We flew out of Perth on September 11 with the prospect of 4 flights and almost 2 days of planes and airports ahead of us. It was the cheapest way to do it, but of course once you factor in the food, drinks and potentially transport and accommodation at your transit locations, sometimes it is better to just ignore the budget airlines and go for the direct flight. We'll think about that next time.
Our stopovers were in Singapore, Bangkok and Doha (Qatar). We had a 12 hour wait in Bangkok, so left our baggage at the airport and caught a taxi into the city. Ten minutes into the ride we almost rear-ended a broken down truck on the motorway, and got a rapid education into the dodge ‘em style driving of Bangkok. We got dropped off at Khosang Road and went for a walk around the area - it was early for a Saturday so shops were slowly opening up as we strolled around. After much badgering by every taxi and tuk tuk driver in the city, we eventually decided that the 20 baht tuk tuk ride to various attractions was a pretty darn good price, so we hopped aboard and had a blast rocketing around the city with our friendly driver, weaving in and out of traffic and seeing lucky buddas, golden mountains and gem stone showrooms. I had a wee kip in the taxi back to the airport and then we settled in for the rest of our wait. We had flown twice with Tiger Air now (with no complaints I might add) and now had two Qatar Airways flights to look forward to (not budget, so we got fed and entertained). When we booked our Qatar flights on the internet there was a meal selection section, which had an odd assortment of meals, none of which were 'standard' or 'standard vegetarian'. As a result we ended up selecting 'Hindu meat' and 'raw vegetarian'. What we didn't realise is that this option could be left blank if you wanted standard grub, so it was a bit embarrassing when the hostess on the plane came looking for the people who had ordered these specialist meals. Oops.
We arrived in Muscat at about 4.30 on Sunday morning, and promptly headed to bed to sleep until midday. That afternoon we went for a walk at the nearby beach, but didn't last long as the heat, and more significantly the humidity, didn't take long to knock us flat. The following day we drove the short trip to Al Sawadi Resort where we had a two day SCUBA diving course booked. The course was through SSI and was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. The first day involved theory and two pool dives, and on the second day we were taken to the Damaniyat Islands where we completed our first two open water dives. It was a fantastic location, and we saw lots of beautiful coral and fish, the highlight for me probably being a black and white sea snake. I took a disposable underwater camera along, and while the photos weren't brilliant you can see some of them here.
The next couple of days were spent in and around Muscat. We went snorkelling at the yacht club and made a couple of visits to the Muttrah souq, which is AMAZING. I don't know how big it is but I could have spent hours wandering around looking for bargains and checking out the different shops. You have to be good at rejecting people in the souq, as every single shop owner will try and sell you a silk scarf, a traditional hat or some frankincense.
In my next post I will describe our four day driving adventure. I wanted to mention Ramadan before signing off. When we arrived in Oman it was the holy month of Ramadan, and as such we were not permitted to eat or drink in public between sunrise and sunset, even water was forbidden. Despite not being Muslims ourselves, if we were seen eating or drinking during the day we would have committed a huge offence, which of course we were not interested in doing. As such we had to make sure that we skulled back the water before leaving the house, and any eating or drinking we did had to be somewhere that no one could see us. Of course, once the sun has set and the call to prayer has been made (of which there a re five each day), the fasting is broken with Iftar, which is usually a rather lavish meal (which I'm sure must often be the happiest time of many people's day!). At Al Sawadi, where we did the diving, we were treated to some lovely buffets for Iftar, both nights we had about a dozen dishes to help ourselves too, and of course about the same number of desserts. Choooiiice.
Stay posted for part two of the adventure.
Photos
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