2023-1 – Arabian Peninsula

Up early to go to our cultural breakfast at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. Tasty (but expensive) experience. Sat on cushions on the floor while eating traditional foods such as chickpeas, sweet noodles, egg with tomato, pancake, bread

Arrived rather late in the afternoon so only really went out for dinner at a Nepalese restaurant near our hotel. Saw the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque with its 80 marble domes and four 107m high minarets from the highway. Next

Arrived in Doha late in the afternoon. Checked in then after dinner, strolled up to the Corniche area. Plaza of 119 international flags was illuminated and looked very impressive. Like much of the tourist sights and infrastructure in Doha, it

Super early start in Abu Dhabi to catch our flight to Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Were ready to start exploring the city by noon. Taxied across the causeway to the oldest part of the city called Muharraq. Bahrain was

Slow start in Dubai as we were quite tired. Headed by tram & Metro to the Mall of the Emirates. Over 630 shops, mostly high end and even a Tim Hortons! Checked out the ski hill and snow park just

Tackled another wadi in the morning. Drove to the trailhead of nearby Wadi Al Arbeieen but pathway up the wadi was unmarked. Headed up through the plantations, avoiding the rock scramble. Followed a falaj (traditional irrigation canal) up the canyon

Big day as it was time to hike into the famous Wadi Shab. A very popular 2 hour hike in and along the wadi to a deep pool, cave and waterfall. Hike starts with a $3, 3-minute boat ride across

Up early for a 7am breakfast then relaxed around camp until 9:30. Drove out of the desert by ourselves then paid about $4 to get our tires reinflated! Back on the highway and headed west to Sur on the coast.

Breakfast in the garden at the Omani Guesthouse then into our 4×4 to head to the desert. Had booked a desert camp for one night and needed to meet in Bidiyah to get guided there through the sands. Major 6

Up the next morning for breakfast in the guesthouse garden. Then it was time to visit the Bahla Fort about 42 km to the west of Nizwa. Bahla Fort is one of the largest in Oman and a UNESCO listed

Breakfast at our Sama Heights Resort, then hit the road just after 9am. Wound our way back down the Jebel and back on to paved road. We were headed for Al Ayn, the site of ancient ‘beehive’ tombs from around

Up the next morning for our drive up to Jebel Shams, Oman’s highest mountain at 3028 m. Decided to first check out the nearby village of Misfat Al Abriyeen, 7km north of Al Hamra. It’s one of the few villages

Drove back to the Muscat airport to exchange our rental car for a Mitsubishi Montero 4×4. Then it was time to head south into the interior Hajar mountains. Highways are excellent in Oman, well signed in both Arabic and English.

Impressive views of dry, barren landscape while flying into Oman. Crazy, 2-hour lineup to get into the country unless you paid a VIP fee of 20 OMR (~$70 Cdn). Needless to say, we waited.   Picked up our rental car

Check out our animated travel route from Vancouver to four countries in the Arabian Peninsula for our upcoming trip (100countries.info/trips/2023-1-arabian-peninsula-feb-mar-2023). The trip starts out with back to back red-eye flights, with a third flight added on at the end to