date: 2021-03-31 thru the first of April
links: [tracks]
Since I lived in Oman people have been telling me how wonderful Jebel Akhdar is. “jebel” is how one says “mountain” in Arabic. And Jebel Akhdar lives up to its name. I don't know what Akhdar means. I can guess I guess -> probably “big” or “gigantic”
New friends:
Some of the people were flying into Muscat from Musandam but I left from Sur on the 31st. I collected Jenny from her gaff at 8am and then we went to Muttrah souq. We got to the souq about 10:10 and I bought some knives and Jenny got some trousers. From there we got in touch with the rest and made our way up to the mountain. On the way up there we stopped at Subway, the sandwich provisioner, and got some sandwiches to make sure our bodies had sustenance.
At the bottom-ish of the mountain there is an ROP (royal omani police) checkpoint beyond which one may not journey without a 4x4. The road actually is paved and quite okay but very steep. I think the 4x4 requirement has more to do with engine size than actual 4x4.
Jenny and I met Sharif at the checkpoint and he parked his car and loaded his kit into mine (I have a 4x4, humdila). Then we went up (that is, up, UP). My Fortuner doesn't have the most large engine so definitely when we were going up we couldn't go very fast, maybe about 30 kph at the steep bits.
When we got to the top we went to the resort where part of us were staying and checked in and got some tea (well, I myself had mint-lemon juice, it was jammy) and chilled until the others arrived.
When they arrived we went hiking!
Hmmm,
biggest regret: no fantastic april fools jokes. this is probably okay, actually pranks are a bit cruel and not my favourite type of humour. one april fools in the early 2010's my friend told her boyf that she was pregnant and then he told all his colleagues because he was happy and then my mate was mad at her boyf because he told everyone about this april fools pregnancy. Having been through that I really feel like I have had the fool april fool's experience. totally awesome and hilarious but at least one person will leave the experience scathed. it would be tough to top that this year - am I going to push someone off the mountain and be like “april fools!!”
one of my favourite things: the pasta was so delicious and the portions were sized such that Vicki, Nel, and Kai ordered another round! I had the beef burger which was super jammy so I was full. I tried a bit of the pesto pasta and it was also super jammy. I am inspired to make some pesto myself but I don't know from whence I shall procure the basil. Perhaps lulu? The pine nuts will be tricky too.
another of my favourite things: there was a social media crew there who kept us out of their film envelope because they were filming the sunset to make a backdrop to put on the greenscreen. I was grumpy about it but really it wasn't a big deal.
one of the best things: you can see from the attendees list that this trip was with a very very quality group of people which always makes for a much better holiday. Humdila for realsies.