Muscat is the CLEANEST city in the world.  Tons of flowers and plants line the roadways along with green grass.  Quite the oasis in this magnificent area where the tall cliffs of the mountains rose up out of the sea!  Picture worthy anywhere along the coast!  Too bad we had to leave the coastal area for the desert adventure. 

Now Cunard doesn't sell tours into the slums of Mumbai so I was surprised they had a desert dune driving tour on their agenda.  Well worth the dinero we paid.  Someone was even thinking since they took a backup SUV and there were a couple of times I thought we'd personally need it.  I didn't think I'd need a seatbelt just yet but once I saw the speedometer get up to 175 kmh I started digging it out and we weren't even 'out of town.'  

The drive out to the desert was just gorgeous.  Very wide open, dry river beds with nothing but rocks and a little scrub in them.  Off in the distance you could see houses and the occasional scrub bushes covering the ground floor at the base of the mountains.  I would love to see the dry riverbeds during the rainy season!  Everyone gets a plot of land when they turn 18 years of age and they have to keep it for at least two years before they sell, if they are going to sell it.  The government decided what piece of land they will give you.  Seems like things are a little backwards around these parts.  All the lots have a nice, expensive wall around them but the lot sits empty until they can afford to build a house.  In America you build the house first and when you can afford the fence, it goes up.   

We drove about two hours outside Muscat and besides the scenery the only real big thing we saw was a small town that had a camel racing track located right off the road.  All kinds of people attending and the parking lot was full to the brim.  We couldn't see the track, only the grandstands.  

We finally came upon the desert dunes off to our right and just in time.  The drive got a little tiring and you could have almost fell asleep on the drive out but the loud, crazy-arabic music our young driver was playing kept you awake not to mention his crazy-ass driving.  I believe he heard me pray, out loud, to God a couple of times as we were passing cars doing about 90 miles an hour!  "Oh God," escaped my lips more than twice that day!  I envisioned myself having to pull out our medical evacuation insurance policy which we bought pre-trip!  Thank God was watching over all of us that day!

We finally came upon a small town where we saw rather large palm tree oasis' ringing the outskirts of the desert.  Our caravan pulled over in order for all cars to catch up and the drivers switched over to 4-wheel drive.   

The old adage of where the rubber hits the road changed that day for us to when the rubber hits the sand.  The paved road had a definite ending and the desert sand had a definite beginning.  We were well on our way to flying over the sand dunes lining the used valley road out to the 'camp.'  A couple of times it felt like we got air-born and at other times I thought the rear-end of the SUV was going to come all the around!  

We got some great pictures and a small video before our battery ran low on that camera.  The sand was flying and we were in a mad dash with the other vehicles to get to the desert camp.  Switching positions back and forth with the other cars was something right out of the movies, especially since the guy in the next car was filming us as we raced down the valley.  Even though we had seatbelts on our heads and bodies where moving in all directions.  

We had a nice lunch and got pretty close to some wild camels.  Their teeth looked like their toe nails!  Too funny but they smiled for the camera and we snapped their picture!  On the drive back out to civilization we stopped by a Bedouin encampment for some coffee and sweets.  The coffee was like a small expresso and the sweets were made of some honey and apricot mixture.

Driving back to the ship we saw more wild camels and goats and pulled into a hotel out in the middle of nowhere for a restroom break.  It was a decent hotel with a pool but let's just say I wouldn't be staying there for an extended vacation.  We stopped and got gas for .14 a liter but before you get too excited let me tell you that their money is worth almost three times as much as ours.  So it averages out to $1.20 a gallon.

In the town right at the edge of the desert we saw the only Western people (blonde haired mother, father and child) we encounter on the entire trip.  They were sitting in a mechanic's shop having their car worked on.  Not a good picture, heat or no heat, and I wouldn't have wanted to change places with them.  There definitely was a language barrier and their numbers are different.  The 2 is a backwards 7, their 6 is a forward 7, the 5 is a sideways zero with an eight being an arrow up and the seven is a 'v'.  A dot is a zero.  The road signs are in both English and Arabic and that is how we deciphered their number system.  Our driver spoke no English so I couldn't imagine what these poor people with car problems were doing for communication.

There are lots of tucked away places dripping with beauty to see in Muscat but it's probably best to have a local guide with you.  At least they know the lay of the land!  I will probably never get back to this place in my lifetime since it is so far out of the way from anything else but it is a fantastically clean city, modern, new and pleasing to the eye!  No poverty to speak of and every make of luxury car you could imagine running around town.  If you got the time and you're ever in the area it is a must see city and desert!

Sandy