Ras Al Jinz

Just because I'm back at work does not mean I can't travel around Oman anymore.  So, last weekend I set out to visit Ras Al Jinz, the most famous turtle beach in Oman. The first thing that struck me as I arrived - just like the last time I was here - were those dramatic rock formations. This is an amazing place.

This time around, I decided to camp. I pitched my tent inside one of those beach huts, which was a good idea since there was a really strong wind blowing.

The sky turned beautiful just after sunset.

What happens at Ras Al Jinz is that there are guides there helping the visitors finding the turtles as they are laying eggs in the sand. To minimize disturbance, visitors are only allowed on the beach 9.30 - 11.00 pm and the guides are there to make sure visitors don't use flash photography or touch the turtles or the eggs. Here, our guide is shining his torch from behind - it's not a very flattering angle for the turtle.  The eggs are the size of ping-pong balls and each turtle lays about 100 eggs. It's an absolutely amazing experience to see this!

Very early the following morning, I went down to the beach in the hope that there might be a turtle that had started laying eggs quite late. Normally all you see at this time are turtle tracks leading down to the sea.

But this was my lucky day (or morning)! Here's a turtle struggling to get down to the water.

The turtle seemed quite tired - no wander having laid 100 eggs and then having spent up to four hours covering the eggs with sand! It was pulling itself slowly towards the sea. It stopped again and again, looking around, closing its eyes, swallowing hard several times (!!) and then moving on.

It might not look very happy in this shot. But my impression was that the turtle got more excited the closer to the sea it got.

And with the daylight, I could get really good close-ups without using a flash (and using my zoom).

It seemed to know exactly where the sea was, heading straight for it.

That there were some people wandering around nearby didn't seem to bother the turtle at all.

As the turtle moved quite slowly, there was plenty of time to get the photo angle just right.

The waves were quite high, and eventually the water washed over the turtle for the first time. I wonder how the turtle felt at that moment? Probably elated.

Pretty soon, the turtle just floated away and was gone.

The only thing left was the sun shining on those rocks.

And a few latecomers who had just missed this turtle's amazing journey to the sea.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to what an amazing country Oman is.

Holidaying at Home 8
Three Failed Attempts and a Sunset

Over the past week, I've not been entirely successful when attempting to visit different places here in Oman. Though, it might not be correct to call these attempts "failures" either.  

Attempt 1 - That Elusive Beach South of Muscat

I've heard that there's this very nice beach along the coast between Muscat and Sur, and a few days ago I decided to see if I could find it. Many times I've heard that the road between Muscat and Sur is very bad, so I was prepared for problems. However, once I reached the coastal town of Quryat, I found this brand new motor way instead!  

Well, the road is not completely finished yet. Only the left carriageway is in use, so it functions like a normal single carriageway at the moment. But it's a far cry from what I expected. It was fast and I saw these coastal villages coming up quite quickly on my left. The problem was, after having driven along this brand new road for a while, I realised that it would be a bit problematic to turn off as all entry and exit roads were on the wrong side! What do you do if you've got oncoming traffic and traffic from behind - and quite a few people driving 140 km/h  - and the exit is on the other side of the road?! For a while I thought I'd be forced to drive all the way to Sur (over 100 km from Quryiat).  Anyway, eventually - as I could see the next village coming up and there was no traffic in front or behind - I did this sudden U-turn onto the exit road. Only to discover this...

The exit road leading to the village - the village Fins, I discovered later - has not been built yet!!  Using my zoom, I could see Fins in the distance.

I looked at the sand and sighed. I can't just drive out into the sand with my Daihastu Sirion.  So, I drove home to Nizwa again. I'd covered over 600 km that day, without finding what I was looking for.  Extremely frustrating. Especially since I discovered that the beach I was looking for was just a few kilometers south of Fins! I actually saw the beach on Google Earth when I got home - it's called the White Beach and looks gorgeous.

Positive point: Now I know there's a motorway along the coast to Sur.

Attempt 2 - Reaching the Top of Jabel Al Shams

Another not too successful exploration was when I tried to drive up onto Jabel Al Shams, one of the two highest mountains in Oman and not very far from Nizwa. I knew that the tarmac road would turn into a gravel road about 15 km from the highest point reachable by car, but when a few of us drove up there two years ago, the gravel road was not too bad. So, I decided to give it a try. This is the beginning of the gravel road - and I thought, this is definitely doable with my Sirion.

However, five kilometers onto the gravel road I decided to give up. Flooding had destroyed the road surface in many places and at one point, half the road was actually missing! I got very worried about my little car as I kept meeting these fancy four-wheel drive vehicles.  Driving back down along the ravel road, I met this friendly goat and I decided to share some of my food. I ate a banana and gave the goat the peel.  Which the goat swallowed instantly.

The goat must have liked the banana peel, because it walked straight up to me, presumably wanting more. 

It was a bit frustrating to see Jabel Al Shams in the distance but not being able to get there.

But once I'd reached the tarmac road again I saw this bit of green in the far distance and I decided to find out what it was. After climbing up and down into a couple of ravines, I finally reached this terraced garden.

Presumably, someone must be living nearby and check on this regularly (couldn't see any houses or anything). And water it as well! This is just desert.

Positive point: I've met a friendly goat during my holidays and I've discovered a terraced garden no-one seems to know about.

Attempt 3 - The Sawadi Beach

Being a bit wary of driving long distances in search of beautiful beaches, I followed a new lead that was less adventurous. Someone told me that there's a nice beach only 70 km from Muscat, towards Sohar - the Sawadi Beach. Sure enough, the beach was exactly where it was supposed to be. However, even though this sandy beach might look nice at a distance, the sand is actually stone hard. Almost like a cement floor with an extremely thin layer of sand on top.  How on earth to go stick your sun brollie into the sand if it's as hard as cement? And, what was worse, the water was really muddy everywhere. With the castle on top of that island, it's a nice place to visit for a picnic, maybe in winter. But not a good place for swimming in my opinion.

Positive point: I now know firsthand that the Sawadi Beach is not a good place for swimming if someone suggests we go there.

Sunset at Fanja

Last night, on my way home from Muscat, I did something I've thought of doing many, many times - stopping by at Fanja, just off the motorway between Muscat and Nizwa.

The motorway makes a sharp left turn at Fanja (about 30 km out of Muscat) and you've got this great view of the wadi - which fills up with water when there's rain. However, I've never stopped here before.

It was just at sunset, and the light was beautiful. This picture was taken just as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

I'm wondering to myself: maybe some of the most successful holiday outings are to places we know really well.

OK - today is the last day of my 60 day summer break.  Tomorrow, I'm back at work. And I must say this, spending a lot of my holidays at home in Oman has been really great.

The Olympics in English

After having watched the Olympics with commentary mainly in Arabic for five days, I've discovered there is actually one channel that broadcasts the Olympics in English here in the Gulf: Aljazeera Sports +3!

So yesterday, I drove down to Muscat to buy the smartcard - $50 for one year's subscription is absolutely worth it!

It hasn't been that bad. I can easily follow all the results through the score boards that come up on screen all the time, and with at least eight channels broadcasting the Olympics over here, I have quite a lot of choice. But, it must be said, I miss all the background talk: who's who, what's what, what the stakes are etc. Anyway, now I'm watching it all in English and it's great!

Our time zone here in Oman is not that bad for the Olympics either. For example, when the Athletics start tomorrow morning at 9.00 AM Chinese time, it will be 5.00 AM here in Oman - absolutely doable.

Holidaying at Home 7 - Towns East of Salalah

Driving east from Salalah along the coast, there are several smaller towns that I visited.

Taqah

The first one, Taqah, is very near the sea but the sea front is actually not built up in any way - no cafes or restaurants or anything - the kind of things I always look for.  You've just got this small road next to the beach. The beach itself is nice, though.

Taqah Castle was open and I was the only visitor when I arrived around 1.00 PM.  And looking in the guest book kept at the entrance, it seemed I was the only European visitor that week.

I loved the court yard. Very nicely done up, I thought.

I also liked what they had done to some of the rooms - especially this one.

I was just about to leave, when I saw this sign on the wall, next to a door that was slightly ajar. Maybe they don't want to keep the door leading into the prison dungeons wide open.  I don't know.

The prison was not as imposing and depressing as I thought it might be.  I'm sure this is a place that could tell many stories.

No Quite Reaching Khor Rori

I was hoping to visit Khor Rori, another UNESCO listed archeological site going back to the first century BC, on my way to the next town. However, the small road leading to Khor Rori was just an uneven gravel road. I parked my car next to the main road and started walking, thinking it wouldn't be that far but I gave up in the end. As I was walking back towards my car, I saw this shepherd.

Mirbat

As I was approaching Mirbat, the next town along the coast, I saw these Greek-looking picnic shelters. Cool, hey!

A few moments later, some guys driving four-wheel scooters (or whatever you call these beach vehicles) drove across the sand at full speed. Looks like fun!

There were lots of boats in the harbour area in Mirbat.

This one looked very interesting, I thought.

Sadah

In a tourist brochure I looked at it said that the next town, Sadah, was a good place for camping. And sure enough, I got this lovely beach almost to myself.  It was pretty windy, though, and I had to put several large rocks inside the tent to make sure it wouldn't blow away.

The next morning, my only neighbours started fishing very early - just after sunrise. No nets, just fishing lines.

Before I started driving back to Salalah, I visited another beach just next to the one I'd camped at. I'm not surprised they recommend this area for camping. This beach actually had an abandoned village next to it - in the foreground in the picture below. I'm sure this was a great place to live when this village was inhabited.

I think what I will remember the most from my Salalah trip is the sea. I just could not get enough of all those large waves.  This picture was taken near the beach where I camped.

And this was near the beach with the abandoned village.

With my new camera and the zoom, I got some very nice pictures of these waves.

The 860 km drive through the desert back to Nizwa was actually quite busy. Now I know why Salalah is so popular in the summer.

Holidaying at Home 6 - In and around Salalah

The one thing that Salalah is most famous for is probably the frankincense threes that grow there. It it claimed that Oman produces the best frankincense in the world and that this reputation goes way back to ancient times. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) knew frankincense was harvested in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Here's a picture of a frankincense tree next to the Museum of the Frankincense Land in Salalah.

Al Balid Archaeological Site 

There is also an archaeological site in Salalah, called Al Balid (pronounced baleed). The site is on the tentative UNESCO list of world heritage sites - UNESCO link here. The Al Balid site is beautifully presented with waterways and the sea in the background.

The Al Balid site dates back to the 11th century. I walked among all the ruins - the area is quite big so it took a while. Beautiful.

Initially, archaeologist thought they had found a pre-Islamic site, but I think it's been established that Al Balid was founded about 1,000 years ago. Which is not bad.

Job's Tomb 

Ever since I arrived in Oman two years ago, different people have told me that Job's Tomb is in Salalah. As far as I know, this is the only Omani site of religious significance that predates Islam. Job's Tomb is up in the mountains, above Salalah, and it took me nearly an hour driving up those steep and winding roads - with almost zero visibility at times because of the khareef (monsoon rain/fog).

Job is actually venerated by Muslims (Job is called Ayoob in the Koran) and the site of the tomb has a definite Islamic feel to it. But Job's Tomb is obviously visited by Jews and Christians as well. The caretaker told me that the site dates back to 1,600 BC - which matches what I've seen about Job in biblical sources.

The caretaker also told me that Job built this "mosque" next to the tomb, but he actually corrected himself saying that it wasn't called a mosque back then.  I don't know what to make of this site. I know the Pyramids of Giza were built around 2,600 BC, but is it possible that this structure is from 1,300 BC? I just can't find very much online about the history of this site, and I know there's another Job's Tomb in Palestine. But, it was definitely worth a visit!

Wadi Darbat 

Next, I drove over to Wadi Darbat, a dry riverbed up in the mountains. Well, it's definitely not dry during the khareef season! This place is just so idyllic, with families having picnics and walking around this lush green area. I think what makes it so amazing to walk around here is that I know I'm on the Arabian Peninsula and that the rest of Oman is basically dry desert.

And cows!! I mean, this picture could have been taken in Europe. I just can't get over what an amazing feeling it was to drive up Wadi Darbat and end up at a place that looks like this! And now I know where we get our milk from.

The Sinkhole in Tawi Atayr 

Not very far from Wadi Darbat is Tawi Atayr. It is claimed that Tawi Atayr has the largest sinkhole in the world, with hundreds of species of birds (resident and migratory). I don't know if the authorities in Salalah have only just now discovered what a unique place this is, because when I arrived there were lots of workmen building a car park and also building steps leading down to an observation platform. I actually had to squeeze by a huge tractor shuffling stones to get to the observation platform. Hopefully, they will have finished this work by the next khareef season. By the way, I don't think this sinkhole was caused by a meteorite, but some other way. I just don't know enough about sinkholes to be able to give any useful information here.

The Anti-Gravity Spot 

My students have told me about this place, near Salalah, where it is as if the laws of gravity don't operate. You drive down this little road and then you turn off the engine and put your gear into neutral. What happens next is that your car starts rolling backwards, up the hill! Which is exactly what happened when I tried this. My car rolled backwards for several hundred metres.  Now, looking at this photo that I took, it is actually not that obvious that this road goes downhill. But I tell you, sitting behind the steering wheel in your car, it definitely looks like this road goes downhill. What do you think? Does this road go downhill?

Well, there's plenty to see in and around Salalah and I actually had to be quite selective. Anyway, next, I'll post some pictures from the coastal towns that I visited east of Salalah.

Holidaying at Home 5 - Mughsayl

The first two nights in Salalah, I camped in Mughsayl, which is about 20 miles to the west of Salalah, towards the Yemeni border (I think Yemen is 60 miles from Mughsayl). As darkness fell, the khareef was kind of lit up by the street lamps. It looked very atmospheric.

At this camping area, they had these gazebo-looking structures and I decided to pitch my tent inside one of these. This turned out to be quite a good idea since the khareef turned into a proper rainfall in the morning.

This was camping is style, I thought.  I had light and an electric power point in the gazebo so I could read after sunset and even hook up my computer and everything. Also, with the mobile phone signal strong here, I could use my wireless modem and get online.  And, yes, I have a self-timer on my new Nikon camera.

With the fog-like khareef covering everything like a blanket and the sound of the sea as a constant background noise, I snuggled up inside my tent and slept like a baby. This was the view the sea after sunrise the following morning.

Mughsayl basically has one restaurant, one camping area and one petrol station with a mini supermarket. That's it. It's not a town or anything.

Most people visit Mughsayl for the beach - the Mughsayl Bay Beach - which stretches over 4 kilometres.

I couldn't see many swimmers on the beach. This family seemed to go for the better-safe-than-sorry approach to swimming. The all sat on the sand, way up on the beach, and waited for the giant waves to wash over them. They sat near enough to the water to get completely covered by the waves but at a safe enough distance from the sea not to be pulled into the sea by the tremendously strong currents. Fascinating.

Mughsayl is also famous for a couple of blowholes. It says in the tourism literature that these water torrents can be up to 30 metres high. I never saw water cascading higher than about 5 metres, I think, though the water torrents were very powerful. They made a tremendous noise!

Hmm, maybe this one was closer to 10 metres.

In the distance, you could see these amazing rock formations. Again, with the khareef it was all very atmospheric. I don't know why, but I kept thinking about Narnia, looking at this.

And, again, the waves were really powerful, washing high up against these rocks.

So, if you ever go to Salalah, you must visit Mughsayl.

The Olympics 

There are a number of free-to-air satellite sports channels that broadcast the Olympics here in the Gulf. However, most of the time, the commentary is in Arabic.  What's worse, even though I'm paying for Swedish National TV (SVT Europa), they couldn't afford the broadcasting rights for the Olympics and won't broadcast them.  Thankfully, they changed the commentary into English on Dubai Sports 2 yesterday during the Opening Ceremony! Spectacular opening ceremony, I thought.  And - Sweden beat Argentina in women's football today. At least I can read the score on the screen.

Holidaying at Home 4 - Salalah

Well, in this case, "at home" means in Oman.  Even though I've lived in Oman for two years now, I've never been to Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman, next to Yemen. Salalah gets the tail end of the monsoon rains (called "Khareef" in Arabic) and is therefore considerably cooler than the rest of Oman. For this reason, it's an extremely popular holiday destination for Omanis and Gulf Arabs at this time of year. The drive from Nizwa to Salalah is 860 km, and the road looks basically like this all the way. You can fit in quite a few CDs and podcasts while driving 860 km, I tell you.

After about 800 km of listening to music and podcasts, the Khareef suddenly became visible. It looked like fog basically.

I drove right into the Khareef and suddenly the road looked like this!

After driving extremely slowly on windy roads up the Dhofar Mountains (the area around Salalah is called Dhofar), it cleared up a bit and the Omani landscape was just completely different from anything I've seen before. This is Oman, can you believe it?! It was like I suddenly had to change the colour settings for my eyes - it was almost too green.

Once I'd driven down the windy roads on the other side of the Dhofar Mountains (these 60 km took over an hour!), most of the greenery was gone, but the temperature had dropped nearly 20C in little more than an hour. It was unreal.  During the Khareef season, it's around 26C in Salalah - compared to 45C in Nizwa. No wonder everybody wants to visit Salalah in the summer. Salalah is a sprawling city with lots of motorways criss-crossing it. It actually reminded me of downtown Muscat (i.e. Ruwi) and I was surprised that it was so big. There are also some great views of the sea.

However, I quickly discovered that the sea is actually really rough because of the monsoon season. Virtually nobody was swimming.

Except for a few brave souls.

Driving around Salalah, I quickly discovered that you don't have to swim to enjoy the sea.  This photo was taken by the sea front in central Salalah, near to the traditional souk (market). Lots of people were standing around, just waiting for the waves to wash over them.

Many people arrived by car. Basically, they parked their car next to the sea, got out, got wet and then drove off.  Like a family outing. The girls in this picture might be more sensible than their mums or aunts, hiding behind the car.

Ooops! I think this wave was a bit too much for this lot.

Getting soaked, this family laughed for a bit and then drove off. Meanwhile, I might add, I stood at a safe distance on the other side of the road, using my zoom.  Though a couple of times, water actually splashed over all the way to my side of the road. I'm such a coward.  I just did not want my camera to get wet - at least that was my excuse.

There were also lots of people not arriving by car. They seemed more seasoned and from what I could work out - they were kind of just hanging out here at the sea front. These two Indian guys seemed to have more of an I dare you attitude, just sitting down on the pavement.

Ooops! Here we go. And, yes, I do like what my new camera is able to do. I doubt my old 1.3 megapixel Kodak camera could have caught this wall of water with this definition. Apparently, my new camera uses shutter speeds of up to 1/2000. If you want to know what camera I bought, click here.

I think this wall of water was a bit too much even for these seasoned wave viewers.

I had decided that my Salalah trip would be a camping holiday. Hotel prices soar in Salalah over the summer, with even one-star hotels charging from $80 a night - which is a rip-off in my opinion.  You can get a hotel room by the sea front in Muttrah in Muscat for $32 a night. Anyway, I've got a good tent and I enjoy camping so that was not a problem for me. 

I drove around a lot while in Salalah, visiting a lot of the villages and towns in the area, and I also drove up into the mountains a few times. Pictures of this to follow shortly. 

Holidaying at Home 3 - Wadi Ghul

My next attempt at trekking was to try and climb up towards Jabel Al Shams, one of the two highest mountains in Oman (peak over 3,000 metre above sea level). I had chosen a trekking path starting at Wadi Ghul (wadi means dry riverbed in Arabic). What happened was that I actually spent quite a lot of time looking for the start of this trekking path. In the end, I realised the fascinating village ruins I'd seen from the main road several times were also where the trekking path began. There was no sign at the road and the Oman Trekking book is not very clear about the starting point of this trekking path. (If you are looking for the trekking path at Wadi Ghul, drive towards Jabel Al Shams from Al Hamra village. Wadi Ghul is located 10 kilometres from the Shell station at Al Hamra and you'll see this village from the road just as the road makes a sharp left turn.)

It was fascinating walking through the abandoned village. I wanted to ask the locals about the history of the village, but it had already got so hot, nobody was around.

Old door frames make perfect photo frames.

Further up along the track, there was this wall that looked a bit Hadrian's Wall.

I'm putting on a brave face, but it's already very hot. And with no-one around, I have to provide my own photo opportunity.

As I got closer to the first ridge, I suddenly saw this eagle appear (I suppose it was an eagle). Amazing! I've never seen such a big bird in real life before.

At this altitude, I got this breathtaking view of the area.

The trekking path is marked with these yellow, white and red markings.

By the time I had climbed over the first ridge and reached the valley on the other side, it was so hot that I just had to turn back (I was running out of water).  By this time, I'd been walking for nearly two hours, so I think I was about halfway towards the village Al Khitaym - not the peak of Jabel Al Shams, but the end point of this particular track.

Next time, I'll probably start from the other end of this trekking path - or start my walk really early. However, it was a great walk, and I definitely want to do it again.

Holidaying at Home 2 - Sharaf Al Alamayn

I bought the book Oman Trekking in the Explorer series two years ago, but I haven't used it much. However, I looked through all the trekking paths when I came back from London and I discovered that there was a trekking path beginning at Sharaf Al Alamayn - one of my favourite places in the mountains near here (and where I took my sister by car; see below). So, I decided this would be the best trek to start with.

I actually hadn't realised that Sharaf Al Alamayn is 2,050 metres above sea level. I mean, there's this brand new tarmac road going all the way up there, with a largish parking area when you arrive. When I compare Sharaf Al Alamayn with the highest mountain in Sweden, Kebnekaise, it's actually about the same altitude: Kebnekaise is around 2,100 metres above sea level. I don't think you can drive up to the top of Kebnekaise by car. 

When I visited Sharaf Al Alamayn the first time, I thought the scenery was absolutely spectacular. However, after having followed the trekking path, I've changed my mind: along the trekking path beyond Sharaf Al Alamayn the scenery is absolutely spectacular.

The trekking path follows the edge of what is almost like a steep ravine for a while and you basically see straight down. In fact, as I slowly got closer to the edge I couldn't see anything except for what was deep down there and I decided that I didn't want to investigate whether I was standing on an overhang or not.  In the picture above, you can see the village Hatt way down there. Hatt is actually 1,000 metres below. Here's a picture of Hatt taken from the same spot, using my zoom.

Looking in the other direction along the trekking path, this is what you see. Apart from being absolutely spectacular, it's also a bit scary.

I crawled towards the cliff edge you can see at the bottom of the picture above and stretched out my camera and pointed it downwards to take a picture. This is the result.

Well, I didn't know I had such an amazing trekking experience just waiting to happen - and so close to where I live! Holidaying at home has turned out to be a really great idea. The thing is, when I'm working, I don't have that much energy to explore. I'm really pleased that I'm able to spend this much time just exploring Oman.

Anyway, if you ever get to Oman, this trek is only 3.5 kilometres and very accessible. You get to Sharaf Al Alamayn by following the signs for Hatt from Al Hamra and the trek starts at the car park where the tarmac road ends.

I'm now looking at all the other trekking paths in Oman Trekking.

Holidaying at Home 1 - The Beach

I don't know why the weather is so good in Muscat in the end of July - it's only around 32-33C. They explained it yesterday on CNN Weather as to why the weather was unusually cool here, but I missed the explanation. Anyway, I won't complain.   This is perfect for a home holiday and as it's around 45C in Nizwa every day, I go down to the beach a lot. One morning I was at the beach in Muscat at sunrise. Gorgeous. 

The tide was very low, so I could go running on the bottom of the sea.  I was chased by this dog for a short while, the only other presence on the entire beach except for me. Where are all the people?

So for a large part of my holiday at home (so far), I've just been hanging out on the beach. I swim, read a lot, sleep under my brollie or walk along the water while listening to my iPod. Or sometimes I just sit and look at the sea. My counselling psychologist sister Märit says that people live way too stressful lives these days. They need to do things like "sitting down with a cup of tea and just look". So that's what I'm trying to do and it is very restful. My view is mostly something like this - since Omanis seem to be more sensitive to the heat than an expat Swede like myself.

However, about one hour before sunset, the beach suddenly comes alive and looks more like this.

But there are obviously other beaches than those in Muscat. Some of my friends went to the beach next to Assibah village last year and they recommended it. I found it eventually. It's about one hour from Muscat but you have to go on this narrow hilly road to reach it. Once the road reached the coastline, just the journey made it worthwhile. Almost a bit like Norway.

The beach at Assibah was also worth it.

I also saw these guys fishing, sitting on an old door! I took the picture with my brand new digital camera with an x18 zoom - these guys are way out there.

Fishing is big everywhere along the Omani coast. Here's a picture I took on the way back from Assibah.

The guy in the picture quickly started working on his nets.

I'm really starting to get into this idea of holidaying at home.  

By the way, I came across this video online showing kitesurfing in Oman. Looks fantastic!! Wish I could do it.  Click on the link below (the video is good and works well in full screen mode).

Kitesurfing on Al Masirah Island