The flight from Colombo to Dubai on Emirates
The second leg of the We2ours1 Tour took us to the UAE (Dubai) and Oman. We continued onward from Colombo via Emirates and had the same positive experience as the 1st leg. This was also the 1st time we changed Nadiya’s diaper on a flight (this was her 4th flight and we had managed to get through the previous 3 without a diaper change) and that was a major win for us! Again, the in-flight baby kit provided by Emirates was super helpful and made our task a lot easier. We felt a bit more confident in terms of having some sort of repeatable process in place – Ajay in the toilet with Nadiya on the changing table and Nisha handing him supplies to get the job done.
Overall immigration process was in DXB pretty quick and we then set out on figuring out our first task for Dubai – renting a car (Our plan was to drive to Oman and back to Dubai.)
One night in Dubai at Raffles Dubai
On our onward journey, we only stayed in Dubai for 1 night. We opted to stay at the Raffles Dubai. It’s a hotel that we had stayed at before (when we visited Qasr Al Sarab in the empty quarter back in April 2016). It has some of the largest ‘entry’ level rooms in Dubai, the service is efficient, food is decent and its also only about 10 minutes away from DXB. Overall a fine city hotel (though it does not have much of a view), one that we don’t mind recommending.
The journey from Dubai to Jabal Akhdar, Oman
Our second day in the Middle East required us to drive from Dubai to Anantara’s Al Jabal Al Akdhar Reort in Oman. It was a journey of about 500KM and required us to cross the border between UAE and Oman. Once we got out of Dubai (and till we reached the resort in Oman), the roads were pretty empty. They were also in excellent condition with speed limits alternating between 120 kmph and 140 kmph (in Al Ain, UAE). We crossed over into Oman at the Al Ain border. Since we had all the required paper work, it was a pretty straightforward process. Nisha and Nadiya sat in the car while Ajay dealt with the immigration and customs officials at the various check posts for both countries.
The drive, particularly as we got into Oman territory was spectacular – mountain ranges everywhere in different shapes in sizes. Even though it was a long distance, most of the drive was pretty easy and we stopped a couple of times along the way to change Nadiya. The most difficult part of the drive was the last 45 minutes or so when we reached the checkpoint at the bottom of Jabal Al Akdhar (literally ‘Green Mountain’). The Omani police patrol the checkpoint and inspect every car to make sure that the vehicle is 4WD. As we started the climb we saw signs at pretty much every turn warning us about the steep slopes and the fact that we needed to engage a low gear. While the climb was steep, we did not really figure out what the big deal was, until we started doing a bit of a descent. A few minutes in, a local in a pick-up truck made us pull us over and then started yelling at Ajay. Confused, Ajay rolled down the window to realize that there was smoke coming out of the front tires. Turns out the local was concerned about our safety and insisted that we did not use the brake to descend, but instead shift to manual and use the low gear to reduce the momentum of the car. A bit shaken, we eventually made it to the resort after about 6.5 hours on the road. (we should point out though that the road was in excellent condition. It was after sunset, but there were bright lights illuminating the road, the signposts were very clear and there ‘escape lanes’ every 500m or so if you needed to get off the main road due to high speeds).
3 nights at Anantara’s Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort and Spa
We stayed 3 nights at Jabal Akdhar. The resort is situated on top of the mountain, with canyon and mountain views everywhere you look. The rugged landscape and deep gorges earn it the distinction of being referred to as Oman’s Grand Canyon . We spent most of our time here in the resort – taking in the views and watching the sun go down over the mountains at Diana’s point. Named after the late Princess, this overhang marks the place where Diana once spent an evening admiring the sunset in Jabal Akdhar over 20 years ago. We only made 2 trips out of the resort. The first was to a ‘sunset’ point a few kilometres away. This required some off road driving for the final stretch which we decided against after our experience climbing up to the mountain. Our second trip was a 45 minute training lesson by one of the hotel staff (Mr. Mubarak) who was kind enough to show Ajay how to navigate the mountain route and drive down to base safely (the training worked well – our descent was incident free!). Along the way, Mr. Mubarak also give us a history lesson on the Jabal Akhdar road. Tilll the late 1970s, there was no road and it used to take him and his father 2 days by donkey to go down to the base from his home in the mountain. Between 1980 and 2005, the first road operated, but this was not a tarred road hence tourists were not allowed to drive up and the road was closed at nights. Its only from 2005 that the magnificent road has been in operation 24/7. The rapid pace of development in the country is best illustrated by the fact that in the 1970s, the entire country had only 6KM of tarred road – today it has one of the best road networks in the world! Overall, it was another good stay at an Anantara property and we would hope to return some day (only feedback was that the food could have been a bit better)
Onwards to Muscat and Barr Al Jissah
Our next stop was to the capital of Muscat, Oman. The journey took us around 3.5-4 hours. Following a recommendation from Shavina, we stayed at Shangri La’s Barr Al Jissah resort for 2 nights. Barr Al Jissah is an enclave just outside the main city that comprises of resorts and luxury residences. It reminded us of Sentosa Island in Singapore – a place where locals went to chill by the beach on weekends/holidays. The area offers spectacular views of Muscat bay (particulary from the hilly approach roads). Shangri La’s property is divided into 3 main buildings – one for couple only; one catering for kids and the third one that’s somewhere in between. Overall the property seemed to have seen better days. The fittings in bathroom etc. seemed a bit dated.
The Muscat to Sur Coastal Road
We spent the first day in the resort – exploring the property, going to the beach and having some delicious Omani food. The second day saw us driving on the coastal route from Muscat to Sur. The road has received favorable comparisons with Route 66 in the US. We decided to go only part of the way to Fins. A bit of off-road driving at Sur took us to the most amazing secret beach we had been to in a long time. Waters in every shade of blue on one side and the mountains on the other side. The best part – there was absolutely no one else there! Just the 3 of us and our car. We also visited the Bimmah Sinkhole before driving back to Muscat. Highlights of our stay in Muscat included the surprisingly good views everywhere we went, the great food and the Singaporean manager at the Shangri La who was so thrilled to have someone from Singapore visit the hotel that she went out of the way to make us feel comfortable.
Back to Dubai for 2 nights at the Taj Dubai
Finally, it was time for our last marathon drive of this leg from Muscat to Dubai via the Muscat Expressway. Once again, the roads were fantastic – 8 lane highways in Oman with hardly any traffic (cruise control nearly the whole way!). The approx 550 KM journey took us about 7 hours. This including crossing the border at Hatta where we re-applied for a UAE visa (once again a very straightforward process). Nisha wanted to stay in downtown Dubai this time around so we checked into the Taj Dubai for 2 nights. Located on Burj Khalifa street (offering views of the massive building), the hotel is close to the gigantic Dubai Mall. The hotel is about a year old and has a modern, yet distinctly Indian feel about it. Dubai was where we decided to stock up on supplies (at the Dubai Mall) and also where we extensively used Deliveroo to satisfy our food cravings. Dubai (particularly downtown Dubai) is home to food from all over the world and we were able to order food from some of our old favorites (Burger & Lobster, Grom, Shake Shack).
Final Impressions
We ended up spending 8 nights in the Middle East – 3 nights in UAE (Dubai) and 5 nights in Oman (3 in Jabal Akdhar and 2 in Muscat). Oman had been on our travel list for a while (we even made an attempt in 2016 only for the visas to prove too hard to get). The country exceeded our expectations greatly – its far more beautiful than we had imagined, the people are friendly in their own unique way and the food is pretty good too. Definitely worth a visit!
Next up….!
With the Middle East leg of our journey done, we retired to bed early as we prepared for the next leg of the We2ours1 Tour to Ukraine!
Visas
UAE: On arrival using US visa (fees are applicable). Work has taken Ajay to Dubai a few times in the last couple of years, so he was quite familiar with the process of applying for ‘visa on arrival’ for the 3 of us. As holders of valid US visas, all 3 of us were eligible for a 14 day visa on arrival in the UAE. The catch, though, is figuring out that you need to pay for the visa (120 AED) before you get to immigration. All terminals in DXB have separate counters (Marhaba) in the immigration hall where you can pay this fee (it’s easy to miss though)
Oman: E-visa, applied in advance with US visa as basis. Fees applicable. Processing took less than 1 day
Car Rental
Unfortunately there was very little (and sometimes confusing) information on the internet about this. It turns out that to drive a rental car to Oman you need to have 3 things with you – the car papers (original), Oman insurance (pretty expensive – we ended up paying 750 AED+ for 6 days) and a copy of the car rental contract. For a number of reasons, a lot of the rental companies (Avis, Budget etc.) do not offer Oman Insurance anymore. We finally ended up renting an SUV from Dollar who provided us with all the paperwork that we needed for the border crossing
We2ours1 Tour Overall Stats
Total # of Countries: 3 (Sri Lanka, UAE, Oman)
Total air miles: 3,700 (2 flights)
Total distance driven: 2065KM (driving in Sri Lanka, UAE and Oman)
Total nights: 15
Nadiya’s age at end of this leg: 11 weeks, 4 days
Around the world with a baby 