Date palms & ancient architecture whiz past, opening up to vast emptiness of open highway with deserts to our right, mountains to the left & stars above, the road & ride is the only reality. But there is a grey stretch between recognizing reality & realizing on obligation towards it. I am somewhere in between stretching in, hanging in time & space. That is the promise of the open road & the reason why I had left hometown on the other side of the world to come to Oman. Earlier I had spent most of my time in Mumbai pursuing a career & education. Now since, living in Sultanate, exploring its culture & people & most often its tarmac.
I looked to see how much of highway Oman had & how much bush there was to explore. I have always been intrigued by desert & this was the opportunity to explore the thing. I’ve always wanted to. That openness is something that people & even countries try to escape. Ibra a small town here most people know of only as a dot on the map, a point between Muscat & desert camp or the highway to Sur. As the northern mountains give way & great plains of scrub gradually crumble into desert. Ibra blossoms with expatriates in search of more.
Faraway lands have always held a draw for travelers & as we turn off the highway into Wadi Naam you could see why with mountains at the doorstep, the desert a few miles away & Arabian Sea a few hours ride to east. This is a prime location. But instead of rave parties, hippies or foreign nomads through the desert, this portion off Oman draws a different crowd from the palm fringed alleys to Mudayrib to the onion domed mosque in Jaalan. There need a certain maturity to appreciate. The desert sun was up by now & children in crisp white are lining up for school. It was already getting too hot to be dawdling around. , the hot air like a slap through your lungs.”its all about the sense. The feel of speed, the wind over your hair, dust in your nose. Climbing thru Wadi, over mountains through its water- chocked the depths & across the other side, hours later, after we splashed the pools of water., followed the falaj system & released over gravel plains, we made it to the finished road at the end. We stopped by the side of the road our car waking the old man lying under the tree. instead of being irritated he offered us dates & coffee & the crowning glory of the wadi experience, miniature pancakes soaked in local honey.
Can you imagine the sheer exhilaration of eating pancakes towards end of Wadi Tayyin, sitting with an old man under the tree with dirt car parked beside? Air conditioned 4WD’s & bottled water seem shameful in comparison. An hour later we would be off the car, eating egg sandwiches at the first filling station.
Out of Wadi Tayyin, an Al Maha on the right. Turn right from here & the dirt track will lead you hours into another wadi, until you go deep into the belly of eastern Hajar. Follow the tracks up the mountain & you can climb up to the top, where some of the greatest cave system in the world lie buried. But the Majlis al Jinn would have to wait for another time, for the road this side has fallen apart. if not, you could climb to the other side of mountain to Tiwi & Fins & the Arabian Sea. But for now, there was nowhere to go but forward the highway where we would part.
Oman has 2 gifts space & time. This opportunity & challenge. It could also be terrifying. Such open concepts need you to act not react to external factors. Outside influences don’t dictate what you do here, like consumerism or urbanization. They take away from essence of life. Oman sets you free.