Changing Lanes

Monday, 4th of August

1) As we headed off from Al Mughsayl Bay Beach we stopped beside the road to look at the view beneath.2) It seemed like a dried up wadi/valley/river by the looks of it.
3) The camels returning to the houses (pictured above) as the sun sets. There were atleast a 100 of them coming from every direction making their way to their respective camps.
4) We headed off into the industrial area of Salalah in the hopes of finding another Frankincense trail but got lost.
5) We spotted these cats next to a Bird Sanctuary that was located next to what seemed like an up scale neighbourhood of Salalah with mansion-like houses.
Tuesday, 5th of August

6) The next day we roamed around within the city a bit. Did a little last minute shopping at the Heritage Village where they were also showcasing different types of guns. Some of the rifles were loooooooooooong!!!!
7) Chicken on the rocks. Basically chicken that is cooked on hot stone though we didn't try it. We preferred having the delicious chicken we'd already had earlier rather than try something new.
8) These rotis available at some of the road side restaurants are DELICIOUS!! A must have in Salalah.
Wednesday, 6th of August
9) We left Salalah early in the morning in the hopes of getting back home by Thursday early morning while having dinner in Muscat.
10) We saw these jets fly past us as we left the town of Thumrayt. It's quite common to see army vehicles on the road.
11) Several kilometres of the highway is made up of roads that are old and breaking apart. They are in the process of building a new road but 1000 kilometres of construction doesn't come cheap and will take a few more years easily. So you need to be very careful while driving and one hand driving needs to be completely avoided though we were still zooming at 120kmph+ and getting overtaken by lunatics.
12) Luckily the trip from Salalah to Muscat was not as hot as we expected. It was cloudy most of the time and cooler than we thought. The temperature reached a peak of just 36'C even when the sun was blazing away. Imagine that in Dubai in August.
13) We had left at 8am from Salalah and after 12 hours of almost continuous driving we reached Muscat at approximately 8pm. I drove for about 3 hours and freaked myself out a few times. Basically it was a windy day and the car kept moving left and right. Now our car isn't a light one, it is a heavy 4wd but the small movements that were created by the wind added to the fact that we were travelling at 140kmph (I got to drive only on the section where the road was new and smooth) was scary. It wasn't a constant one side movement..one second the car is drifting right and then the next second a whiff comes and pushes the car towards the left. Being inexperienced in such situations, I didn't know how fast to react.
Anyway while we made our way to Muscat, covering approximately 1000+ kilometres, I hadn't visited the toilet the whole trip (I know I'm spoiled). Our plan was to have dinner at the Omar Al Khayyam restaurant in Muscat since we had loved the food and atmosphere there when we were in Muscat 5-6 years back. I was hoping Muscat (unlike Salalah) would have proper toilets. Luckily the Centrepoint (Splash, Baby Shop etc) there next to the restaurant had one and I was relieved. The temperature in Muscat City was a cool 28'C in August (*shock*).
This is a shot of the Muscat Clock Tower.
We left Muscat (changed a lot since the last time we were there) at about 10pm. Made our way to Hatta via Sohar. Saw a few brightly lit (using enough power to light up a small Indian town) Lulu hypermarkets. We got to the border by 1am. Went through the usual border check procedure. I haven't got any pictures cause I was half asleep though as soon as we entered UAE, me (and the rest of the family) were all wide awake. It felt nice to be back home (even though we were still a few hours away from our actual home). The temperature was still around 30'C. As we drove, the distance got shorter but the temperature kept increasing. We got back home at 3am by which the temperature had increased to 40'C (at night, sheesh!!!). Even though I should have been tired and sleepy after the long trip, I didn't feel that way. I carried all the luggage up, unpacked a few stuff, cuddled up with my cats (I missed them sooo much) and did a few other chores. It was 4:30ish by the time I slept. I think I woke up the next day at 12pm.

This concludes my Salalah trip pictures. 191 photos in total have been posted here. Hoping you guys enjoyed looking at them. Now its time to go back to the usual boring Dubai shots ;)