Bush camp to bush camp, Oman  November 22, 2022

The day started with a bit of apprehension.  Our drivers are Pakistani, super stubborn, deaf I think, arrogant, lazy and condescending.  They don’t like listening to women, don’t keep the windows clean nor do they drive up and down hills properly.  They brake rather than downshift so today we had to stop after a descent because the alarm was on for the brakes.  But before that happened, and Canada John sat in the front explaining, not for the first time, how to drive up and down hills, we had to get out of our sandy bush camp.  It turned out to be no problem as they just backed out almost the same way we came in.  They had an audience and a few backseatdrivers-

The scenery along the way was fantastic.  The limestone has been eroded into all kinds of shapes-

We drove beside the coast a lot-

The colors in the stone are constantly changing.  For awhile it was just beige, then only black and white, then black, white and pink-

Dry river beds run ferociously during the rainy season-

We passed some stalactites-

There’s an elephant trunk hanging down-

We continued on-

More pinkish stone-

All of a sudden we came to Sweet As Oasis, just in the middle of tons of rock-

The road is perfect and I can’t understand why they’d go to the expense of making it; blasting through miles and miles of rock.  There is very little traffic and I mean very little.  Maybe they have great foresight and imagine a gigantic tourist boom.  Good luck with that I say-

Lunch was excellent chicken biryani even though I didn’t eat much of the rice.  We pulled into a small town and immediately I went to what looked like the busiest restaurant.  It was packed with truckers so you know it’s good.  I walked into a room with about 24 pairs of male eyes staring at me.  I find that funny because women in general, let alone white women or women wearing shorts and a t-shirt are a huge anomaly.  I always walk in like I own the place and I’m not intimidated; I rather enjoy it and find it hilarious.  I’ve started drinking chai but they tend to make it with evaporated milk which is not my favorite but I really like the spices.

Another restaurant-

We carried on: where we are headed-

We were running out of daylight so we found a bush camp just off the highway.  In no time a man was there trying to sell us fish and then once it was dark, three others walked from who knows where again selling fish.  As usual, I had an early night - that means by 7 pm I’m in my tent.  

We have a long drive day tomorrow with quite a few stops.  Looking forward to a good sleep!