Back in 2014 I had a blog called "Neil in Bahrain" and over 5 years we wrote 500 blogs and gained over 5000 readers around the world. That all came crashing down when one of my former work colleagues, Zaid Kaiksow, downloaded a half naked photo of me from a blog , circulated it around Bapco on Whats app and I was given the choice of deleting all the Blogs or leaving Bapco. I selected the former but recently found word documents on an old external hard drive from my 2015 blogs, so I am going to resurrect them for you here... the first is from my trip to the South of Oman and a beautiful place called Salalah...this blog is in the form of a letter to my friends that I wrote in 2014
Salalah Beach Villas
Salalah
Oman
Friday 4th July 2014
Good Morning from Salalah
It is 5 am here in Oman (4 am in Bahrain, 2 am in UK) and as usual I cannot sleep. The sun does not come up for another hour so I thought I would write you all a letter before I go for my 2 hour beach walk at 6 am and breakfast at 8 am. As no one can read my writing, and as the post is so slow and expensive, and the postcards here are naff, I have finally succumbed to a typed emailed mass letter- what is the world coming to!
The grounds of the Crown Plaza hotel in Salalah
So first a little background to Salalah. It’s in the Sultanate of Oman and whilst this is my third visit to Oman it is my first visit to Salalah. Not for lack of trying- just you have to get the timing right for Salalah. I thought I had but then Global warming and the local climate conspired against me so I have the winds, the clouds, high seas but the monsoon rains ( or Khareef as they are called locally) have not yet arrived. However they are on their way and the last two days we have had drizzle or a fine mist over the area.
When they come the rains turn the normally dry desert area into a green paradise with waterfalls and rivers. However as I decided to come here during Ramadan the area is very dry (in both senses) and quiet and the rains have not yet properly arrived. However the intense heat of Bahrain (45 degrees I am told and very humid this week) and Muscat (42) does not reach the south of Oman where Salalah is beside the sea and so it’s a cool (for me) 27- 32 degrees. Hence the long walks on the sandy beaches each day – accompanied by a few of my feathered friends and a couple of stray dogs I have befriended!
In my online research, and chatting to friends who had visited the area, I discovered Salalah had some expensive 5 star resorts which were a long way from the town (Marriott and Hilton). There was also one on the edge of Salalah- the Crowne Plaza resort set in 45 acres of grounds by the sea ( see picture below.)
Some 400 meters down the beach from that is a rundown set of villas which offered cheap rooms and so that’s where I booked. ( see picture above – my room) .I left Bahrain on Friday and flew to Muscat ( 1 hr. 45 mins) then after a few hours wait on to Salalah ( 1 hr. 15 mins) arriving at the hotel at around 9.30 pm by taxi.
I was shown to my room and told if I wanted food there was a cold store opposite at the back. Even though I had only had two Oman Air chicken sandwiches all day I declined and instead accepted their offer of free breakfast by the pool at 8 am.
It turns out I was the only person staying there and in spite of the fact it was Ramadan they made me breakfast every day (Omlette, melon, bananas, yogurt, Coffee, Orange juice and toast). Then I had a nap and read and then ventured to the cold store for provisions and made a Tuna Salad for lunch in my kitchen!
In the evening I walked down the beach to the Crowne Plaza for dinner by the sea. The first night it was an Asian Buffet and I had a delicious Tuna Steak with Salad cooked to order.
The next three nights were the Iftar Buffet with live Arabic music and all the traditional Ramadan goodies (lanterns, fruit juices, pastries and dates, and the best Um Ali I have ever tasted!)
On Monday I went on my first of 3 tours with local guide Rashid, a very knowledgeable older Omani guide with fantastic English. I was collected from the hotel in his car and we went along the coast to various fishing villages visiting ruins and other sites of interest along the way. When my camera battery finally ran out he offered to buy me a charger from the city that evening, which he did, returning it to me on Tuesday lunch time .
On Wednesday we completed a 4 hour tour on the other side of Salalah. It has been fascinating to learn the area’s history and how it was originally an independent state. Then tribal fighting led to the locals calling on the current Sultan’s father to bring his army south from Muscat, on two separate occasions, to restore peace. He liked the area so much he stayed and the country was run from here. He married the daughter of one of the local tribes and so peace was restored and the previous Sultan of Oman was born.
( Editor's note, Sultan Qaboos sadly died since this blog was first written so I have updated it) .
When he took over from his father in the 1970’s Sultan Qaboos moved the Government back to Muscat and although he still has palaces in Salalah he only visited occasionally. Whilst the Omani’s have benefited greatly from their wise leader’s investment in infrastructure , jobs, tourism, roads and education in Muscat and the North I learnt that Salalah has lagged behind but is now playing catch up with one new 5 star hotel ( Rotana) having opened recently and several others under construction.
( I am told these are now all open but sadly have never been back to check- until 2021!)
My guide also took me to a local Thai restaurant .I also had a very good fish curry and jasmine rice for 5 riyals in the hotel next door to the Salalah beach apartments ( same owner)!
However it is the beach I loved the most - it was literally right outside the hotel gate and if arriving by car you park on the beach to get to the hotel. So I have spent most of my time here barefoot and in shorts and tee shirt. The beach goes for miles in either direction and I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.
There are fish in abundance (According to my research Sardines are caught here at certain times of the year by just walking into the sea and picking them up) . There are all kinds of birds such as Oyster catchers, Heron, Flamingos, Seagulls etc.).
Behind the inland lagoons I found the Frankincense Museum
On the other side of the beach are inland lagoons. Occasionally locals drive onto the beach and the kids run up and down, and there is an old man who fishes opposite the hotel with a line every morning. There are the usual idiots who test out their 4 x 4 skills on the beach and on Tuesday entertainment was provided when one driver went on too soft a piece of sand and the wheels started spinning! He started getting deeper in the sand as the tide was coming in.( sounds familiar Anis?)
He managed to get some friends and they just dug it out in time. Can you believe that anyone would be so stupid! Yesterday we had a horse and rider going up and down and 2 quad bikes racing each other. All the local kids come and swim in the hotel pool when the reception closes in the afternoon so there is always something to watch from my balcony. Apart from that it is pretty deserted, and very peaceful.
I also negotiated a special non- resident day rate to use the Crowne Plaza pools and health club. For two days I did a 30 minute cardio vascular work out. No photos of that (after all it’s not what you go to the gym for) but it did make me laugh that they use Mr. Muscle to clean the gym.
Once again I was the only person there and the Fitness club Manager, mistaking me for a new local resident, even offered me an annual membership at a discounted rate. However it was a little more than the 37 Bahraini Dinars a year I paid in Awali (they charged me 10 Omani Riyal – about 10 Bahraini Dinar or 15 British pounds for an hour’s workout to give you a clue!).
After my gym session I used their steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi before reading by the pool and then walking back to my hotel to make my tuna salad lunch and have an afternoon nap.
On the second day I stumbled on some old ruins as I walked along the beach . After wandering around for some time I found the National Frankincense museum at the back and had an enjoyable and educational couple of hours there.
On the third day I went on a city tour which included the Sultan’s Palace and the Souq where I got some Frankincense (the main export of the region) . I also bought some Arabic gifts for my friends back in Bahrain and some early Christmas presents for my friends back in the UK.
I read 3 of the 8 books I took with me and took the rest on my next trip to the Philippines and Thailand at the end of July. Just to add some colour to this letter below is the Majlis at Taqah castle which I visited on Monday. Next to it is the castle on the hill which the British troops used to guard the town in days gone by. That is another big difference between Oman and Bahrain – they have mountains here!
Salalah is a lowland strip of land by the sea with a mountain range behind (for years the only way in was by boat). Behind the mountains is the dessert- some 900km of it before you reach Muscat.
The trip on Wednesday was beautiful- up into the mountains on the way to the Yemeni border and we went up the famous Zig Zag road . We saw the wild Camels (they have more camels here per head of population than anywhere in the world. If you count them all there are more camels in Australia than Oman! We also saw the Frankincense trees. We went to the blow hole ( where the raging waves enter a cave and then are forced up thought holes in the rock to make a fountain or Geyser) and to Rashid’s favourite beach at Al Fazayih. It is down a long steep unsurfaced track off the main road to Daikut.
When I got back I collected my laundry from the little shop behind the hotel and had another Tuna salad and some fruit and yogurt at 2pm. I then spent the afternoon reading, dozing and watching the sea. After watching some TV in the evening I fell asleep and missed dinner!
Best wishes
Neil
( PS the shells and stones collected on my various beach walks are for two Bahraini former delegates of mine from Tatweer Petroleum who collect them and who gave me many lovely gifts when I was training them).
In this blog I have included photos of the blow hole, the crashing waves, the scary Zig Zag road and the wild camels. I hope you have enjoyed sharing my trip to Salalah and I can highly recommend you visit. However I respectfully suggest you avoid Ramadan and the Khareef, visiting in August or September after the rain. It is much more expensive and busy then and accommodation needs to be booked well in advance- and if you want a great Tour ask for Rashid! ( sadly he has now retired I discovered in 2021)
So goodbye from the camels and I!
Until the next time Ingat Palagi, Kita kits and Mahal Kita!
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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