Salalah (lalala), Oman

Back in Oman, and better weather this time too. My parents both had to escort their first tour so I was going to have to decide which one of their buses to go on. It was like choosing the favorite parent. Luckily, I didn’t have to because one of my entertainer friends, Joy, was escorting so I went with her instead. Heheh. The tour was a general overview of the area and our first stop was at the prophet Job’s tomb. The tomb, which was basically a room with a shrine, was no where near as exciting as what happened on the way there…


Camel jam!

Next, we went to a local market selling mainly frankincense and frankincense products. Curious as to what it was, Joy and I purchased what turned out to be frankincense gum meant to ease stomachaches. It tasted like bad coffee and had the consistency of silly putty. I’m thinking it’s an acquired taste/cure because it made me feel rather nauseous. After about a half hour, we left the market smelling of the frankincense oil the eager vendors smeared on our hands and in Joy’s case, sleeves of her jacket.

As if we hadn’t yet had our fill of frankincense, our next stop was to a real life frankincense tree. It was actually rather depressing. The tree itself had one limb of growth and the trunk was scarred from tourists harvesting their own frankincense, which is just dried sap from the tree. It seemed like a good idea at the time to take some sap but later, as I sat scrapping it out of my camera with a sewing needle, I regretted it. My parents visited a better tree that looked a lot more exciting than ours. Maybe it was a sign I should’ve went with one of them.


Attack of the tourists.

Our final destination to a nearby beach was the best part of the tour. It was surrounded by an awesome rock formation and the water was a beautiful blue. There was no one on the beach besides the people from our group so it was peaceful for 15 or so minutes we had there until we were herded back on the bus. That’s one of the downfalls of being in a place for one day, if you want to see all the sights you have very limited time to spend at each one.



My mom did well for her first time escorting, the Omani guide even gave her a gift of frankincense oil. My dad on the other hand, had quite an adventure. I guess his bus overheated and started smoking and everyone had to get off the bus and wait (an unheard-of) 20 minutes for another bus to arrive. Disgruntled passengers were asking my dad about the refund policy. I think it was initiation, Crystal’s way of hazing new escorts haha. But everything turned out alright and since then my parents have been asked to escort more tours.

Another thing. NO MORE FRANKINCENSE.

Dubai, UAE

On the 19th of March we docked in the amazing city of Dubai. Dubai is one of the 7 emirates that joined to create the United Arab Emirates in 1971. The nation has experienced great wealth since the 60’s because of it’s abundance of oil and gold. Their oil supply is expected to run out within the next 10 years so to maintain their wealthy lifestyle they are putting billions of dollars into the city of Dubai to make it a major attraction in the future. 20% of the world’s cranes are located in the city and it certainly seems so after seeing all the buildings under construction.



Our first adventure in Dubai was a desert dune safari, which involved taking a 4-wheel drive out into sand dunes. Driving on the dunes was a lot like a roller coaster so it was a lot of fun. We drove until we got to a little Arabian-style camp lit by torches. Outside the camp, my dad and I rode a camel while mom took pictures from the safety of the ground. Camels are quite a bit taller than horses and nowhere near as graceful. My dad almost flew over the front of the camel when it was time to get off. This picture is hilarious, note the expression on my dad’s face and how tightly the man is grasping onto him.



Inside the camp we had an awesome Indian dinner. 80% of the population in Dubai is immigrants, many of which are from India. Going along with the Indian theme there were also ladies doing henna tattoos, belly dancing, and hookahs. For those that don’t know, a hookah is a water pipe that is used for smoking fruit-flavored tobacco. There I was getting tattoos and smoking with my parents… something isn’t quite right about that. When we left the camp, we drove on a normal road to get back to the ship and it was already about 10:30pm.

We had 2 overnights in Dubai because it was the end of yet another segment. So the following morning we caught a cab to the gold souk, a major attraction in the city. It was an entire street packed with hundreds of jewelry stores displaying outrageous gold necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. It was too overwhelming to buy anything so we window shopped for awhile and then wandered through the electronics district and up a few more streets.

Dubai is home to many ‘6-star’ hotels and resorts, one very famous being the Burj Al Arab which is shaped like a giant sail. Spending the night there starts at around $2200 and just to look inside costs $70. We took a cab out to admire it from the outside and visited the neighboring Jumeirah Beach hotel, which was just as beautiful not to mention free to look inside.



Our final day in Dubai was spent on a bus tour. Despite being a bit touristy, it was actually a great way to see a lot of the city. One route took you all along the beach stopping at various resorts and the other drove through the older part of town. We had already been through the older part of town the previous day so we drove along the beach and got an excellent view of the Burj Al Arab and shopped around in a beautiful new-age souk. Another highlight was stopping to see Ski Dubai, an indoor, climate-controlled ski slope. You would have never thought outside the walls was a country of desert. We didn’t really have much time until we had to be back, so instead of skiing we had lunch at an Indian restaurant. We like Indian food if you couldn’t tell.

I’m really interested to see what Dubai is like in about 5-10 years. The main religion in the country is Islam, so it won’t be the next Las Vegas because gambling is prohibited. Basically, Dubai trying to attract visitors by building the biggest and best of everything. Right now they are building the future tallest building in the world and also have plans for the world’s biggest mall and amusement park. They have also created an interesting attraction by forming islands from sand reclaimed from the ocean floor. Palm Island is a series of islands in the shape of, yes, a palm tree and The World is a giant map. You can own one of the islands for a million or so dollars. Pretty amazing. I think Dubai just might have what it takes it to make it big.

Seychelles & Muscat

In preparation for our trip we were required to get 2 inoculations. One was for Kenya, which is understandable. I’ll endure the 3 seconds of discomfort for that. But as I sat on that awkward paper-covered table with a yellow fever shot jabbed in my arm, I though to myself… I don’t even know where the Seychelles are but it better be worth this. As we approached the mystery stop, I learned more about it. The Seychelles is an archipelago of islands off the eastern coast of Africa, kind of like the Hawaii of the Indian Ocean. Located only 4 degrees from the equator, it’s quite warm and tropical. Everyone raved about the beautiful beaches so we looked forward to a day of relaxation after our adventures in Africa.

On the 14th, we were welcomed to the island of Mahé by the lovely aroma wafting from the local tuna cannery. We even got the privilege of docking right next to it. The shuttle into town started running at 9am, but of course my parents were raring to go at 8. So we walked about 15 minutes into the town and stopped at a tourist information place where we inquired about the beaches. The woman told us to catch a bus or taxi to Beau Vallon, one of the nicest on the island. “How far is it to walk?” was my dad’s immediate response, a question I’ve come to dread. It was 5K and at the time didn’t seem like such a bad idea so we set off. Naturally, it started getting hotter and the fact that our journey involved scaling a massive mountain (ok, a gradual incline) didn’t help either. We practically walked the entire island. But after about an hour we did eventually make it to our destination, which was indeed very nice. We spent the afternoon in the sun and swimming in the ocean and later my mom and I even convinced my dad to get a cab back to the ship.



From the Seychelles, we spent 3 days at sea and then docked in Muscat, Oman…the Middle East! I certainly never thought I would be in this part of the world. The media doesn’t exactly give it the best image, but I decided to put all that aside. It was actually pouring for the duration of our stay in Muscat, but we ventured out nevertheless and took a taxi all around the city for about 3 hours. I was really surprised by it’s different kind of beauty even in the rain. Our driver first took us to the city’s Grand Mosque. The architecture was amazing but we could only admire from the outside because it’s only open to tourists at a certain time.



After the mosque we drove all around the city and stopped at a natural hot spring, a frankincense market, the sultan’s office, and a beach area. The rain died down a little but the water started coming down from the mountains and the roads flooded. After driving through a foot of water, we decided it was probably a good time to go back to the ship. I was glad we went out because I saw a different side to the Middle East that the news rarely shows and I never expected. Muscat is a thriving city with nice resorts and the Omani government seems quite stable. As tourists, we never felt in any sort of danger and as spoiled Americans we were pleasantly surprised. I can see the tourist commercials already…Oman, make it your next vacation destination.



Uh, wait until the rain stops first…and maybe the war too.