Tour to Oman

Ignore the dates on the photos i have now adjusted my camera settings.

Well, the Friday arrived and i am now over my jet lag; being a Friday I have the day off. The weekends in the UAE used to be Thursday and Friday but the Government recently changed this to be Friday and Saturday to make themselves more compatible with the rest of the world. The reality of course is that unless you work in a government department, which i am not, you only have the Friday off and the other days are usually 16 hours long...Yes, that is right 16 hours.

Anyway, i jumped onto a group of hikers organised through the Natural History Group. This is essentially ran by a group of very passionate intellects, whom have lived in and around the UAE for the last 10-20 years. They are manly Canadian fellas, but the group has lots of Australian's, Canadians, German's and English.

We made it through the border check-gates at Oman and Al Ain and travelled passed the "Madonna" and famous rock formation landmark to a small oasis village ruins / now date farm. Set at the foot of some of the gnarliest rock / mountain formations, that look just like shark teeth, the village was several thousand years old and we hiked around the ruins of the former "houses" (i use the term loosely), fort and cemetery. The head stones of the cemetery are marked by an vertically placed rock at the head and foot. The locals were only small, and it was obvious where young children had died. The Cemetery was placed right next door to the stone houses, which were placed right next door to the fort.

Raiding between villages was common place up until only about 10 years ago. It was permittable for 11 months of the year, Ramadan being the exception. They would steal each other's livestock and women and children. this was thought to be good for the Arab population and it slowed the rate of inbreeding that occurred otherwise.

Of fascination was the natural springs that occurred and the methods of harnessing this water to flood their date palms, mango trees and citrus trees. Falage (a brilliantly designed irrigation system) channelling the water at a very gentle flow rate to a network of channels throughout the palm oasis. These springs are very warm, very alkaline and are derived from the foothills of the driest looking mountains and desert imaginable.

The day was really good, and it refreshed my attitude alot. Simply meeting and talking with other westerners made me feel better about my homesickness.

I logged onto a website for the international running group known as the Hash House Harriers, they meet each Monday in Al Ain in the evening to run and drink! Sounds like me on both accounts, so i will join and update all with how i go.

P.S my ironing is already better, down to about 25 minutes per shirt, to get it to a somewhat acceptable manner. FS would be so proud.