The Cube

Index page for 16 days in Egypt, Oman and layover in Manila.

Day 6 - Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hapshetsut and Colossi of Memnon

Day 8 - Shali Fortress, Gebel Al-Mawta

Day 9 - Salt lakes, Cleopatra's Pool, Temple of Umm Ubayd, Gabal Dakrur, sunset from the desert

Day 10 - Aman Yden Hot Spring, Shali Fortress for sunset

Day 13 - Spending a day in Nizwa

Day 14 - Day trip to Birkat Al Mouz and Bahla

Day 15 - Around Muttrah

Day 16 - Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Bayt Al Maqham, Omani brunch and around

I find Muscat is a large spread out city. I had a day in Muscat but it started in the evening to the next evening. This round I decided to stay near the Ruwi bus station, and it won't be too far from Mutrah. With the delayed buses and what-not, by the time I checked in to the hotel, it was evening time. I initially planned to go to the Yiti street viewpoint above Ruwi before to going to the Muttrah area. As the sun was about to set, I decided to skip the viewpoint and headed to the Mutrah area. 

Muttrah, also spelled as Mutrah or Matrah is around a beautiful seafront corniche, used to be the city's old commercial centre. Around this area one can visit the popular Muttrah Souq, Muttrah Fort, Fish Market and the Sultan Qaboos Docks. 

I walked the seafront corniche, walked into the Muttrah Souq to get last minute souvenirs. I walked into one of the branches and got a bit lost. It took me a bit to get back to the main street because I wanted to have my dinner at Bait Al Luban which serves traditional Omani cuisine and about 9 minutes walk away. 

When I got to Bait Al Luban, I was a little taken aback because it looked more fancy that I pictured it to be. Anyway, they were fully booked till at least 9 PM. They mentioned that they have another branch about 15 minutes drive away. I asked if they do takeaway service, so I ordered a Makbus Dijaj - spiced rice cooked with fresh vegetables broth and topped with oven roasted chicken (OMR 5.50)

 

The next day I walked to Ruwi bus station and took a bus to the airport for luggage storage. I paid OMR 3 to store my small luggage for 12 hours. Then another bus to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. 

True to its name, it is indeed a grand mosque. The construction of the mosque started in 1995 and the mosque was opened in 2001. The total main area is 933,000 square meters. The main prayer hall can accommodates 6500 worshippers, a smaller female prayer hall can hold 700 worshippers. The courtyards and corriders can accommodate 12,800 worshippers. 

The carpet in the mian hall was knitted by hand by professional craftswomen in Iran, is one of the largest carpets in the world. It is a one-piece carpet and weighs 21 tons. It took 600 craftswomen 4 years to make. The German manufactured chandelier was 14 meters high, 8 tons in weight and consisted of 1122 bulbs.  The Swarovski crystals used were imported from Austria. 

It is free to enter but my daypack was deemed too big and I had to deposit it at the shop at entrance. I paid OMR 2. 

I walked to Dukanah Cafe for brunch. I ordered their breakfast set (OMR 3.70) and a pot of Omani coffee (OMR 1.80). It was all tasty. I was stuffed and rolled out of the door. 

 

Bayt Al Maqham (or Bait Al Maqham) is located amidst the plantation in the quaint suburbs of wilayat of Bawsher. The house was built for an Omani noblewoman, Sayyida Thuraya bint Muhammad bin Azzan Al Busaidi who lived in it in the 18th century. More than just a big house, it was also built for defence.

This is really not a major tourist area. I chose to go because it is near to C39 - Ghala Jabel Heed Hiking trek. I had time to kill but also too much time because I needed to get to the airport a bit early as I wasn't able to check in online. 

I travelled around Muscat by public bus, including to and fro the Muscat Airport. I paid for my bus fares to the driver with cash. The bus fares were either OMR 0.30 or OMR 0.40 except the ones departed from the airport. Buses I took out of the airport cost OMR 1.00. 

My flight out of Muscat Airport was at 8:10 PM, so I had a shower and dinner at one of the airport lounge. 

I stayed 2 nights in Nizwa and spent day one in Nizwa. The next day I did a day trip to Birkat Al Mouz and then Bahla by the public bus before returning to Nizwa. 

I got my bus tickets online the night before. I noticed that I couldn't find the bus information if I checked it too close to departure time, possibly to stop online purchase of ticket. 

Unfortunately for me, this leg of the bus was late by about 50 minutes. I almost gave up waiting and walked back to the old town. There was a metal bench under the bridge in the shade. I don't know what makes me sat on the bench and continued waiting. A kind human stopped to give me a lift but at that time I hadn't waited for a long time so I declined the offer. I was looking down at my mobile phone when the bus was approaching. The drive sounded the horn, I looked up and quickly walked towards the bus stop sign. The bus came but it meant that my time at Birkat Al Mouz was cut short. 

Birkat Al Mouz, or on the Mwasalat website, the stop is written as Barkat Al Mooz. So I wasn't sure that this was the right stop and looked up on Google map to confirm it wasn't too far away to walk. It is one of the most famous villages in ruins in the Sultanate - Harat al Sibani (the Sibani neighbourhood) and Harat al Wadi (the Wadi neighbourhood).

The other reason is to visit Falaj Al Khatmain that is fed by Wadi Al Mu'aidin. It is one of the five Omani aflaj (plural of falaj) listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for recognising it as an outstanding example of an ancient, sustainable water-sharing system. 

When I was there, I saw two men walked towards the right side when facing the mountain. I was behind them and saw that they went into a structure with divided cubicles, possibly to have a shower as they were holding a bath towel. There were also some visitors walked out from the opposite direction from me. 

Bahla is a town 40 km away from Nizwa and is the notable home of one of the oldest fortresses in the country, the 13th century Bahla Fort. Most of the buildings are hundreds years old and are constructed of traditional mud brick. I got off the bus at the Bahla Souq stop is very near the Bahla Fort, entrance fee OMR 4.00

Bahla Fort was built by the local Banu Nebhan tribe that ruled between the mid-12th and 15th centuries. Unlike Nizwa Fort, there were lesser information on Bahla Fort but it was a good walk going through the fort. 

Bus was late again but it did come. One of the shared taxi driver approached me to ask if I want to go on his taxi instead. I wasn't the only person waiting at the bus stop and it didn't feel unsafe where I was so I continued to wait. 

Nizwa, located about 140 km from Omani capital, Muscat is one of the oldest city in Oman. It was once a center of trade, religion, education and art. I flew in to Muscat from Cairo while sis flew to KL so I was on my own in Oman. 

I arrived Muscat closed to midnight but mobile phone providers were still open. I got a sim card, withdrew money from the ATM and tried to add my credit card to the taxi app, Otaxi but failed. It also didn't work when I tried outside of Oman. 

I withdrew enough money for my four days in Oman especially since the accommodation I booked on my night of arrival required cash payment. There is an option to pay cash with Otaxi which I tried for my ride from the airport to the hostel. Unfortunately, the taxi driver didn't have small change even though I paid OMR 10 for a OMR 7 taxi ride. Luckily I managed to get the hotel manager on the phone and he had small change to settle the taxi fare. I managed to add my credit card to Otaxi after checking in to the hotel but I didn't have the need to use it again. 

I booked a hostel within 15 minutes walk from the Burj Al Sahwa Bus Station and took bus route 54 scheduled to depart at 8:30 AM. For some unknown reasons to me, I can't seem to find bus route 54 from Mwasalat website, and the app refuse to load. I don't even know what confidence I had that I checked out of the hostel and made sure I reached the bus station before 8:30 AM to buy a bus ticket (OMR 2.50 one way) for this bus to go to Nizwa. The staff asked if I wanted to get the return ticket as well, so I did. I needed to show my passport and the ticket was printed with name, passport number and the actual bus timing. The link to the ticket was sent to me via a text message as I have an Omani mobile number. 

On boarding the bus, the driver will match the details with a piece of printed paper that they had. The stop to get off is Nizwa - Saal Pedestrian Bridge Towards Bahla. Female passengers were assigned to sit in the front of the bus. I read about this but forgot and promptly went to a sit further back in the bus. One of the passengers came and told me that I should move to the front of the bus. 

The walk from the bus stop (Nizwa - Saal Pedestrian Bridge Towards Bahla) to Nizwa Old Town is a short walk away. 

The village of Al-Aqr, also spelled as Al-Aqur or Al-Aqer is encircled by a wall which integrates the Nizwa Fort. The Al-Aqr Wall and Al-Aqr Square is about 1,950 meters long. The wall runs across date palm orchard and old mud houses. The wall includes six towers, the highest is at 13 meters.

Entrance fee: OMR 5

Nizwa Fort, also known as Al-Shahba because of its height and foretified strength. It was built by Imam Sultan bin Saif bin Malik Al-Yarubi during his reign (1649-1679 AD) and took 12 years to complete. Standing at 24 meters and has a diameter of 40 meters, it is the largest circular tower in the Arabian Peninsula. The fort is surrounded by an old wall that is 1200 years old, and connects to Al Aqr archaeological site. The fort has defensive characteristic, which include hot date syrup sumps to deter enemies. 

The built of the adjacent castle started in the last of 8th century and further expanded in the mid of the 9th century, and renewed during the reign of Imam Nasser bin Murshid Al-Yarubi (1624-1649 AD). Rooms within the castle includes date stores and for students.

Unfortunately, none of my days in Oman were Fridays so I had to give the goat market a miss. Nizwa Souq was still a good stroll though. There were different areas to segregate the goods for sale. The food market area seemed quieter, possibly during the time of visit in the evening but when many carried purchase of halwa. When I returned to the market area the next morning, the souq were busier, especially the East Souq.  

Just outside of the old city gate at the car park area, there were pop up food stalls in the evening. There is also a mini market a short walk away where I bought water and breakfast. The hotel staff cooked and offered me to have lunch with her which I gratefully accepted the invite. I got a takeaway from one of the nearby Yemeni restaurant, Yemeni Popularities. I can't remember the exact but it is likely a Yemeni version of biryani. I wanted to get some food from the pop up food stall for breakfast the next day but they gave me a samosa and currypuff each, and even gave me some sweet potato red bean sweet soup to taste. I wanted to pay but they refused any payment. 

Dinner the next day were some chicken skewers from the food stall, tahini and bread.