This morning we’re having a coffee and breakfast at Starbucks with proper wifi: Time to write a post again and watch the fishermen at work.

As we have mentioned in our previous post we headed towards the northern part of the Emirates and cross the border to Oman. Once we escaped the 8-lane roads, packed with truck-like SUVs and where it’s a rarity to see drivers using both hands on their steering wheel, we headed back towards the coast to enjoy the little breeze coming from the sea.

That evening we found a great camping spot on the beach after an exhausting day. The next day before crossing the border to Oman we had lunch at a Pakistan restaurant. The manager was eager to lecture us about the Koran and since Maurice listened to him with great interest the manager refused any payment.

When crossing the border we experienced something new… the UAE officials made us pay to exit the country ??

 

This however, didn’t spoil the fun and we enjoyed a beautiful ride along the coast line towards Khasab where we set up our tent on the beach next to a food truck. With the company of a few Bangladeshi we had dinner (fresh grilled shrimps and calamari?) before jumping into the sea.

The following day our plan was to bike through the mountains towards the second border in Dibba.

The roads however were so steep and sandy that we had to Zickzack to get up. This in combination with the brutal heat and high humidity, caused for a higher heart rate, dehydration and a reduced blood flow… after fighting these conditions for 8km in which we climbed 400m in altitude we had to turn around and bike back (and this doesn’t fit at all in the mindset of the Dekkers…).

In Khasab we tried finding people who would bring us up the mountain so we could proceed with our journey but to our surprise we were told that non-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) people are not allowed to cross that second border.

Sooooo this made us change our plans. We headed back to the UAE yesterday through the same border we entered, this time free of any charge!

Oman left a very good impression to us, it’s clean, well organized, the people are friendly and the nature is overwhelming. We’re lucky to enjoy at least a part of the mountainous area and are really looking forward to seeing the other part of Oman next week.

At Bab al Bar we found another nice camping spot on the beach and Maurice was so nice to jump on his bike again for collecting two hot cappuccinos at the Double Tree hotel 2km away. After a dive in our bathtub (the Persian gulf) we went to sleep early. First in peace but from 1 o’clock in the night surrounded by young people with loud music…