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The Flood
A major travel snag characterized my first day in Oman. The plan was to have an interlude in the Emirates. I would have my flight to Abu Dhabi in mid-afternoon and thus plenty of time to leave my large backpack in the airport depot and visit the large mosque that is nearby.
But when I woke up, I heard a constant loud noise; I imagined it was the air conditioning, but pulling the window curtains, I discovered that there was a heavy thunderstorm, in fact, a real downpour. I had been told that it never rains in Oman (at least in the northern area, where in fact it had not rained for 9 months). It had rained all night and was still coming down in buckets at that moment. The road behind my hotel was flooded. Cars were backing up and in a nearby parking lot there was with a half-submerged bus.
The trip began under very bad omens; I feared that I would not be able to catch the flight, and so this unexpected travel snag threatened to jeopardize everything. After half an hour, the rain began to fall. At the reception desk, they pointed me to a bus stop that I could reach without having to swim. I waited a long time, but no buses were in sight until I realized that they were all stopped. Even finding a cab was not at all obvious, as it was full of people who had to move for work.
At the airport
I had to give up the Mosque, but at least I was able to catch the plane. The event was by no means a foregone conclusion, as I managed to reach the airport in 2 separate cabs and taking several hours.
The time I had a stopover in Oman on my trip to Australia, the Muscat airport was a very unfriendly construction site. Now, on the other hand, it is just beautiful with wide spaces and several quiet areas; I began to read the novel I had brought with me. For the first time I read something set in the area I was visiting: The 7 Pillars of Wisdom by Thomas Edward Lawrence. Actually, the famous story of Lawrence of Arabia is set mostly in Jordan, but it was very interesting to read about that epic 100 years ago and to think about how unimaginable then might have been the transformation that the Arabian Peninsula later underwent.
Home travel It never rains in Oman anyway – travel to Oman and the Emirates
Previous stop The Sultan of Oman, what to do in Muscat
Next stop Traveling setbacks, risk sleeping under a bridge in Abu Dhabi (where there are no bridges)
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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