Watamu Beach, Kenya, Africa

Robert's second trip home to Alaska occurred while the boys and I were in Kenya. Our original plan was to fly to Egypt and spend time there exploring along with Mom and Frank and Aunt Laurie. Airfare had been booked and were looking at tours when the Egyptians revolted against President Mubarak. We watched and waited for about 10 days as to the status of the county. With things getting worse much to my chagrin we canceled our trip. Airfare was refunded too.
Destination change. Same continent different county. Mom and Frank could no longer join us but Robert's Aunt still could. Africa is practically her second home as she has been traveling there for the past 25 years. Through email, we discussed what we would like to do and where to go. She had never been to the coast and I can always go for beach time so the east African coast is where we decided to land - Mombassa, Kenya.

The boys and I arrived from Jakarta an hour before Aunt Laurie so we waited for her arrival at the gate like the "good ole days". She arrived, we all went through customs, grabbed Aunt Laurie's luggage and met up with her friend-travel-guide-coordinator Joe.

We love Aunt Laurie.

 Since we arrived at night we chose to spend that night and the next in Nairobi before heading to Mombassa. That one day was spent taking care of logistics and miscellaneous things for our trip to the coast.

Our new friend Daniel at the Kenya Comfort Hotel.

Our flight to Mombassa was an easy hour flight. We were met by our driver who was holding the all so handy hand written in black marker SHELDON FAMILY identifying sign.
The drive to our condo was a quick half an hour. We pulled in and based on what I saw, 100 questions began running through my mind. Is this the right place? Was this like the photo I saw? Where's the beach? The view?
The place itself was lovely, brand new construction but the entire complex of 8 units was not finished. In fact the only completed unit was the one we rented. The pool was done and empty but not a lounge chair in site, construction equipment was everywhere and the yet to be elevator was only a wide open unfinished shaft just waiting to swallow three rambunctious boys.
The condo site was at the edge of the main highway with nothing around. No grocery stores, no restaurants and the beach, which was supposed to be close, was more than a quarter mile down the road. The general contractor who was onsite when we arrived was SHOCKED to learn that anyone was planning on vacationing here.

Aunt Laurie called her travel agent friend Joe to complain. He was appalled to learn about the situation since he was also told the complex was totally finished. He said he would see about getting us a refund.
Two days before leaving the states Aunt Laurie was contacted by her friends here in Kenya and they offered her the use of their private beach house in Watamu. She declined since we already had accommodations. They told her if anything happened and we needed the place after all please don’t hesitate to call the local housekeeper. We both decided that our situation warranted taking them up on their offer. Aunt Laurie pulled out her world phone, called the housekeeper to say we were coming.
The general contractor who Aunt Laurie befriended during all this called a taxi for us and told the driver to give us the "Kenya Price". We dove an hour and a half up the road to Watamu Beach Plot 32 - Floyd and Fiona's house.

When we arrived, Acarn the housekeeper greeted us warmly and got us settled. The house was lovely and was right on the beach!! It was perfect.

Acarn and his family

Acarn took good care of us. He had coffee ready when we woke, cooked us breakfast, made our beds, did our laundry, cleaned up after us, helped hire a cook for dinner and helped us buy local fresh catches. And, that was just a little bit of what he did for us. I was not used to all this personal attention and at times I felt really weird that knowing that he was there to meet our needs.

Our week was spent hanging out, relaxing, getting the boys caught up on school work, scouting for crabs, swimming, taking long walks on the beach, digging giant holes at the beach and even burying a time capsule in the sand. Oh and how could I forget the morning games of Dogopoly?

In the late afternoon, if you sat totally still on the beach the crabs would come out of their holes.
The minute you even moved one baby toe they would all scurry back into their holes.
It was so fun messing with them.
The house is off in the distance.

Me relaxing at the waters edge. It was high noon and so HOT and BRIGHT, I had to lay with the
waves rolling over my body just to endure.
The photo is so washed out thanks to the high noon sun that was straight overhead.
That's what you get when you are on the Equator.

The monkeys would come out every morning and watch us eat our breakfast on the patio.

Dogopoly begins!

The most excellent totally private outdoor shower ever. Didn't even take one shower inside.

Plus, we visited the local Watamu Turtle Watch and Protection Organization (Watamu has thousands of sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beaches. During this time locals come out and ensure the hatched baby turtles make it safely back to the ocean), attended church on Sunday with Acarn and his family, attended a local grade school vocal concert and browsed the local artisan shops.

It was more than any of us could have asked for or planned. It was absolutely perfect!

Todd and the Great Monkey Adventue Part 2

The next morning Todd woke and ate breakfast.

"Todd I have a treat for breakfast," said Todd's Mom.

"What is it Mom?, " asked Todd.

"I took a cooking class yesterday while you were gone and I learned how to make mandazies. They are a local African treat that is like a donut," said Todd's Mom.

After they ate Todd asked his Mom and Dad if he could explore the woods again and they said Yes. Todd walked through the woods to the village of monkeys. When Todd got there Todd saw Aslochoo moving a cannon.

"Hey Aslochoo what is the cannon for?"


"We used it in yesterday's battle and we stole it, I'm telling you my tribe has been here for a long time,"
 said Aslochoo.

"Because we didn't finish the tour yesterday we will finish it now and I will show you the police station."

When they arrived at the police station there was a monkey at a desk filling out papers. He looked up and said "So your the one I heard of. I'm Sergeant John the Military Commander and the Chief of Police," said the sergeant smoking a cigar.

"Hey where did you get that cigar? I didn't know monkey's smoked cigars," said Todd.

"Aslochoo stole a whole store full of cigar's. Aslochoo can I have a word alone with Todd?" asked Sergeant John.

Aslochoo walked out of the room and shut the door.

"Todd we are fighting our worst enemy, they are the Joochoo tribe," said the sergeant. "What's the name of the tribe we are in?" asked Todd.

"The Jeeweecoo tribe, look out the window and you'll see a tall tree above all the other trees," explained Sargent John.

"Where?"

"Like a mile away," said John.

"I see it."

"Well the last battle," "You mean yesterdays battle interrupted Todd".

"Yes, yesterday's battle. Well, the other tribe reached the tree and we defended our ground there. You are in danger Todd if you stay in the village."

When John was done with the conversation, Todd got up and walked out of the room. OsloChoo was waiting for him outside and said, "You should get back to your house and your Mom is probably expecting you since it's late."

The next four days Todd kept going back to the monkeys and on the fifth day Todd saw OsloChoo putting two Thompsons on a Super Cub airplane.

"Hey, what's that asked Todd."

"The plane or the machine gun?"

"I know you stole the plane but what's the machine gun for," asked Todd?

"It's for the next battle, I'm telling you, my tribe has been here for a long time."

"Are you saying those Thompsons are from WWII" asked Todd.

"Yes," said OsloChoo.

"Can you help me strap these RPG onto the mule over there?"

"Just to let you know, I stole the mule too," said OsloChoo.

When they walked over there, there was a panda. Todd wondered what a panda was doing there in Africa.

"Hi, I'm a panda and my name is Pon Pon."

When the panda said this OsloChoo just rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing here? You should be in China" said Todd.

Then Pon Pon pulled down on the zipper on his back and the panda suit fell to the ground and a monkey stepped out.

Then the monkey said "Hi, I'm Jack."

"Let me guess, you stole the panda costume too," Todd said.

"Exactly," replied Jack.

Jack looked about 15 years old and wore aviator sunglasses and a baseball cap.

"What is your job," asked Todd?

"Well, I'm the engineer and the pilot, my pilot name in Juliet, Alpha, Charlie, Kilo," said Jack.

"Now Todd, let's strap these RPG to the mule and also the anti-air gun," said OsloChoo.

An hour later, when they were done putting silent guns on all the vehicles Todd asked "Why are the guns silenced?"

"Well because we don't want anyone living around here to hear our battles. Even the anti-air guns are silenced."

"Hey Todd would you like to come along and join us in battle today?" asked OsloChoo.

Todd said yes!

"Would you like to man the airplane gun or ride on the back of an ATV with a saw gun which is a heavy duty machine gun that was used in WWII also?"

"I'll ride on the ATV. replied Todd."

"Then you are with me, since that is my vehicle I'm driving."

Later, they headed to the battle field. "OsloChoo, do the enemies have vehicles?"

"Yes."

As they were driving, there was a change in plan so they went to the bunker. When they arrived Todd saw Sargent John, Paul, Zach and Jack and tons of other monkeys wearing ghillie suits.

"Todd," said OsloChoo, "you need to wear this" and he handed him a ghullie suit.

"Attention!" Sargent John said. "Max, Romeo and Dozer, you all will be in the chopper and Romeo you pilot it. Zach and Jack you two are in the Super Cub and Jack you are the pilot."

Sargent John assigned tons of other monkeys jobs except Todd and OsloChoo because they already knew what they needed to do.

After that was done they headed to the battle field. There was a huge blob in the distance. As they got closer the big blob looked like a tank.

BOOM!

Todd looked to the right and saw a huge crater.

BOOM!

Todd looked to the left and saw another huge crater. Then the tank shot at Todd and Aslochoo.

BOOM!

Aslochoo swerved the ATV out of the way, then Jack and Zack swooped down and blew up the tank.

BOOM!

An anti air gun shot at Jack and Zack. They had Just the right amount of time to eject. They landed safely and the mule came to pick them up. Sargent John helped them up into the mule.

"Jack and Zack can you guy's set the force field generator to the mode 'all around the entire world except the enemies'."
"Hold the phone, force fields have not even been invented yet, they are only on Star Wars and other space movies. So where did we get this one?" asked Jack.

"You didn't now that Aslochoo has traveled to the future and stole it from the Gungans on Naboo in Stars Wars man," said Zack
"Can you guys do that?" asked Sargent John

"YES SIR!"

So the monkeys set the force field generator to protect the entire world against the enemies. And then they blew up Joochoo tribe and saved the rest of the world.
Todd returned to his family hanging out at the beach in Watamu to finish his vacation and never mentioned a word to his Mom or Dad about his great monkey adventure.
Mom's (editor) note:
Cameron was asked to write about our time at Watamu Beach in Kenya. We made a deal and I let him write fiction loosely based on our time there. We had jungleish woods all around the house filled with wild monkeys. Each day they would come and entertain us by playing on the trees and drinking from the watering hole on the property. One day two visited Ryan while he was taking a shower in the beautiful outdoor shower. We learned from the housekeeper that the monkeys have been known to steal personal belongings if left out overnight. It's not a huge problem like OsloChoo has but none the less it has happened. So that is the context of Cameron's story and his vivid imagination.

Todd and the Great Monkey Adventure

Todd's alarm rang to the sound of this favorite animals, monkeys "Ooh, ooh, ahh ahh - ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh - ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh." Todd woke up in a daze and slammed the alarm off. He got out of bed and walked downstairs for breakfast. He found the usual toast with jam at the table.

Todd's mom, Mrs. Liverson sat down at the table along with Todd and his dad and said "Todd, for your birthday we rented a beach house in Kenya on Watamu Beach with monkeys on the property. We have already packed your bags and we're leaving this morning."

"YAHOO!!!!" Todd screamed out loud.

"When exactly do we leave, Mom?"

"Well, Todd we leave in two hours. First we fly to Doha, Qatar then to Nairobi. The next day we fly to Mombasa. From there we drive two hours north to Watamu Beach." said Mrs. Liverson.

When they arrived after their long flight Todd went and unpacked.

"Hey Mom, I'm going to explore in the woods."

"Just don't get lost." said his Mom.

"OK, Mom."

Todd set off on his journey. He found some birds and a little spider monkey.

"OOO, EEE, HHH!"

"What's that?" Todd said.

He heard the sound and was frightened.Then he heard a snap, crackle and pop.

"Who's that?" Todd asked.

"ARGH!"

Todd's heart was now racing with fear. It got closer and closer. Then it stopped and jumped out of the bushes and said, "I am the great Monkey King OsloChoo. Me and my great monkey tribe have lived here for centuries." said OsloChoo.

"Why aren't there any other tribes," asked Todd.

"Well, we just simply told them to leave or else we would kill them." said OsloChoo

"What happened?"

"Some did what we asked and some we fought. Come see my spectacular, excellent tribe!" said OsloChoo.

So on they went to the village of monkeys.

"This is your tribe?"

"If you have ever seen episode 6th of Star Wars, we were really intrigued with how the Ewoks built their village, said OsloChoo. "We stole a TV and watched Episode 6 on HBO. Come, I'll give you a tour of the village. First
stop, the kitchen."

Once they got to the kitchen a monkey was cooking something. He turned around and said "Hi, I'm Paul, would you like some fried grubs."

"This is Paul the cook, Todd." said OsloChoo.

From there OsloChoo took Todd to see the pool and meet the head lifeguard named Zack.

"How did you build a swimming pool here OsloChoo?" asked Todd

"Oh, yah, uhh, we didn’t build it, we stole it from a resort. We also took the diving board."

OsloChoo yelled, "Hey, Zack come here and meet Todd."

"Hey Bro, how’s it hanging? Do you want to catch some gnarly waves at the beach?"

"Uh, no thank you." said Todd.

"Ok, your sure you don’t want to catch some gnarly waves."

"Nope I’m good." responded Todd.

"Ok, bye dude, I’m going back to business then."

Since Todd declined the invitation to surf from Zack, OsloChoo decided to show him the playground.

"Wow, this a cool park. But that part over there looks like it was human built." exclaimed Todd.

"Oh, we stole that too, and then we added our our own parts." blushed OsloChoo.

WEE-OOO WEE-OOO WEE-OOO! What’s that asked Todd?

"Oh, it’s the warning alarm, letting us know when the enemy attacks. We stole that too. You better come hide in my house."

So OsloChoo and Todd ran over to his house. OsloChoo got Todd secured and ran off. An hour later OsloChoo came back and announced their victory.

Meanwhile back at the beach house, Todd’s mom, Mrs. Liverson was worried about him. He had been gone a while.

"Now, now dear you don’t need to be worried, he probably found something cool to explore." said Todd’s dad while he was reading the paper.

Back at the village Todd told OsloChoo he had to go home because his mom was probably worried about him.

"Don’t tell anyone about this village, not even your parents, Todd!" said OsloChoo firmly.

"Why?"

"Because for whatever you know they could be spies for another enemy tribe."

When Todd returned home both parents asked him what he saw.

He reported seeing birds and monkeys during his exploring but nothing about meeting OsloChoo, King of the Great Monkey Tribe of Watamu.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I asked Cameron to write about our stay at Watamu Beach in Kenya. He asked if he could write a silly story instead. The compromise was that his silly story had to take place in Watamu and had to be about something we did or saw. We all had fun spotting monkeys, watching them and at times feeding them bananas. Although Cameron never actually met a monkey named OsloChoo we cannot confirm he doesn't exist since we heard the local monkeys making lost of noise in the wee hours of the morning. Who knows, maybe it was OsloChoo and his tribe.

Cameron penning his story.



View from the front porch of the beach and the yard where the monkeys hang.



OsloChoo????



The Sheppard's Staff

The year is 1913 the Ottoman Turks are the dominate force in the middle east. They have dictated to the middle east since the 1500's but a war is on the way, and small Arab revolts are cracking the Iron grip of the Ottoman Empire. It is time to go to war.
OTTOMAN HELD TABUK, NORTHERN ARABIA, NOVEMBER, 1916

"Assalamu alaikum! Our spies have informed us that the Turks are heavily fortifying Tabuk," says Jehail in Arabic.

"Then we should attack now while they are still building fortifications," says Sheikh Aqbar.

"Right, I will go and prepare the men for battle," says Jehail
************************************************************************
As the men loaded their rifles Jehail told his soldiers the plan of attack. "We will attack in 30 minutes. You five," Jahail pointed to a group of five inattentive men, "go into the small mount on the eastern side of the city and pick off the guardsmen on the battlements."

"Yes sir," they said in attentive voices.

"When they over there pick off the guardsmen or the alarm is sounded, half of you will charge the front gate, the other half will capture the south and west gates. If you do capture the gates fire a flare into the sky so that the rest will know that you have been successful. The Turks will be split down the middle and it will be easy for you to advance." After Jahail finished the party formed into groups and set off for Tabuk.
************************************************************************
"Ready brothers," says Farbid in a whisper.

"Yes!" they said in unison.

"One, Two, Three!" bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

rrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg, rrrrrrraaaaaaaannnnngg

"Lets get back to the camp, we have done our part," said the oldest, Farbid.
******************************************************************
Jahail was in the thick of battle, the air was stuffy with the noise of gunshots and people screaming. About an half hour went by and neither side had gained much ground. Jahail was trying hard to get to the main gate. Jahail was sure he had shot 15 men, but did freedom really mean killing people? As he was running to the gate he was thinking about all of this but suddenly felt a jolt of pain and realized that a man was on top of him. The Turk wrestled Jahail for his new shining lee-enfield rifle. Jahail had never been in so much pain in his twenty six years of life. As the Turk choked him, Jahail mustered all of his strength and punched the man in the jaw and rolled him aside. As Jahail picked up his gun he noticed that the Turk was knocked out. Jahail made his decision, If the Ottomans were going to fight for their country then he would fight for his.

Suddenly the sky turned blood red as a rocket shot into the air. A Turk said something in Turkish and then one of Jahails friends, Masheed, said, "The gate is open!"

As the Turkish army retreated they were cornered by the two advancing detachments of Arabs and dropped their weapons. Then Sheikh Aqbar emerged from among the Arab soldiers.

"Go back to your home in the mountains of Turkey. You will never be a desert people so I am giving you a chance to return home right now. If you join up with a battalion of soldiers or capture a city I will have the British tanks shoot you down", said Sheikh Aqbar

As the Turks marched out Sheikh Aqbar beckoned for someone to come over to him.

"Masheed, gather ten men and hide in the mountains next to the road on which the Turks will be traveling.

Tell me if they do any thing, strange."

"Yes Sheikh," said Masheed

"Tonight has been a long night, the Sheikh announced to everyone as Masheed walked away, go and rest. Tomorrow when the sun is low we will head to Aqaba."
************************************************************************
Jahail walked into the tent and said, "Father we did not loose much men tonight, but we will not be able to liberate another town, and we will have to leave some people to garrison Tabuk."

"Yes I understand that."

"Why are we going to Aqaba?"

"Thomas Lawrence."

"Ah yes, he is the Englishman isn't he?"

"Yes, he came from Cairo and fell in love with the Arab landscape and is staying with Emir Faisal. He also took over Aqaba this morning."

"So that is why we are going to Aqaba, to join forces, right?"

"Yes you are right, but now you should go and sleep."

******************************************************************
vrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm, vvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Everyone to the hills! Shoot those planes! Sheikh Aqbar was yelling out commands as two Turkish, Dutch made, Fokker DVII, Biplanes strafed the camp." Bang, Bang, tttttttttttttttttttttttt. After about ten minutes of firefight someone had managed to shoot the rear stabilizer and one of the planes left and the second one followed to guard the smoking plane.

"Uggg those blasted Turks are always teasing us, said Sheikh Aqbar. Lets pack up and go to Aqaba."

TWO DAYS LATER, OUTSIDE OF AQABA, JORDAN

As Jahail rolled out of bed, he thought, yes this is the day we will meet T. E. Lawrence. Out side of the tent Jahail's Father, Sheikh Aqbar, was preparing to ride into the city, you could taste the tension in the air. Jahail was scared, what if Emir Faisal and Lawrence hadn't taken the city. What if the Arabs think that we are the Ottomans?

"Jahail, Jahail, come out here!"

"Yes Father, what is it?"

"You will be caring the revolution flag, and Johor will be caring the white flag of peace," said the Sheikh.

"Yes, I will tell Johor to ready his camel, and I will prepare my horse."

Jahail walked over to Johor and said, "Johor prepare your camel, we ride at noon."

"Yes my friend," said Johor

When everyone was ready to go, the Sheikh told everyone what was to happen. Finally he finished and said, "Today we ride for freedom, for Aqaba, and for Lawrence!" Everyone returned shouting with, "Yes, Yes, Yes." As the riders took of, the cheers were still ringing in the mountains.
******************************************************************
AQABA, BATTLEMENTS

Fareid was on guard when he thought he saw smoke, but when it got closer he realized that it was dust! He ran to fetch his master, "Lawrence. Lawrence, Lawrence, there are people approaching, they might be Turks, should we shoot?"

"No, let us look first." As Lawrence ran up the steps he pulled out his binoculars to look at the coming army. As he looked through he said, "Fareid, they are no Turk, look it is the Arabian Revolt Flag!"

"Alhamdulilah," said Fareid quietly.

"What does that mean?" said Lawrence.

"It means thank you God in Arabic."

"Alhamdulilah," said Lawrence
************************************************************************
"Open up, Open up!" said Sheikh Aqbar as he pounded on the gate.

Slowly the huge gate rocked backwards. When it finally moved open two men walked forward, one Arab, one White. The white man introduced himself as Thomas Lawrence in Arabic. Then the Arab introduced himself, "My name is Emir Faisal, ruler of this newly conquered city. This is my British friend Lawrence, he has been supplying us with our food and weapons. We are very thankful for him."

"My name is Sheikh Aqbar, my huge nomadic tribe will help you in conquering the Ottomans. Let us unite so that we will be stronger!"
"I agree, we are stronger in numbers," said the Emir.

"Then will you let us in the city?"

"Yes."

That night everyone sat around two large fires and shared stories and smoked shisha pipes. Jahail told about the siege of Tabuk and how it was a decisive win for the Arabs. Lawrence told about a firefight along the railroad. "We laid mines on the track and waited. About fifteen minutes later an Ottoman train came by and derailed, most of the men jumped out and started to fight. I myself was shot in the arm but we won and took supplies from the train. It was an excellent win."
For about two more hours the men talked and told stories. When the last shisha pipe was drained everyone signed off to their tents.
The next morning as people were eating breakfast the Emir stood up to speak. "Today we will head to Damascus, the staging ground for all Ottoman activity in the Arabian peninsula. It will be a huge battle and the British have offered us no help so there will be no air strafes from the planes."
When the Emir was done Jahail asked his father, Sheikh Aqbar, why the British would not help.

"Because they don't think that we can take the city."
"Then they do not no the power of the Arabs."

"I agree, I agree."
Later that day everyone set off for Damascus. All through the night they walked and walked and during the day they rested. Jahail was thankful that they rested during the day and traveled during the night. On the second night they came upon a oasis and filled up with water and rested for the whole day. When it was time to get up two traders walked in and traded food and water, for goods. Two more days went by until they reached Damascus. Jahail was very excited.
"Look, look, the lights of Damascus!", he said

All of the weary men looked up and cheered as they marched on the city of Damascus, with the red sun 　rising behind them.

Note: This story is a historical fiction, we do not know if this happened. We do know that more Arabs joined up with Emir Faisal and T.E. Lawrence. It is also true that the Arabs revolted and conquered towns and cities, like Aqaba. The Arabs did march on Damascus and took it over. Soon after that the Great War ended and the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the Anatolia remains became the stable country of Turkey. The rest of the Arab world was not so lucky. Britain and France divided the countries up against the original plan, resulting in fighting. That territorial fight is still going on today.

Muscat, Oman

I can honestly say that I don't understand the intrigue we arouse in people. We are a normal family of a mom and dad and three boys. Yes, we stand out a bit being white but then again we have seen other "whites" around the various places we have traveled to. And you wouldn't know we were Americans until you talk to us and even then people usually think we are from the UK or Australia. Personally I think that's due to ignorance.

Anyway, for whatever reason we are intriguing to most. As was the case to a young man named Majid we met in Muscat, Oman. We were at the annual Muscat Festival taking in the sights and sounds of Omani culture. At 7:30pm we found seats on the brick wall overlooking the lake in anticipation for the firework show. The young man sat down next to us, turned and struck up a conversation. He told us how amazing the light parade, laser show and fireworks would be, a bit about himself, and asked general questions about us.

One light parade float

We watched the show in total amazement. I compare these style of shows to my experiences at Disneyland and usually they come up short. This time was totally different and almost better than Disney.



The water and laser show.

 After the show he continued to chat with us and when he learned we would have to catch a cab, offered a ride back to our hotel. We were thankful for his offer and accepted. All five of us squeezed into his Lexus sedan and fought the traffic leaving the festival.
He offered to be our tour guide the following morning before he had to be to work. Excellent! We agreed he would pick us up at 9:00am and show us around until 1:00pm.



At the history museum.

 Majid took us to museum about Oman's history, showed us the forts that were built by the Portuguese to protect the harbor, drove us to see Sheik Qaboo's Palace, the Corniche and a small secluded beach that is his "favorite". From there we hired a local skiff captain to take us around the point to another beach. It was stunning. The colors of almost white sand, sharp golden rocks and the brightest blue water I have seen. Let me just say this was more spectacular than Thailand's beaches!


Historic Muscat. Notice the fort on the top right of photo.



One of many Muscat beaches.



Another old harbor fortification.



The Royal Palace

On the return trip the ocean swell picked up and sprayed water over the bow of the boat soaking all of us from head to toe. We were laughing at the sight of all of us drenched especially Majid since we was heading to work right after this little adventure. Thanks to the hot Omani sun we dried off in about 10 minutes while standing on the beach. Majid told us that if we liked what we saw here then down south in Oman the beaches are even more beautiful. Even though I found that hard to believe, I did trust his information.


Our boat captain preping our vessel for boarding (dragging it to shore for us to board).



Our friend Majid



Setting sail to a secluded beach



Another beautiful Muscat beach. Had this beach all to ourselves.



Had to wade out to get on these rocks.



The boys followed suit.

Yet another lovely beach.

Before he dropped us off down at the Corniche so he could get to work on time, he offered to hang out again the next day. So we made plans to meet him at work (he's a chef at the Intercontinental Hotel) around 3:00pm.

At the souk the boys were outfitted in traditional dress. They all wanted to buy the outfits but being the practical parents we told them no. They were bummed but Majid offerd to give them the traditional hats on our next visit.

While we were waiting to rendezvous with Majid the following day we made our way to Starbucks, ordered coffee and lunch and spent several hours doing school work. It was an awesome setting for school. Sun, ocean breeze, good coffee, the boys may have a hard time returning to a traditional classroom next year. I know I would.

Our classroom in Muscat.



Arbor Captial Management's Muscat office.

 We met Majid at 3:00pm as planned and visited two mosques, had dinner at a local restaurant and from there drove to the top of the hills surrounding Muscat for a night time view of the city. It was another amazing day hanging out with our Omani friend.

First mosque we visited.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque next.

Night view of Muscat.

Our desire to return to Oman and the other countries on the Arabian Peninsula is deep since we left so much unexplored and we now have personal connections with locals who promised to show us the rest of their countries.

New Friends in Al Ain, U.A.E

About a month ago my Facebook status read "People are so fascinating! I just want to pull up a chair and ask them 100 questions about their life and beliefs. Haven't had the guts yet but my curiosity my just get the best of me soon."
 I had several comments saying "go for it, ask away" and other" I dare you" statements.
My courage was not strong enough to lead me to approach a total stranger with no prior introduction so I waited for an opportune moment. That time came not once but twice. Once in Al Ain, UAE and another in Muscat, Oman.

After spending one night in Abu Dhabi we left for Al Ain, the second largest city in UAE on the border of Oman, by way of a desert safari and camping excursion. Ryan will share that story with you. All I will say is that it was "totally awesome!"

Our second day in Al Ain found us visiting an old fort that was a short walk from our hotel. Upon entering we were invited by staff to sit and have a cup of Arabic coffee and dates. We gladly obliged. We sat down and being polite, greeted a local Emirati (he was wearing the traditional dress all men wear proudly everyday) and his friend from Ecuador. Robert and I expected the greeting to be the extent of our conversation. Not so.

Robert began chatting with Wasel (Emerati) and I conversed with Omar (Ecuador). Robert chatted about world economics in relations to our journey and Omar and I volleyed our conversation between his life and our adventure. Turns out they are both quite accomplished artists.

Since Wasel was born and raised in Al Ain he was wealth of information about all things Al Ain, UAE and Arab. He and Omar took us on a personal tour of the fort's exhibit and offered to take us around town afterwards. We gladly accepted. Half of us piled into Omar's car and the other half in a taxi.

First stop, lunch at a traditional Arab restaurant where we ate with our right hand only, the left is considered "dirty" and upstairs in the women and family section, not downstairs with the men. We had biryani rice served on a huge platter in front of us, lamb and some sort of salsa looking condiment.

Wasel handed us each a hunk of lamb on the bone. He instructed us to pull a piece off the bone, place it on top of the rice then pour a spoonful of the Arab salsa on top. He demonstrated proper technique of picking up the entire morsel, squeezing it in your right hand until it forms something that looks like a small ball. Once the perfectly formed bite sized ball was cradled in his palm he pushed it to the tips of his fingers using his thumb and slid it into his mouth gracefully.

Now our turn. I cannot use words like proper, perfect, cradled and graceful to describe your attempt at eating Arab style. We tried our best but with messy fingers, rice and lamb spilling to the table and pieces of rice on our face you could tell we were novices. The more we ate the bigger the mess. Practice did not make perfect for our lunch. And my guess would be if we continued to perfect this traditional eating stlye on the rest of our trip, say in well-mannered France, we would be met with repulsive looks.

After laughing our way through lunch they offered to take us to the local Souk. Perfumes, incense, fabrics, handicrafts and more is what we found. We were thankful to have a "local" to give insight. The perfumes and incense are like nothing else in the world. I could smell Arab insence everyday which is more than I can say about the Asian insence.

Upon leaving the souk Wasel asked if we wanted to stop for cocktails before dinner. We were a bit surprised at the offer since we knew he would not drink being Muslim and all. Turns out "cocktails" is the term used for a fruit drink, smoothie or other sweet beverage before dinner. We were having so much fun that we accepted this invitation too and ended up having dinner together to end the evening.




Wasel's gift to Ryan. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.


Omar and Wasel escorted us back to our hotel and we said our goodbyes, thanked them for a wonderful day, promised to keep in touch, took group photos and extended an open invitation to Alaska.



The whole gang!