Adventures in Asia: Bangkok, Thailand

My final layover on my trek around the globe is Bangkok, whence I will fly to Vancouver and then Edmonton. So, since January 10 I will have flown from Canada to Europe to East Africa to the Indian Ocean to the Middle East to Southeast Asia and back to Canada--literally right around the world. It is the first time I have traveled around the world and the first time I have crossed the 90° east meridian.

My Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed around 19:30, but it took awhile to get through the airport, which was packed. I had booked a hotel close to the airport and I arrived there around 21:00. I briefly considered trying to go into the city, but I was tired and decided I would just eat dinner and go to bed. So, after checking in, I walked a couple of blocks to eat dinner at a rooftop restaurant. Of course it was well after dark, but I still enjoyed the Bangkok vibes, and I ended up eating two plates of pad Thai, a wonderfully cold Singha beer . . .

. . . and some mango sticky rice for dessert.

Adventures in Asia: Doha, Qatar

From the Muscat airport, Diana and I departed in opposite directions, she heading west, me east. We will both get to Edmonton this weekend, but she via Dubai and Toronto and me via Qatar, Bangkok, and Vancouver. So, tonight I had an overnight layover in Doha courtesy of Qatar Airways' stopover program. 

I was disappointed how long it took me to get through the airport, but once I did I was easily able to board the gorgeous metro and make my way to the Souq Waqif metro station. From here it was a short walk to my hotel, the Central Inn, where I checked in around 20:00.

It is my first time in Doha and my flight is around 8:00 tomorrow, so with only a few hours, I decided the obvious thing to do was stay in the neighbourhood and explore Souq Waqif. As far as I understand, unlike so many of the ancient or nearly-ancient Middle Eastern souks I have visited, Doha's Souq Waqif is made up largely of buildings less than twenty years old. The location was at one time on the coast and therefore a centre of trade, but after land reclamation projects placed it a kilometre from the shore the area fell into neglect and a serious fire destroyed most of what was left of the neighbourhood in 2003.

Anyway, now it is thriving and clearly a very popular destination on a Friday evening.

I was lucky to find a one seat table on an outdoor patio and eat some dinner while I watched the crowds of tourists, expats, and locals eating, shopping, enjoying shisha and tea, and so on.

I was enjoying myself so much I decided to prolong my meal with a banana milkshake for dessert.

After dinner I took about an hour to meander on my way back towards the hotel.

I was amused to see a Canadian coffee company, Second Cup, represented amongst the Souq Waqif's businesses!

It was a quick visit to Doha and I will be eager to come back and see more, but I felt lucky to have gotten to enjoy the souq at least, more or less as "bonus" on my way home.

Adventures in Asia: Back to Muscat, Oman

Today is our final day in Oman. We left our Ras Al Jinz resort at 9:00 after breakfast, and we met some camels shortly thereafter.

We were hoping to get coffee by the Gulf of Oman just outside of Sur, but the coffee shop was closed. Nice place though, isn't it?

We passed through Sur and continued on Highway 17 northwest towards Muscat. Along the highway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Qalhat. Actually, this is super underdeveloped, but I figured if you can pull over and see a UNESCO World Heritage Site you probably should. These are the ruins of the ancient city of Qalhat down below, but really you cannot see very much!

Here is what UNESCO says about Qalhat: 

The property, which is located on the east coast of the Sultanate of Oman, includes the ancient city of Qalhat, surrounded by inner and outer walls, as well as areas beyond the ramparts where necropolises are located. The city developed as a major port on the east coast of Arabia between the 11th and 15th centuries CE, during the reign of the Hormuz princes. The Ancient City bears unique archaeological testimony to the trade links between the east coast of Arabia, East Africa, India, China and South-East Asia.

The only significant standing structure is the Bibi Maryam Mausoleum, which you can make out, sort of, in the photo below.

 

Our next stop was the extremely popular Wadi Shab. We were lucky to find parking here, and then headed down to the wadi, where you can pay a fee to get ferried across by boat to a trailhead.

From the other side you can walk in land along the wadi. 

We have flights to catch, so we could not spend all day here, although I think many people do. It is pretty idyllic! The trail continues for some ways, but we stopped at this pool, where I took a dip.

This was my view as I lounged in the refreshing water.

We left Wadi Shab around noon to carry on toward Muscat. We took a small detour to see the Bimmah sinkhole. It looks like you could have a nice swim here, too, but we did not walk down the stairs to see.

After this we began running out of fuel and this ended up being super stressful as there is a long stretch of highway without gas stations. But, we managed to make it to a gas station and refuel and then after that get some lunch in Muscat. Later this afternoon Diana is flying to Dubai and I am flying to Doha, so after lunch we headed to the airport to return the rental car and check in for our flights.

Adventures in Asia: Ras al Jinz, Oman

We arrived at our resort at Ras al Jinz around 16:00.

Adventures in Asia: Sur, Oman

Our road trip continued after Wadi Bani Khalid and we reached the coastal city of Sur.

Adventures in Asia: Wadi Bani Khalid, Oman

A night in the desert is lovely but for many people, ourselves included, after several hours one has had enough of the sand! We left Sharqiya Sands and less than an hour later we were at Wadi Bani Khalid. The lovely pools were quite a contrast to the dry sand dunes!

Adventures in Asia: Sharqiya Sands, Oman

On Wednesday we drove from Nizwa to the Sharqiya Sands desert.