Quick Trip to Oman

Masooma's Birthday Breakfast at Shakespeare & Co.

I thought it would be cool to go have a quick look at Oman after breakfast before heading out 

for winter break next weekend…

Welcome to Oman!

just after the Hili border crossing in Al Ain

the landscape changes quickly here, both manmade...

and natural

the rock looks like packed sand and nothing seems to be growing on the hills

an oasis with mountains in the background

a Roxaboxen bush!

(this will probably only make sense to my kids)

a shopping strip - hard to see in the photo, but one of the differences here is that almost nothing 

is written in English, like it is in the UAE

I thought the mosques looked a little different here - just the shape of the dome

I tried to capture the Oman flag, but I didn't quite get it

OK, time to go back, but where is the border crossing? Hey look! There's Hili Apartment complex where Elise lives…if only the razor fence weren't there.

After finding the border guards, we were rejected. We found out that we would have to go to another town 50 kilometers away to get an Oman stamp before the UAE would let us back in. Would have been nice to tell us that upon entry, 

but that just would make too much sense wouldn't it?

So, off we go into the sunset to find this elusive little place with a magic stamp.

 It did make for some nice sunset scenery...

 …and there goes the sun.

nightfall happens quickly in the desert

We stupidly followed the map that the UAE border people gave us and landed in a town 50 km away where nothing is written in English and ONE person spoke English (thank goodness we found him at the police station). This officer, very eager to practice his English, drew us an excellently accurate map which took us directly to the magic stamping place another 30 km away, at Wadi al Jizzi. Three hours after originally attempting, we finally crossed back into UAE and headed back to Abu Dhabi.