Changing Lanes

Day 4 broken into two posts. This is part one..

Saturday, 2nd of August

1) On our way to somewhere; I forgot what this place was called. Must be because it was kinda boring. I should learn from the professionals and carry a notepad with me.
EDIT: I found out where we were going...it was Ayn Hamran
2) Next to the road you'll see a lot of vendors selling mutton on sticks cooked over coal. Most of these sellers are young kids. You would also find fresh bottled camel milk being sold by some of them.
3) On our way to Ayn Athum where I took that frog picture. There was hardly any water there as by the looks of it, the water was being pumped out (through tiny pipes).
4) Somewhere before Ayn Athum. A pathway led away from the parking to a waterfall. I liked looking and clicking photos of the water droplets on sticks, flowers, leaves and even webs. Made such wonderful shots and this is one integral part of Salalah not to be missed. Though beware of the flies (called Horsefly) that do bite so you're better off not wearing black (attracted to it) and should cover your head though they're not a serious threat.
5) There used to be a waterfall here. Now there was not a drop of water to be seen not counting the water falling as rain. Quite disappointing as from the looks of the rock formation, it seemed like a spectacular waterfall which was later confirmed by my sister. My waterfall drought continued and my circular polariser filter stayed in my bag.
6) One of the paths leading away from the main path. I love the composition of this shot and features in my favourite shots of the trip.
7) On our way to Ayn Tabraq where we saw a not so green area. As I said earlier, the surroundings seemed to change every few kilometres. Very cool!!!!
8) Another that features in my favourite shots. I love the tree with the road in the background composition. This might be the best shot of them all in my opinion. On our way to Ayn Tabraq.
9) My polariser got some action here to get this foamy/silky look of the water at Ayn Tabraq.
10) A view of Ayn Tabraq from above....
11) The water ends up in this small pool of water. Supposedly there are poisonous snails that might result in a trip to an hospital.
12) Leaving the mountains behind on our way back to the main road.
13) The Beach at the Town of Taqah. A small town on the east of Salalah is a must for tourists for various reasons pictured later, obviously including this beach. A thick fog seemed to hang over the whole beach giving it a gloomy look.
14) This poor crab freaked out and almost ran into my sister. You'll find a lot of crabs in the green on the beach but you'd be lucky to get close to any of them.
15) Behind this huge rock/mountain lies Khawr Rawri (this is what you missed Harsha). We assumed (due to my sisters map reading skills) there was a castle on top of it so we decided to drive up there (the castle ended up being very much at sea level (almost) in the city). What you can see in this picture, we ended up right up there which you can see in picture #20 to #24.
16) On top of the rock we saw a lot of camels including this baby camel. Most of the baby camels that we saw seemed to be of a lighter colour than the adults. Also the camels here seem to have fur on their humps as compared to the UAE ones.
17) Khawr Rawri. Remember I mentioned that we were more interested in getting down from the archaeological site but we couldn't. Now due to pure map reading error we ended up where we never thought we would but we were glad we did. Watching the water crash against the rocks and the small piece of land dividing the waves from the Khawr itself was all so wonderful to look at. As usual we did have a bit of fog around but it was lesser than it was in Taqah so it just gave everything this perfect look. We had left the Trajet on top as we believed it would not be able to handle the steep slopes so we all stuffed ourselves into the Prado.
18) The next few shots were taken by my brother as I was wet. Basically we were standing at a point where the waves used to almost reach us but not wet us. I was sitting on a rock taking a picture when a big wave hit the others who were not on the rock. So I bragged to them that I was in a perfect position and completely dry. Five seconds later a bigger wave hits us and unlike everyone else who had already backed away a little I stayed where I was and whack!!! I was soaking wet. Luckily I had enough brains to take the full blow while keeping my camera away from harm. This also dampened my photo taking madness a little and I preferred staying away from the water but my brother being as mad as me took some great shots from some wacky positions.
19) The way the rocks have been cut by the wind and water is something you'll never see here. It really makes you think how one faced Dubai is compared to the multi-faceted Salalah.
20) This was taken from the place you can see in picture #15. The top of the rock.
21) On zooming in you'll see this rope hanging from it. Hang-man anyone???
My brother said it could have been either been placed there as a joke or someone might have hanged oneself or in older days pirates/shipmen might have used it to hang people. There are multiple possibilities but it makes a good picture and makes for an interesting discussion.
22) On top of the rock you'll find this ground station for some satellite according to the European men who were living next to it. They were not really keen on saying what it was so we didn't bother them too much. Just took a lot of pictures.
23) The View from the rock/mountain of the waves lashing against the cliffs.
24) View of the Town of Taqah from above.
I'm tired of editing the pictures and posting them...hmm...though I will complete the series...Inshallah!!!

Note: I might have mixed up Ayn Tabraq with Ayn Athum as they lie next to each other....so forgive my unprofessionalism (not sure if that's a word but you get the drift of it)... :(