Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Dubai - Doha (Day 8 - Final)

(above, muttrah corniche at night)

Finally... hari terakhir our trip to UAE dan Oman... hari terakhir ni, kitaorg ada separuh hari je, by noon nak ambik flight... aku plan utk cuba the new train system kat dubai. Aku ingat kan dah extensively open rupanya cuma beberapa stesen je buka. although station dia cantik and i can see the connection between the lines and system satu tiket (not like malaysia) tp location of the station tak lah yg terbaik. aku g ke dubai mall dr apartment, station dubai mall/burj khalifa tu agak jauh, kena tunggu shuttle and shuttle tu like 15 mins satu. so, aku tak sempat pun pusing2 mall tu to shop hehehee... sempat dok situ 15 minutes je... spend like 1 hour plus utk travel to the place, kalau drive pun cuma 20 mins (on weekeends' morning).

so... utk wrap up for the trip, aku rasa sgt bersyukur atas kesempatan aku bawak parents aku jalan2... Alhamdulillah... mmg aku berangan nak buat trip macam ni.. next, kalau ada rezeki, nak buat roadtrip kat New Zealand, together with my bro's family insyaAllah (harap2 dapat g tahun depan :-).

to wrap up... here are more pictures of the trip... such a personal and memorable for me...

muscat - bar al jissah...
nizwa (with kg tinggal kat belakang tu)
nizwa - over the top...nizwa - the gorge and wadi...bahla - the fort yg tak buka2 tu...wadi dhar - certainly the best pic ever... :-)dubai - with my brother

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat - Sur (Day 5)

Last day kat Oman sbb esok nya dah nak balik ke dubai... i planned to search for wadi... among all wadis aku baca yg paling senang nak access is wadi shab. jaraknya dlm 190km dr Muscat. Kena lepas wilayah quraiyat and menuju ke pekan tiwi... wadi ni mcm 1km before pekan tiwi.
the first part of the journey, dlm 1 jam pertama keluar dr muscat, kena lalu bukit2, jalan antara 2 bukit sampai ke pekan wilayah quraiyat. lepas quraiyat tu, br akan jalan landai and kemudian lalu jalan pesisir pantai. the road was excellent... 2 motorway no toll :-) sejam setengah kitaorg sampai. and disambut dgn view ni...kita kena seberang sungai kecik ni, caj dia RM2 satu hala seorang, bukan nya kena kayuh pun sampan tu, dia tarik ngan tali je...
then lepas seberang tu... kena jalan kaki for abt an hour..tak terasa jauh... sbb view yg cantik n tak pernah nampak sebelum ni... plus jalan2 ngan parents aku... sambil jalan sambil sembang... walaupun panas... jugak lah..
takde benda aku nak tulis pasal wadi ni... biar gambar je menceritakan betapa cantik nya tempat ni...
tp aku tak mandi pun kat sini... we had picnic n lunch kat sini n balik semula ke kereta. and singgah kat pekan sur for solat... (masjid kat gambar bawah tu)
lepas tu, aku menuju ke bandar sur. such a bad idea... takde apa2 pun kat sana, just normal bandar... terus balik ke muscat, sampai muscat pun dah malam... terus dinner... and rest early, sebab esok nya dah nak ke dubai.

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat - Nizwa (Day 4)

hari ni kita org g ke Nizwa. its about 190km from Muscat. I came to Nizwa masa buat roadtrip 2 tahun sudah, now i nak bawak my family plak. yg utamanya, nak g ke jabal shams, the highest point in Muscat (and gulf kot). and surroundings lah..

Perjalanan ke Nizwa mengambil masa sejam setengah. jam 10.30 kitaorg dah sampai Nizwa. since it is still early, we opted to stop kat Nizwa Souq and aku pun decided utk masuk Nizwa fort sbb masa aku dtg dulu aku tak masuk pun fort ni. said to be the largest in Muscat.
Nizwa ni famous for its pottery kot. kat souq ni penuh ngan pasu tanah liat... mcm pekan kuala plak. souq dia agak besar i.e. ada souq sayur, binatang and ikan kat satu tempat. tempat ni meriah especially before hari raya korban, sbb org2 berebut beli kambing.
Nizwa ni i think 2nd or 3rd largest town kat Muscat ni (tak sure mana besar, Nizwa or Salalah). tp, town dia mmg centered kat souq yg bersebelahan ngan Nizwa fort yg sebelah nya ada jame' (masjid). so... 3 ni lah center town Nizwa. gambar kat atas tu taken from the fort, nampak masjid dia and the residential area.

lepas went through Souq, kitaorg g ke fort. a good one indeed. aku rasa kagum sbb very informative, something yg aku tak expect kat negara2 arab ni. and mmg ramai pelancong org putih kat sini. fort kat doha ni, no where near ngan fort ni. siap ada tunjuk mcm mana depa trap org masa perang and ada videography sebelum masuk ke fort. its something normal kat european countries, but kalau kat negara gulf ni, information mcm ni mmg takde.spend a good 1 hour kat fort... then we all terus menuju ke jabal shams i.e. abt 30km from Nizwa town. hari dah tengahhari, we ate snacks kat dlm kereta je.nak naik ke atas tu ada pavement road... but not to the peak, dlm 7km akan lalu gravel road. tu lah sbb i have to rent a 4wd. kalau tak, tak sampai ke atas. but apparently masa aku kat situ, ada plak kete sedan dengan beraninya drive sampai ke atas...
on the way tu, we did few stops for picture taking session... seriously beautiful... bila sampai kat atas, sibuk plak tgk bawah... ada gaung (kata org perak) or canyon... a deep one indeed... sapa gayat tu, tgk dr jauh je lah...terjumpa plak pakcik ni yg aku takpaham... sama ada minta duit or jual batu or nak caj kalau ambik gambar dia...utk trip kali ni, aku go to other points yg aku tak pergi masa aku dtg dulu... lepas settle tgk semua, kitaorg turun and solat kat small village kat kaki gunung... actually semua org dah lapar... snack pun dah abis... hehehe...

mlm sebelum g nizwa ni, aku sempat g kedai buku n aku baca there's actually a better place to enjoy the gorge and the canyon, i.e. ikut jalan bawah, lalu wadi an nakhar. aku tak g area tu sebelum ni, so i determined to try out. lepas solat, terus aku ke situ.. even masa org dah berlapar. based on the book, it is less than 7km je nak sampai bawah tu...but utk ke tempat tu, mmg lagi tough., kena ikut jalan kat kampung yg kitaorg solat tu. first kena pass by satu kampung tinggal/lama then br continue ke wadi... jalan dia dr batu2 bulat2 yg kecik mcm batu sungai. so u rasa the terrain mcm keras but terperosok ke dalam... aku belasah je lah ngan 4wd tu.. n jalan sempit... kalau berselisih mmg ngam2... since the road was not that good my parents dah suruh2 patah balik je.. until lah sampai section wadi yg cantik... depa decided utk turun n ambik gambar...lepas ambik gambar depa kata jom patah balik, cakap jalan tak elok lah.. dah lewat dah lah... hehehe... but i moved on :-) ... i wanna reach to the end hehehe... (aku pun tak tahu apa ada at the end). but from the view so far really amazing... so aku continue sampai lah terjumpa a group of archeologist (dlm gambar atas tu) yg cakap depan tu dah kena tutup... and aku kena pusing balik... archeologist ni tgh study batu2 kat situ... since kena patah balik ngan ruang yg sempit n jalan berbatu... mmg buat kereta tersangkut, so depa lah yg tolong tolak kereta... hehehe... seriously i can say the view from wadi ni is as good as on top and at certain part even better... :-)
out of the wadi kitaorg g ke bahla, singgah ambik gambar fort bahla then to jibrin castle, pun ambik gambar kat luar. Bahla fort masih ditutup for refurbishment, jibrin castle pun dah tutup masa tu, dah sunset pun... anyway, i've been to the castle and it is not that good. in about sejam setengah br sampai muscat. sbb semua dah lapar, i've decided to go to thai restaurant, senang nak pilih makanan... and nasib baik sedap, my parents love them... that's the end of day 4 (day 3 in oman).

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat (Day 3)

The apartment provided breakfast, so senang lah tak payah fikir pasal tu kan... we started the day around 9am... breakfast n the first place we went was the the museum. Aku decided bawak depa g museum dulu, sbb i think it is better kita tahu overall cite negara tu, br blh appreciate more. plus, aku rasa the museum (bait al baranda) is one of the best museums in gulf (ni my personal opinion). and plus museum tu pun dekat muttrah, depan corniche n sebaris ngan souq...right after museum tu, terus je menuju ke souq muttrah. spent good 2 hours there. souq ni tutup everyday dr jam 1pm to 4pm... so kalau plan nak g sana, make sure take note on the opening hours. aku dah 2 kali pergi souq ni sebelum ni, tp kali ni first time aku tahu yg ada gold souq gak.. and ada lagi banyak small alleys yg aku tak g... aku jumpa semua ni sbb aku sibuk cari mana lah mak aku ngan makcik2 tu sesat... hehehe...masa kitaorg kat souq tu, ramai giler org2 putih yg maybe dtg dgn cruise. gile ramai... sesak gak lah souq tu. on items yg jual kat situ, basically byk yg sama mcm kat doha, therefore tak lah aku beli apa2... yg special benda kat sana n tak dapat kat sini (yg aku tahu) halwa muscat (kalau org perak, mmg ada halwa maskat masa org kawin, so i guess ni original halwa muscat) dan komma (its the kopiah yg org omani pakai mcm pakcik dlm gambar bawah ni). lepas shop, sebelum pkl 1, kitaorg g cari lunch. we had arabic lunch for today. since masa kat doha, my brother tak merasa pun nak makan makanan arab, so now nak try lah... tried omani traditional dish (apa ntah nama nya) n mandy (ni asal from yemen). very nice restaurant near Qurm Park. Lepas lunch, straight g ke Masjid Sultan Qaboos (ye, yg ada carpet paling besar dlm dunia) utk solat zohor n asar.it's 3pm... mostly kedai tutup... so apa lagi... sessi bergambar lah.. since muscat/muttrah ni cantik... almost everywhere good utk ambik gambar... of course, we have to see the Sultan Qaboos Palace...and Bar al Jissah...and Corniche...
Since my dad still agak demam, we end the day early and my mom cooked for dinner... dia mmg beriyer nak masak. :-) anyway, if u have only a day in Muscat, i guess my itinerary here mmg suit for 1 day trip, maybe u can change to do souq later bila dah malam n siang lepas museum tu, blh lah g tempat lain... perhaps, g tgk dolphin. (i did the dolphin trip dulu, so tak nak buat lagi dah. yup, i saw dolphin, tp tak byk).

Roadtrip : Hari 3 - Hari 5...

Hari ketiga

Baru lah berkesempatan nak membuat lawatan.... tak de plan utk travel jauh2 except by petang nak ke Muscat which is 2 hours away from Nizwa.

First place nak pergi... Jabal Syams. approx. 3000meter above sea level... the highest point in Oman... and ada 2nd largest canyon in the world!!! dari jalan besar 38km je... nak ke jabal syams, kena tuju ke Al Hamra i.e. antara Bahla ngan Nizwa... from there ikut je lah jalan tu... ooopss... GPS tak de pun tunjuk camner nak ke sana.. so guna guide book je. On the way to go up to the peak, kitaorg nampak satu kampung tinggal kat wadi ghul. tak tahu kenapa kena tinggal... but the village is so unique... umah2 mcm dipahat dr batu bukit je...

dr 38km tu.. rasa nya 28km jalan tar... lagi 10km... jalan batu2... so 4x4 is recommendable... perjalanan dlm 1 jam je... tp ada various places cantik ambil gambar... so we spent almost 4 hours naik dan turun... view from above... Masya Allah... marvellous!!!

lepas turun dr Jabal Syams, kitaorg nak g ke Bahla Fort dan Jibrin Castle. Pekan Bahla ni famous for its pottery and fort, and fort ni consider the biggest in Middle East and now under restoration. it is also dibawah UNESCO preservation pun. selain tu, Bahla ni famous among arab2 as centre of Black Magic... apa yg magic nya aku pun tak tahu... tp mmg area ni byk jin kot.. and org yg jaga jin... :-)

tp bahla fort ni tak leh masuk pun, tgk dr luar je. but we managed utk masuk kat Jibrin Castle. said to be one of the finest castle yg masih preserve kat mid east. it's huge and beautiful... but similar with other old fort n castle kat qatar ni, there's no information kat area tu yg kita blh baca utk admire the place more... so dtg.. tgk buta2 je without info... ambil gambar n balik ;-)

around 4 kitaorg g terus ke Muscat... and what a good timing... abe, akak n kimi sampai ke muscat 30 min lepas kitaorg check in hotel. depa bertiga ni naik flight ke abu dhabi then br meet up kat muscat ni. depa tak dpt cuti awal, so lain skit plan nya... terus jadi havoc when depa join the group... and mlm tu kita org g corniche... ambil angin.

Hari 4

Sebelum bertolak dari Doha, we tot that hari ke empat ni, i.e. 8hb December ni hari raya haji. so we expect semua kedai tutup. and it is hari raya haji for orang2 kat Malaysia, kat Doha, kat UAE, kat Saudi... and almost for everyone all over the world. tp... Sultan Quboos kat Oman ni, tak declare raya haji for Oman, 9hb br Oman punya raya haji... katanya tak nampak anak bulan. So blh lah kitaorg g souq :-) and kedai2 pun buka :-)

Hari ni... concentrated on Muscat. I've been to Muscat before... so senang lah skit nak jalan2 around... basically i know some basic city orientation lah kan... in the morning, we had breakfast kat D'arcy cafe kat Qurm beach near inter-con hotel... lepas breakfast ambil gambar kat beach... biasa lah... tu je main activity... bergambar... bergambar... bergambar... non stop... tp abe dgn sukarela nya nak try buat stunt... and try buat lompatan dr tangga, dia tak bg pun org ambil gambar sbb katanya nak try je dulu... alih2 dia jatuh tergolek... dah lah gambar tak ambil sesia je stunt dia... tp dia bukan je jatuh tergolek, siap sakit kaki lagi.. at first we tot sekadar terpelecok, tergeliat some sort like that... tp bila petang g hospital rupanya tulang retak... tu lah bahana org tua yg masih ingat dia muda... hik hik hik...anyway, lepas Qurm beach we went for short and quick shopping kat Souq Muttrah... then pastu camwhoring kat depan Sultan Quboos Palace... kat situ je dah penat photographer kitaorg ambil gambar :-) then... pusing2 town sampai ke Bar Al-Jissah... and lepas dr abe diplaster kat policlinic, before balik hotel, we went to the Masjid Sultan Quboos. (for more pics of muscat, ada kat dlm my previous trip to Muscat :-) )

Hari 5

Another long journey today... we travelled to Musanddam dari Muscat... cover approximately 560km!!! took us about 10 jam... with 2 hours kat 2 borders... we have to cross Oman - UAE border kat Hatta.. then cross semula UAE - Oman kat Tibat.

Since hari ni hari raya haji in Oman... jalan agak lengang which is good for us lah... cumanya nak cari tempat breakfast lah susah skit.. hehehe... we end up had breakfast kat Sohar Beach Resort... :-)

So close...

Taufan Gonu, yang semua orang tahu, melanda Muscat Oman... geographically tempat tu memang dekat dengan Doha ni... in fact aku dah pergi pun...

dan hari ni ada kawan aku forward these pics (tak tahu lah mana source dia) kesian sungguh tengok orang yang ditimpa bencana... dan sebab aku dah pernah pergi tempat-tempat ni... kesusahan yang mereka alami... feel so close to my heart... aku berdoa agar keadaan kembali pulih seperti sedia kala... dan semua bertambah selamat... Semua kuasa Allah...

aku makan kat McD ni on one of the days masa aku kat sana...

Kebetulan ada gambar yang aku pernah ambil dulu.... ni gambar masa aku kat sana....

dan selepas taufan... ini jadi nya....

gambar deretan kedai ni tak der lah aku ambil... tapi aku ingat pernah window shopping kat sini dan the following adalah gambar kedai yang menghadap deretan kedai ni.... (rasanya lah, kalau tak salah aku)

masa kat sana dulu, ada aku terbaca dalam surat khabar berkenaan tsunami yang dijangka melanda Muscat. Ramalan menjangkakan tsunami melanda 3 hari sebelum aku sampai sana... tapi setelah 3 hari tak jadi apa-apa pun...

rupanya ramalan tu kurang tepat, namun tetap menjadi. mungkin rezeki aku dapat menikmati keindahan muscat, rezeki aku taufan ni tidak melanda masa aku kat sana... Alhamdulillah...

Simpati aku kepada mangsa taufan... Alfatihah kepada muslims yang telah pergi semasa taufan...