30 January 2020

Bimmah Sink Hole

After Wadi Shab, we headed towards Bimmah Sink Hole. This is a nearly 300 feet hole created not too far from the Gulf (you can see in the picture). In fact, there is a small tunnel that joins the Gulf to this sinkhole and that is where the water comes from.

While the locals would have you believe that a meteorite caused this sink hole, in reality, it was created by a collapse in the limestone thru constant erosion below. (Once again, who knew there are limestone rocks in the desert country of Oman?).

No amount of researching the internet or asking the locals helped me understand the timeframe of the creation of this sinkhole…

30 January 2020

Stooping low to conquer Wadi Shab

Some parts of the trek was scary. There were a couple of areas only one person could squeeze thru. One wrong step and it would be a steep fall. There were spots that some folks were too scared to cross backing up the line behind.

Unfortunately, I did not have proper shoes on. And I was afraid of my ankle rolling. If I had known this would be involved, I would have come in shorts and half shirt..

30 January 2020

This is my new friend

23 year old Mohammed took me around for a seven hour trip outside Muscat. Got to know a lot about his family, the country and local culture. One of 14 siblings, he has a very interesting name. Mohammed Mubarak Khamis Humaid Al-Jabri. I asked him why does he have such a long name. Found out those are respectively his name, his father’s name, his grandfather’s name, his great grandfather’s name and then finally, his family name! By that logic, I would be Rajib Abhaychandra Madanmohan Debendranath Roy !!!

Very nice gentleman. We are on Facebook now and I have his birthday and phone number. Fairly sure this is not the last time I have talked to him 🙂

30 January 2020

This surprised me in Oman

Had some free hours before heading to the airport for a late night flight. Got a cab and started towards Wadi Shab. (Wadi means a river, I think). On the road, we went thru 100km of mountains. Never saw the end of it. I did not realize that Oman had so much of mountainous zones.

Errata: Thanks to Rupa, I now know that Wadi means a valley.