Changing Lanes

Friday, 1st of August

I've decided to break this day into two posts. It's just too difficult for me to cut down on the pictures I'm posting.

1) Today we had plans to hit the wadis that were on the top of our list. We had planned to wake up early and try avoiding the crowd/traffic present on a Friday. Unfortunately some of us did not manage to get off our backs (especially me) and we were delayed by about 2 hours (left at 9am). We headed first to a place called Ain Sahalnoot or Ayn Sahnawt. It's basically a small spring that has been developed into a tourist destination. On the way I got excited at the various dirt/mud tracks that deviated from the main road, off into the mountains. To my disappointment I was informed that most of these tracks are closed as they are just too dangerous to use during this season.
2) As you drive towards the mountains, there is usually a constant drizzle in the air. This accumulates on leaves, flowers, webs, roots...anything that is exposed to it.3)All throughout the trip I was hoping to see a waterfall. But due to the uncertainty of it, I kept trying to shoot every possible water flow with long shutter speeds to get that kinda misty/foamy look to the water.
4) A view of the springs with the mountains in the background. 5) The huge ants that reminded me of wasps without wings. They seemed dangerous to me so I didn't get too close. Glad I have 11x zoom at my disposal especially in such situations...6) A view of the pathway that the government has made. Walking on it was kinda tricky though less of a problem compared to walking on the rocks...7) All of my insect shots were due to my family pointing them out to me. On my own I wouldn't have spotted half the cool things I shot...8) I waited for the frog to croak and then I clicked this. 9) We left the springs and made our way north deeper into the mountains to a place called Astah. This was taken on our way there... 10) This was taken after we had passed Astah and were making our way to Zayk...11) A small dwelling we passed on the way... 12) So much greenery to look at...13) We stopped at a curve where the edge of the road looked upon the dwelling we had passed earlier. Over here we decided to walk around a little. Some of us headed up the hill to look at the view from there. My brother decided to try to take our car (a Prado) on the dirt track that went to the top of the hill. On the top of the hill the track curved to the right. My brother tried turning, but instead of turning while going forward, the car turned while sliding side ways. My brother braked, locked the differential and tried turning around. Again the car did turn, but there was more sideways motion than forward. Our car was slowly sliding of the track and downhill. My brother pulled the hand brake and the car came to a stop. He then tried flooring the car but the tires were just spinning with the car going nowhere except slipping a little more downhill. Then me and my dad pushed the car a little forward (a metre maybe). My brother floored it again hoping to find some grip but to no luck. This is when my sister started getting sticks/branches from the nearby trees and planting it in front of the tires to provide some grip. After some moments of further pushing with my dad slipping twice the car got some grip due to the branches, it achieved some motion that enabled it to get back on the track providing a little more grip. My brother with the momentum created managed to get the car back on the road. My pant was splattered with mud. Basically when the car gained some grip due to the branches, the mud on the tires flew out behind where I was standing and pushing the car. Moral of the story: Do not try any off-roading adventures on tracks that may seem a piece of cake but are in fact muddy, dangerous and slippery tracks where the mud gets stuck in the threads of the tires making it lose all its grip. Also the greenery has water all over it making those parts more dangerous than the slippery track.14) I saw a lot of webs in the plants in Salalah. This one had water all over it....15) My first mushroom shot..growing out of what I think was cow dung.16) On the way back to the hotel coz I and my dad were all muddy and we needed to change.17) This Jabal Al Noor styled restaurant had become our favorite place to eat as the food was delicious and it was close to where we were staying. The burgers, chicken pieces were huge though they could improve on their fries. All in all, very satisfying value for money food that put KFC, Jabal Al Noor etc to shame.
Side Note: My laborer Series is being exhibited at the DSS Photography Exhibition at the Jewelry Court in Deira City Centre from the 12th to the 19th of August.... :D