Our plans for the next several months

Turquoise waters of the Daymaniyat Islands

We only have about 8.5 months left in Oman. That fact honestly truly breaks my heart. If we could stay here longer, we would in a heartbeat.

A perenial favorite: Wadi Shab. This time with an extra foot of water thanks to recent rain!

We’ve had some awesome adventures here in Oman over the past 15 months. We’ve gone hiking; explored mountains, deserts, wadis and beaches; gotten two scuba certifications; camped from here to Salalah; visited forts, markets, abandoned villages, and castles; and lots of other stuff I’m undoubtedly forgetting. It’s been incredible.

Another lovely morning at the Nizwa Goat Market

But now it’s time to kick it up a notch and go even further afield. For the remainder of our time here, we’ve got some big plans! Here’s what we’re planning before we leave Oman next August:

• Camping at Jebel Shams. I want to camp along the rim of the Grand Canyon of Arabia. How this can be done safely with a 3-year old remains to be seen, but we’re going to make it happen.
• Trip to Masirah Island. Those beautiful desolate beaches are so idyllic and picturesque. The perfect spot for a long weekend camping trip!
• Back to the Sugar Dunes. This time we’ll spend more than one night, and take more time to really enjoy the beach. Hopefully it won’t be as windy next time around, but if it is, we’ll be better prepared for it!
• Trip to Musandam. Did you know there are fjords in Oman? There are in Musandam! There’s also apparently the clearest, bluest water you’ve ever seen, so I’ve been told. We don’t know if we’ll fly or drive or take a ferry, or whether we’ll camp or stay in a hotel. But if I had to guess, I think we’ll both drive and take the ferry, and then camp, with maybe one night in a fancy hotel at the end.
• Camping on the Salmah Plateau. The Salmah Plateau is home to the biggest caves and some of the most well-preserved beehive tombs in Oman. Plus clear night skies, stunning views, and cool temperatures. It should make for the perfect weekend trip!
• Glamping at Desert Nights. This is supposedly the place to camp in the Wahiba Sands. I didn’t love 1000 Nights, so I’d like to give this spot a try. I’m listing this last, though, because we’ll have 3 years to explore the desert in Namibia, so if we don’t make it back to the desert here I won’t be heart-broken.

Rather than more international travel, we’re going to take some vacation days so that we can really experience all that Oman has to offer. This is such an incredible and interesting country, and who knows when or if we’ll ever have the chance to explore this area again.

The view along the Village Walk at Jebel Akhdar

It’s time to replace our Jeep’s fender (which blew off the car while on our Salalah excursion) and go adventuring!

What to wear in Oman

Winter is coming, and so are the visitors! I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, since all visitors have questions about what to wear in Oman.

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about clothing in the Middle East, so I’ll start with this: you will not get in trouble for dressing a certain way unless it is grossly inappropriate. Ladies do not need to wear an abaya (a long baggy shapeless cloak, essentially) or cover their heads. Omanis are truly some of the nicest people on the planet, and they will not be mean or rude to you because of how you dress. You may get stared at mercilessly by some expat men, but Omanis will not treat you poorly.

However, this is a more conservative culture than, for instance, the US or Europe, and it’s nice to be respectful of cultural norms. And that oftentimes means showing less skin than you’re used to.

Here is a table showing what to wear based on location and/or activity, in order from least to most conservative:

The minimum that you can  wear when you’re (at)…	Men	Women
Fancy hotel swimming pools or on a private boat	Banana hammock	Bikini
Deserted public beaches with no other people within eye sight	Swim shorts (shirt optional)	Swimsuit
Exercising outside (i.e. going for a run)	Shorts and a top	Shorts and a tank top
Wadi hiking*	Shorts, quick-dry t-shirt and shoes you can hike and swim in	Shorts, quick-dry t-shirt and shoes you can hike and swim in (not a bikini)
Nice restaurants in Muscat	Pants, close-toed shoes, shirt (no shorts and no sandals)	Whatever you would wear to a nice restaurant anywhere else in the world (FINALLY! More rules for the men than the women!)
Public beaches where there are other people	Swim shorts (shirt optional)	Capris and a quick-dry t-shirt over a swimsuit
Out and about in greater Muscat	Pants, t-shirt	Cover your legs below the knee and your shoulders
Traveling outside of Muscat	Pants, t-shirt	Pants, cover your shoulders and elbows
Opera house	Suit and tie	A dress or skirt + top that goes past your knees and covers your shoulders (using a scarf to cover your shoulders also works)
Mosques	Pants, t-shirt. Make sure to cover all tattoos.	Cover your ankles, arms, and head

*I know several people that have split their shorts when hiking a wadi. Wear bottoms made of durable fabric that won’t rip when it catches on a rock or when you’re sliding down a boulder on your butt.

There are caveats and exceptions to almost all of these, except the opera house and mosques, but I think that if you stick to this table you’ll be set up for success. Muscat is less conservative than, for instance, Nizwa. Sometimes I’ll wear loose capris and a tank top in Muscat, but in Nizwa I always wear pants and a top that covers my elbows, even when it’s hot.

Also, ladies, please, for the love of god, don’t trounce around in a bikini unless you are at a deserted beach or a snazzy hotel swimming pool. Seriously. Do not wear a bikini at the beach in Shatti Al Qurum. This is not Dubai. Personally, even when I’m at a deserted beach, I still don’t wear a bikini because you never know who will show up and that can be uncomfortable. It’s like stumbling across topless sunbathers in the US. You’d just be like, “Woah, WTF?” I wore a bikini once when I probably shouldn’t have, and it was super awkward. I only made that mistake one time.

Oh, and footwear. I could not survive here without my flipflops and Chacos. If I’m not going to work, I almost always wear my flipflops. Whenever I got to a beach or a wadi, I always wear Chacos. Lots of the beaches have sea urchins or poisonous fish you wouldn’t want to step on, and I don’t like to go in the water without shoes on. Chacos (or Keens or Tevas or any other shoe that you can swim and hike in) have been invaluable here. Although I’m getting some close-toed Chacos after nearly ripping a toenail out on a rock on our last wadi hike.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know! I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible, but it’s impossible to address every situation. Special shout out to the friends that read over the chart and provided input beforehand! If in doubt, wear loose-fitting pants and a t-shirt.

I love it when a plan comes together

Our next post is Windhoek, Namibia! We will arrive in September 2019, insha’Allah, and we could not be more excited.

I wrote earlier about third tour bidding, and it was a stressful unpleasant time for all of us. I didn’t really realize how stressful it’d been until it was over and I felt like I could finally relax.

We had initially identified Windhoek as one of our top choices, and pretty quickly it became our top choice. Nate was placed on the short list, which was sent to the bureau in DC, and a few weeks later he was notified that he was the bureau-leading candidate. Then, about a week later, he was offered a handshake for the job. Now he is waiting to be paneled, which means that all the job offers are being reviewed to make sure they aren’t breaking any rules. After being paneled, cables will be sent to out with travel orders and so forth. I’m not sure how long the whole paneling thing takes, but hopefully it won’t be too long. In the meantime we are planning to explore Oman some more and make the most of the rest of our time here.

Namibia a huge country (twice the size of California) in southern Africa with a population of only two million people, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It’s home to the Namib desert and some of the world’s tallest sand dunes, and it’s also the first country in Africa with environmental conservation and protection written into its constitution. There are lots of national parks and game reserves throughout the country, plus wineries and craft breweries. And did I mention that you can easily buy pork products throughout Namibia?! We absolutely cannot wait to get out and explore everything that Namibia has to offer.

It’s a huge weight off our shoulders to know where we’re headed next, and now we can buckle down and start checking off the last of our Oman must-do’s.  Experience tells us that things can change on a dime, so we are going to make the time count while we can. And then, hold on Namibia, here we come!