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topfygad · 5 years ago

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11 Tips for backpacking in Oman on a budget

Oman, a country with absolutely great outdoors and fascinating people, should be a real paradise for adventurous, budget backpackers but, unfortunately, it is a surprisingly expensive destination.

Like all Gulf Monarchies, the Government has primarily focused on promoting luxury tourism, which means that budget hotels are practically non-existent and you won’t find any backpacker hostels, not even in Muscat.

On top of this, the public transportation system in Oman sucks, plus the cities are not walking friendly at all, so, during your journey, you will have to rely on either renting a car or taking a lot of cabs.

However, spending little money in Oman is very possible.

I actually backpacked in Oman for over a month, traveling from north to south and visiting everything in between, and I swear that I spent less money than in other backpacking destinations, such as Kyrgyzstan or Georgia.

In this post, I will tell you several tips for backpacking in Oman on a super low budget.

Index:

11 Tips for successful budget backpacking in Oman How much does it cost backpacking in Oman on a budget? More useful tips

Remember to have proper travel insurance for both Israel and Jordan. For this, I recommend you read: How to find the best travel insurance

11 Tips for successful budget backpacking in Oman

My 11 best tips:

Public transportation sucks but hitchhiking is very doable

In one entire month, I only took two taxis within Muscat (2.50OR-6.50USD each) and the 12-hour bus from Muscat to Salalah (7OR – 18USD).

Then, I hitchhiked back to Muscat through the coastal road and visited pretty much any spot in between.

I calculated it and, in total, I hitchhiked over 1,400km.

Seriously, hitchhiking in Oman is super easy and, during all that time, I think the maximum I waited for a lift was 20-25 minutes, and that was because I was standing on a road with very little traffic on a Friday, so most of the few cars that passed by were families and, if there are women inside and you are a man, they are unlikely to pick you up.

From trucks driven by Indians to wealthy Omanis driving extravagant 4×4, Western tourists and even Bedouins with their pickups, except for families, everybody in Oman is willing, and happy, to pick up a random foreigner.

Sometimes you have to hitchhike in roads like this one but trust me, someone will eventually pass by

And pretty often, Omanis are willing to make big detours, so they can drop you as close as possible

Something you need to know about Omani people is that, on the one hand, they are really nice, kind and hospitable to foreigners and, on the other, many of them don’t work, or just work a few hours a day, so they have a lot of free time.

It happened to me several times – really, several times – that I was going in a completely different direction, yet, the Omani insisted in taking me to my actual destination, even if that involved him driving 60-80 additional kilometers, no kidding. Omanis are awesome.

I had similar experiences when I was backpacking in Pakistan.

Read: How to visit Saudi Arabia – Tips & tricks

If you are hitchhiking, don’t rush and don’t plan much

Omanis are extremely hospitable so, when hitchhiking, expect Omanis to invite you to their house before you continue with your journey.

Telling them ”no” would not be polite, so always say ”yes”, but this also means that when backpacking in Oman, your plans will be constantly changed, thanks to the Omani hospitality.

You may experience this all around the country but it particularly happened to me when I was hitchhiking in Central Oman, the least visited part of the country and a land of Bedouins. That inhospitable part of Oman is composed of a road several hundred kilometers long with absolutely nothing but desert and occasional tiny villages inhabited by Bedouins.

Well, there wasn’t almost a single Bedouin who didn’t want me to hang out at his place after dropping me off, which led to me having a very high heart-rate due to the 20 cups of qahwa (local cardamom coffee) I had to swallow in one single day.

That delayed my trip significantly but, if you want to enjoy the country to the fullest, go with the flow and don’t rush.

Read: A guide to visit Musandam in Oman

With a family of Bedouins, somewhere in Central Oman

You will also need to hitchhike within cities, even in villages

From Muscat to Salalah, the different towns and villages in Oman are some of the least-pedestrian-friendly places you may ever encounter.

They are always so spread out that you will regret not having a car, even in the smallest village.

Fortunately, Omanis are aware of that, so hitching a ride in a city is as easy as when you are standing on a highway. I hitchhiked in Muscat, Salalah, Sur and all villages in between without any problem, always.

Looking for a ride in Muscat

If you are 2 or more people, look for apartment hotels. Otherwise, check Airbnb

As I said before, in Oman there are no hostels and, for a hotel, you will pay a minimum of 25€ for a private room, usually a single one.

You may find some cheaper deals on Airbnb but it won’t be much cheaper. By the way, if you create an Airbnb account through my link, you will get 35€ of FREE credit on your next booking.

Otherwise, apartment hotels are a very big deal in Oman and, if you are 2 or more people, they are great value-for-money.

During my 30-day journey, I did a few Airbnb and stayed in a few random hotels and always paid around 20-25€. However, I have to admit that all the places I stayed in were excellent.

Read: What to do in Saudi Arabia in 2 weeks

This Bengali man was extremely amazed by me traveling with such a big backpack and didn’t believe it had a tripod, a sleeping bag, a tent, a mattress, besides all my clothes

Alternatively, Couchsurfing is great

Some of my greatest Couchsurfing experiences ever have been Oman.

In Oman, Couchsurfing is a big deal and you can find active profiles in pretty much any city and, if you send requests well in advance, you may also find couches in smaller towns and villages.

I did Couchsurfing in Muscat, Salalah, Sadeh, Sur, Bidiyah and Nizwa.

Moreover, since Omanis are really hospitable and treat all guests as honorable guests, if they accept you, most of the time they will be completely free, as they really want you to have the best experience, so they will show you around and, if you are staying with a family, the mother will cook some delicious local food.

My best experience was with Musab, a kind-hearted Omani from Sadeh. I visited him during a national holiday, so we spent 4 days together with his friends visiting all around Dhofar province. From driving to the Yemeni border to visit his friend’s camel farm and loads of traditional food, every day, we had so much fun and today, I am glad to say that I have a brother in Sadeh.

Thank you, Musab!

Read: How to visit Dubai on a backpacking budget

Somewhere in Dhofar province, with Musab and his friends

Muscat is where the big Couchsurfing community is and, every weekend, they organize different outdoor activities, which usually involve going to the desert or camping at the many wadis (valleys).

Those events are a great way to meet open-minded Omanis and explore Oman on a budget.

Bring a tent and take advantage of the outdoors

Oman is a huge country only inhabited by 4.6 million people, which means that most of the country remains pretty wild.

From great wadis to loads of natural pools, outstanding mountains and 1,700km of coastline, Oman is known for its great outdoors activities and, since the country doesn’t really have a proper, nice nightlife, plus Omanis aren’t party people either, going camping on the weekend is a big thing here, and a great way to cut costs when backpacking around Oman.

Places like Jabel Akhdar, Jebel Shams and most wadis are easily reached by hitchhiking, no problem.

So yeah, do bring a tent.

Read: How to visit Dubai in 1 week

Somewhere in Jebel Shams

Camping in the middle of a city is also good

I have to admit that I was not always able to find a Couchsurfing host, so when I didn’t feel like paying for an expensive hotel, I didn’t mind pitching my tent in one of the comfy palm gardens that abound in most cities.

Technically, I heard that camping in Omani cities is not allowed but nobody ever cared about my tent and trust me that I camped in quite a few places, including in the palm garden next to Nizwa Fort.

Read: Everything you need to know to visit Iran

The palm plantation next to Nizwa Fort

Always eat in Indian or Bengali-run restaurants

Controversially, in Oman, you can eat for cheaply, like very cheaply actually.

Nearly two-thirds of the population in Oman are from the Indian Sub-Continent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), so restaurants serving food from their respective countries are plentiful and, actually, in villages they tend to be the only option.

From daal to chicken curries, for just a few dollars, you can easily fill your belly with Indian food.

Moreover, restaurants serving purely Omani food, which usually consists of rice with chicken, meat or fish, are also inexpensive, usually 1-3USD more expensive than Indian food.

On the other hand, in Muscat and other big cities, the restaurants serving international food will charge you like a restaurant in Dubai or Western Europe.

Grilled meat plus a huge amount of rice. This massive Omani meal cost around 7-8USD and it could feed 3 people

If you are planning to backpack in Oman on a budget, don’t come in summer unless you want to die

Oman is one of the hottest countries on Earth, with summer temperatures averaging 45ºC , and the bad news is that summers last forever.

From May to October, day temperatures are nearly unbearable, so if you are planning to hitchhike, camping in cities and stuff like that, you should avoid backpacking around Oman during these dates.

Even when I came in mid-November, some days were disgustingly hot, especially in Salalah and Central Oman.

Read: What to do in Iran in 1 month

Conclusion – How much does it cost backpacking around Oman on a budget?

Like I said in the introduction, in Oman I spent less money than backpacking in Kyrgyzstan for example. How can that be?

Well, in Kyrgyzstan, accommodation is cheap, like 10USD per night, and you can go by public transportation everywhere. However, despite being cheap, I still had to pay for it and, in Oman, since I was always hitchhiking and mostly camping or Couchsurfing, I didn’t have to pay for any of those things.

Oman budget travel – Typical costs

One-month visa – 20OR (52USD)

Welcome package SIM + Data – 3OR (7.80USD) but then you pay 3OR for 1GB

Budget Hotel – 10-12OR (26-31USD)

A plate of daal – 500bias (1.30USD)

A biryani – 1.5OR (3.90USD)

A big bottle of water – 200 bias (50¢)

A beer – 4OR (10USD) – Only available in hotels, avoid it

Short taxi rides within Muscat – 2.50OR (6.50USD)

Bus from Muscat to Salalah – 7OR (18USD)

If you are a serious budget backpacker, so you will basically Couchsurf and hitchhike, besides the cost of the visa and the SIM Card, you will only have to pay for food and, for that, you can easily survive on 15USD a day

Half Omani Rial, the most curious note

More useful tips for backpacking in Oman and around the region

Here you can find all my articles and guides to Oman

Traveling to Saudi Arabia? Here you can find all my articles and guides to Saudi Arabia

Are you traveling to Dubai and have little money? Read how to travel in Dubai on a budget

Iran is so close to Oman, are you going there? Remember to check then my tips for visiting Iran

And here all my content to the Middle East

source http://cheaprtravels.com/11-tips-for-backpacking-in-oman-on-a-budget/

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yeskraim · 5 years ago

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Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said dies at 79

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said died on Friday after more than four decades as the country’s ruler, though a murky succession process means that the identity of the next sultan may not be known for days.

The late sultan was born on November 18, 1940, in Salalah, the capital of Oman’s southern province of Dhofar.

Qaboos is a direct descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which created the sultanate in the 1600s after expelling the Portuguese from Muscat, now Oman’s capital.

Sultan Qaboos was educated in India and at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.

After completing his military training with the British army in Germany, he studied local government and embarked on a global cultural tour. He returned to Oman in 1964, and spent most of his time thereafter studying Islamic law and Omani history.

When Sultan Qaboos seized power from his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, Oman was an isolated and impoverished state.

Throughout Sultan Qaboos’s five-decade rule, he was credited with using Oman’s oil wealth to transform the sparsely populated Gulf nation into a rich country with a vibrant tourism industry and high standards of living.

“Sultan Qaboos will first and foremost be remembered for initiating the ‘Omani Renaissance’, undertaking social, economic, educational and cultural reforms as well as opening Oman up to the world,” Jeffrey Lefebvre, associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, told Al Jazeera.

Sultan Qaboos, seen here in London with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, ruled Oman since 1970 following a bloodless coup against his father [File: Bob Dear/AP]

“In a conservative society, he also took the lead in promoting women to positions of influence in the government [like] the Omani ambassador to the United States, and ensuring representation in popularly elected legislative councils,” Lefebvre added.

Successor?

The question of succession will be hotly debated in the next few days, as the house of Al Said moves to find a successor to the sultan, as well as to other top government posts.

When Sultan Qaboos came to power, he not only named himself the country’s ruler but also appointed himself as prime minister, defence minister, finance minister, foreign affairs minister and commander of the armed forces.

Sultan Qaboos was the only child born to the former Sultan Said bin Taimur and Princess Mazoon al-Mashani. He married his cousin in 1976, but the marriage did not last and the couple soon got divorced. The sultan never remarried or had any children.

Oman is a complex mosaic of interests that has been held together by Sultan Qaboos. If there are any internal squabbles over Omani ministries or assets in a post-Qaboos era, then a fractured society may appear.

Theodore Karasik, geopolitical analyst

With the sultan having no children and brothers, there are no clear successors within the royal family.

“There are many different stories about Omani succession, and no one really knows who will be the next sultan,” said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based geopolitical analyst.

“As with Saudi Arabia, the adage of ‘those who know don’t speak, and those who don’t know speak’ applies to Oman. So it is safer to allow the Omani defence council to pay attention to the instructions for succession and not base assessments about successors on rumours.”

According to Oman’s Basic Law, promulgated by Sultan Qaboos in 1996, “a successor must come from the royal family and be chosen by a family council within three days of the sultan’s death”.

Under this provision, if the process fails to choose a successor, then a sealed letter written by Sultan Qaboos will be opened in which he lists his preferred successors.

“I have already written down two names, in descending order, and put them in sealed envelopes in two different regions,” Sultan Qaboos told Foreign Affairs magazine in a 1997 interview.

But there are fears, among Omanis and in the broader Gulf region, that a rocky transition process could split the country.

Sultan Qaboos with the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Tehran in 2013 [File: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]

“Oman is a complex mosaic of interests that has been held together by Sultan Qaboos. If there are any internal squabbles over Omani ministries or assets in a post-Qaboos era, then a fractured society may appear. Regional countries may be impacted directly by such a development,” Karasik said.

It is not fear, but minor doubts, that cast some uncertainties regarding Oman’s leadership future, said Omani political commentator Khalid al-Haribi.

“For many Omanis, they grew up knowing only one Sultan and a one-way system of governance. There are some doubts since we don’t have that much information, and experience like other GCC countries, regarding a transition of power,” said Haribi, also a co-founder of Tawasul, Oman’s first independent think tank.

In addition to his domestic policy achievements, Sultan Qaboos has also been credited with transforming Oman into a regional player capable of bridging diplomatic divides, as seen in its role as mediator in nuclear talks between Iran and the United States in recent years.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Sultan Qaboos mediated secret talks between US and Iranian officials. These culminated in the interim nuclear deal of November 2013, reached in Geneva between Iran and the so-called “P5+1” powers, which comprises the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

“In [mediating the talks], Oman continued to serve its unique and traditional role as a diplomatic bridge between the West and the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] on one side, and the Islamic Republic [of Iran] on the other,” said Giorgio Cafiero, the co-founder of the think tank Gulf State Analytics.

Cafiero told Al Jazeera that Oman’s unique religious identity – the majority of the population are Ibadi Muslims, who are neither Sunni nor Shia – furthers the country’s interest in developing relations with Iran.

“In light of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment’s intolerant views of Ibadi Muslims, most in Oman believe that maintaining political, economic, social, and religious independence from Riyadh is an important foreign policy priority,” he said. “Oman’s government has viewed closer ties with Iran as a means to achieve this objective.”

Mediation

Under Sultan Qaboos’s leadership, Oman also mediated and oversaw talks between the warring sides of Yemen’s ongoing war. In November 2019, Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels held indirect, behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to end the devastating five-year war in Yemen.

Sultan Qaboos hosted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in a rare visit to the Omani capital in 2018 [File: Hamid al-Qasmi/EPA]

The rapprochement could pave the way for more high-profile negotiations in the near future, a Houthi official had said.

When fellow GCC nations broke ties with Qatar in 2017, sparking a diplomatic crisis, Oman opted out and avoided the fray instead of following suit with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – who imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar.

Resistance to Sultan Qaboos’s reign was not immune during the popular Arab uprisings of 2011 when hundreds began protesting at a roundabout in Oman’s Sohar province demanding salary increases and an end to government corruption.

The three-month uprising prompted Sultan Qaboos to reshuffle his government and expand the consultative assembly to ease the unrest.

“The government’s proactive reaction to the people’s demands in 2011 allowed for a much more peaceful uprising in Oman compared to other countries in the Arab world,” said Haribi.

In December 2012, Omanis were allowed to vote in their first municipal elections when 192 were elected from among 1,475 candidates.

“Because of his swift response in allowing for democratic changes, we did not see a repeat of protests and demands from the people. Omanis were appreciative of the efforts put forth in building state institutions post-2011,” Haribi added.

In an unexpected move, Sultan Qaboos extended an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018. Marking what was the first visit by an Israeli leader to the sultanate in over two decades, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement the visit in October 2018 followed “lengthy contacts between the two countries”.

His office added that it formed part of a policy of “deepening relations with the states of the region”.

A joint statement said the two sides “discussed ways to advance the Middle East peace process” and “a number of issues of mutual interest to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East”.

A day after Netanyahu’s visit, Oman described Israel as a “state” in the Middle East, drawing criticism from Palestinian officials.

Is dialogue still possible to end Gulf dispute? – Inside Story

It was not long after that an Israeli minister visited Oman to attend an international transport conference, which saw him pitch a railway project that aims to link the Gulf to the Mediterranean via Israel, according to media reports.

Rights record

However, Sultan Qaboos��s human rights record has been condemned in recent years when scores of activists were convicted of defamation or of using social media networks to insult the sultan.

Others have been convicted of, or are facing trial for, taking part in demonstrations calling for political reform.

Among the biggest challenges Oman’s next ruler will face is that of weaning the sultanate of its dependency on oil revenues, which account for as much as 75 percent of the government budget.

“The main focus right now is to continue building human capital through education, civil society and the building of state institutions,” said Haribi.

“It’s not panic time yet. While we’re running out of natural resources, we have to wait and see how the coming few years in the post-Sultan Qaboos era will look like for everyday Omanis,” Haribi added.

Despite Oman’s presence in the media throughout 2018, Sultan Qaboos spent much of the past year out of sight.

In early December, he was taken to Belgium for a medical checkup, according to a royal court statement.

The post Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said dies at 79 appeared first on Gadgets To Make Life Easier.

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