I've made it to Oman which is the third and final country on my great Middle Eastern adventure this is kind of a different stop for me for a couple of reasons one
if you had asked me a year ago to point to Oman on a map I wouldn't have been able to do it I hadn't heard anything about this country but I've had my trip to Dubai and Jordan that I just recently visited planned for probably six or eight months now and as I told people about it more than once somebody said oh if you're over in that area you should go to Oman as well because it's actually very close to Dubai
so to be honest I'm kind of just winging it I do have one thing that I've booked and planned while I'm here and I do have ideas of other things to do like I did some research but I don't have just like a really solid itinerary I'm just here and I'm enjoying it also I have the prettiest view right now I'm gonna show you guys what's behind me it's absolutely stunning here like
I never envisioned that the Middle East like beaches in the Middle East looks like this I'm staying at the chatty Muscat hotel and it's right on the beach and it's really really really pretty here the first thing I did in Muscat was head to the marina to join a boat tour because the Gulf of Oman is full of dolphins and if you head out early enough in the morning you have a good chance of finding some
so I found a tour and trip advisor hopped on a boat and set off from the coast the coastline of Muscat is stunning and getting out on the water is definitely the best way to see it it is such a beautiful sunset tonight I can already tell it's starting up there just this like golden igloo I knew I wanted to get out of Muscat and see what lies outside of the city
so I hired a local female guide for the day to drive me about two hours out to Wadi shab to go hiking and swimming Wadi shab is this beautiful Oasis and the whole day was such a great experience because it allowed me to learn more from a local about what living in Oman is like and she knew all the cool spots to check out and she was able to advise me on a tire for the day
I had been a little unsure of what to wear because the dress in Oman is quite conservative but she told me that regular active wear and a swimsuit was totally fine for the trip and everyone we saw out there was also dressed that way the water of Wadi shab is the most vibrant water I've ever seen in my life the saturation isn't bumped on this blog it is bright sparkling emerald green and in the middle of the desert it's absolutely spectacular
We hiked about a mile or so through the canyon before we got to the pools that you can swim through and it's a series of pools where you'll like swim for a little bit and then it gets shallow and you can walk for a little bit and then you swim some more and then when you get to the end there's this tiny little crevice in the rock you would miss it
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if you didn't know it was there and you can squeeze through to get back to this hidden waterfall and it is so Wadi Shaab was amazing if you come to Oman you definitely have to make a trip But Some Family Reasons I cannot Share Some Pool Pictures out there because it's beautiful and it was so much fun this evening
I'm catching a taxi to the mattress souk and a souk is in arabic marketplace and the mantra souk is supposed to be one of the oldest Suk's in oman and it's apparently enormous I also read that it's one of only a few soups where you can actually buy gold and it's open until 10:00 p.m. I found that things here stay open really late so I'm going to go spend my evening exploring the souk the Matra souk is definitely the place to go if you're looking for some souvenirs in Oman there are tons of sellers and you could spend hours in there and while
I definitely stood out while walking through it I didn't feel uncomfortable at all I continually found throughout my trip that the people of Oman are very polite very friendly and I felt very welcomed so I bought some things at the much resk souk I don't usually buy souvenirs when I travel just because I find that anything that's trinket II as soon as I get home it just gets like sat somewhere and collects dust but I wanted to take some pictures in some of the stores in the souk
I didn't want to go in and just like take a bunch of pictures and not buy anything so I decided to collect a few things for starters I am now the proud owner of the flashiest deck of cards you will ever see these are supposedly lab tested 99.9% 24 karat gold and a little confused because these weren't super expensive and I would think that 24 karat gold plated cards would be more than I paid for these I think I paid like $8