Wednesday 4 May

Too bloody hot!!!!38C in Muscat

Windy & sunny

We didn't get up to a lot during the day in London.We strolled to a park and people watched for a bit then an old guy who was walking his son's dog stopped and chatted to us for ages.Eventually we were able to get away with the excuse of having to eat lunch or l'm sure we'd still be there.We caught a taxi to Heathrow around 4pm and thought we'd do some shopping at the airport.All the papers and television are full of the wedding of Prince William and Kate.Thank goodness we weren't in the London in the week leading up to the wedding as it would have been chaotic.We flew out of Heathrow at 10pm heading to Dubai with an 11 hour stopover in which we just hung around the airport while waiting for a connecting flight to Oman.Mum bought half a dozen swiss army knives in Switzerland and instead of packing them in her suitcase she had them in her on board luggage and even though they let her through at Heathrow it was a different story in Dubai.I think it took Mum a couple of hours to try to convince the police not to confiscate them but to no avail.So the knives are still in Dubai….actually they're probably in some coppers pocket!!!We arrived in Oman at around 5pm and by the time we bought visas and went through customs it was 6.We caught a taxi to our hotel which cost 7 rials.Doesn't sound much but when you consider the hotel cost 187 rials for 4 days (AUS 387) it is probably quite expensive.The hotel is really nice although out of the city centre a bit.It has a swimming pool which we made good use of yesterday.The weather is stifling and l really hate it….good excuse to stay indoors.Today we went on a day trip to Jebel Shams, Misfa and Nizwa.Nizwa, known as the Pearl of Islam, both produced and attracted the country's leading religious scholars, poets and scientists.Two of Nizwa's historic mosques date from the early days of Islam and are said to have been built in 623 & 629 AD.It also has the 17th century round tower Nizwa fort which is as old or even older than the mosques!The fort was quite interesting and had commanding views.Nearby was a silver souk which l had a quick look at but did not purchase.It was sooo hot l waited in the airconditioned car for the others to finish looking.We shared the car with another couple who happened to come from Perth….small world.We took in the sights of Wadi Gul, (village of abandoned houses) and Al Hamra - an old oasis village and then we headed to Jebel Shams which means mountain of the sun, the tallest peak in Oman towering 3009 metres.At the peak the temperature dropped from 38 to 21C!We saw some spectacular scenery as we climbed along the winding roads reaching Misfah then returning to Muscat around 7pm.Muscat is surrounded by mountains, mountains and more mountains with the town in the valley.There is hardly any green around, except in the towns, just grey rock and lots of goats and donkeys.The houses are huge, 2 stories, flat roofs ornately decorated windows and gates.l asked our guide if more than one family lived in the houses and he said that one man with many wives and children live in them which is why they're so big. Hmmm....interesting.