Vol 74 Michele Day 6

Michele had been bugging me ever since she bought her ticket to Oman, trying to convince me to drive up to the UAE with her so she could see Dubai. I had steadfastly refused, stating that I do not like Dubai. Which is true.

On the morning of Day 6 I had our Mom reveal to Michele that my friend Mahfoodh and I were taking her to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for 4 days. Mom told her that I had planned to take her all along. She was pretty happy, though she did think I was a bit cheeky, having lied to her all along about not wanting to take her.

I took her to the Mutrah Souk in the late morning for a couple of hours of shopping recognizance. It was to be our first trip to the souk, meant just to give her an idea of what was available.

Like beaded slippers from India.

And all kinds of jewelry and silver and brass wares.

We stopped in at my favorite jewelry store where Puddles tried on a giant ring.

Next we drove to Lu Lu Center (one of the giant hypermarkets) to look at cameras. The day before we had looked at Carrefore, the other large hypermarket, at their camera selection. I was just looking for the best price.

Turned out Carrefore had the best camera for me so I told Michele I wanted to head out there to get it. She seemed only slightly put out that my errand was interfering with her vacation. But I had something up my sleeve and I really needed a camera to replace my broken one.

On the way there we stopped in at my office where our receptionist Amira told Michele she knew along along I was taking her to the UAE. She told Michele to pack a couple of warm things as it is a little colder there at night. Michele questioned that, saying it didn't make any sense as the UAE is just a few hours from Oman. Amira told her she'd lived there for a few years and that she should trust her- take a light jacket.

We raced home and packed our bags quickly as Mahfoodh was coming to fetch us. He had told her he wanted to leave in the evening so we could stop at his Mom's house on the way, perhaps even sleep there.

Mahfoodh picked us up in his Audi TT. For those of you not into cars, TT's are sports cars. So there was Michele, crammed into the itsy bitsy back seat with her suitcase beside her and her legs splayed open and jammed up against the backs of our seats. He asked if she was comfy and even though there was no way she was comfy, she didn't complain. She was just so psyched to be driving to Dubai. This photo of Mahfoodh is the 1st photo I took on my new camera. I was desperately unpacking the box and getting all the accessories squared away in it's travel case while he drove.

Here's Michele in the tiny back seat.

As we approached the airport Mahfood announced that he needed to stop to pay his phone bill. He explained that there is an Oman Mobile desk open late at the airport. He pulled into departures and told us to get out. He unloaded our suitcases while Michele stood there all confused. I handed him my camera box, he hugged her goodbye and drove off.

"Surprise!" I said, "We're flying to Dubai!" Well, Sharjah actually, which is like a suburb of Dubai.



Now she was really psyched, though she was bummed that Mahfoodh would not be joining us.

Puddles, with Michele's ticket to Sharjah.

Puddles, Michele's suitcase and what I later came to call "that damn hat".

While waiting to board I took a ton of photos of Michele. For fun.



I tried to make this video ever so much cooler by adding a camera shutter sound effect for each photo but every time I tried my movie making program crashed! Argh! So, after much trying, I gave up. Better a lame video than holding up the blog....

Once we arrived in Sharjah, Michele started heading to the customs/arrivals hall but I headed to a transfer desk where I picked up 2 new plane tickets.

Now she was really confused. I asked her "Do you know what's was going on?" She said "No." I told her, "It's ok if you know where we're going, if I didn't keep the secret." She said she had no idea what the hell was going on.

Sweet. All my super secret scheming had paid off!

Of course I videoed the "reveal"



I swear, I could watch that video a thousand times and still laugh. I love my sister.

Once on the plane we both started playing with our cameras. I was trying to learn all the features of mine in a hurry.

I started playing with the black and white video settings. I told Michele it was like filming the movie "The Blair Witch Project". Which gave us an idea.....



Michele's Blair Witch video.

Next we played with the sepia tone settings which I said reminded me of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"



And Thorton, a character much like the "Oh Brother" characters, was born, ie a character who could barely be understood. Now I love "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" but I had to watch it with the English subtitles on to understand a word they were saying.

When we arrived in Luxor it was 2:30am. We stepped into the arrivals hall where I discovered that my phone did not work in Egypt. No problem, we'll use the pay phone. But the pay phones in Egypt all take cards that you have to buy. And there was nowhere to buy one. No problem, a nice Air Arabia worker let us use his phone to call the CouchSurfer we were supposed to be staying with. The number was wrong. No problem, he let us try calling the other CouchSurfer I had lined up in case the first one didn't work out. That number was wrong too. No problem, he started calling budget hotels out of my guide book. The third one answered and we had a winner. Happyland Hotel. We jumped into a cab and we were off.

There was a dude waiting for us when we arrived, he told us how much our room would be and up we went. 3 twin beds and a shared bathroom down the hall. Not the nicest budget hotel I've stayed in but not the worse either. Definitely better than the Urine Hotel in Casablanca.

We put our scarves over the pillows, kept our clothes on and went to bed. Puddles slept with me.

We're in Egypt, Baby!

Vol 73.5 Michele Day 5

On Day 5 we went to Nizwa and Bahla. The plan was to get an early start.....but you know how that goes when you're on vacation......

I know you've already seen photos of the road to Nizwa but these are Michele's photos and they're quite nice sooooooo.......



By the time we got to Nizwa we were hungry. We drove around searching for somewhere to eat but it was siesta time and not much was open. Near a school which had just let the students out we found 3 shwarma stands. One had a bunch of kids at it so we went there.

Michele and the boys started talking a bit, but their English was pretty limited.

Could this guy be any cuter?

Michele pretty much took a photo of everything she ate on her vacation, including this falafel sandwich.

In the area outside the Nizwa Fort there is a souk. Most of it was closed for siesta but this pottery place was still open.

Yes, I realize these 2 photos are pretty much the same but I couldn't decide which one to use so here they both are. It's late.....I'm tired....

In case you were wondering, Puddles came on the road trip to Nizwa.....

I've already written about the Fort in Vol 38, so I'll just show you a couple of Michele's photos.


We found a museum-like section of the fort that I had missed on my first visit. This is a traditional Omani woman's outfit, complete with the giant silver jewelry Oman is famous for.

This is a date storage room. Now I've seen date storage rooms in use in Oman and though this one is authentic in that it really is a date storage room, it has no where near the number of bags of dates I've seen in other rooms. Usually the room is jammed full with bags. The jars on the floor are under little troughs that collect date syrup. Dates can be stored for a year or more in these rooms.

View of the Nizwa Mosque minaret from Nizwa Fort.

Next we drove to Bahla to see the Bahla Fort. But here's the thing about getting a late start- the fort had already closed by the time we got there. Oh well. We wandered around it's perimeter. They built this fort on a rocky ledge which makes parts of it look like it's coming out of the rock.

This fort is still being restored.

Bahla was once a walled city, for protection from the Portuguese, and much of it's walls are still intact.

Beside the fort was this walled building. The door was ajar so we got nosy. Inside was an old school. The renovation there was already completed.

View from the school back towards the fort.

I remember hearing years ago, when I lived in Victoria, BC, about Asian families who would fill one of the bedrooms of their apartment with soil so they could grow vegetables. Inevitably they would be discovered when the apartment below would complain of water damage.

The houses below this school in Bahla had various things on their roofs. Laundry. Cisterns. Goats. Sheep.

Even though it was after hours, this old Omani man showed us around the school. Michele spent much of her time sneaking photos and videos of him.

After we had left she zoomed in and snuck this one.

Next we explored the mud-brick village below the Bahla Fort and school.

Such an interesting place to wander. Great photo opportunities around every corner.


What was most striking was that there were people living here. We could hear TV's playing from behind some of the doors. We'd see a scene like this.....

.... and next door would be an empty, crumbling house like this.

Muscat is such a wealthy city that I forget sometimes that not all Omanis are living that way.

This is a well in the middle of the village.

Not sure what these were for but they make a great photo.

The sun was setting over one of the mosques as we were heading home. Another stellar day!



And another so-so video!

Vol 73 Michele Day 5

This post is being withheld until my dear, sweet, dentally phobic sister, Michele, keeps her promise to make an appointment to have her teeth cleaned in Vancouver. She promised our hygienist here in Muscat that she would do it in April and as it is now April, it is time.

The Day 5 blog post is completed, I have but to hit post and it will be there for you all to read.

I do this, because I love her and I know that sometimes she needs a little help to do the things that are best for her.

I'll start Day 6 in the meantime. Hope she doesn't keep you all waiting too long.....