Ever since I was a small kid I was fascinated with Japan. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, Japan’s influence — especially its pop culture — was quite strong on me. Be it Macross/Robotech being the very first anime/cartoon I remember watching, to the ‘Made in Japan’ products we so revered in those days. Heck, even a pencil box I had with the bullet trains on the cover is still etched in my memory to this very day. And to think, nearly three decades later, I would actually ride the shinkansen this time!
I planned my journey around the sakura season, which in itself was a challenge. It’s hard to predict when the cherry blossoms would fully bloom. I went by this sakura calendar, and decided to travel late March. At the same time, I couldn’t afford to stay in Japan for too long. For the simple reason being… Japan is expensive! Yes, because of the value of yen right now, it’s cheaper, but it’s still a pretty damn expensive country compared to its neighbours.
None the less, this being my first time in Japan, I obviously wanted to spend more time in Tokyo. Outside of Japan’s capital, my initial plan was to go to Hiroshima, but everyone recommended Kyoto over it. So it was going to be Tokyo -> Kyoto -> Himeji -> Tokyo. I just hoped the sakura would bloom in full by the time I got back to Tokyo.
But I had to get to Tokyo first!
Date: March 21, 2015
My flight to Haneda airport was via Bangkok, which meant I was going to be flying Thai Airways.
I have taken enough photos of flights from Bangalore to Bangkok and at Suvarnabhumi Airport so don’t expect anymore photos from this route. But here’s what I ate on my flight to Bangkok.And on the flight from Bangkok to Haneda
I was okay with flying to Haneda because my return journey was going to be from Narita. This way, I would get to see both airports that service Tokyo. In a way I was happy I got Haneda for this flight due to the late arrival at Tokyo. Haneda Airport is located in Tokyo itself, unlike Narita which is quite far out.
I landed in Tokyo past 9PM
I didn’t spend too much time taking photos from inside Haneda airport as all I saw was halls and halls of travelators. Being the second largest airport serving Tokyo, Haneda is still pretty huge! Immigration had a queue but it moved fairly quickly, and they had English-speaking staff on hand to assist visitors. Continue reading “Japan: Landing in Tokyo… and using a communal bath for the first time” »
After having lunch from Sur, we were now driving back to Muscat.
The skies were still greyThe earlier rains had flooded the roadsPassed through a few local neighbourhoods before hitting the highwayWe 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.
We stopped on the side for a bit, just to take in the sea breezeSome seaside town along the wayIt rained a bit along the wayWe got off the main highway to get to Fins beachBut we didn’t have any time to visit the actual beachErm… so here are photos of waves crashing into rocksDon’t know how far these rocks wentBut it seemed like this for milesSadly, there was a lot of trash out hereWe left Fins beach and drove through a few smaller roads to get to our next — and final — destinationWe had a 30-minute stop at Hawiyat Najm park. What’s the big attraction here?This!Hawiyat Najm is a natural sinkhole, now turned into a tourist attractionIt’s pretty bigWe walked over and decided to go downThe water looked so tempting but alas…no time
They were having a ballI wanted to see if the water was flowing out anywhere or into a caveBut it doesn’t
Here’s a brief video I took on my phone:
We went back up as it was time to leave.
One final shotAnd that was it, the official end of our Oman tour!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.
We took one final group selfie before bidding Majjid goodbyeIt was disappointing I couldn’t spend the night in this bed… because it was really comfortable!This is Haffa House hotelMyself, Aseem and Manjulika stepped out to do some last minute shoppingAlthough 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.
I made the most of my last meal in Oman and took in as much of the local flavours as I couldFinished off with some not-so-local desserts 🙂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.
Even the duty free shops seemed limited compared to other airports. But I’m sure the new airport will solve all that.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!
Today was our last day in beautiful Oman. And we still had lot’s to see before our flight at night! So after an early wake-up call, we had a quick breakfast.
On offer was a ‘dosa’ made of maida (unrefined flour) and yellow daal (lentil curry) among other dishesDidn’t eat “much” because we really had to leave the desert camp soon
When we all collected our bags, checked out and made our way to the jeep, our driver Majjid was in a sleepless state. He was out all night with a group of drivers in search of an SUV that had gotten lost in the desert! 🙁 It was one of their friends along with a group of elderly tourists, and they lost communication with them after a few hours (phone batteries must have died).
Fortunately they found the group… but only today morning. They found them after the driver burned one of the tires and used the smoke to pinpoint their location. It was tragic to hear considering the elderly tourists were weak and had to be taken to the hospital.
But despite the lack of sleep, Majjid had to stick to his job and take us around.
When we left Oryx desert camp, I mounted the GoPro on the hood of the Prado once again
