Road Trip

1 man, 1 idea, 1 car, 1 ipod, 1 bottle of bourbon, 873.4 km's

The idea hit me between 05-0600 Wednesday morning! I was aimlessly googling while waiting for my last hair raising, butt-clenching stint of ATC Oman style.

I was on http://www.surfersofdubai.com/ wasting time, when one of the local controllers asked me what I had planned for my 3+ days off? "Nothing much" I said. He told me I should relax, take it easy and refresh before my next work cycle! My next work cycle??

I kept flicking through the website and came across this....
Asilah May 2003
Or is that Asyliah? Asilah? Asylah? Aslyah? Asylyah? Any other variations? Anyway, another great surfing weekend. Again, small swell but proper waves so lots of fun. Long RH rides off Joe's Point - one american on the jaunt compared it to Rincon(?) - I haven't been there so don't know. But at least 100-200 m rides and potential for longer. Nice peeling beachbreak on the inside for beginners.
Found a couple of other spots worth checking out for bigger swell days. Not much more to report but photos here (obviously we were so busy surfing we didn't have time to take many surf photos)

It was then I decided, "screw ATC, screw relaxing and waiting for work next week, I'm going to Joes Point. Today!

Day 1.
After 4 or 5 hours sleep I woke and considered my options for the day? Against my bodies better judgement I got out of bed! I showered, threw a change of clothes in my backpack, the remainder of my homemade veggie pie and my half bottle of bourbon in my car cooler, grabbed my ipod, Oman off road explorer and Oman residents guide, and jumped in the car.

First stop was the service station to fill the tank and grab a couple of bottles of water. Next the bottle shop to fill up the cooler. Unfortunately it was now 1257 and my friendly local 'bottle-o-man' had taken an early lunch, therefore half a bottle of bourbon would be my lot for the next 2 days.

I have wanted to drive down the Northern coast of Oman for a while, however I decided to drive Southeast and inland to Al Ashkhara, to the Al Ashkhara Youth hostel, which is on the Eastern coast (Go East young man!).

If you want to see a map go to http://maps.google.com/ type in Oman, then zoom to the East coast and surrounds.

I chose the inland route due to the fact it was early afternoon, I was tired, and I had driven half the same way before when I went to the Al Raha desert camp for New Years and could therefore sleep half the way there!

After Al Mintirib everything was new and exciting so I woke up, cranked up the tunes, and started paying attention to what was around me. Although the landscape seems harsh and inhospitable, and often is, there is definately a lot of different shades of yellow, brown, red, orange, and some green, to keep things interesting.
On the Dubai surfers website they say you can't miss the hostel and they're right. It is only a small way out of town, however it seems a long way from anywhere.

When I checked in at about 1830, after about 350k's, there was my car and the Hostels van in the carpark. It was at this stage I renamed the Al Ashkhara Youth Hostel the 'Bates Motel'. Thankfully the staff didn't appear to be physcopathic crossdressers, and I was escorted to my 25 Rial a night 'hotel-not-hostel' room by a friendly Indian staffmember.
Now a lesser man, after only 7 or 8 hours sleep in 48, may have settled into his luxury digs with a couple of bourbons, 2 English pay tv channels, and ease the night away, but not 'Craig-Road-Tripper!'.

Since there obviously wasn't an abundance of young, nubile female backpackers at the edge of Oman I decided to check out the East Coast of the Arabian Peninsula by Kia car.

From Al Ashkhara I drove South along the coast for about 70km to Khuwaina.
For 50 k's there was only a couple of small villages, maybe 1 or 2 opposite direction cars, and me at 1000km's an hour, sun roof open, stereo blaring and not a care in the world!

The first 'major' village on the coast is Qurun. My first sight was of about 20 Omani kids sitting in front of a tv outside of the first 'store' in town. I turned down the stereo, closed the sunroof, slowed down, and tried to look inconspicuous in a brand new car in the middle of nowhere. If the world held a staring contest the first people I would put my money on would be the Indians, however the Omanis would be a close second. In saying that though, you wouldn't expect a young Aussie fella to be driving willy nilly down the East coast of Oman every day would you...?

After Qurun I drove into Bandur Qurun, a little offshoot of the main town. It didn't take long for the asphalt to run out, the goats to come out, and the sea to spread out, so I headed back to the coast road to explore some more.

Khuwaina was only 10k's south from Qurun and much the same except bigger. I saw 2 groups of kids gathered round watching 2 tv's, I guess that's the difference between big town and small town in these parts. The next southerly part of the road was newly asphalted but pretty rough still, so i turned around, cranked the music up again and headed back to the hostel.

(n.b In 1970 Oman had 10km of paved roads - think about that over your cornflakes)

Opposite the Bates Motel is the Arabian Sea. There are about 10 concrete huts spread evenly from the town down the coast for about a kilometer.

At about 2300, after watching a bad B-grade movie while finishing my bottle of bourbon, I decided I should go do something. I met my neighbours on the walk down to the beach, an extended family from Brunei, Grandparents, Uncles, In-laws etc......
After a quick chat, I went to check out the waves, and did a bit of bourbon induced philosophising while gazing at the stars. After watching my neighbours pull in fish 'hand over fist' for about an hour, I finally roused myself from my reverie and headed back to my room for a well earned rest.

Day 2.
My Mission, and I chose to accept it - Find Joe's Point!

When i was on the beach last evening I promised myself I would wake early and go for an early morning beach run. You know, get the juices flowing, start the day refreshed and energised. The hostel breakfast is 07-10, I woke at 1100, after several hits of the snooze button! Nevertheless, after a big, and the last, helping of the Iapozzuto veggie pie I was ready to rock and roll.

I drove through Al Ashkhara yesterday and took a quick look at the town and the fishing side of things, which must be their main industry. This morning I cruised back through and stopped to take a few photos and exchange a few late morning greetings with the locals.

Although I knew how to get to Arzilah, and Joe's point, I made a point of asking the local lads for directions. After a fair few laughs, due to our miscommunication, and a lot of pointing and gesturing, I was on my way again.
The road to Arzela cuts inland for a few k's, through half sand/half rock dunes, before it hits the main town. After my Southern exploring the evening before I thought it would be small, however Asilyaa turned out to be a 7 Mosque town! After a quick spin through town I headed North and about 10 k's later turned off to Joes point.

Joes Point, above, has all the attributes of a surf beach, albeit without waves or surfers! It did have a lot of fishermen and a lot of small wooden fishing boats however. It is out of season for surfing, and there was a strong onshore wind blowing, so no surprises that there was no surf action.

Apart from the local fisherman, I met an old scavenger fella while I was walking along the beach. We tried to communicate for a while. He didn't know Australia, or kangaroos, and I didn't understand what he was trying to say. However after I gave him an Arabic greeting, and some other pleasantries I've been learning, we became instant friends!

Moving on from Joes point, my next step was to be the Easternmost person on the Arabian Peninsula! I went to Byron bay last year with my good friends Greg and Colin, although unfortunately due to Colins' and my pending flight home to Melbourne, I was unable to be the Easternmost person on the Australian landmass.

Nothing would stop me today though!!

I left Joes point and drove to Ras Al Khaba, which according to my map is the Easternmost point of the Arabian Peninsula.
I drove as far as I could to the edge of the cliff, parked, and got out to enjoy the momment....... 'edge of the world Ma!'

I knew my momment wouldn't last though, as I had spotted a white sedan parked next to one of the 5 or 6 concrete huts that dot the cliff. They are much like the huts on the beaches of Ashkhara except smaller and squarer, and strangely painted bright orange! They seem totally out of place in a Richie Benaud "beige, white, bone, ivory and cream" colored Oman. (I'll get a photo of them next time)

It turned out that the car was owned by Mahommed, a young engineering student. He was having lunch with his two non-English speaking local buddies. Mahommed was genuinely interested in me, his dickhead mate was interested in being a dickhead and trying to make me feel stupid, while his other friend just kept aside saying nothing. Mahommed and I spoke for quite a while, both ignoring dickhead friend. I explained how I wanted to go to the Easternmost point of the Arabian Peninsula.

I guess it was a strange thing for these guys to see me stand on the edge of a cliff and Wooohoo and Yahoooo as loud as I could? It's a strange concept to me that these blokes wash hands, face and feet 5 times a day before turning West towards Mecca to kneel and pray though.

I sadly declined Mahommed's offer of a visit to his house as I still had a long way to go, jumped back in the car and headed off towards Ras Al hadd, the Northeastern point of the peninsula.

Ras Al Hadd was a bit of a dissapointment. I found it to be quite a sparse, ugly little town. It is a popular tourist spot however as there is a large population of turtles that breed here during the year, as well as several other places along the east coast.

After Ras Al Hadd I continued up the coast towards Sur, the second largest port in Oman and quite a big town. With a bit of work this could be a really attractive place, as the town has numerous little bays and inlets. I decided to drive round for a while and subsequently got lost! I'm glad I did though as I came across a local camel trading meeting. About 20-30 of these wonderful beasts stood at one end of a long track, which was lined with locals ready to check out their quality. 2 camels at a time were first walked, then run along the line of people. After watching this strange spectacle for a while I hit the road again.

I basically headed back towards the ocean and eventually found the main coast road back to Muscat. Cyclone Gonu in June caused quite a bit of damage along this strectch of road and therefore there was quite a few off-road diversions which were actually quite fun, and a good little test for the little Kia.

They are building a 2-lane highway all along the coastal stretch from Sur back to Muscat. Although a 120k/h highway would be quick and easy, it would be a shame not to visit some of the little towns along the way as they each have their own special character.

(Bridge construction, mountain pass, and a broken bridge after cyclone gonu)

I took my time driving back to along the coast. Although I would prefer the Great Ocean Road any day of the week, the scenery of the rocky Hajar mountains on my left, and the ocean on the right was picturesque enough to keep me awake and make for an enjoyable ride home.

It was a shame to get back into Muscat. I kind of wished I had stayed at Ashkara for another night. I figured I should tick one last task off my wish list though, so I headed to the Safari bar for a cleansing pint before heading home. I downed my pint of Heniekin while watching the West Indies capitulate to South Africa in the third test. I could have stayed for another couple except I was tired, and the bar had 1 elderly English lady and about 30 other English blokes watching football and screaming so it was definately time to move on.

I finished my adventure with a quick trip to the bottle shop and the local take-away for dinner.

All in all a fun couple of days out, and still 2 more days left to relax before work!!