Just so you don't think we're enduring too much hardship, we are traveling in a nice, air-conditioned bus with plenty of room and unlimited bottled water. The mornings are relatively comfortable and warm but as the day wares on, it starts to get really hot (90+) and also quite humid. The locals seem to disappear from view but, of course, we soldier on. Up to this point, we have been traveling north and inland through Oman. The roads are very good and the towns, like Nizwa and Bahla, are quiet and picturesque. This afternoon, it was time to go into "deep Oman". Into the mountains surrounded by landscape that could easily be Mars. Unscheduled, we (National Geographic) had been invited to visit an important archeological site by the government to get a first hand view of a live "dig" that had not yet been made public. The site was at Salut and it was the excavation of an iron-age fort. This was the first time the bus had ventured off on to dirt roads so we bounced along for about an hour before reaching the site. It was hard to miss!
We met with the archeological team who explained what they had found and were digging for. They were Italian, from the University of Pisa. It was hot and hard to imagine how they could spend months out here in the swealtering heat. I guess they're dedicated. We climbed up the mound and wandered around among the various artifacts, led by the Director.
They were gracious enough to give us lunch at a local farm house. In this part of the World, people eat family style, digging in with their hands. So, we had a traditional Omani lunch - a huge platter of rice, chicken, goat, eggs and all sorts of unrecognizable things. The locals did, indeed, dig in with their (right) hand. We, daintily picked through our lunch with a fork and spoon. This was one of these meals where you wondered if you would survive intact. We definitely had our fair share of flys go down with the goat. Carol didn't eat much.
Anxious to get going again we set off in the bus to our next destination - Al Ain Bronze Age Tombs. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site that is one of the "iconic" sites in Oman. The tombs are set on top of a hill, are largely intact and offer an impressive sight.
It was a bit of a hike to get up to this site so much water was consumed after we returned to the bus. Well worth a visit if you're ever in the neighborhood.
We're not done yet for today. The next thing was to cross the border into UAE. I never really thought about this but it turns out that there's some complexity in getting across the border. First you need to "leave" Oman by having your passport checked. Then you cross a no mans land and enter the UAE where you need to get your passport checked again and go through customs. Sometimes this can take several hours, especially with a bus-full of tourists. We were lucky and got through quickly only to have all the men in our group summoned off the bus to have out bags checked. Aparently the male customs agents were not keen on confronting the ladies. They checked some bags with little enthusiasm and eventually let us go. Freedom!
We arrived at our hotel - the Hili Rotana in Al Ain about 8pm and immediately had dinner. We were warned this was a DRY hotel - no alcohol anywhere. So it was a quiet night in and early to bed. There was a bit of tension in the group since this was election day in the US. We were 12 hours ahead so not much was happening. We knew we'd wake up to some news of the result. All a bit nervous.