Salalah Trip...Part 5

Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008 by Stained in Labels: ,
16

Saturday, 2nd of August

Second part of Day 4

1) After getting off the rock/mountain near Khawr Rawri we headed back into the town of Taqah where we spotted a graveyard. According to the book my sister had, Taqah castle was next to the graveyard. On looking around we spotted it and made our way towards it. I didn't count the number of steps that were there as I didn't care. My Niece was on my back and all I cared about was getting up there without dropping her. I couldn't do it in one go; had to take a short break in between (she's quite heavy).
2) There was this huge crow on the tree next to the Taqah Castle. The view was very cool though I didn't have the camera (my brother was still the photographer) so I can't show you any pictures of the view cause unfortunately there aren't any. On walking behind the Castle we realised there was a road coming up to the Castle and my effort to carry my Niece was a total waste of energy. Aaaaahhhh!!!!!
3) We had spotted another fort at sea level next to the Castle. This fort ended up being the REAL Taqah Castle and the one on the top of the hill being an extension of this (like a watch tower or something). We didn't go in because we all were tired and hungry.
4) Finding a restaurant that was open in Taqah was close to impossible. In the end we found this one that had only one dish on its menu for lunch. That was Chicken Biryani which was basically full grilled chicken placed on a plate full of biryani rice served with some chutney (liquid pickle like thing). It was in fact quite tasty.
5) We stopped over to this huge and, by the looks of it, a new mosque for our usual toilet/prayer process, though as usual I didn't go (too dirty for me even in this new mosque). I did see a few other mosques with similar dome designs.
6) On our way to Town of Mirbat.
7) A random tree shot near the supposed anti Gravity road (see next picture).
8) According to a 2 year old map there is supposedly an anti gravity road where a car will roll upwards in neutral instead of going down. According to the newer map that we got later it's just an optical illusion. Many people still do come here thinking it's an anti gravity road but it takes a little bit of logic to figure it out. My brother being the smartest of us siblings figured it out and explained it to us. The logic is basically when you stand on a path that has a downward slope of 50 degrees and look down the path that has a downward slope of 10 degrees, it may seem that the path with the 10 degree slope is not going down but up due to the angle of view from where we stand.
9) A view of the road leading off the anti gravity road 10) Camels and Cows have entry to any place in Salalah. Here you can see Camels strolling around in a graveyard. With regard to this picture (with some post processing), I tried to give it a little different look compared to my other pictures. I hope it looks nice...
11) The Bin Ali mausoleum. This is the only mausoleum I entered. Check out the headstones you can see in this picture. Some of them have cool designs on them.
12) I wonder what the tiny rope around the camel's body signifies. Anyway another shot of the camel in the graveyard.
13) A ruin by the looks of it though it might not be as old as it may seem. This is on entering Mirbad through the small internal streets.
14) If you are superstitious about the whole concept of a black cat cutting your path then you should not visit Salalah. There are just too many of them all over the place. I've got one at home so any number of black cats don't bother me.
This cat has a different structure than the ones I've seen here. Notice the paws, they are broader.
15) This is near the Mirbat fishing area. Notice the rocks here in contrast to the brown sand in the background. Near the coastline also you'll see your surroundings change from a wonderful beach to rocks to sand dunes to cliffs in just a few kilometres.
16) The breakwater at Mirbat.
17) Waves crashing into the breakwater. If you stand on top of the breakwater, you'll be sprayed with constant sea water as it crashes against the rocks but beware of the slippery rocks.
18) Some crabs were enjoying getting wet on the rocks..
19) You'll see small children walking around bare feet in Mirbat. Reminded me of the old Satwa that used to exist in Dubai. These kids were happy to pose for my Brother.
20) The last time my sister had come, Mirbat Castle was a tourist destination that you could enter and take pictures of the old interior design and furnishing. Now it is just a ruin. It seems like a part of it just collapsed and now a bunch of wooden sticks were holding the rest from falling apart also.
21) An old cannon lying next to the Castle...
22) I used my polariser with this shot to give the water this silky look to it and did some post processing to give the whole picture a more contrasted different look.
23) The sky was grey and so was the water. These three boats were just floating there that completed a perfect grey typical boat shot.
24) A view of the winding road up the mountains from the main Mirbat-Salalah road.
25) Usually near the coast, the clouds are not as thick and sometimes you can see the sun peeping through them.
26) This is Ayn Razat springs and Cave. The Cave was boring as usual though the water was interesting. Basically unlike the other places, the water here was very clean and clear that enabled us to see what was beneath
27) The reflections created were also pretty nice and made some good shots.
28) An almost perfect reflection shot...just needed more light to expose the green more properly.
Sorry for the long delays between posts but I'm being a little lazy....

16 comments:

  1. Neelofer says:

    That cat with the paws- looks something out of the mutant lab (X-men comics!). Nice pics...why did you have to put up a pic of the mausoleum.

  1. Neelofer says:

    And what is the last pic of?

  1. The Ego says:

    Love the pic of the silky water thing, the PP'd camel shot, the three boats (was that PP'd btw?), and the water reflection.

    Last pic is of the rock reflection I think...

  1. Abid says:

    Love the old cannon. Lack of DOF makes the picture interesting!

  1. Stained says:

    Neel...Salalah has a lot of Mausoleums that are marked as tourist destinations....I didn't have to put this picture up but as I said, this is the only one I entered so I wanted to post a picture of it...
    That cat is very different...
    The last picture is of a rock reflection...
    And thanks...

    D...The three boats are not PP'd except for contrast and levels...the sky was quite grey that day...

    Abid...The DOF effect is what I was trying for though I think I could have done a better job if I had bumped the aperture lower...I was shooting at f6.3 throughout the trip (except for night shots)

  1. Abid says:

    @stained. What lens do you use?

  1. Stained says:

    Abid...I use a Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OS lens...
    The DOF comment makes me think you know more about cameras in general than the general P&S crowd...do you own a camera and if so which one??

  1. Harsha says:

    like 28 and loved 15!

  1. Neelofer says:

    The last pic looks like an island itself (look closely, there seem to be mini palm trees on it!) :oD

  1. Abid says:

    "Abid...I use a Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OS lens...
    The DOF comment makes me think you know more about cameras in general than the general P&S crowd...do you own a camera and if so which one?? "


    Heard good and bad things about the Sigma 18-200. You are a lucky guy (?) to be shooting with an expensive lens and an SLR :)

    As a poor university student I unfortunately have no money to spend on a DSLR/lenses :-( . (actually, I have money for a dslr but dont want to buy one because I know that if I do, then I will max out the credit cards buying lenses).

    So currently I shoot with a (relatively) cheap Fujifilm ultra-zoom P&S.

  1. Stained says:

    Sigma 18-200 is an okay lens but as I didn't want to keep changing lens from wide and telephoto, I preferred this as a one lens solution.

    Lucky...probably but my set-up is the most basic one and not as costly as it might seem...you can pick up a second hand 400D+18-200 for just AED3500 though that's more compared to what you'd spend on an ultra-zoom like yours....(I'm guessing AED1400)

    Fuji are known to be good cameras, especially in low-light so I'm guessing the one you have is a good one. Plus there was a time (like a year back) when I was using a 2mp Sony Ericsson k750i for taking pictures...And I know I've taken a lot of good shots from it...

    In the end, the camera doesn't matter, just ones eye to frame the picture...

    What university do you go to??

  1. Abid says:

    Yep, that's the good part about the Sigma - it has a solid 11x zoom so you don't need to change lenses.

    Yep, AED3500 is roughly $950, about twice what my trusty Fuji cost (mine was roughly AED1500-1600).

    And yes it performs decently in low light, though of course a Canon 50mm f1.2 lens would (of course) kill it.

    "What university do you go to??"
    McMaster University, for BSc in chemistry. What about you?

  1. loved your photos so much..so glad you had a nice trip over there ;)

  1. Stained says:

    Abid....the 50mm 1.2 will slaughter my Sigma in low light!!!!

    I graduated with a BSC in Accountancy and Finance from IITM in Dubai...an LSE external program (University of London)..

  1. Abid says:

    nice..an accountant ;P

    Do you work?

  1. Stained says:

    not really an accountant...would need to study a further 3 years (or was it 2 years) to become a proper accountant...
    I'm trying to be a photographer...but till now no luck as I've been shrugged off for being too inexperienced... :|

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