I am still trying to finish up 2008, before I begin my 2009 blog of Oman. Thankfully, I haven't had a ton of adventures in the '09 life yet.
Jabal Shams and Wadi Damm
A few days before I went home for Christmas, Sara, her sister Karen and I went to Jabal Shams (The sun mountain) to hike and camp. It was a beautiful place and is described as "the Grand Canyon of Oman". Well, having been to the real Grand Canyon, I can tell you that that is simply overstating its grandeur, so don't get your hopes up. What it is, is on 'arm' of the Grand Canyon. However, the smallness of Jabal Shams doesn't take away from its breath-taking-awayness (that sentenced is laced with Kate's influence, don't you think?) The cliffs are steep and deep. The mountain tops are high and range is thickness across the sky line. Some cliffs are as narrow as foot bridges (careful! it's windy!), or as gradual and round as in Appalachia. Whatever the make up, the mountains surrounding the deep canyon do rival the Grand Canyon if not in size, in beauty.
We hiked along the ridge of a cliff for sometime, then decided to look at handicrafts and practice 
our two known words in Arabic: La - no, and Shukran - Thank you. After getting the handicraft ladies' hopes up we drove down to our hiking spot to find that it would take us about 6 hours to complete. We were not prepared for an overnight backpacking trip, so we drove as far as we could, then made our campsite near a small plain above where the canyon started. It was a very pleasant spot with a lot of shrubs, small trees, and of course rocks. We decided to explore our site a bit and ended up splitting up, but still within view of each other. I saw some animals to my right and made my way to them. They were donkeys! How exciting (kinda)! I walked toward them thinking about how amazing it would be if I could get close enough to one and maybe even ride it! After that point, I thought how similar that thought process was to when I was a kid and I would entertain the idea of trying to ride Tanzy like a horse. Lost in
my childhood thoughts, I didn't realize just how quickly I was approaching the ferrel animals. They began moving nervously even though I was still about 50 meters away. I took a few more steps and a loud hissing sound and grunt from one of them jolted me back to the present. The sound didn't sound very welcoming, in fact, it sounded downright mean. So, I was a bit put-off with the whole idea and irritated with their poor manners when having guests on their land. After all, we were in an Islamic country, shouldn't they invite me to ride on them?
our two known words in Arabic: La - no, and Shukran - Thank you. After getting the handicraft ladies' hopes up we drove down to our hiking spot to find that it would take us about 6 hours to complete. We were not prepared for an overnight backpacking trip, so we drove as far as we could, then made our campsite near a small plain above where the canyon started. It was a very pleasant spot with a lot of shrubs, small trees, and of course rocks. We decided to explore our site a bit and ended up splitting up, but still within view of each other. I saw some animals to my right and made my way to them. They were donkeys! How exciting (kinda)! I walked toward them thinking about how amazing it would be if I could get close enough to one and maybe even ride it! After that point, I thought how similar that thought process was to when I was a kid and I would entertain the idea of trying to ride Tanzy like a horse. Lost in
my childhood thoughts, I didn't realize just how quickly I was approaching the ferrel animals. They began moving nervously even though I was still about 50 meters away. I took a few more steps and a loud hissing sound and grunt from one of them jolted me back to the present. The sound didn't sound very welcoming, in fact, it sounded downright mean. So, I was a bit put-off with the whole idea and irritated with their poor manners when having guests on their land. After all, we were in an Islamic country, shouldn't they invite me to ride on them? I met back up with Sara and Karen and we headed back to camp. After a fire, dinner, and some talk about what would happen if it got too cold, or if our tent blew away, we went to bed. But 
before headed for slumber, I went to relieve myself so as to assure my body wouldn't wake me up in the middle of the night. Even though it was dark, I decided it would be a good idea to go behind some rocks to keep up the illusion of privacy. As I walked around the rocks in the dark, I heard it again, only louder! A hiss and a grunt. This time more aggressive and closer! In my mind the donkeys were following me and were plotting their revenge for even thinking that I could ride on them! So, I quickly walked away to find another bathroom. The whole night I was a little 
paranoid they would run through the camp and rip our tents and those who dwelled inside to shreds. But, thankfully, we were lucky.
before headed for slumber, I went to relieve myself so as to assure my body wouldn't wake me up in the middle of the night. Even though it was dark, I decided it would be a good idea to go behind some rocks to keep up the illusion of privacy. As I walked around the rocks in the dark, I heard it again, only louder! A hiss and a grunt. This time more aggressive and closer! In my mind the donkeys were following me and were plotting their revenge for even thinking that I could ride on them! So, I quickly walked away to find another bathroom. The whole night I was a little 
paranoid they would run through the camp and rip our tents and those who dwelled inside to shreds. But, thankfully, we were lucky.The next morning, we awoke to a cold morning air. I was happy to see the the donkeys were up before us and had moved from our campsite up the mountain a couple hundred meters. We had breakfast and watch a flock of goats join the donkeys for breakfast, then they moved along, as did we.
Wadi Damm may only be about 10-20 kilometers from Jabal Shams, but as anyone who has been in the mountains knows, there is no flying like a crow, and it took about 1.5 hours to go around the mountains, through the desert, to the visit the Beehive tombs and finally Wadi Damm. As we came out of Jabal Shams, we drove Taj with the windows up to keep the dust out. However, we soon discovered that there was so much dust, the vents started to blow dust on our sweaty faces, so, we drove down in the hot sun with the windows up and the air off. I had never been so happy to reach pavement!
We drove along without any interruption except to stop so Karen could see her first camel of Oman. It made me laugh to watch her excitement and reminded me how I was upon seeing my first camel in Oman. I had no idea that eventually I would see hundreds of camels and have to stop for dozens of camel crossings just in my first year here.
We soon arrived at the beehive tombs. They were built about 3 to 5 thousand years ago for 
burial purposes. According to one of my guides, the tribes would fit up to 250 remains of people in the tombs. We had a hard time envisioning that since they were fairly small. But, I guess the dead don't need to be comfortable!
burial purposes. According to one of my guides, the tribes would fit up to 250 remains of people in the tombs. We had a hard time envisioning that since they were fairly small. But, I guess the dead don't need to be comfortable! After a short time at the tombs, we headed to our final destination, Wadi Damm! "Paradise on Earth" our books called it. The pictures were amazing and the descriptions were often "my favorite Wadi" or "the most beautiful Wadi in Oman". Wow! It certainly sounded amazing! We parked the car and unpacked for lunch next to a goat's hoof (we are pretty accostomed to that kind of thing now) and started our hike up the canyon/wadi. It was a nice little hike despite all the trash. We followed a small stream which would go underground sometimes. There were some small waterfalls and some difficult climbs at some points, one included a frayed rope! As we progressed we could see the trash became less and the litter-bugs were thankfully the same people who wouldn't want to climb much or walk too far. We finally came to our final destination, unfortunetly, even after all you have to do to get to paradise, it still doesn't show itself to you, so we kept on hiking. Like Forest Gump, we just kept going, not knowing where to stop. I became super deteremined and left the girls behind in my quest for Paradise. The boulders became larger, and the wadi, harder to traverse. But, nothing was going to stop me from getting to paradise. And how great it would be if you had to do all this work to get to it! Eventually mine were the only footprints in the Wadi. Then I began to question and analyze the situation. What had the book said? I think they hike was supposed to last and hour at the most? How long have I been hiking, and where were my hiking buddies? I sat for a second to enjoy the solitude and the quietness, then decided that I had somehow missed paradise.
I started to walk back, not realizing how far I had really come in my excitment. I turned a corner 
to hear my name being shouted, it was Sara. They had stopped a while ago. They had figured out we had missed paradise long before I had. So, we hiked back and stopped at a place where the water seemed to start. And, yes, on a small hike down, we stumbled upon the place that was so beautifully described. "It's... a lot smaller than I thought it would be" said Sara as we all stood looking down at a pool with a nice little waterfall, but much different than anything we had imagined. "Yeah... it's beautiful, though. But... you're right, this is the smallest wadi I've been
to." After we got over our shock, we jumped in and swam the 10 yards to the other side, under the waterfalls and back out. It was actually beautiful once we were over our disillusionment. So, Paradise on Earth, is small, I guess that makes sense, only a few people can visit at one time, and you have to work hard to get to it. But, when anyone visits, just realize that it is pretty small.
to hear my name being shouted, it was Sara. They had stopped a while ago. They had figured out we had missed paradise long before I had. So, we hiked back and stopped at a place where the water seemed to start. And, yes, on a small hike down, we stumbled upon the place that was so beautifully described. "It's... a lot smaller than I thought it would be" said Sara as we all stood looking down at a pool with a nice little waterfall, but much different than anything we had imagined. "Yeah... it's beautiful, though. But... you're right, this is the smallest wadi I've been
to." After we got over our shock, we jumped in and swam the 10 yards to the other side, under the waterfalls and back out. It was actually beautiful once we were over our disillusionment. So, Paradise on Earth, is small, I guess that makes sense, only a few people can visit at one time, and you have to work hard to get to it. But, when anyone visits, just realize that it is pretty small.
