you are covered from head to toe
Visitor guidelines Grand Mosque Muscat
The rules
Lawn Sultan Qaboos mosque Muscat
The lawn was really nice

Open area Grand Mosque Oman

Inside Sultan Qaboos mosque Muscat
We walked around a bit before going inside the main prayer hall

Continue reading “Oman: Day 3 (Part 1) – Sultan Qaboos mosque (Muscat’s Grand Mosque)” »

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