February 11, 2009
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A few weeks ago I suddenly saw a shepherd walking his sheep right outside as I looked through the window. I'd never seen sheep directly outside my house before so I quickly grabbed my camera.
At one point, one sheep lost its way and the shepherd had to go and look for it.
However, he found it quite quickly.
It's when these kind of things happen that I realise how exotic and different my existence in Oman is compared to London. I don't know. I mean, in my flat I've got satellite TV and ADSL broadband and I drive to college where we've got PC projectors in each classroom. And yet outside my flat I suddenly have this almost biblical scenery. It's like being in a time warp.
The Empty Quarter
Just to backtrack a bit. On New Year's Eve, on my way to Dubai, I decided to drive into the Empty Quarter. The edge of the Empty Quarter is very near Ibri, which is on the way to Dubai, so I thought I'd have a look. And I also think I was looking for a bit of silence and space as I was contemplating the end of 2008.
It was very, well, empty. And not much traffic.
As I got near the Saudi border, the road just suddenly disappeared! I was driving 120 km/h and then, without any warning signs or anything, the road just ended. But I guess with all the sand, it's probably a "soft landing" if a driver is not really paying attention to the road ahead. I think this is supposed to be a direct link to Saudi Arabia in the future, but they haven't connected the roads yet.
Great scenery, though. And lots of space.
On the way back towards Ibri, I saw a couple of baby camels walking with their mum.
Click here for some more pictures I took of the Empty Quarter.
Dolphin-Watching
One thing I've done recently is going dolphin-watching. A group of us went on this boat trip. We sailed right out into the Sea of Oman from one of the marinas in Muscat.
Eventually, we reached a place with quite a lot of small fishing boats. Apparently, there are always tuna fish where the dolphins are so the boats taking people dolphin-watching just sail to where the fishermen are. We were surrounded by large numbers of dolphins, but it was a bit difficult to catch them on camera. I think I've got about 50 pictures with just sea water.
But I got a couple reasonably good pictures.
It wasn't crowded, but there were a few boats around.
On the way back, we sailed along the coast for a bit. This is near the Shangri-La Hotel.
And this is not very far from the Dive Club.
Click here for more pictures from my Dolphin trip.
The Omani weekend is here and tomorrow I'm going to Wahiba Sands with some friends. It's one of the main tourist attractions in Oman but for some reason I've never been. We'll be staying at a desert camp and out there people do things like dune bashing, sand surfing, sand skiing and camel riding. I'm looking forward to this trip!
Comments (8)
I love your pictures.. everytime you post some, I want to visit Oman!
I love your pictures.. everytime you post some, I want to visit Oman!
You should. =) It's a really beautiful country.
Your pics are always so amazing.
So often, your pictures take my breath away.
Aw, brilliant! Love these shots.
Your pictures mean a lot to me. I will never be able to see places like that and to see them through the eye of your camera is the best it will ever be for me. Thank you, sincerely.
I want to read The White Tiger. Let me know what you think of it.
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