Road Trip!

And we're off!

Starting November 11, the children had a full 10 days off of school to celebrate Eid Al Adha - an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims.  It commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.  Luckily, God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead.  There are many interesting traditions for Eid Al Adha - but the most significant is that families will take great care to nourish and welcome an animal (almost always a goat) into their home for several weeks, and then will slaughter the goat during Eid in rememberance of Abraham's devotion.  So, if you remember from our previous discussions, there are LOTS AND LOTS of goats in Oman.  Well, now there are even MORE goats hanging about - literally hundreds of goats - looking rather chipper and hapless and not so clued in as to what awaits.  Interesting.  But I digress...

So, in true American style - Religious Holiday = Excuse to Travel.  We decided to drive all the way across the Arabian Peninsula to Muscat, the capital city of Oman.  This is about a 5 hour drive, if you don't count the border crossing.  We are traveling with our dear friends and travel companions the Bryant family.  We have 6 children between us.  Let me give you a run down of how that all turns out : 

A) Drive 90 miles. Pass UAE/Omani Border to Exit UAE, drive 20 more miles into Oman.

B) Pass through Checkpoint to Enter Oman, drive 10 more miles.

C)Arrive at Omani Border Control. Wait in line in smelly, burning hot passport office for 30 minutes.

D)Realize that passports needed to be stamped upon exit of UAE. At the Border. 30 miles back.

So, essentially, you need to do three things to exit or enter the UAE or Oman.  We blew past #1 (which had NO signage or explanation - we just thought all those people waiting in line must have not been UAE residents.  Oops, our bad.) Here is a pic of the kids stuck in Oman/UAE purgatory:



After that it was smooth sailing, and there were many interesting things to see on the drive.  The drive is a four lane road with little towns about every 5 miles.  It is entirely different from the urban hustle and glitz of Dubai, and it was fascinating to see small town Arabia in action.  Here are some of the town sights:

Note that Omani headgear is different than Emirati headgear!  They are rather jaunty little brightly colored caps.  And of course, we were not the only ones out enjoying the drive on this fine Eid.  We had many travelling companions on the road:

Muscat is not only the capital of Oman, but one of the most well preserved and oldest cities in the region.  The entire city is built into the rocky coastline, still maintains some of the original forts and an old, authentic Souk - the Muttrah Souk.  We poked around in the Souk and let the kids choose a treasure:

And like anything else in Arabia - there must be plenty of fun in the sun!  More scuba diving, plenty of pool time, and of course the obligitory camel. 

 

And time for friends - Caroline and Blake, Augusto and Deric hit the sea:

While Georgia and Olivia enjoy the pool:

After three days of sun and adventure, we trekked home.  The border crossing was even worse on the way home - we were careful this time not to blow by check points, but it was the equivalent of travelling on the day before Thanksgiving.  Live and learn!  Nonetheless, a fabulous time was had by all!

We can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and we will be home in exactly a month!  Looking forward to seeing all of you over the holidays!  With much love!!!