From UAE to Oman

The Cultural Museum of the Emirate of Sharjah.

And its beautiful celestial dome.

Another well laid out museum.

Trebuchet for throwing things over castle walls.

Trade routes in and out of Arabia.

Scientific advancement for navigating.

The supreme court house with the fishing fleet.

This souk seller complained that everyone was talking pictures of the cat and not buying anything, so he was going to charge for the photos...

We stopped at a gas station and I noticed this driver stuck on the dunes.

Before the Oman border there was a line of about 100 transports waiting to go through customs.

Scenic viewpoints on the Oman coastal drive.

Tuesday, February 17th.

We were up early this morning. We checked out and drove to another Emirate, Sharjah, to visit the large Islamic Cultural Museum. It was beautifully laid out and had many exhibits on everything having to do with Islam, from the history, the Quran and calligraphy, to science and technology, astronomy, weaponry, arts and crafts, agriculture and irrigation. Really a fascinating history of the religion and the culture. From there we drove to another Emirate, where we had lunch in a big mall. Marsha and I had Thai food. After that we drove towards the UAE/Oman border. We drove past areas of sand dunes, and scrub land and everywhere man was making his mark or leaving it. The businesses along the roads looked like similar businesses in the developing world, cluttered and unkempt. Just before we got to Oman we suddenly came to dry rocky mountains. We were checked out of UAE easily until Jane noticed that her passport exit stamp read ‘January 17th’, whereas the entry stamp said ‘February 13th’, which meant we were leaving before we got there. I went back and told George and the local guide and they had to collect any passport that was stamped by that one custom officer, which included mine. They just corrected it by stamping over it. Then we boarded the bus again and drove across no-man’s land to the Oman border. We went into the office, they gave our passports a cursory look, kept them and sent us to the bus. Fifteen minutes later an official got on the bus, looked at us for a minute and then got off and gave George all our passports and we were off. Borders are always interesting and maybe stressful. We had about an hour drive around the mountains and along the scenic coastal road to our hotel in the town of Khasab. It is a unique and lovely complex, on the coast, that is a rustic lodge, with an outdoor pool. After checking in we immediately went on the bus to see a fort that used to defend the town and the fishery here, and then inland on a short road up a little valley to an abandoned village, which served to illustrate the basic houses that people used 50 years ago. The only thing there now are a few goats that are tended by people in Khasab. Then back to the lodge for happy hour (I had my first beer since leaving home) before we had a buffet dinner. We were all in our rooms by nine.