Dar al Herfya

Today I am sharing about my favorite local place to shop.  Dar al Herfya is a shop here in MQ as well as in the airport.  They aim to bring Omani crafts to the world, and they support local families and communities through their sales.  You can check out their website to read more about their mission.

I had wanted to check them out for a while, but I finally got around to it when my parents were here visiting in March.  At the time, they were in this quirky little building in between al Noor Plaza (Costa) and al Madina Plaza (Starbucks).  They have since moved upstairs in al Madina because they will be tearing down their building to make more parking (my guess is their store will supply about 4 parking spots, maybe).  But their current location is just temporary because they are planning on moving into the new mall opening behind Costa (if it is ever finished).

The current location is small.  I was told when my parents were here that the airport location is larger with a better selection and the same prices.  I'm hoping to check out that location when I head home soon.  I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to bring back some more frankincense anyways.

Millennium Resort Mussanah (Again)

For a little summer trip before going home, we decided to head out to the Millennium Resort in Mussanah again.  It's a good little get away trip from Muscat.  It takes about 1.5 hours to get here, the rates for all inclusive are really good, the internet is fast and everywhere, and the food is phenomenal.

Ready to go zip lining!

Waiting for the other two to finish their last trip on the "hamster wheel."

Dinner at Golden Tulip Seeb

Back on Mother's Day in the Middle East (March 21st this year), I won a Mother's Day dinner for my family at the Golden Tulip hotel in Seeb.  Unfortunately, Stephen was out of town, J was battling lots of allergy problems, and the boys and I were just generally done by the end of the week.  It also took a little while to get the details on the dinner.  When I finally did, I was offered that I could come to the Golden Tulip for their special Mother's Day buffet or I could come any time before the end of April.  Hallelujah!

We ended up going over our Easter Break.  When I reached out to make the reservation, I was told that the day we chose wasn't the best because they were just offering a "light buffet" that night.  Tuesday night would be good for their seafood buffet.  Or Sunday night would be a special Easter buffet.  However, our schedule just didn't allow for Sunday or Tuesday mostly because Stephen was taking an Arabic class at the time.  So I had to insist on the Friday night that we had available as lovely as the other options sounded.  The man I was talking with (maybe the manager?) offered the buffet with maybe a dish or two extra.  I told him that the buffet was really fine with us.  So I made the reservation, and we headed out later that night.

Millennium Resort in Mussanah

Over Easter Break, one of the places we visited was the Millennium Resort in Mussanah.  Mussanah, Oman is about 1.5 hours northwest of us along the coast.  We stayed there for 3 nights in lovely relaxation, food, and fun.

This resort was recommended to us by a man Stephen does work for at PDO.  Then a friend of mine was looking into staying there with her family over the Easter Break.  She found a great deal, so we decided that we had to check it out.  She utilized a resident deal and an Entertainer App discount.  I don't have the app as you have to pay for it, and I am incredibly cheap.  Plus, she called for deals, and calling is well outside of my comfort zone.  The deal we did use is found on their website.  It was an all-inclusive option that required us to stay for a minimum of 3 nights.

Beach Camping at Bandar Khairan

The first weekend of April, our family took a last minute trip to Bandar Khairan to camp for the night.  It was probably one weekend too late for camping.  It was hot hiking in and worse packing up and heading out.  But the night was full of wonderful memories.

It all started with our plan to camp Friday night being upended by remember that I had to attend a baptism class for J that night.  So toward the end of eating dinner on Wednesday night (no school for Prophet's Ascension), we said, "Why not just go now?"  Thirty minutes later, the car was packed, and we were out the door.  We had our tent, our pillows, our sleeping bags, a couple flashlights, books, some playing cards, swim gear, change of clothes, and a bag of water and snacks.  The advantage of leaving after dinner was that we didn't have to worry about cooking dinner.  Breakfast the next morning was going to be an assortment of breads and fruit.  Easy peasy.

My boys were ready to camp!

Muttrah

I've decided that I will spell the town of Muttrah this way (as opposed to Mutrah or Matrah or any other iteration).  The problem being that vowels are fluid and imprecise in Arabic and translating from Arabic sounds to our alphabet letters is subjective.  I believe that the "a/u" sound at the beginning of the word is a bit muddled and is probably closest to the "u" in the word "mutt", meaning that I will spell Muttrah with two t's.

Anyways, Muttrah is a great place to visit when you are in Muscat.  It is an older area and where the port is located.  If you were to travel by boat to visit us, then you would dock here.  In Muttrah, there is the old souq, a produce and fish market, many mosques, forts, and a nearby hike.  It is a popular place to take visitors to get a "middle east feel."  It should, however, be avoided when cruise ships are in port.  It can just get a little congested then.

Ruwi Bike Trail

In the mountains above Ruwi (or maybe Wadi Kabir to be more precise), there is a paved walking path.  It is beautiful, paver, wide path.  There is a paved parking lot for using this walking path.  There is no paved road to the parking lot.  In fact, to get to the parking lot, you will need a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle and steel nerves.

Panoramic view from the top

Our fearless hiking leader found it because there are mountain biking trails up in this area.  Her family enjoys going mountain biking.  Meanwhile, neither of my boys has shown enough interest in biking long enough to learn to ride without training wheels.  Back to the trails... She said that her husband has only encountered other bikers up there once when there was apparently some sort of competition going on.  You can see these bike paths off the paved path as they are dirt trails.

Aint Trek Take 2

I wrote originally about the Aint Trek after exploring it with my hiking ladies.  I also wrote about it when our hiking ladies went back to do a beach clean up.  The post I failed to publish was the trip in between with my in-laws.  Spoiler alert:  we didn't make it up and down the mountain.

The boys in the first cave you come upon.

A different angle on the same cave, but where you can see both entrances.

Foodie Friday: Doganza

Before it got too hot outside, we took a walk to the other side of Sultan Qaboos to try out Doganza.  I had heard from a friend that her boys enjoyed it, and so did mine!

It is a small space inside, but we squeezed in a selfie with part of the sign in the background.

Doganza is in al Massa Mall in Qurum.  In the mall, there are other places to eat, a Haagen Dazs, a bowling alley, and stores I have not explored. Back to Doganza... The hot dogs are huge and all beef.  We are talking the foot long kind with fries that we also ordered.  The plan was to get some Haagen Dazs ice cream before heading back home, but nobody had room in their belly.

Aint Trek Beach Clean Up

One Sunday last month, our hiking group went back to the Aint Trek with the goal of taking trash bags to clean up the beaches.  The beaches get lots of trash washed up on them.  Lots and lots and lots of bottles along with some wood, rope, shoes, and about 3 straws.

From the ridge line looking down on the beaches.  The beach to the right of the nearest point is where we cleaned up.

Scuba Diving in Oman

While my dad was in town, we had to go scuba diving as he is the reason I became scuba certified in the first place.  Scuba diving is my second most expensive hobby as it will cost $100+ each excursion + cost to get there + you should dive once a year to stay current or else your dive company may not let you dive without doing a re-cert.  My most expensive hobby?  Traveling.

There are some great diving locations in Oman, and they are not packed with tourists.  If you leave from al Mouj or Mussanah, you will most likely be diving at Daymaniyat Islands.  If you leave from Marina Bandar al Rowdha (like we did), you will either be diving at Bandar Khairan (where there is a ship wreck) or at Fahal Island (which is where we went).

I was very excited to go to Fahal Island or "Shark Island" as it is referred to typically.  This is not because of sharks there.  In fact, we didn't see any sharks.  Children have taken to calling it Shark Island because it looks a bit like a shark sitting in the water way off Shatti beach.

Foodie Friday: Kargeen

I would like to start a new series that I will add to occasionally that will highlight local restaurants, restaurant chains, or homemade food that we consume here in Oman.  Stephen and I are foodies.  We may or may not have left Florida extremely early one morning so we could be at a specific barbecue restaurant by lunch.  We may or may not dream of a Psych food themed trip to Santa Barbara, California some day.  We may or may not have a growing list of food to eat when we're home this summer.

An Arabic lamp hanging in the garden.

This tree is so cool!  And it provides nice shade.   As you can see, there are also large fans that can be used for extra cooling.

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is a sight to behold and see if you come to Muscat, Oman.  Warning:  lots of pictures to come in this post.

The exterior corridor on one side of the mosque.  Two of the five minarets are also seen here.

A view over the gardens to the mountains beyond.

Royal Opera House Muscat

While my in-laws were in town, we took a tour of the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM).  It is a great building.  It is beautiful.  It features a great lineup of operas, concerts, ballets, etc.  But a tour is not the way to see it.

Royal Opera House as you enter it.  Beautiful, but be careful if you are visually impaired.  It can be hard to see any steps down or up.

The opera house is a beautiful, large building.  They spent 4 years building it.  It features the very best of materials for the design and decoration.  There are hints of Oman in the design of the chandeliers and hints of many other countries in the wood and structure.  It was constructed because the Sultan loves his classical music.  He has his own orchestra that travels with him.  He has a bagpipe band, for Pete's sake.  He holds the caliber of performances that come to Muscat to perform at the opera house to a very high standard.  So the shows are great, and you should definitely try to attend one if you are in town.

Wadi Ghala Hike

Two weeks ago, our all girls hiking group had our largest group ever to take an exploratory hike in Wadi Ghala.  This is an easy hike with it starting on a path that TAISM takes younger kids when they are doing a rock exploration field trip.  At the end of the path, the wadi starts.  At this point, it is all about scrambling over boulders and finding your way as far back as you like.  This was the fun part.

Our awesome group in a cave

We started near a hot spring "tourist attraction."  In fact, to find this hike, look up "Ghala Spring Water" in Google.  I have no idea how this tourist attraction pans out, but it does allow for parking spots.  Once in the wadi, the first pool you encounter also has hot water. We could feel the heat when we reached our hands close.  I wouldn't actually get in, though.  For one, there was trash (an unfortunately all too common problem here in Oman).  There was also quite a bit of algae.  The green, fuzzy bottom of the pool didn't look inviting.

Bandar Khairan Hike

One recent Sunday, the girls and I headed a little farther out of town to hike around Bandar Khairan (or Bandar Khiran or various other spellings or BK as I will now refer to it) to see where the paths took us.  We knew we would get to a beach, but we really had no idea what we would find.  What did we find?  A beautiful, secluded, unpolluted beach.

The beautiful beach

Riyam Hike Take 2

My in-laws are in town, and we thought a great hike to take them on would be the Riyam Hike.  Let's just say that if you do this one in the winter and/or in the afternoon, your experience will be much more enjoyable than our first, way too hot experience.  In fact, we went from it being my worst idea ever hike to a "so much fun" hike.

All smiling faces overlooking the large Frankincense burner.

This time, we were hiking in February rather than September or October.  The high for the day was only expected to be 74F.  And this time, we didn't head out until 1-1:30pm.  We were in the shade of the mountains for much of the walk.  It even got a bit chilly if we rested too long.

Muscat Marathon 2019

January 18 & 19 was the weekend of the Muscat Marathon.  Stephen ran the half marathon on Friday morning, and the boys ran in the 1k and 2k on Saturday morning.  I should have run the 10k, but it was hard to gauge how quickly Stephen and I could have found each other to trade off boys between ending his run and starting my run.  I should have signed up and asked friends to help with the boys.  It takes place, after all, in the Wave which is where many of our friends live.  Next year, I'll be running the half marathon, too.

One of the many photo op signs they brought in for the race.

For the most part, it was a very well organized run.  It was also one of the largest runs Stephen has participated in.  Not sure how it compared in size to the OKC Memorial race, but this race was large.  I believe the 10k had the most runners.  The kids runs had nearly 3000 kids running!  It was also the first time we had true, world-class runners running in the same race.  True, they were running the full marathon.  But they still finished their marathon after Stephen finished his half, and they started at the same time.  The first finisher was 2:13 (according to Stephen) as opposed to the 2:10 from last year.  One of them apparently fell, and ran through the finish line holding his heavily bandaged hand up.  I think he finished around 5th or 6th.

Al Amerat Hill

This Sunday we hiked Al Amerat Hill.  This was the highest climb I've done here in Oman at 1040 ft. of elevation gain.  It is also a windy and therefore chilly hike.  I'd recommend long sleeves and maybe even a wrap for your ears.

Panoramic view from the top.  Also note that I still rock my crazy leggings.  My vast collection has come in handy.

The girls have hiked this trail 3 times now, but this was my first time to get to join in on the fun.  It was first found via the Duncan Adventure blog.  To be honest, I was scared of this hike because I had heard about loose rocks and scrambling.  Not so bad going up, but that combination can cause me to panic while going down.

To get to the hike, you drive up Al Amerat hill.  This is a very visible road, especially at night as you see the lights zig zagging across the mountain side.  So you take the switchback up, then there is a turn off on your right that I imagine would be easy to miss.  Take that turn off, go between the concrete barricades, and drive until the road ends.  Literally.  If you walk to the end of the road, it is apparently a sheer drop off.  I didn't get that close.  There are some large painted boulders near the edge.  Just on the edge side of the boulders (a good 5 feet from the edge) was close enough for me.

Children's Public Library

Here in Muscat, there is a dedicated Children's Library.  We've checked it out once.  I have, let's say, mixed reviews.

The Children's Public Library is a large, beautiful building in Muscat.

The library is fairly new.  I believe it opened spring of 2018.  When we went back in August before school started, only one floor was open to the public.  So hopefully they have bigger and better plans for it to grow.

It has pretty limited hours as it is not open on the weekend, and it closes at 3pm during the week.  So basically, during the school year, there is no time for children to go to the library unless they are homeschooled.  Maybe as they grow they can hire more workers and expand the hours?