Sultanate of Oman

We heard from many foreigners living in Saudi that the key to happiness here is to travel every 2-4 months. We took their advice and booked a 6 day trip to Oman, the neighboring country to the southeast of Saudi Arabia. It was an easy 2 hour direct flight from Riyadh to Muscat, the capitol of Oman. We arrived at night around midnight so it was very hard to get a feel for the city. The next morning I opened up our bedroom curtains and our view was this...

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Muscat, Oman

In Muscat we visited the Sultan's palace, the Grand Mosque, the very famous Muttrah Souk, and a few other places including the Opera House. One great thing was seeing my friend and her husband who were assigned to Muscat. It was truly a delight to reunite with her, and finally meet her other half. After a couple days in Muscat, we rented a 4x4 and ventured northwest into the the scenic Al Hajar mountain range of Oman, which are the highest in the whole eastern Arabia. We stopped for the night in the quaintest B&B in the little town of Jebel Akhdar. This place had the most amazing endless views of the mountains. The B&B had a very Omani/American southwest spa style look to it. Not far the from the hotel there are also endless trails and wadis to explore. There are also a couple remote villages where the locals prefer to live off the land. They welcome tourists to visit, but don't want to be photographed. Spending a couple hours in the village of Al Ayan was an amazing experience for me (I truly love seeing things like that). I could have spent our entire 6 days at this location.

Views from the Sahab Hotel, Jebel Akhdar, Oman

Next day we started our trek down the mountains to the Ash Sharqiyah desert region for a modernized Bedouin style camping experience at the Arabian Oryx Camp. After a 4 hour drive we were literally in the middle of the desert in between huge sand dunes. We checked into our air conditioned tent with a full bathroom (no roughing it on this trip). There was a big group of people starting to get ready for the trip to see the sunset. We hopped into one of the camps Jeep and headed towards the top of the dunes to admire the sun descend into the desert sands. This was a spectacular sight. The sun rays; yellow, orange, red and with shades of purple lingered beautifully in the desert sky, until complete darkness took over. We now could only hear the desert wind and feel the granules of the sand blowing against our skin, as we sat around the camp fire eating our traditional Omani dinner under a full moon.

The following day we made a pit stop in the beach town of Sur and took the coastal route to our final destination; The Shangri-La's Al-Waha Resort and Spa, 15 minutes outside of Muscat. This resort is tucked away with the breathtaking views of the sea and the rugged mountains that surround the resort. Our last night in Oman was spent sipping drinks and taking long walks along the beach. Before checking out the next morning we made sure to make time for one last dip in the ocean and soak in the sun.

Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, Muscat, Oman

Oman was truly amazing. It still feels very untouched by globalization, and not touristy. I believe it's one of the best kept secrets of the middle east. The country is calm, not too touristy, and the Omani's are always smiling and very helpful people. Our time there was wonderful and memorable.

4 Months Into Saudi

Life here in Saudi...where do I start? I would say so far we have been adapting pretty well. We've made friends fairly quickly within the embassy and expat community. As for having Saudi friends it's been a little challenging, but I have made one girlfriend. Despite all the uprisings around us, Saudi still is a fairly safe country. Hopefully it stays this way here. I do find life at times to be a bit constricting and confined. In my opinion we tend to live in a bubble within the diplomatic quarters. We'll never really know how it feels to live among Saudi's. Especially since we're only here for 2 years. 

The culture shock sneaks up on you very gradually here. It's not like moving to Guinea, Africa where it smacks you right in the face. Riyadh is fairly clean, it has many malls, shops, restaurants and activities. Most expats or government workers from abroad all live in very westernized compounds. In my opinion it's the confinements of living in compounds (which some people never leave during a tour), the segregation between men and women, women not being able to drive, and a few other nuances here and there that makes this a "hardship post". 

Segregation starts with many functions being for only men or women. When you go to a restaurant there's the family section, where women and married couples can dine. Then there's a partitioned off section just for single males. Coffee houses, such as Starbucks, fast food joints are the exact same way; separate entrances for women and men. Some stores at the mall do not allow single men to enter, and during weekends single males may be banned all together from entering the shopping mall. Even at weddings the men and women have separate parties. 

Driving is something I dearly miss. The freedom of going somewhere, when I want to go, and explore on my own term is complicated here. One, I depend on a male driver, which sounds nice, but it involves having to plan things in advance and coordinate around prayer times (5x a day), as well as pick up times for the kids at school.  Two, even with Billy, I can not drive. I still depend on him to drive me around (which he doesn't mind). Third, there is no public transportation system. The only public transport they have are buses for the service workers who come by the hundreds here to work from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, etc...The "Muttawa", the religious police also make sure to enforce their rules. A couple times, I've been stopped for not wearing my headscarf. It feels a little weird having grown men not making eye contact with you and saying in a stern voice, “woman cover your hair”.

Even with all I've stated, I don't regret for a second in coming here, and I feel fortunate to be living abroad. I am discovering this place to be mysterious, intriguing, yet contradicting at times. The experiences I am gaining are priceless. Although it's not always easy, I find what works best for me is to not play into the comparison game. I also remind myself that I am in a different country and I am a guest here in the Kingdom. I use common sense and try to respect their beliefs. Despite the cultural and religious differences I still find people to be the same wherever I go. In general, most of us want: respect, health, food, shelter, love and happiness. Maybe I sound like a big hippie right now, but I believe what I say to be true.