Oman, again

Oman was nice as always, I like it a lot. We had a group of 4 - me, Sarah, Shady, Holly.

This was my first time in Oman in the summertime - and I have to say its not pleasant at all! Oman has always been hotter than Dubai and the sun more aggressive (can get a sunburn in 20 min), but this time it was way more. Didn't measure the temperature, but for sure it was around 50 degrees - just killer hot. When the wind was blowing it felt the same when you open the oven door and hot air strikes you in the face. It was just way too hot. I made a 3-4 minute phonecall from a payphone and got all sweaty within this time. Being outside during the daytime is next to unbearable. Humans were not meant to live in this area, at least not during the summer. Stay outside too long and you die. Without water you're a deadman in no time.

We stopped at an outdoor shisha cafe around 8 when it was already dark and sun had set, but it was still so hot. One of us got sick because of the heat. You just gotta stay indoors all the time. AC is everybody's best friend.

When we were about to leave on Sunday afternoon, I got to know that my new employment visa is not ready yet (although I was promised it will be ready by Saturday) and I can't go back to Dubai. So I stayed alone for 1 more day in Oman. As I couldn't really go around because of the heat (still took a small walk in the evening) I stayed in the hotel most of the time. Next day I killed time until it was 4pm and I could start by journey back to Dubai by bus. Meanwhile my phone battery died.

When I reached the border of UAE my boss was there to greet me and tell me the news - "you have to head back, visa won't be ready before tomorrow". Nice. No car, no bus, no taxi. So I started to hitchhike - and luckily already second car stopped and I was on my way.

The driver was an omani guy, a vegetable trader who couldn't speak much english. So we conversed just a little bit. He had toothache, I had aspirin. Next town (Sohar) was 100km away and he dropped me there to a hotel. There I discovered that its ridicoulosly expensive, so I decided to find a taxi and try my luck with the other hotel (the town only had 2). This was luckily cheaper and even more luckily for me I got the last vacant room.

Next day I started to hitchhike back to the UAE border, but nobody stopped for like 20 minutes. So I took the decision to take a taxi before the sun would suck the life out of me and so it was. Paid the biggest taxi bill of my life, but at least I'm still alive! On the border I met my boss who was there with my visa and so yesterday afternoon I made it back to Dubai.

Life's an adventure!