18 September 2016

Salalalalalalalalah, Eid al Adha 2016

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With a full week off for Eid Al-Adha this September, we flew from Lahore through Muscat to Salalah in southern Oman, known for its green mountains and valleys thanks to Khareef (monsoon) season that lasts throughout the summer and ends in September.  While much of the Arabian peninsula is desert, and indeed parts of Salalah too, the Dhofar region in southern Oman is much greener than the rest of the country.

On our first full day in Oman, a Sunday, we let the girls play at our resort hotel’s playground after breakfast, thus starting a regular routine for the rest of the trip.  Then we drove out to Al-Mughsayl Beach, thirty kilometers west of Salalah.  We visited Marnif Cave (definitely a misnomer since it’s really just an eroded rocky outcropping that you walk under) and some blowholes nearby.  The girls had a blast gettings soaked there as each big wave spurted out from under the rocks.

Then we tried a restaurant there overlooking the ocean.  Originally, we tried to order chicken nuggets and sandwiches from the menu, but the waiter told us they didn’t have that.  He suggested chicken tenders and French fries, so we agreed to that.  Then, he came back and told us no chicken--just the fries.  We left.

We ended up eating at a Lebanese restaurant near the hotel--not an oceanside view, but the food was really good.  They had excellent fattoush, possibly the best I’ve ever had, plus very good hummous, filafel, lemon juice with mint, the usual.  Our day then ended with time in the hotel pool, which was huge and had a children’s pool and a hot tub as well, so the girls divided their time not quite equally among those attractions.

Monday, we drove eastward to Taqah, thirty-five kilometers away.  We climbed a little hill to the small town’s fort overlooking Taqah--a pretty scenic view that also gave us a vantage point to some animal slaughtering in celebration of Eid.  Goats were the primary food source, although we did see a guy walking around town with a cow head.  We also saw some animal entrails on the side of the highway a few times.  Also in Taqah, we spent some by the khor (the beach) where some fresh water rain into the ocean.  There were quite a few birds, some fish, some greenery.  It was a pleasant location.  Back in Salalah, we hit the mall, where we enjoyed lunch at a coffee shop, reminiscent of the old days in Abu Dhabi.

The next day, we drove up into the Dhofar Mountains north of Salalah, thus completing each direction one could go without running straight into the ocean.  We visited the tomb of An-Nabi Ayyub (the Biblical Job), almost certainly NOT his legitimate final resting place.  Nevertheless, the hilltop spot provided views of some beautiful vistas of nearby wadis (valleys) and mountainsides.  We had a quick picnic lunch in the mountains before heading back down the southern slopes to town and more pool time at the hotel.

Wednesday, we visited the Al Baleed Archaeological Site nearby.  We had a fairly long walk all around the site, including a decent oceanside boardwalk view.  Then we visited the adjacent Land of Frankincense Museum, which is much more than frankincense.  It provided a solid history of the archaeological site and of Salalah and Oman in general.  Afterward, we stopped at a coconut stall and bought one for each of us.  The guy running the stall cut each coconut open and inserted a straw--instant refreshment.  We also ate the coconut after finishing the juice.  Then it was on to another Lebanese restaurant, this one with a family room where we ate in a private little cubicle with a pair of couches, a table, and a big flat-screen TV where we watched Sherlock Holmes--in English, a treat since our hotel room TV had nothing in English.  The hummous was really good, but the mixed seafood grill (fish, prawns, squid) was overcooked.  At least the lemon juice with mint was decent.

The following day, we picked up some picnic grub at a Lulu Hypermarket (yet another reminder of Abu Dhabi) and headed west again, this time past Al-Mughsayl Beach up into the green Dhofar Mountains. We had a mountaintop picnic overlooking a very scenic valley that, after a quick hike around a hill, led to a view of a private beach and inlet boasting some very green ocean water.  We saw camels grazing on the mountain tops--quite an unusual, unexpected sight.  

We also saw hundreds of camels outside Salalah, around various nomad-like farms and tent camps. Some tents had huge outdoor grills serving up goat and camel meat, with the animal skins hanging on display like storefront decorations.  This was also an unusual area because of the numerous isolated playgrounds scattered along the way.  Presumably, families would buy the meat and then have picnics near these playgrounds, but it seemed to be either too early in the day or too late in the season for us.  The monsoon rains from Khareef season were pretty much over, although the mountains and valleys were still very green and there was still quite a bit of Salalah’s characteristic fog in the mountains, adding a little mystery and a lot of vegetation to an otherwise desert region.

Friday was our final day in Oman.  We spent a leisurely morning at the hotel resort, between the children’s playground, the beach, and the pool, followed by a visit to the mall again after checking out of the hotel, and then we flew back to Lahore that night (after an eight-hour layover in Muscat).  

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