Vol 83 Michele Day 15

We have arrived at the last full day my sister had to spend in Oman. Poop. I didn't want her to go. But she was all, like, "I have to go home to my daughter". Like that's a good excuse for leaving me. Whatever. Daughter schmaughter.

We decided to go to one of the "must see" places in my Oman Off-road book. Wadi Ash Shab. A 2 hour drive from Muscat down the coast to Tiwi, then a 1 hour hike up the wadi, then a swim.

Firas very kindly lent me his SUV again as the coastal highway is being expanded and was only partially done. Much of it was still gravel. It changed back and forth between gravel and asphalt about a million times.

At times we had to detour off the highway onto a sketchy gravel road.

Some scenes along the coastal road.



This is the little village of Tiwi. The entrance to Wadi Ash Shab is right before the big hill that leads into town.

We had to drive under this thingie to get to the parking area.

While gathering oue stuff for the hike this Omani man, named Said, approached us and asked if he could walk up with us. I said sure and off we went.

This is the pool at the head of the wadi. It's half salty ocean water and half sweet mountain spring water. There are fish that jump from the water.

The hike starts off with easy gravel for the first 20 minutes. It's more of a trudge than a hike at this point.

In case you have forgotten a wadi is a dry riverbed. A canyon. Most wadi's are dry unless it rains. When it rains they quickly fill and flow down to the ocean. This particular wadi has a mountain spring at the top that keeps it flowing year round.

Every now and then the water would gather into a shallow pool.

After a time the walk got a little trickier as we scrambled over rocks. That's Said and I walking and talking together the whole way. Michele hung back as she was taking about a million photos.

There is one of those falaj irrigation canals that runs partially above ground like this and partially underground. This section is new, it had to be repaired after the hurricane and flooding last June.
I hope these photos capture how amazingly beautiful this place is. Steep cliff on either side and a sprinkling of blue/green pools down the center.

After about an hour we reached this pool. It was a good thing we had Said with us or we would never have known that this is the place to scramble down the rocks and get in the water.

We swam across the first of three pools. The water is unbelievably clean and the temperature is perfect. The pools are too deep to reach the bottom in some places and shallow in other places.

We got out of the water, walked across a short gravel area and into the second pool. Right about now my sister is thinking "Hey! Where'd that photo of Susan come from?" You see, we left her camera at the shore of the first pool with our clothes. So this photo and most of the others for this blog post are not from my day with Michele. I have been back to Wadi Ash Shab 4 times since Michele was here. I have to blend this Michele day with the other days I've been to give a better feel for the place. After the first time with Michele I helped my guests bring their cameras along by triple zip-lock bagging them and holding them over our heads. Wadi Ash Shab has become my favorite place in Oman and I love to share it with my friends and the couchsurfers who come to stay with me.

Like my friend Steve who lives in Dubai and works for a travel guide-book company. He and I went a couple of weeks after Michele and I went.

Steve and I met this guy, Badr, who lives in Tiwi.

Anyhoodle, back to Michele, Said and I. We swam through the second pool, climbed out onto some rocks and .....

.....made our way across this gorgeousness to the third pool.

Each of the three pools is truly amazing. But it just gets better. We swam across the third pool which dead ends at a giant cliff.

Said told us to swim into this crevice.

The opening is quite small at the start- just big enough for your head to be above water and squished on either side by rock. There is a rock ledge to pull yourself along. It's around 15 feet long.

Here is a photo of a couchsurfer named Ankit as he comes out the other side of the crevice. He and another couchsurfer and I went a couple of weeks ago on my fifth trip there. He can't swim so he clung to a piece of Styrofoam and I towed him across all three pools and into the crevice. Why would I convince a non-swimmer to risk his life?

Well, here's the view when you turn around and look back through the crevice after you make it through it.

And here's what's on the other side. An amazing cave. You can see the crevice that we entered through on the rear right of the photo.

This photo was taken the 3d time I went. There were nine of us jammed into one SUV. My friends Mahfoodh, Khaldoun and Yasser and 5 American and Canadian couchsurfing students who are all studying in Istanbul. Yasser and Khaldoun were hosting 2 of them and I was hosting 3 of them. Khaldoun is not in the photo (hey, someone has to take it) but that is Yasser right in front. Mahfoodh is all the way at the back with me.

Pretty amazing, right? Well it gets better!

There is an amazing waterfall in the cave, which you can't see well in this photo. (None of my couchsurfers got a good shot of the waterfall!) That is Ankit sitting halfway up it. The first four times I went, the waterfall was flowing really well, but this last time it had slowed alot. There is another crevice/cave that runs behind the waterfall. You go in one wall and pop out another, right behind the fall. You can get a pretty good shoulder massage by pausing under the waterfall. It's just incredible.

There is a rope to climb up the waterfall.

When you get to the top you can climb the rocks around to the other side. Michele and I could not haul our butts up the rope, which is just as well in my case as I am not keen on heights.

These are the 8 couchsurfers I went with the third time. Why climb up there?

To jump, of course! All eight of them jumped. Twice. Crazy couchsurfers!

This is Kyle, a young guy in the Canadian Navy. He's on a 6 month tour of duty and his ship docked in Muscat for shore leave. All the other sailors stayed in hotels. He surfed my couch and I brought him and Ankit to Wadi Ash Shab. He was pretty psyched.

Here's the five students from Istanbul.

Here's David and Maria, a couch surfing couple from Spain who stayed a week with me. Such a nice couple. I went with them the forth time I went to the wadi. We didn't take a camera with us so here we are with Mahfoodh at a party.

Here's Mahfoodh and I. He doesn't like this photo because he looks so much shorter than I am.

Here I am with a bunch of the local Tiwi guys. This was taken the third time I went. The local guys know me now. The one with his arm around me is Badr. I met him the second time I went. He invited Steve and I to his home in Tiwi after the hike for coffee and dates. And I told Steve I never refuse an invitation.....

This is Badr's Mom and 2 Aunties. They are making the embroidered hats that all Omani men wear.

The third time I went, with the nine couchsurfers, I ran into Badr at the top of the hike and afterwards he invited all nine of us to his home. His Mom and Aunties invited me to sit with them and they taught me to do the embroidery. I love Omani people, they are so friendly and hospitable.

Here's Ankit, Kyle and I a couple of weeks ago. (I'm towing Ankit on his Styrofoam)

So, back to that first time. Michele and I drove back to Muscat and met my friends Katie and Daniel at an Indian restaurant for dinner. Then we went home, Michele packed and I took her to the airport at 5 in the morning.

And she left.

And I miss her.

She's my favorite couchsurfer ever. Even if she does snore.