Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat - Nizwa (Day 4)

hari ni kita org g ke Nizwa. its about 190km from Muscat. I came to Nizwa masa buat roadtrip 2 tahun sudah, now i nak bawak my family plak. yg utamanya, nak g ke jabal shams, the highest point in Muscat (and gulf kot). and surroundings lah..

Perjalanan ke Nizwa mengambil masa sejam setengah. jam 10.30 kitaorg dah sampai Nizwa. since it is still early, we opted to stop kat Nizwa Souq and aku pun decided utk masuk Nizwa fort sbb masa aku dtg dulu aku tak masuk pun fort ni. said to be the largest in Muscat.
Nizwa ni famous for its pottery kot. kat souq ni penuh ngan pasu tanah liat... mcm pekan kuala plak. souq dia agak besar i.e. ada souq sayur, binatang and ikan kat satu tempat. tempat ni meriah especially before hari raya korban, sbb org2 berebut beli kambing.
Nizwa ni i think 2nd or 3rd largest town kat Muscat ni (tak sure mana besar, Nizwa or Salalah). tp, town dia mmg centered kat souq yg bersebelahan ngan Nizwa fort yg sebelah nya ada jame' (masjid). so... 3 ni lah center town Nizwa. gambar kat atas tu taken from the fort, nampak masjid dia and the residential area.

lepas went through Souq, kitaorg g ke fort. a good one indeed. aku rasa kagum sbb very informative, something yg aku tak expect kat negara2 arab ni. and mmg ramai pelancong org putih kat sini. fort kat doha ni, no where near ngan fort ni. siap ada tunjuk mcm mana depa trap org masa perang and ada videography sebelum masuk ke fort. its something normal kat european countries, but kalau kat negara gulf ni, information mcm ni mmg takde.spend a good 1 hour kat fort... then we all terus menuju ke jabal shams i.e. abt 30km from Nizwa town. hari dah tengahhari, we ate snacks kat dlm kereta je.nak naik ke atas tu ada pavement road... but not to the peak, dlm 7km akan lalu gravel road. tu lah sbb i have to rent a 4wd. kalau tak, tak sampai ke atas. but apparently masa aku kat situ, ada plak kete sedan dengan beraninya drive sampai ke atas...
on the way tu, we did few stops for picture taking session... seriously beautiful... bila sampai kat atas, sibuk plak tgk bawah... ada gaung (kata org perak) or canyon... a deep one indeed... sapa gayat tu, tgk dr jauh je lah...terjumpa plak pakcik ni yg aku takpaham... sama ada minta duit or jual batu or nak caj kalau ambik gambar dia...utk trip kali ni, aku go to other points yg aku tak pergi masa aku dtg dulu... lepas settle tgk semua, kitaorg turun and solat kat small village kat kaki gunung... actually semua org dah lapar... snack pun dah abis... hehehe...

mlm sebelum g nizwa ni, aku sempat g kedai buku n aku baca there's actually a better place to enjoy the gorge and the canyon, i.e. ikut jalan bawah, lalu wadi an nakhar. aku tak g area tu sebelum ni, so i determined to try out. lepas solat, terus aku ke situ.. even masa org dah berlapar. based on the book, it is less than 7km je nak sampai bawah tu...but utk ke tempat tu, mmg lagi tough., kena ikut jalan kat kampung yg kitaorg solat tu. first kena pass by satu kampung tinggal/lama then br continue ke wadi... jalan dia dr batu2 bulat2 yg kecik mcm batu sungai. so u rasa the terrain mcm keras but terperosok ke dalam... aku belasah je lah ngan 4wd tu.. n jalan sempit... kalau berselisih mmg ngam2... since the road was not that good my parents dah suruh2 patah balik je.. until lah sampai section wadi yg cantik... depa decided utk turun n ambik gambar...lepas ambik gambar depa kata jom patah balik, cakap jalan tak elok lah.. dah lewat dah lah... hehehe... but i moved on :-) ... i wanna reach to the end hehehe... (aku pun tak tahu apa ada at the end). but from the view so far really amazing... so aku continue sampai lah terjumpa a group of archeologist (dlm gambar atas tu) yg cakap depan tu dah kena tutup... and aku kena pusing balik... archeologist ni tgh study batu2 kat situ... since kena patah balik ngan ruang yg sempit n jalan berbatu... mmg buat kereta tersangkut, so depa lah yg tolong tolak kereta... hehehe... seriously i can say the view from wadi ni is as good as on top and at certain part even better... :-)
out of the wadi kitaorg g ke bahla, singgah ambik gambar fort bahla then to jibrin castle, pun ambik gambar kat luar. Bahla fort masih ditutup for refurbishment, jibrin castle pun dah tutup masa tu, dah sunset pun... anyway, i've been to the castle and it is not that good. in about sejam setengah br sampai muscat. sbb semua dah lapar, i've decided to go to thai restaurant, senang nak pilih makanan... and nasib baik sedap, my parents love them... that's the end of day 4 (day 3 in oman).