Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Dubai - Doha (Day 8 - Final)

(above, muttrah corniche at night)

Finally... hari terakhir our trip to UAE dan Oman... hari terakhir ni, kitaorg ada separuh hari je, by noon nak ambik flight... aku plan utk cuba the new train system kat dubai. Aku ingat kan dah extensively open rupanya cuma beberapa stesen je buka. although station dia cantik and i can see the connection between the lines and system satu tiket (not like malaysia) tp location of the station tak lah yg terbaik. aku g ke dubai mall dr apartment, station dubai mall/burj khalifa tu agak jauh, kena tunggu shuttle and shuttle tu like 15 mins satu. so, aku tak sempat pun pusing2 mall tu to shop hehehee... sempat dok situ 15 minutes je... spend like 1 hour plus utk travel to the place, kalau drive pun cuma 20 mins (on weekeends' morning).

so... utk wrap up for the trip, aku rasa sgt bersyukur atas kesempatan aku bawak parents aku jalan2... Alhamdulillah... mmg aku berangan nak buat trip macam ni.. next, kalau ada rezeki, nak buat roadtrip kat New Zealand, together with my bro's family insyaAllah (harap2 dapat g tahun depan :-).

to wrap up... here are more pictures of the trip... such a personal and memorable for me...

muscat - bar al jissah...
nizwa (with kg tinggal kat belakang tu)
nizwa - over the top...nizwa - the gorge and wadi...bahla - the fort yg tak buka2 tu...wadi dhar - certainly the best pic ever... :-)dubai - with my brother

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).

Roadtrip : Hari 3 - Hari 5...

Hari ketiga

Baru lah berkesempatan nak membuat lawatan.... tak de plan utk travel jauh2 except by petang nak ke Muscat which is 2 hours away from Nizwa.

First place nak pergi... Jabal Syams. approx. 3000meter above sea level... the highest point in Oman... and ada 2nd largest canyon in the world!!! dari jalan besar 38km je... nak ke jabal syams, kena tuju ke Al Hamra i.e. antara Bahla ngan Nizwa... from there ikut je lah jalan tu... ooopss... GPS tak de pun tunjuk camner nak ke sana.. so guna guide book je. On the way to go up to the peak, kitaorg nampak satu kampung tinggal kat wadi ghul. tak tahu kenapa kena tinggal... but the village is so unique... umah2 mcm dipahat dr batu bukit je...

dr 38km tu.. rasa nya 28km jalan tar... lagi 10km... jalan batu2... so 4x4 is recommendable... perjalanan dlm 1 jam je... tp ada various places cantik ambil gambar... so we spent almost 4 hours naik dan turun... view from above... Masya Allah... marvellous!!!

lepas turun dr Jabal Syams, kitaorg nak g ke Bahla Fort dan Jibrin Castle. Pekan Bahla ni famous for its pottery and fort, and fort ni consider the biggest in Middle East and now under restoration. it is also dibawah UNESCO preservation pun. selain tu, Bahla ni famous among arab2 as centre of Black Magic... apa yg magic nya aku pun tak tahu... tp mmg area ni byk jin kot.. and org yg jaga jin... :-)

tp bahla fort ni tak leh masuk pun, tgk dr luar je. but we managed utk masuk kat Jibrin Castle. said to be one of the finest castle yg masih preserve kat mid east. it's huge and beautiful... but similar with other old fort n castle kat qatar ni, there's no information kat area tu yg kita blh baca utk admire the place more... so dtg.. tgk buta2 je without info... ambil gambar n balik ;-)

around 4 kitaorg g terus ke Muscat... and what a good timing... abe, akak n kimi sampai ke muscat 30 min lepas kitaorg check in hotel. depa bertiga ni naik flight ke abu dhabi then br meet up kat muscat ni. depa tak dpt cuti awal, so lain skit plan nya... terus jadi havoc when depa join the group... and mlm tu kita org g corniche... ambil angin.

Hari 4

Sebelum bertolak dari Doha, we tot that hari ke empat ni, i.e. 8hb December ni hari raya haji. so we expect semua kedai tutup. and it is hari raya haji for orang2 kat Malaysia, kat Doha, kat UAE, kat Saudi... and almost for everyone all over the world. tp... Sultan Quboos kat Oman ni, tak declare raya haji for Oman, 9hb br Oman punya raya haji... katanya tak nampak anak bulan. So blh lah kitaorg g souq :-) and kedai2 pun buka :-)

Hari ni... concentrated on Muscat. I've been to Muscat before... so senang lah skit nak jalan2 around... basically i know some basic city orientation lah kan... in the morning, we had breakfast kat D'arcy cafe kat Qurm beach near inter-con hotel... lepas breakfast ambil gambar kat beach... biasa lah... tu je main activity... bergambar... bergambar... bergambar... non stop... tp abe dgn sukarela nya nak try buat stunt... and try buat lompatan dr tangga, dia tak bg pun org ambil gambar sbb katanya nak try je dulu... alih2 dia jatuh tergolek... dah lah gambar tak ambil sesia je stunt dia... tp dia bukan je jatuh tergolek, siap sakit kaki lagi.. at first we tot sekadar terpelecok, tergeliat some sort like that... tp bila petang g hospital rupanya tulang retak... tu lah bahana org tua yg masih ingat dia muda... hik hik hik...anyway, lepas Qurm beach we went for short and quick shopping kat Souq Muttrah... then pastu camwhoring kat depan Sultan Quboos Palace... kat situ je dah penat photographer kitaorg ambil gambar :-) then... pusing2 town sampai ke Bar Al-Jissah... and lepas dr abe diplaster kat policlinic, before balik hotel, we went to the Masjid Sultan Quboos. (for more pics of muscat, ada kat dlm my previous trip to Muscat :-) )

Hari 5

Another long journey today... we travelled to Musanddam dari Muscat... cover approximately 560km!!! took us about 10 jam... with 2 hours kat 2 borders... we have to cross Oman - UAE border kat Hatta.. then cross semula UAE - Oman kat Tibat.

Since hari ni hari raya haji in Oman... jalan agak lengang which is good for us lah... cumanya nak cari tempat breakfast lah susah skit.. hehehe... we end up had breakfast kat Sohar Beach Resort... :-)

Roadtrip : Hari 1 - Hari 2

2 hari pertama ni byk nya on the road... hari 1 - Doha - Dubai.... hari 2 - Dubai - Nizwa.

Hari 1 (5/12/2008)
Kitaorg bertolak seperti dirancang. Jam 2am dr Doha. Aku yg tak sempat tido sebelum bertolak, agak kepenatan utk drive. Plus my sis-in-law's sis plak ada kat Doha mlm tu. so bawak dia jalan2 kat souq sampai lewat mlm, then terus bersiap utk roadtrip.

it was a smooth ride, sampai few km nak sampai border when che le realised yg dia tak bawak ID, Lesen dan car registration card, definitely dia nak kena turn back. dia je patah balik, we all bawak slow sampai lah lepas border sehingga lebih kurang 40km sebelum border Saudi-UAE, kitaorg had breakfast dan tunggu che le sampai dia tiba situ. delay abt 3 hrs. no hal, sbb nothing to rush pun.

Border Qatar-Saudi agak senang, sbb tak perlu turun kereta. lepas satu post ke satu post follow je kaunter. except masa nak cek brg dlm kereta, itu pun kejap je. tp border Saudi - UAE agak leceh, kena keluar kereta, isi form then kena buat retina check, semua ni kat border UAE lah.

We all reached dubai at 4pm.. thats 14hours drive!!! actually, tak lah panjang mcm tu.
From Doha - Saudi Border - 1 hour (90km)
Saudi border to UAE border - 1 hour (120km)
UAE border to Abu Dhabi - 3 hours (350km)
Abu Dhabi to Dubai - 1.5 hours (140km)
At each border crossing - 1 hour so total 2 hours
Delay - 3 hours
Lain - lain... Toilet break - isi minyak - beli salik

talking abt beli Salik, masa beli tu pun aku telah mendelaykan group. the owner of the car i drove kata dah ada salik, tp bila aku cek mcm tak de... after few phone calls, aku decided utk beli je salik tu... it costs us AED100 - AED50 for the card AED50 top up.

btw, aku drive kereta kawan aku utk trip ni. a land cruiser. utk bawak kereta org lain cross border, what u need is to register kat muror (jabatan pengangkutan kot). dia akan keluar receipt kebenaran bw kereta org lain. it cost u QR5 je utk dpt kan resit ni.

sesampai kat Dubai, sebab dah petang/malam, tak sempat lah nak g wild wadi as planned. but we went to Mall of Emirates, for dinner... ada few plan nak main ski... tp mahal sgt... and disebabkan kepenatan driving, we went back to hotel and tido... end of day 1.

Hari 2 (6.12.08)
another long driving day... dari Dubai ke Nizwa. the road was uneventful. we left Dubai at around 9am. cross satu border kat al ain... yg tak puas hati nya, kita org kena caj AED65 sorang utk keluar dr UAE. based on my reading sepatutnya kena AED25 je... tp apa nak buat, we have to pay lah... utk masuk ke oman, kena bayar visa on arrival OR3 (QR30) kids are free.

we stop for lunch kat Ibri. surprisingly, makanan kat situ was delicious... or kitaorg je lapar kot... hehehe... mmg semua org berselera makan (except che le yg ter masuk ke toilet before makan... hik hik hik, terus hilang selera dia). we continued travelled after lunch. sampai kat bahla, nak singgah kat jibrin castle n bahla fort. the castle closed at 4pm, kitaorg lambat 5 minit... so we decided utk dtg semula the next day.

jam 5pm kitaorg sampai nizwa, check in hotel... then terus ke pekan nizwa... g pasar malam... n stroll around. again too tired to stay late... jam 9pm we went back to hotel... except for few yg singgah kat Pizza Hut for dinner :-)

Roadtrip 2010: Dubai - Muscat

Went for a 5-days-trip to Muscat with my parent and bro n makciks... here's the roundup of the trip:

Day 1 : Doha - Dubai (by flight)

Day 2 : Dubai - Muscat (by road)

Day 3 : Muscat

Day 4 : Nizwa

Day 5 : Tiwi

Day 6 : Muscat - Dubai (by road)

Day 7 : Dubai/Abu Dhabi

Day 8 : Dubai - Doha (by flight)