The not so wee Titanic

I am in Belfast and everything is wee this and wee that. I originally thought we was a Scottish-only thing but watching the amazing show “The Derry Girls” corrected me in that matter. Side note: I wanted to originally visit Derry during this trip but due to me traveling off season, none of the tours are running there yet. I love the show and cannot visit the town without a proper tour of all the filming locations. If you have not seen it, this fantastic show gives you a glimpse into life of Northern Ireland during the 90’s through teenage girls. This show hits even harder because I was a teenage girl in the 90’s and I get to see what life was like for girls my age overseas in Northern Ireland.

Anyway today I am to visit the Titanic experience and tour around town. I look at the weather report and rain is expected this afternoon so I force myself to go wander around town this morning before my Titanic reservations.

I finish my morning tour of the city at the waterfront. I have to cross the Lagan Weir footbridge across the water to make the walk to the Titanic Museum. It is a about a mile walk but there are things to look at along the waterfront like Game of Thrones glass panels and a sound activated wind chime that makes sounds that replicate an active ship construction.

I finally pass the smaller boat, the nomadic, a smaller version of the same class of boat as the titanic. I will tour this boat a little later.

I get to the main building, it is designed to look like a boat, even the reflections in the pools outside are specifically designed.

I am early for my entry time and I guess because I bought the package with a guided tour I have to actually wait. I go to the cafe to try to get a cider while I wait but they have the same law as back home, you cannot purchase alcohol before noon on Sundays (I find out later that is the case for bank holidays too).

Finally it is time to start and our guide takes us to the building across the way. Normally more time is spend outdoors but it is still raining so she takes us to cover so we are comfortable. The tour I am on basically takes us through the offices of the company that designed and built the titanic White Star Line (building is now a posh hotel). We learn many things about how the boats were constructed and the workers who built it. For example, workers building the ships were not known by name, only by number and had to have access to their numbered time card at all times or they would not get paid or worse fired. Bathrooms breaks were pretty strict. It basically seemed like hard work.

Good thing I did my sightseeing before titanic because I end up spending multiple hours at the titanic so there is little afternoon left when I am done.

I start at the nomadic after the guided tour because it closes earlier. I get to see inside a smaller version of the company’s ships.

Finally I enter the main museum. The main exhibit is huge, being multi-floors and interactive. It is very thorough. There is a little ride inside that takes you through a titanic construction experience. There are exhibits about the missions to discover the wreckage years later. The museum also talks about immigration and labor history. A visit to the titanic museum can take the entire day if you tour it properly.

I make a dinner reservation for the early evening because I don’t want to be caught scrambling like I did last night for my dinner. It is at a fish restaurant. I enjoy oysters and a cod with a side of chips.

It’s raining again so I am in my hotel lobby drinking a smithwicks. As you remember I have some beer homework to do to prepare for St. Patricks Day so its all legit. I just have to force myself to stay up somewhat late so I don’t wake up at 2 am once again.

Jebel Shams plus goodbye Oman

I apologize in advance for the long post. I know its long but I just wanted to sum up the end of my trip to Oman in one more post. I am very glad I made the time to visit.

Nizwa

We start the morning with breakfast then a morning walk around the town of Nizwa. We learn the history of the town and we admire the architecture which is a mix of old abandoned buildings, some made of mud and such, and the nicely restored historic buildings.

We head to the souq and are given a tour of the different parts of the souq. We have free time to shop afterwards. I only buy a couple things but I do taste many different types of dates at the date souq. I eye the tahini making machine and a gentleman working the shop gives me a warm sample of the freshly made tahini. Being so very good I am tempted to buy a jar to take with me but I still have a couple weeks left for my travels so it is not a practical idea. I go into an air conditioned building with the upstairs “antique market”. I am disappointed because there are no antiques here, just junk I can get in the USA or other countries. I do enjoy a pistachio coffee from the shop upstairs though.

I ate camel

We stop at the home of a bee farmer where we are fed a nice home cooked meal. We actually get to try camel today. It is quite good, especially how it is seasoned with a beef like flavor. It’s funny how I will no longer ride animals like camels but I am still eating them. I keep saying one day I will break down and become a vegetarian – but today is not that day. We are also taught how to eat like an Omani – on the floor, with our right hand.

We are then served coffee, thyme tea with honey, more dates and fruit. I am very full after this meal. I try a date covered in tahini and sesame.

We head to town to visit his honey shop but only after having a nice nice nature walk.

Jebel Shams

We make our way to Jebel Shams where we are staying the night. This area is known for its Grand Canyon. Impressive on its own, it isn’t as big as the Grand Canyon in the USA, but still very nice to look at. We head from there to watch the sunset over some mountains. It is noticeably cooler here. In the evening a jacket is needed. I even stole the comforter to use off the other bed in my room to stay warm in the evening.

After dinner most of us call it an early night.

The next morning we meet for a hike along the side of the canyon. We only go a small portion of the 7 km trail but it is nice and we see great views.

We then take a very rocky road down into a valley that tests the limits of our 4×4 automobiles. Amazing views appear around every corner. We eventually get to the bottom and visit another small town. We take a short walk around. This area is called Wadi Bani Awf.

We have bought another picnic lunch and head outside a nearby snake gorge to eat. We have a few minutes to explore the path before we leave. We don’t have too much time so we don’t go very far ahead. I have of course seen things like this before but it doesn’t make these canyons less fascinating to me. I wish we had more time here.

We head back to muscat where many of us say goodbye. Some of us have one last dinner. I make my final goodbyes and go back to prepare for my 2:00 AM pickup for the airport. I am off to another country. My last before returning to the USA soon.

I couldn’t resist a Zatar croissant at the airport

Nizwa, Oman

Today we are stopping along the way but our final destination is Nizwa, the former capital of Oman.

We check out of our desert camp and take a rough ride to visit a bedioun family. I know the rough ride is to make things more exciting but the jeep (no 3) I am riding in today almost gets stuck in the sand at one point. No fear though since our driver is an experienced driver. He backs up and attempts the challenging part with more power & speed and is successful in getting us over the hump.

We stop to visit a Bedouin family and learn about how life is in the desert while enjoying Omani coffee and dates. They live in the desert most of the year and enjoy the life only leaving in the very hot months of the summer to live in the towns. Kids in the desert attend schools at the local town and are driven by a Jeep for a partial day of lessons. It seems like a hard and hot life but I admit being under the thatched covering is much cooler than being exposed outside in the desert sun.

We watch a desert beetle make its tracks in the sand.

We stop to inflate our tires for regular roads again. Shortly after we pick up a picnic lunch at a nearby supermarket to share together in a shaded park. The lunch is all the great things about middle eastern food: hummus, babbaganoush, fresh watermelon, fresh salads, and feta cheese. The picnic saves us the hassle of finding a lunch restaurant along the way and couldn’t have been a better choice. I finally find the cardamom cookies I have been craving since my visit to Jordan. I buy a bunch to share with the group.

I found cardamom cookies and bought them to share

Falaj System

We stop at Birkat Ul Mauz to check out its falaj system (irrigation system) that brings the water from the mountains to the city. We learn how it all works to keep the locals hydrated and crops watered.

We drive by a couple of sand tornados or what we call in the USA dust devil. They randomly appear along side of the highway. I didn’t really get one on film but they are interesting to watch.

Jabrin Castle

We visit Jabrin Castle, the castle built in the 1600’s by Imam Bil-Arab Bin Sultan. An Imam back then is not someone who calls prayers, it is what was the equivalent of the modern day sultan. We have a private tour where we learn how each room is used. We also learn about security tricks like holes where men stay hidden for protection or how hot date syrup came to be because it was first created to pour on invaders through metal grates.

I finished my sightseeing of the castle quickly and decided it is a good time for a bathroom break. As soon as I walk in the bathroom I feel a sharp pain on my left hand. An angry wasp has stung me upon entering the bathroom. My hand stings for a while. I borrow a companions antihistamine cream and hope for it to heal without any more intervention (it takes many days before my hand is back to normal).

Antihistamine cream is newly added to my packing list now

We arrive in the old town of Nizwa and check into a heritage hotel. The town of Nizwa is under transition: many of the old buildings are in bad condition while many are being restored into nice houses and heritage hotels for tourists like the one I am staying at. I skip all the evening activities since I am too tired and we plan to visit the town tomorrow. I enjoy my rooftop dinner at the nearby restaurant and go to bed. There is a nice display of the moon in the distance from the rooftop. We also get a nice view of the town.

Ras al Jinz

We leave the city of Muscat Oman today in three comfortable Toyota SUVs along the coast of Oman. Our final destination is Ras al Jinz, famous for its Green Sea Turtle nests but we have some stops along the way.

First stop is at a sinkhole – Bimmah Sinkhole. I have many sinkholes back home so I am familiar with the concept but I guess they are rare here and this one is close to the ocean. It is formed from a depression or collapse of the limestone. A lake of sorts has formed and the sea water mixes with fresh water. The water level changes with the tides. It is a refreshing place to dip your feet in the water, or swim as we saw others do. Just a warning that your toes might be fish food. I had many little fish nibbling on my toes as I walked in.

Next stop is to the village of Wadi Tiwi (We kept hearing it pronounced Waditouille like the movie with the cooking rat). Our guide and one of our other drivers is from this area. Even though we are close to the coast it is desert-like. Wadi Tiwi is very green since it is in the valley between the mountains. We are in a very charming village with lots of fruit trees; in fact the big crop here is dates. We visit a date farm and talk with the farmer about his farming practices. Our guide shows us how they sometimes have to manually pollinate the dates because there are not enough pollinators. They talk about how all of the date tree is used. Some of the mesh like material is used to make rope; we are given a demonstration. The branches and palm leaves themselves are used to build shelter to hide from the harsh sun. Afterward they give us some Omani tea and some thin samosas for a snack; I especially enjoy the cheese ones. We take a long walk down hill to see the town at a slower pace. As we walk many SUV loads of children passed us by. They are coming home from school. Instead of school buses, they travel in style by SUV.

We eventually get to our destination for the evening. If you remember I wasn’t too happy with our last hotel. Apparently neither was any of my travel companions. In fact, of my not so great room it appears I had the best of the rooms. We are all very curious about our next hotel choice. We are pleasantly surprised when we end up at a seaside resort. It is nice and clean. We are on the beach and there is a nice pool to take a dip. The rooms are designed like shacks but inside are decorated like comfortable tents. We are all very pleased with this hotel choice.

We get a break and some of us sneak off to take a dip in the ocean. There are loads of dead puffer fish on the beach and floating in the water; no other fish but the puffer fish. We all blow it off and get in the water anyway. It seems to be fine.

We meet for a nice dinner buffet at the hotel and then we are off to see nesting sea turtles. It is not always guaranteed a turtle will be nesting but we try our luck anyway. It is a popular night and there is a large crowd waiting already. They only let a few observe at a time when the female is laying eggs so we have a very long wait ahead of us. Finally around 10:00 PM our group is called and we head out what seems about 1km toward the sea (hard to tell the distance for sure since I am very tired at this point). I almost regret coming because the wait is so long. When I finally see the large turtle I am glad I came.

She has already laid all her eggs for the evening and now is covering up the holes and creating the diversion holes. More people can observe her now since the tricky part is done. She seems tired. It seems like a good amount of work to bury those eggs.

After we see a newly hatched turtle. It follows the guides light into the ocean. They tell us that only 2-3 baby turtles of 1000 eggs actually make it. There are so many predators and some get confused and cannot find their way to the ocean.

I am so incredibly tired by the time we finally make the walk back to the visitor center. I felt almost like I am sleep walking back. The moon is full so our path is well lit. It seems like the center never gets closer until it finally does. When I arrive I realize that half our group was split up into another group that is still out observing. I am sad we still need to wait around for them.

I can already tell tomorrow is going to be tough because I am not getting a full night sleep tonight. I hope I don’t regret this turtle outing.

Muscat day tour

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

In 2020 the Sultan Qaboos bin Said passed away. He had ruled from 1970 and oversaw the country in a great transformation. He made sure the people were well taken care of, built infrastructure and most importantly brought peace and safety to the region. In 2001 he dedicated a great mosque to the country, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It is a large and very nice mosque that we were able to visit. This is the only place in Oman where I really felt the need to cover up – Cover body and hair completely.

Opera house

We next stop at the Opera house but we don’t pay to go inside. I am not sure why, perhaps because of time. It is a very nice building.

Fish market

Fisheries are very important to the Oman economy. We visit the local fish market in Muscat. We see where fish salesmen sell their daily catch. It surprisingly doesn’t smell too bad in the market. The people who run the market do a very good job at cleaning. A cat or two wanders around waiting for pieces of fish guts to drop on the ground. They might have better luck at another market.

Back to souq

We return back to the Mutrah Souq. A few of us visited yesterday but the rest of the group did not. I am not in the mood to shop so I spend the time reading and walking around the market and surrounding areas.

Palace and forts and old town

We drive by some old forts and stop in front of the palace for a short stroll. This palace is the palace that is used for official visits. It is not a place of residence for the Sultan.

Meal with Sidab women’s group

Part of what makes Intrepid tours so great is that they carve out portions of the trip where you are able to meet with locals. Today we have lunch with a women’s group that helps support other woman and uses sewing and other skills to sell things to make money. One of their efforts is to sew interesting shopping bags to replace the disposable plastic bags used in the country. It is an uphill battle because people love their plastic bags.

We also learn about frankincense. Oman is said to have the best frankincense in the world. Now I know what those small rocks at the souq were.

Many stop at the museum but I head back to the hotel to rest for afternoon because still jet lagged. Some are meeting for dinner again at a nearby restaurant but I am still full from lunch so I skip the evening dinner.

Tomorrow we head down the coast to Ras Al Jinz.