Muscat, in Oman

Thanks to Alex, last weekend we had a trip to Muscat in Oman. Alex had entered a radio competition and won us a weekend at the Muscat Shangri La - a 5 star hotel. I think I'll keep that kid!

We left early Thursday morning, and managed to find our way across the border. Easier said than done, as we had to get exit stamps from the UAE in Al Ain - but not from the first border post we tried, which only Emirati's are allowed to use. Then, exit stamps safely in our passports, we had to drive another 50kms to the Oman border post, and get visas and more stamps in the passports. Apparently, if we hadn't had the exit stamps when we got to the Omani border, they would have turned us back to go and get them....

Oman is very different in appearance from the UAE. No greener, but mountainous. Mountains with no grass and few shrubs, divided by huge wadi's (dry river beds).

Our drive to Muscat took us about 4 hours from the border post (with a stop for refreshment) and the road varied between excellent and appalling.

Arriving safely at our destination - amazingly, the SATNAV proved it's worth for once - we checked into the hotel. While we were doing the check in process, Darrell and I were brought fruit cocktails, and the kids were given tubs of Haagen Daaz - which resulted in good behaviour while in the lobby as they were too busy eating to run wild. Very smart.

The hotel itself was lovely, our rooms were great (except for the pillows - why a 5 star hotel could not provide comfy foam pillows, I don't know), but it was the pools which grabbed us. There are many pools, which serve the 3 sections of the Shangri La Hotel, and they are joined up by a Lazy River - tubes provided. A great hit with all the kids (big and small) - I was keener on the warm jacuzzi. What was great was that no matter where in the pool system we were, the staff kept bringing freshly prepared fruit and icy cold water bottles to us. I think we need to introduce this amenity in the compound!

Darrell and Alex went kayaking, the kids all joined the kiddies club, we played on the beach (disappointing - they have an algae problem), and Darrell and I went for a spa treatment (included in the weekend voucher, yippee).

The highlight of the weekend was our boat trip out into the Arabian Sea, where we saw roughly a hundred dolphins playing (our captain's estimate) and even 3 hump backed whales. Wow!

We were very sad to leave our lovely hotel, but had to get back on Saturday evening for school and work on Sunday. Our drive home was easy, except for some driving between border posts trying to reverse the whole process. Oh, and Darrell's smart idea to test how far he could push the landy without fuel... We didn't run out - we had enough petrol left to do another 3 kms when we eventually found a station. I had a bit of a sense of humour failure....

Lovely trip, would love to go back again to Oman, but spend more time exploring the country instead of just luxuriating in a hotel.