Wednesday March 12th 2008 Now the journey to Oman started. We flew with Swiss on business class. That was really  luxury. We only had cabin luggage, so it was easy. In As Seeb airport Hanne was waiting for us. We were delayed an hour. We boarded her fourwheeldriving car and then we were off. The house where she rent an apatment is huge. She rents the upper floor with a roof terrace, while an english couple rent the lower part of the house with the garden. We made a cup of coffee before we went to bed. We were so lucky to have come to Oman while they started the weekend which is Thursday and Friday. It meant that Hanne was off duty two days and she could drive us around. It was all so nice. Hanne told us that Oman had a cyclone in June 2007. This had destroyed a lot on the coast. The rainfall combined with the wind was approx. 60 cm and it caused a lot of floods especially on the northern coast. In Denmark this cyclone was almost ignored. We saw all the damage the next day when we were sightseeing. We visited small towns. Every town or village is close to the coast because rest of the country is desert.	Guestroom
	Guest bathroom <---------- Beautiful flower decoration
Dining-room	Part of dining-room
Sindbad resting	Smoke and drinking time
Huge kitchen - there is room for a ball here	Huge roof terrace
View from the roof terrace	Also from the roof terrace
Hanne was off duty, so she showed us the landscapes around Muscat. We meet some of the omanies. I say, we got our impression of these people revised.  These omanies live full from the koran, where it says, you should respect all humans and you must not steal or tell lies, and you must help those in need. It is not unusual to have them drive in front of you if you ask for directions. Addresses are not complete and no-one can read a map. They have to collect the mail at the postoffice. We took off for a small village in the mountains. The mountains are very deserted. In between you find oasises with palm trees and water. Mosques are all over even in small villages. Thousands of years ago the omanies invented a water canal system for watering the fields. They are called falajes. They are still in use today. We also saw how nicely they have repaired the roads which were totally ruined by the cyclone Gonu. To do the job they imported 1 ½ million people from India, so the process is rapidly growing. The omanies all have the important jobs like working for the gouvernment and then the people from India make all the repair jobs under guidance of the omanies.	Impressive buildings
The gates are all so gorgeous	The houses are very large
His spoiler is not at a good place - notice the gates	and right beside this house this deserted mountain
Musse and Hanne is admireing the landscape	Privat property fenched
	This watersytem is called falajes - it has existed thousands of years in Oman <----  Even the smallest village has a  Mosque
Harsh landscape	Building belonging to the falajes
Hanne told us strange sounds come from these falajes - may be this is the reason	Not very pretty compared to the rest of the houses
Oasis in the middle of the desert	More oasis
	Notice the town in the background - it is Muscat <------   One single small tree
This hotel is not finished yet - it is very close to Hanne's apartment	Gorgeous house
Now for the bargain - she bought it	Musse in disguise - the omani women dressed her up
The most terrible souvenirs I have ever seen	More of the same
Bowshar Hotel ***  - good food and cheap rooms	<---  We had dinner at this hotel. It is a three star hotel. Hanne had never visited it before, so we were supposed to test the quality of the food and service. There was absolute no-one in the restaurant and that made us wonder. We were a bit sceptical because good restaurants always have a lot og customers. Well, we ordered mixed grill with lettuce and rice. The food was in top and there was absolutely no reason for complaining. We highly recommend this hotel. It is fairly cheap and so are the rooms. The next day we had to pick up the car we had rented at Hanne's job. But first we drove along the northern coast to the town As Seeb. Often official arrangements take place here and then the Sultan is represented. We went to a coffee shop and we were at the beach paddling. We had a great day. In the evening we had to go the city centre again, where Hanne had ordered a handmade evening dress. She was going to see if it fitted. It was not good at all. They had to change a lot on the top. This evening we sat barbecueing on the roofterrace. We comsumed delicious steaks with baguette and lettuce. Next day we were on our own to discover the country. We lost our way a couple of times but it was easy to find our way home.
Beautiful road sides	Plants and trees all over - 20 years ago this was all desert
A small shopping area	Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Here the Grand Mosque behind a palm tree	New settlements  - now to restore after the cyclone Gonu and next to get turists to the country
Shed in the center of a roundabout - not quite finished	Impressive walls along the roads
Another roundabout with a tower	Entrance to ??
This road and the turn left further ahead we did many times to get home	Shopping centre
One more roundabout	Here they are making a new area called "The Wave" - they simply took a mountain, crushed it and threw it into the water
A roundabout with a boat	Beautiful beach promenade with a bench
These domes are made to give shade for people	The beach is not quite finished yet after Gonu
Mosque	And another one in As Seeb
A few places have a bit of a mess                Funny tower in As Seeb  ------------------->
Not quite ready	Goats are seen in a lot of villages
Not much traffic here in As Seeb	Time for a cold drink - only soft drinks and water are available - alcohol and beers can only be served at large hotel with a license
From As Seeb	As Seeb
This area was flooded after Gonu - now it is restored as a kind of park area with flowers	We agreed that the owner of this property has to be a shipowner. The house is formed as a ship and there are ships all over the surrounding walls and in the garden there is a statue formed as a ship
Smoking break	The foundation of a house is clearly shown in the water - this is  Gonu's doing
Testing the sea	Herons
In this huge area there had just been a festival	Ships for decorations
Barbecue on the roofterrace - great steaks with lettuce	Now we had picked up our rented car from Hanne's Company. It was a Corolla. We started out in the morning. We wanted to go to As Seeb and walk the streets there. We could shop there because there were shops all over like jewellers, tailors and shops selling fabrics so many you wouldn't believe your own eyes. We brought on this tour a towel and swimsuit, so we could take a dip in the sea. But first all the shopping. The sun is right on top of your head in Oman and you get tired very quickly. So after walking three streets we had enough and returned to the car. On our way back I bought a small trolley for handluggage. The price was only 13 CAD. It is great and it has a compas in the handle. I think it is not placed correctly because north moves around all the time. We cannot use it for directions. Well it looks good and that makes it easily recognized. Now we were looking for a good spot to swim but all roads does not lead to the ocean. We had to turn around a few times before we found a good spot. En route we saw a lot of small mosques and pretty buildings. At one point we ended up by a tower with a guard. We knew that omanies cannot read a map but I tried anyway. The poor guy didn't even know where he was according to the map, so this was not a success.
Our Corolla	On sightseeing in As Seeb
Mosque in As Seeb	The tower where we asked for directions
The two houses are neigboures -	impressive compared to the areas around here
Here a bit of the surroundings - there is a goat in the garbage can	Here another artiste - it is fabulous on its hind legs
School children - smiling and sweet - everybody said "How are you?"	This was the poorer part and actually the only one we saw
Very beautiful roundabout	Here we were swimming - not a soul on the beach and the water was turquoise this day in The Golf of Oman
The children have a good time. They go to school from 7:30 am till 1 pm	This morning we got up early. The plan was to visit Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, or Grand Mosque, as they usually call it. There women have to be dressed like muslims - meaning - only face, hands and feet can be seen - everything else has to be covered. We managed that too. If you are having problems with the scarf, muslim women are ready to help before you enter the mosque. It is huge this Mosque, and it is built from marble coming from Iran and Italy. It covers 40.000 squaremetres and has room for 20.000 muslim worshippers. The hall has 35 Swarovski crystal chandeliers, and the largest in the dome weighs 8 tonnes. The dome is 50 m tall. The carpet is handmade in eastern Iran in the provinse of Khurasan. 600 women used 4 years to complete the carpet. It weighs 21 tonnes and has 28 different colours. The Mosque was opened in 2001. This evening again we had to go into town to see if Hanne's dress was ready. Still it was not what it was supposed to be so they had to change it again. After the fitting we went to a shopping mall. Then we went back home. Hanne prepaired a duck and there was smoke all over the kitchen. Thank God she hadn't a smoke alarm connected. The duck was very tasty.
Sultan Qaboos  - he is a handsome man and he has smiling eyes	Here starts the visit to his Grand Mosque
	Here you see part of the carpet and a marble pillar
	This is the biggest of the chandeliers - 8 tonnes
Here you really can see the carpet - 600 women used 4 years to  make it                              Just above the door so elegant ornaments ------>
This is the backside of the mosque - here trees have been planted. There are also flowers in many colours.	A blue cross means that this tile needs to be replaced because of cracks - there were a lot of blue crosses
	Musse in disguise Muslims have to be clean when they are praying. Here the washroom also made from marble
	You can just catch a glimpse of Inga On this photo it is not easy to see it is Inga
Lunch in the mosque area	Hanne's apartment and our Corolla
Walking the park opposite the apartment	Also from the park area - notice the gates in the background
Houses in the area	Gates black and white
They have a lot og large houses here in Oman                       A bit unusual this red house ---->
Flowers and trees near all the houses	The door to the flat below Hanne's
Tuesday we were supposed to go for a boattrip. We had arranged to be picked up at the turist parking lot behind The Grand Mosque at 7 am. Everybody can find this spot even these stupid danes. Our guide is Yousuf and he is a young guy in his mid twenties. He is charming and smiling. He took us for a tour to the Royal Palace and to a small fishing village named Haramel. but even if it is small it has its own mosque. We took some photos on this roundtrip and Yousuf is a good guide. We had paid more than the normal price for a taxi drive to the marina, but with the sightseeing it was well worth it. We are, it seems, going to look for dolphins and to a coralreef where we can swim with a snorkel. We are sailing in a glassbottom boat so even if you don't swim you can see the fish and reef through the bottom of the boat. Only when we boarded  we were told about the swimming so unfortunately we didn't bring a swimsuit. Well now we know if we come back. We saw a lot of dolphins. Suddenly my camera was dead. I couldn't turn it on, and it was not the batteries. I had my cell phone with camara with me, but this was dead as well because of water (that was not the problem with the camara). This evening we were going to the Souq (large market) in Muscat. We had dinner on an indian restaurant, it was cheap and good.	En route to the marina for a boattrip
	Roundabout with a fountain
Museum	Al Alam Palace
Al Alam Palace	Haramel - a small fishing vilage
But they too have a mosque	Goats on the mountain
The marina	The wake from the boat - mountains in the background
You can just catch a glimpse of a dolphin to the right in the picture	Here the dolphin is a bit closer
And here some dolphines very close to the boat	The old gate to Muscat old town
I believe this is a  museum	Liwatiya quarter, house of Shia sect
	The main entrance to Muttrah Souq  (market) <-------  The Sultan's ship
The last couple of days went with relaxing before returning home. Wednesday night where were leaving we had dinner in a Beach Resort  where they have a huge buffet with everything from the sea. It is right next to Intercontinental Hotel on the beach. It was the more expensive dinner we had on the whole tour, but not expensive compared to danish restaurants. The price was per person 50 CAD without drinks. The desert table cannot be described. Some days this large resort do not serve alcohol, beers and wine and this day was one of them since it was Mohammed's birthday so we had water and juice. After this dinner we went for the airport just to find out we were off loaded and had to wait till the next day. Swiss staff was so kind and listed us for the following day and they told us they would check our luggage all the way through to Copenhagen, but we needed to get a boardingcard in Zurich. We returned to Hanne's place for one more night. Thursday Musse and Hanne went on a shoppingtour but I didn't feel to see more shops or markets. If somebody is wondering about the photos taken after my camara collapsed, then I can inform you that my cell was ok after drying up, so the pictures are taken with the cell. It was a great tour but hot (33C during the day in the shade and 28C during the night). The humidity was low (30%) at this time of year so it was not too bad . We thank Hanne for her hospitality.	Nora - Hanne's maid - she is from The Philippines