Oman Day 2: The Search for Khor Khofot/Wadi Sayq

We began our second day with a short breakfast early in the morning and then we rented a 4WD from our hotel manager. We were looking for a place called Wadi Sayq or Khor Khofot. We had always heard the name Wadi Sayq, but the locals know the location by Khor Khofot which led to some confusion in finding the place. Wadi Sayq is a dry river bed that leads into Khor Khofot. We wanted to find this place because of how beautiful it is and it is one of the possible locations for the land Bountiful according to Mormon scholars. Most of the roads took us more inland away from the coast so we often found ourselves in the more arid parts of Oman. Even the desert can be beautiful. We headed West along one of the main roads to find this place. We really didn't know if we would find it. We were first under the impression we would have to hire a boat to take us but some others said we could just drive there and walk a little ways. These warning signs for camels are very appropriate. I think I've seen more camels in Oman in just my few days there than I have seen in 4 months of living in Saudi Arabia.
This place is called Mughsayle, a nice beach area that locals and tourists like to visit because of caves and some occasional geysers that mostly appear in the Khareef (Monsoon) season. This camel is catching a snack while a bird relaxes on its back We weren't aware when we started that our journey would take us into some high mountains and then to the bottom of some deep canyon areas. We went so far up we were driving in clouds and then so far down we were close to sea level again. This happened twice on our way to Khor Khofot. We also passed two military checkpoints along the way. The soldiers were really good to us and tried to help us with directions when we needed it (even though they weren't always correct). At the second checkpoint the soldier told us to find Khor Khofot we should turn back to go into a small town that was close to it. We asked a town's person filling up some water and he pointed the way we should go. We went in the direction the water man pointed out and it led us to a viewpoint of Khor Khofot but we were so high in the mountains we knew we could still be far from our destination. We found a soldier at the viewpoint and he told us to go in the opposite direction that the man earlier told us. At this point we had already spent a few hours on the road. It was very helpful that most Omanis speak some amount of English. Already this was turning out to be quite the adventure. So we continued on. Again we went down into a deep canyon that was under road construction and then again, we went so high up we were in the clouds again. We were close and yet so far.
Here is one of the many camels we passed on our way. This one thought it would be nice to rest on the road. Camels are surprisingly calm and never seem to mind when a car passes right next to them. They seem so calm, yet make the ugliest sound in the world. At this point we figured it would probably be impossible to drive to our location as some people had led us to believe. Our only option was to continue down the road to a little fishing village known as Dhalkut. This tiny little town is Dhalkut. It is literally just miles down the coast from Yemen. We figured the population of this town is somewhere around 400-700? Imagine living in a tiny little fishing village far away from everything and two white American guys in a 4 wheel drive show up for a visit. I don't think they get many visitors in this place. At this point we needed to fill up our gas tank. We looked for a gas station and couldn't find one. We asked some of the locals and they kept pointing in various directions. We eventually found one man who led us to some guy's house and he had small tanks of gas just sitting in his front yard. We paid him to fill up our vehicle for us. We also had a little lunch while we were there. Our next mission was to find a boat. We went to the dock area and asked around. One man told us that all the fisherman were out but that if we wanted to wait until 3:00 maybe he could find us one. That was an hour and a half away so we just explored the little town and sat on the beach and read a little. I think I may have seen more goats than people here. As we walked along the beach we found a helicopter, that we later learned was from Yemen, crashed upon the beach. Apparently it crashed into the mountains, managed to land in the ocean, and then eventually washed up on shore. I heard the people inside all survived. Reading one of my favorite books while we were waiting. A lot of sand crabs were roaming about. We waited until 2:50 and then headed back to the docks. The men were cutting up their fish to get ready to sell. They offered them to us for an enormously large price. We refused. We were lucky because one of the fisherman, a younger man, offered to take us for 45 Omani Riyals which we gladly accepted. His name was Ahmed. Here is Ahmed getting his boat ready. Right before we were about to leave the engine cut out so he borrowed his brother's boat instead (not an encouraging sign). Ahmed didn't speak a lot of English but we were all able to communicate well enough. Occasionally some Westerner's do seek out this little town for the same reason as us. They asked us if we could swim before we left. We told them we could and they said it was good because sometimes the big waves can capsize the boat...this is where I began to wonder if its a good idea to go out into the Indian Ocean with the possibility of flipping with no life jacket, our passports, our money, our car keys, etc. But when else would we have the opportunity to see this place!? On the way there Ahmed tells us that months before some Western people wanted to come here, but the boat did flip. I'm not sure if he said they made it or just turned around at that point. 30 minutes of riding the waves and we finally reached our location, Khor Khofot/Wadi Sayq. It might not look like it but that boat was rather heavy. I mention that here because of what would come later. At this point we were just happy to arrive. We weren't sure if we were going to find it. Ahmed told us he would wait on the beach while we explored. He gave us a few hours to check out the place. Khor Khofot is extremely beautiful. Its a place filled with trees and flowers. Fruits grow here all year around, and bees make honey in the cliffs during some parts of the year. They say the honey in Oman and Yemen is some of the best in the world and we would later discover that is true. As nice as the place was for Chris and me, it probably only had a tenth of the green it would have during the Khareef season. Its like a tropical paradise at that part of the year and very secluded. They had some very unusual trees here. At the end of the branches we would see flowers like this growing. This would be the perfect place to build a summer home! Perfectly secluded, quiet, surrounded by beautiful mountains. Of course you'd have the occasional fisherman, or westerner visit you from time to time. Ah, beautiful. I loved hearing the sound of the waves while in Oman. Inside the caves we found either bees or hornets nests. It would be a nice place to take shelter from rain and make honey, which the bees do at certain times of the year here. There were many pools of water like this around. A lot of wildlife comes here when they get thirsty. It had been so long since I'd seen a tree other than a palm. Nice mountains for hiking! If we could have stayed a few days we probably would have. trees. trees. more trees! This was the point where things got a little crazy. I headed back to the beach to check in with Ahmed. He told me that he'd heard we might get rain (we did see some dark clouds in the distance) and that it would be a good idea for us to get out of there. Mind you he did this mostly by signs and a few English words. So Chris and I got our final picture taken and we prepared to leave. At this point the water had receded somewhat leaving our boat a little bit more beached than was convenient. The three of us began to try and turn the boat and push it into the water. We had to wait for big enough waves for us to push the boat back into the water....it took more than a few minutes. It was difficult work, more difficult that many of my experiences as a river guide. We finally got the boat far enough into the water. But we weren't finished yet. Chris and I had to keep the boat pointed straight into the waves so we wouldn't flip. We waited for the waves to lighten up, then we pushed the boat farther into the water. Ahmed told us to quickly jump on while he kept pushing, but the waves got stronger again and pushed our boat to the right. I quickly jumped to the left side of the boat so we wouldn't flip but then the waves started pushing us into the rocks on the sea shore. This is when the worry light came on in my head. Ahmed was completely exhausted and our boat was about to be completely crushed into the rocks. We got the boat away from the rocks and started again. When we got the boat perfectly positioned again we couldn't get the motor started and the waves would push us back again. I really started to think we might be sleeping the night in this place completely secluded from civilization. Finally, one more try and we got it - the engine started for us (Hallelujah). Ahmed let out a cry of joy and we were on our way.I took a picture of him right after - look at how completely exhausted he looks. Despite his look I think he was very relieved. We made it. We got home right before dark and we had a beautiful sunset on the way. We gave Ahmed 5 extra riyals for his trouble which might not sound like a lot, but it is. He looked extremely pleased which made me happy. He probably made more money taking us on this little trip than he does after numerous days on the sea. He was a good man for helping us. When we got back someone had let the neighborhood kids know that two Americans were coming and they all came out to see us. They seemed completely in aw of us and a little shy. One kid said "what is your name?" probably the only English he knew. I told him and said "what is your name?" Good times. Here they are below. We began our drive back in the complete dark through the crazy canyons. The construction workers must have worked really fast because the roads were unrecognizable on the way back. So much so that I thought we were going the wrong way. I kept thinking "I hope we don't end up in the middle of Yemen somewhere. Luckily we got to a point we recognized and the rest of the ride was a breeze. This was by far the most adventurous day of our trip but there were many more great things to come.

Oman Day 1: Arabia's Best Kept Secret

Chris and I got 6 days off of work so we could travel a bit. We decided to travel to Oman, the southeast most country of the Arabian Peninsula (and its one of the best kept secrets in the world because its one of the nicest countries I've ever visited). To make the most of our vacation and avoid some crazy long layovers we flew from Riyadh to Jeddah KSA, Jeddah to Muscat Oman, and finally Muscat to Salalah Oman. This almost ended up in disaster however because when we arrived in Jeddah at 2:50am we had to board our next flight by 3:40am. No problem right? Well when we got there we asked where we were supposed to board our next flight. They told us the north terminal. What we didn't know and were not told was that the north terminal was a 20 minute drive from the south terminal! So we rushed to grab a taxi thinking were weren't going to make it. When we got there to get our tickets the man at the counter told us they were closed. I begged him to get our tickets and board the flight and luckily he relented. We made it just in time. Finally we were on our way to Oman to my relief. The instant we arrived we knew we weren't in Saudi anymore. Not all the woman were covered up from head to toe - one woman even had tatoos all over her arms, music was playing in the restaurants, and they were selling art, movies, and books about different religions. Hard to believe we were only hours away from Saudi Arabia by air. We arrived in Muscat the capital but our destination that day was Salalah on the opposite side of the country as you can see on the map. It was another hour and a half flight to arrive there.
There were many reasons we chose Salalah to visit. The city itself is located in the Dhofar region which is the greenest place in the Arabian Peninsula (its the only green you can see on a satelite image of the region). Monsoon rains called Khareef, water this small part of the country for 3-4 months out of the year. However, we knew we would be arriving during the dry season so we didn't know exactly what to expect. We had seen pictures of the area during the Khareef and it looks like a green tropical paradise. We knew it wouldn't be quite like that, but we were still excited (if only to get away from work for awhile)

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that even though it was not the Khareef season Salalah was still very green and warm. The air was humid and cool and didn't smell like an arid wasteland. The streets were very nice and all the people waved at us. Also, garbage wasn't thrown all over the place which is the case in all the other Middle Eastern countries I've been to.

For my Mormon friends and family, this part of the world is where Mormon scholars strongly believe that the Bountiful in 1 Nephi is located. In fact, the Dhofar region is the only place that meets all the requirements in all the Arabian Peninsula to be Bountiful. This place also has Biblical and Qu'ranic significance as well which I will also mention. While we were here we went to a few of the most likely sites for Bountiful, as well as other historical sites and ancient cities. It was quite the adventure but this day we mostly just settled in since we had been flying all night.

Throughout the city of Salalah (a small city by the way) fruit plantations were all over the place. Every road we took was lined with palm trees - very beautiful.
Our driver took us to our hotel, shown above, which is located right on the beaches of Salalah. The Beach Villas Hotel was located right along the Indian Ocean, and though small, and only two star, it was the highest recommended from the travel book Lonely Planet because of the good price, location, and the owners, who helped us find everything we were looking for and went out of their way to help us have a good vacation.

Here is the view from our balcony. We could hear the waves of these great waters as we slept at night.

Here is our room.

Its been so long since I had seen green!!!

Our hotel owners, the Kumars, set us up with a nice car so we could go anywhere we wanted.

Since we were tired and didn't have a lot of day light left we decided to play it easy. We went to the museum of Frankincense land, a UNESCO World Heritage site and museum. I mentioned this part of the world had Biblical significance. It is because the coastline of Oman is the perfect place for frankincense trees to grow. Its one of the only environments these trees grow in. For thousands of years the coasts of Oman were visited by ships from Egypt, Persia, China, and so many more countries for trading and to get the rare frankincense. We read that the people believed frankincense strenghtens your immunity and protects you from evil spirits. Even today people still harvest frankincense, which is the hardened sap of a particular tree. Traders and camel caravans would also travel up and down the west side of the Arabian Peninsula to collect Frankincense and trade other goods. A very difficult journey through the wilderness I might add. The frankincense presented to Jesus most likely came from this place.

Here is one of the frankincense trees in the park.

Just relaxing at sunset. Besides the frankincense museum that talked about the history and many old cities that belonged here, there was another part of the museum that talked about ship building (there were numerous types of ships that sailed these waters) and the importance of trade and ocean life in Oman. I had no idea that Oman was such an important part of the world in ancient times.

More frankincense trees. Besides the museums and the trees we weren't aware that this place was also the site of an ancient city known as Al-Baleed. We visited this site on our last day in Salalah.

We next went to dinner in the city. It was a Lebanese restaurant popular for its fish.

As usual, I order the ugliest fish available, but it tasted great.

Above is the most prominent Mosque in the area, Sultan Qaboos Mosque, named after the Sultan of Oman. Very beautiful. So that was our first day in Oman. There is too much to write about so I have to split this up. I'll try not to sound like I'm giving a history lesson in future posts. I just wanted y'all to get a feel for the place and its importance.

Short Week 14

Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll be on a plane to Jeddah and then on to Oman. Because of this, my week of teaching was very short so I don't have much to say. Here are just a few pics and stories before I head out.
Above is my favorite cat on the compound. Saudi Arabia is infested with cats. Everywhere I go its cats cats cats. This cat, I affectionately named Blood Cat. I first ran into Blood Cat on Halloween night. I walked outside in the dark and underneath a car I saw this cat with its eyes glowing, but it looked like blood was dripping from its mouth (and who's to say it wasn't?). I often see this diseased looking cat all over the place. Usually when I see it he/she always has his/her mouth open but I don't know why. Some of the cats in the country are pretty disgusting because of the difficult lives that they live. I bet you just want to pick him up and give him a big hug, don't you? Notice the stylish half tail. All the cats are doing it these days.
I put this one up for my folks since they are practically in a biker gang. Believe it or not, they do have Harley Davidson shops in Saudi, and I periodically see biker gangs roaming the streets in their Harley Davidson jackets and other gear. This street is called Tahliya Street, one of the streets where the rich people like to hangout. The cars we sometimes see parked on this street cost a fortune. The young men in the country love to show off their extremely nice cars as well as their moves. Last week I saw a guy on a motorcyle get up on one wheel and ride down the street. We frequently see the teenagers drifting in their cars and doing all sorts of dangerous stuff on the city streets. Any wonder why the death rate by car accident is so high in this country? The death rate on the streets is worse here than in America, and people don't drink and drive because alcohol is illegal here. Its pretty sad. I see a car wreck on the road just about everyday here. My roommate Chris actually had a student that died in a car wreck some months ago.
Sunset on Taliya Street.

Kingdom Tower at night.

My few days in class went mostly well. My students often ask me what Americans think of Saudi Arabians. I tell them that most Americans know very little about their country and that many people don't imagine big cities, malls, and fancy cars. Most people think its all sand and camels. They really think its funny that Americans are so ignorant about their country. In so many ways my students are just like American young men. They play video games, they are great with computers, obsess about cars, and love soccer. Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty sharp differences when it comes to cultural things, but I think you would find that my students are quite wonderful. I sometimes wonder if they would be treated well in our country. I know that some people are pretty racist against people from the Middle East ever since September 11th. The thought of any American being rude to my students kind of infuriates me. So please, if you ever see them, please be nice!

Thats all. I'll have more for you next week.