Earlier this month I had the most awesome opportunity to travel to the Middle East and hang out with my peeps. Nov 15th, Jess and I took off to Muscat, Oman
to meet up with our favorite straights in the world (who are tied with my bro and sis-n-law).Here we are in the Miami airport awaiting our 777 to London.
We look tired, rightfully so, I dragged us outta bed at 5 a.m. cause I'm evil that way. After a million + 1 hours up and down we arrived at SEEB airport on the north side of Muscat.
Once we got through all the customs and immigration jazz, we realized our luggage didn't make it with us. Oops! So we headed out to the front of the airport to meet up with our straights. And boy were we totally happy to see them. It was past midnight at this point, so we were ready to crash hardcore. Oh, yeah, that's past midnight now Nov 17th (you do the math). Muscat is 10 hours ahead of Houston. It wasn't too difficult adjusting forward.Our first day in Muscat was crazy busy. We did sightseeing, went through culture shock, started familiarizing ourselves with the area. And around 10 a.m. we visited the only Mosque open to non-Muslim visitors.
In order to visit the Sultanate Qaboos Mosque we are required to cover ourselves from head to toe being as that we are of the female persuasion. Well, not really to the toes, it's actually that you must cover your hair, and everything from your shoulders to your wrists, and down to your ankles. You can show your feet. It's really hot there, so any little bit of non-covered skin is greatly appreciated. After we went to the Mosque, we went down to the Souk 
where the locals sell wares of all sorts. 
We heard over and over, "Pashmina, ma'am Pashmina? Nicest here, best price." After an hour or so of that, we had gotten our fill of Frankenscense and Pashmina so we left the Souk and then decided to locate the Harley-Davidson dealership in Muscat. It's actually really cool to me to be in a foreign country and have American made products be sought after. So here is the H-D dealership.
When we were leaving the H-D shop, I realized that a bike had come up while we were in the shop that was pretty crazy identical to my friend Amy's bike, so I of course had to take a picture of the bike to 1. show her what her bike would look like with an Arabic license plate and 2. what her bike would look like if I took a pic of it (ha ha ha) ...pretty darn sexy is all I can say.Well, the next cool thing that happened was we happened to be in Muscat at exactly the same time that an H-D Middle East Rally was scheduled to occur. In fact, it was the 8th annual event, and I was able to get this pic of me taken before the rally started.
Okay, 1. How crazy cool is it that we were there at the same time as the rally? and 2. How crazy cool that our peeps lived about 1/4 mile away from the hotel that was hosting the rally? We actually got to walk down to the hotel a few times during the week and see the bikes growing in number as more and more folks arrived.A few days after we arrived, Jess was scheduled to have LASEK surgery. I had the fortunate opportunity of driving her to the Muscat Laser Eye Center. When I got in the car, I found it amusing that the side view has the same "object in mirror are closer than they appear" as our American cars but in Arabic.
Anyway, I'm sure anyone can take a picture of a side view and then claim they were driving in the Middle East, so I begged Jess to take a photo of me actually in the driver's seat while we were driving around the McDonald's. 
There I am in Jason's Land Rover. And let me say...that car ROCKED. We went off-roading a few days later and I learned to have great respect for that car as it helped us maneuver down some pretty steep crazy terrains at times. But before I get into the off-roading experience, here's a shot of the British planes flying over our peeps house in honor of National Day. Not too long after Jess had her eye surgery, we got to go up to the rooftop, listen to some 80's tunes, and see an amazing display of planes flying right overhead. 
The next great adventure we had was going out off-roading as I mentioned earlier. This was fantastic. We got to drive through tiny villages, with pathways so small we had to pull the sideview mirrors in so they wouldn't be knocked off. There were times we weren't sure there would be a road once we crested a mountain top. A few times, Jason got out of the car and checked for a road. A few of those times there wasn't a road so we had to back up. Well, at one point in the journey, we came upon a place that was so quiet, so peaceful, and so beautiful. We stopped to capture some of the beauty.
This place is called Wadi Tiwi. We took about a 2 hour drive from Muscat, on and off road, as some of the roadways had been washed out during the summer due to Cyclone Gonu. Wadi is just another name for a river bed or water way. As you can see in the pictures, there's no civilization, there are no telephone poles, no towers, nothing. It is very quiet there.
It was really neat to stop for a few moments and see some of the insect life. I saw my first red dragonfly. I love dragonflies. I believe in the Chinese culture, dragonflies are a symbol of good luck. 
I was wondering around Wadi Tiwi a bit and Jason happened to snap this photo of me being a bit graceful.
Pam was nice enough to pack us a sack lunch that day, so once we had something to eat, it was time to continue on in our journey. From the Wadi, we tried to find the white shores on the coast. It just seemed like we were having a hard time since the waters had receded out so far. It had apparently been a really hot and dry year (minus the cyclone) so the water was way way out. While we were searching for a place to get back on the highway, we randomly ran in to some wild (not-so-wild) camels.
Jess' only request really while we were in Oman was to get to ride a camel. Well, we didn't get to ride a camel, so being able to see a camel in the wild was even better. There were 4 of them. And actually, they were just as curious about us as we were of them. When we first saw them, I don't even think Jason could get the car completely stopped before we were jumping out trying to get a better view of them. All 4 of them, came up to us so closely that we thought maybe they were going to get upset and spit on us, so we started backing off.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with a few of our peeps' peeps. They are other ex-pats. It was a lot of fun.
Then the following day, we went out on the boat. So here I am on the boat, lookin' just too sexy in my shirt...
So I took it off and hopped in the water :) hence the name of this blog. When we left the boat, we were walking back to the SUV and happened to run into this little gem of a car...
Okay, I didn't even know this car existed. This is the Rambo Lambo and it is a special order car. I've been told that the Saudi army drives these SUVs exclusively. Well, my final contribution to this particular blog will be a shot of Red Bull and Coca~Cola. Just like the side view mirror, I'm intrigued by the Arabic writing.
The only other thing I can think to write is that I was completely shocked by the culture. But it was a pleasant surprise, not a shock like I was appalled and didn't feel comfortable and didn't want to be there. Quite the contrary. I thought that the culture was intriguing. I was a little surprised by the metal burqa and leather burqa that we saw. It was hard to not react to the sight. It was hard to hold the expression in my face very constant as I sat next to the ladies wearing them. But it was also amazing that someone would find comfort in such garb. I always say, "to each his own". I hope that they ladies truly do feel that it is their own and not that they are adopting something they don't truly believe in. I am glad to be back on American soil. Though I do not agree with all the customs, ideas, or traditions of America, I do agree that it is one of the greatest lands and I'm happy to be home once again.
