Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Musandam (Oman) - A perfect get-away

We went to Musandam, in Oman, recently for a quick get-away from Dubai before the onset of summer. Musandam, otherwise known as Roo'uoss Al Jibal in Arabic is a peninsula separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates. It is where the Arabian Gulf meets the Indian Ocean, whose waters are called the Gulf of Oman. This is the Straits of Hormuz, separating the Gulf from Iran.

The quickest way to Musandam from Dubai is by road. We first drove from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah. The roads are good and sign posted and you get there in just over an hour. We were looking for the Al Dara exit point in Ras Al Khaimah. One needs to be alert as one gets closer to Al Dara because the sign posts disappear suddenly, but there are enough people around to guide you. The road leading to the border suddenly narrows down so one needs to drive carefully.

The process of entering Oman takes about 40 minutes including the formalities needed to be completed while you exit the UAE. The entry fee to Oman is 6 Riyals per person and for some reason only credit cards are accepted at the border. Once in Oman one needs to follow the signs to Khasab. Meaning fertility, Khasab is a peaceful town lying in a small harbor at the base of Wadi Khasab in Musandam.

The landscape changes almost as soon as you enter Oman. The roads are winding but well marked and a pleasure to drive on. The road to Khasab is lined by mountains on one side and the sea on the other.

Since ours was a day trip we did not have to hunt for a hotel to stay in. We came across the Golden Tulip Hotel where we stopped for a bit waiting for the lunch buffet to start at 12 noon.

The highlight of a trip to Musandam is the dhow cruise along the Fjords of Musandam which takes you into the Straits of Hormuz through the 16km fjord (Khor) The cruise is almost 4 hours long and there are a number of dhows along the Khasab harbour waiting for tourists.

One needs to bargain a bit and we managed to book our seats for 80 dirhams per person as against the 100 dirhams we were asked for initially.

Once the cruise began the sights and sounds that followed put us in a state of speechless marvel.

No words can describe the beauty of the spectacular mountains standing out in the middle of the sea with not a patch of green on them.

These naturally carved limestone mountains come in all shapes and sizes.

About an hour and a half into the cruise we came to the part of the Strait that is home to many dolphins. Very shy initially the dolphins later got into their playful best and swam along side our dhow. They are fast swimmers, it was difficult to catch them on camera. They swam next to our dhow for almost 25 minutes and we were told that we were lucky to see the dolphins at a time when they were active and awake. At one point we had a school of almost ten dolphins close to our dhow.


The cruise then took us to Telegram island where we could swim in the sea with the colourful fish.

I was wondering if there is a story behind the name of the island but no one seemed to know anything. The water was cold and swimming in it with a float was not as easy as one would imagine. As the dhow took us back to the harbour one witnessed the shadows on the mountains and the different hues of the landscape.


A few days after our visit to Musandam my parents visited me in Dubai. It is a pity I could not take them to Musandam because the UAE does not issue multiple entry visas. Hence one needs to fly directly to Muscat and then go to Musandam to see this scenic peninsula. There are plenty of opportunities to go snorkelling and deep sea diving here, so a trip to Musandam would warrant a two day stay for the more adventurous traveller.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Suspicious Minds

I was in a bit of a pickle last week when a colleague's wife called me to keep an eye on her husband. They’ve been married just 6 months and she suspects him of hiding something from her. Apparently when with her, he avoids calls from one particular number and if she asks him anything about it he gets irritated. My job was to find out more since her instincts tell her that he is up to some mischief. Of course I wriggled my way out of this assignment but could not help thinking of Elvis Presley’s song Suspicious Minds -
We can't go on together

With suspicious minds
and we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds

As an aside, and also based on some experiences I have had in the past I wonder what it is with men? Is it so difficult to be loyal to one person?

Monday, April 12, 2010

Such is life.....

Last Tuesday my colleague Noufal received a call from the police saying that his friend had met with an accident. Even before he could reach the hospital he got another call saying that his friend had died on the spot. Noufal took the rest of the week off to fly to India with his friend's body, attend the funeral and also take care of the paperwork involved in the two countries.

I met Noufal at work yesterday and we were chatting about how unpredictable life is. For Noufal this was the second friend he lost to an accident in Dubai in three years. This friend got married just eight months ago. Noufal's wife and daughter - just an infant of six months, are in Kerala and after this incident he is under pressure from family to either return to India or to get his wife and daughter to Dubai.

It takes something like this to remind us, yet again, of how precious lfe is. I hate it when I get those 'goody-goody' emails on life, love, time etc but this incident made me think about how true they are. It also gave me the chance to look at my life from another perspective - for the time being atleast.......

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Talk about having your pulse on the city....

Heard it on the radio today that select theatres in the U.A.E. are going to telecast IPL matches live this season. I wonder if this is already being done in cities of India. I think it's a great initiative and will take the IPL fever in Dubai to greater heights. Talk about having your pulse on the city - I wouldn't mind going to the cinema hall to watch the finals on the big screen. Wonder if it would be an ad-free transmission...