A sandy day in Muscat, Oman

November 16, 2012 by |Middle East » Travel|Comments (18)

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After leaving Dubai, we arrived the next morning in Muscat, Oman.  Muscat is about 300 miles east of Dubai, and pretty much the most easterly point in the Persian Gulf.  Here’s a quick refresher map:

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We didn’t have either a run or a bike scheduled for the day, and with hard run workouts on either side of this day, we set out simply to enjoy the town and surrounding areas.

We spent a bit of time checking out the main market (Souk), but after that decided to go for a bit of a walk.  We weren’t terribly sure how long we could walk for along the waters edge, but we figured we might find some interesting stuff along the way.

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While walking we were next to a coastal road, but a road which the country clearly has spent a lot of time beautifying.  In fact, that’d be the case everywhere we went.  Everything was spotless.  There were crews out and about at all times cleaning up every last bit of trash or stray dust particle on anything.

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Having been to Singapore a number of times – a city which I’ve also found spotless – this took cleanliness to a whole new level, easily making it the most clean city/town I’ve been to anywhere in the world.

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While our walk was going nicely, we found things…very…very…hot.  So we decided we’d try and get a cab and head a bit away from town (in a faster fashion than walking) towards a coastal town.  In the process we found an awesome cab driver that agreed to a flat-rate for the day, and to take us all over the place.  He spoke perfect English, and knew an astounding amount about just about everything.

We started off with the King’s palace and surrounding areas, seen below.  We got to see both the front, as well as the back which has its own private sea port.  The king here though is well liked, and has been in power some 40 years.

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We then climbed up into the mountains a bit.  In fact, everything around us was sharp, jagged mountains and dry desert.  It reminded me quite a bit of Jordan once you got away from Amman.

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We made stops along the way – once again noting just how incredibly clean and perfectly manicured everything was.  Below a rest stop with a view, but one you could also have your own little roadside (or view side) picnics.

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We headed towards what was supposed to be a small coastal village from our map, but in reality ended up being just a giant sandy parking lot:

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However, it was a giant sandy parking lot that afforded quite the view:

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So we spent a bit of time here at the beach, just laying on a mostly empty beach and enjoying virtually nobody around us.  Plus, the waters were incredibly warm.

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Behind us near the vast parking lot were the ruins of some old buildings.  Made for an interesting photo.

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After our time at the beach, we went back into the car and exploring a bit more.  We ended up at a massive (but incredibly fancy) new hotel/residential complex.  The complex has some new views from inside looking out – so he took us around a bit.

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The remainder of the afternoon was spent driving around the countryside by car and getting out and checking out little things here and there.  Pretty much exactly what we wanted.

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No big bus tour or anything, just a simple wandering around taking it all in.  A perfect way to spend a day in Muscat…even if we couldn’t fit in a run.

Next up on our vacation – Kochi, India.  And yup, our vacation explains why posting is a little slow this week.  Thanks for reading all!

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18 Comments

  1. Patrick
    November 16, 2012 at 4:22 am #1

    Ray, you may need to start a travel blog on top of your fitness gadget blog :)

    Best,
    Patrick

    Reply
  2. Bo
    November 16, 2012 at 8:36 am #2

    Who is running the bakery?

    Reply
  3. Anonymous
    November 17, 2012 at 12:07 am #3

    Funny way to start a new business…

    Reply
  4. Anonymous
    November 17, 2012 at 1:59 am #4

    You are most welcome in India.

    Reply
  5. Rainmaker
    November 17, 2012 at 7:03 am #5

    Hi Bo (and apparently anon)-

    At present, we’re closed up for about another week. Many smaller shops in Paris close down at various times throughout the year – be it summer (most common), or in the slower months ahead of the holidays (November). In fact, most of the eateries on our block are closed until early December. Unlike in the US, shops close pretty much whenever they feel the need for a vacation in France.

    That said, we’ll be open throughout the holidays.

    As a small business with only one employee (+ me, sorta), we’ve still gotta find the time to enjoy life and not be a slave to the cupcakes. :)

    Reply
  6. Rod McBain
    November 17, 2012 at 3:32 pm #6

    “..slave to the cupcakes..” – sounds a bit bondage – I not quite sure that is the image your wife would want for her new venture! ;)

    Great post about Oman, though. My favourite Emirate. The Hajar mountain range runs all the way up to the northern portion of Oman at the Musandam Peninsula and is indeed a sight to behold. The Shangri La is also a great hotel. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip. If you’re looking for potential running route whilst in S’pore it might be worth check out – link to marina-bay.sg You can combine the routes to make up runs of various lengths and as a bonus you get to run along the pit lane for the Formula 1 track on the Kallang River route!

    Reply
  7. MB
    November 17, 2012 at 10:46 pm #8

    Thanks for the report – always enjoy seeing you see new places.

    ~

    That said, and not really wanting to kick off any negativity, but . . .

    didn’t that dress get a bit of attention? I imagine Oman to be a fair bit more conservative than that. Perhaps I’m wrong.

    Reply
  8. Rainmaker
    November 18, 2012 at 3:54 am #9

    No, no issues with the dress there. We didn’t venture really indoors anywhere aside from the market. Had we gone into any religious buildings or other historical areas, we had additional longer-sleeved/pants items to put on.

    Additionally, had we ventured further outside of the main port city, we might have. But being just in the port (and mostly just in the taxi at random stops along the side of the road), we were fine.

    Enjoy!

    Reply
  9. RWJ
    November 19, 2012 at 9:18 am #10

    I hope you bought those shoes!

    Reply
  10. Ali
    May 13, 2013 at 11:59 am #11

    Hi bro

    I’m from Oman
    Didn’t know you have been here
    There are many beautiful places to visit in Oman and many sports to do.

    You are most welcome in Oman

    Reply
  11. frances
    May 12, 2014 at 10:57 am #13

    I have just been offered a teaching post in Oman. As a single lady I am wondering how the social life is , is it expensive, safe ?? Is Dubai easily accessible to it ???

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      May 12, 2014 at 6:09 pm #14

      Unfortunately my time was super-limited – only there for a day, so I’m not too up on other aspects (though, it easily accessible to/from Dubai).

      Reply
  12. Paulina
    January 30, 2015 at 3:50 pm #15

    Hi
    Great blog. Can you tell me how much you paid for a taxi for a day?
    Thx

    Reply
  13. Harith Al Kubaisy
    June 8, 2015 at 4:58 am #17

    Ray, next time you’re here, let me know forehand and will show you some wonderful running routes and then take you to some traditional Omani food places.

    Muscat can be a wonderful city when the weather is right (October to April). That said, we still run here even when it’s the real-deal summer, like NOW!

    Cheers.

    (p.s. I think you can see my email as a webmaster, use that to contact me the next time you’re here. If not, I will send you my contact details. That is the least thing I can do to thank you for this magnificent website!)

    Reply