Go with Henry: January 2009

Thursday 15 January 2009

Sohar expeditions

Taking a break from Teaching in Ibri

Oman 2008-2009

Sohar is one of my favorite places in Oman. It is a developed coastal city with good hotels, shops, restaurants, and many expats. My first trip to Sohar was with colleagues and friends from Ibri. We spent some time on the beach eating something out of sight as it was Ramadan, a time of fasting for Muslims. In order to respect the culture, public eating should be avoided. So after making a stop at Lulu's in Sohar, buying snacks, we had a semi-styled pick nick under the palm trees on the beach. We then decided to go to the 4 Star Sohar Beach hotel, within walking distance, where we had to pay, if I remember correctly 5 Riyals to use the pool. Later we had a meal at a restaurant, explored a bit and then drove the 3-hour drive back to Ibri.

In the meantime, I got married, and so my newly wedded wife and I decided to take a 3-day camping trip on the beach in Sohar over the 2009 New Year. Underestimating the drive there, we left much too late and as I wanted to take the scenic route, the 3-hour drive eventually became a 6-hour drive. Instead of spending New Year on the beach, we spent it in the parking lot of a supermarket in Rustaq, eating chicken that sort of resembled KFC. We eventually pitched our tent at 4 in the morning on Sohar beach. The two-man tent did not take long to heat up as the sun came out, so sleep was out of the question. The next few days, we swam, barbecued on the beach and ate at restaurants. There was a public ablution on the beach, which was relatively clean. My wife, more of the lady type, looked with longing at the Sohar beach hotel as an alternative, but at 94 Riyal a night, far outside this teacher's budget. Our first big fight ensued...

Later in 2011-2012 when I taught in Rustaq, Al Mussanah, where we lived, was only little more than an hour’s drive, so we sometimes just went for shopping and to get back into civilization.

Beach camping in Sohar

About Oman

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the country shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders with Iran and Pakistan. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with Iran) and the Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.

From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar (today part of Tanzania, also former capital). As its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat was the principal trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean. Oman is an absolute monarchy. The Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said has been the hereditary leader of the country since 1970. Sultan Qaboos is the longest-serving current ruler in the Middle East and sixth-longest current reigning monarch in the world.

Oman has modest oil reserves, ranking 25th globally. Nevertheless, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A significant portion of its economy is tourism and trade of fish, dates, and certain agricultural produce. This sets it apart from its neighbors’ solely oil-dependent economies. Oman is categorized as a high-income economy (Wikipedia).

About Sohar

Suhar (Romanized as Soḥār) is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. After the capital, Muscat, about 200 kilometers to its south, Sohar is the Sultanate of Oman's most-developed city. It is an ancient capital of Oman and has been claimed to be the birthplace of Sinbad the Sailor (Wikipedia).