you might find it hard to believe that after covering close to 1500km in our little red car and returning home zonked that we would then rise then next day, being yesterday, to drive for three hours to the capital of this country, abu dhabi. well we did. we always planned to. on friday abu dhabi hosted the first of a dozen red bull air races. i wont ramble gratuitously. you can imagine being part of a whopping crowd watching little planes zooming around not far above our heads. ben loved it. we loved it. got home at 8.46. i predicted it would be 8.45 when we would get home, as we got in the car at six o'clock. i was pleased to be pretty much bang on. i'll put a few photos. that'll save me writing.

i know that the below entry will have typos. its late. i also noticed that although i arranged them all in geographical order you for, my laptop has put them in numerical. also, when looking at the photos please remember that at times i shoot from the hip, for discretion, so they may not be framed too well or the light is bad. oh well. happy easter, in 19 minutes.

wow. we just had a wonderful wonderful week together. it all started when... actually, it started with the kids carnival where ben dressed as a local boy and we dressed as adoring parents. i've told you about that already. what happened next is what id like to touch on now. we went to oman. we packed the pack, forgetting the following: charger for the video camera, 5 omani rial i left on the table, all our email confirmations of hotel bookings, worries and cares. we looked at the map and decieded that although it would take longer we would drive to fujairah then head down the coast road to where we would spend our first night, the capital muscat. it proved to be an excellent choice. we whipped through the border just over and hour after we left rak. this was satisfying as were the quiet roads, gaggles of goats and the quick arrival in sohar. we spent an hour or so in sohar. there was a fort to explore and im glad we did. not just because it allowed us wonderful views of the sea and the town. it also allowed us to catch up, quite miraculously, with an old friend who once i once worked with at school and is now in sohar. its a small town that we spent just a short time in so the chance meeting was a splendid way to kick off our time in oman. time ticked so we headed down to barka, bought lunch and rolled into muscat mid afternoon. a little later than we expected but cheerful nonetheless. our exploring consisted of a walk along the waterfront, fort hunting, and tea buying from the renown lulu hypermarket. it'd been a long day so we soon made it back to our hotel and hit hay. the next morning, tuesday, we headed straight for the delightful mutrah souq. its true that we have put our feet on over 30 countries and even more local markets within them, but none have been as special as the mutrah souq in muscat. it consists of the usual maze of alleyways lined with spices, balls, hats and frankincense. it also is full of local people is their smart dress qmiling at ben and going about their shopping in the same way i once did in newtown mall. normally. i wish i could take you all there so you could see what i mean. i only took a couple of photos and let the video camera do the walking. it was here that i remembered i had forgotten the charger for it. im not kidding. it was a lovely place i will remember fondly. we then took off on what we new would be a slow days driving. we opted again for the coast road to take us the 180 or so km to sur. we could have zipped along the main road but that wouldn't have been fun. we spent close to six hours on predominantly unseal roads and riverbeds. at first it seems like we'd made a ridiculous decision to do so, but after not long we assured ourselves that the scenery alone, including mountains, rocks, donkeys and the ocean made it worthwhile. we were particularly enchanted by a small town on the coast called tiwi. it contained a small wadi (river) which meant it had trees as well as old houses and gates and things. no doubt i will include a photo or two. from tiwi to sur was a smoother drive and again very rewarding because sur too is a treat. our hotel room was a few floors up and had a balcony overlooking the sea. ben enjoyed this a lot more that the previous six hours in the car. the beach was made more exciting, for ben (and me a litlle bit) by having two trucks and a frontendloader sitting on it. we decided to eat out which was, again, a fun choice. for the second night running we went for chicken and bread. but we also added mango milkshakes, rice and atmosphere. you see, the night before we ate in the dark watching greys anatomy on the pc in the dark while ben slept. but in sur we ate out and im glad we did because it made popping out for ice cream much easier. we just had to top on the way home rather than peel ourselves away from a comfy bed. as happened wonderfully often on our trip we stumbled across another fascinating location while in sur. in looking for a boat builders yard we arrived at a small town called al aysha, or something. it was sleepy and i liked driving around the narrow backstreets hoping the tight corners wouldn't put another white stripe down the side of our car. they didn't. for some reason i felt like we were back in venice, away for the canals but just out around the houses. we saw a lighthouse and the most stunning azure water i can remember in years. i found it breathtaking. despite never wanting to leave, and currently thinking of ways to return tonight for another peek, we stayed just an hour or so. i took many pictures and a deep happiness that there remain these corners of the world still. after a couple of forts we drove to nizwa. don't ask we why it took so long. we got a smidge confused in ibra, but that didn't matter. all was forgotten when we arrived however. our hotel was excellent, as had been the case twice previously. nizwa is an unspeakable place. the whole town is brilliantly authentic with men leading their goats home from the markets to groups of ladies smiling and pointing at ben to stunning fort top views of palms and mountains. we even chanced upon a place called taluf on our way to the (closed) hoota caves. taluf is a ruined village which looks adorable through a lens at sunset, which is when we were there. we soon forgot our disappointment at hoota caves being shut and took a brief scour around the town before visiting the nice people at pizza hut. couldn't do chicken and bread again. after another long day we all slept very well and on thursday made the long long drive back to al ain and home to rak, stopping only at bhala to see a fort being restored at the base of tall solid mountains. we arrived back at our house around five o’clock on thursday. this gave ben enough time to have a run around before tea. it was such a smashing holiday. although our stay was short, oman captivated us both. we arrived home very happy that we had gone. we hadn't planned too go just a few weeks ago but circumstances meant that a visit to a different destination was postponed. having gone on at length in word, i will now post a silly number of photos that will only scrape the surface of what we saw, as this description has.

yesterday was just lovely. about 60 others, ben, jenny and i went the sailing club at around lunchtime. a group of mainly ladies had organised, what turned out to be, a terrific kids' carnival. there was the usual mix of cupcakes (chocolate, strawberry and vanilla), face painting, jellyfish looking for, piñata, live band and a cheap bar. being the first weekend of our school holidays it was perfectly timed and we were all in a lay-about mood while the kids did what kids do. the sailing club is an awesome amenity for both its location and its facilities. it's been a while since i've used the pool table down there (or the one in our house for that matter), or even been out on a boat. that aside, the club just oozes serenity. until of course the children's fancy dress parade kicked off. in no particular order we had pirates, princesses, a bunny, a boy with, apparently, his brains and eyes falling out, a fairy and a reassuring selection of super heroes. thanks to a family we know who had recently given ben a pile of kandora, ben went dressed as a local boy. kandora are the long while garments local men and boys wear. you have probably seem them. they are usually accompanied by either by a long, flowing head piece (often white or red and white in this wood's neck ) or a baseball cap. but never nothing. initially ben opted for the more casual floppy hat, which allowed him to look more suitable while looking at the fish, playing in the sand and making friends with a rather cute puppy that found its way to the carnival. but when it came time for the parade, ben took uncanny pride in assembling his head attire. as a result and not surprisingly he looked just wonderful and well deserving of the first prize he took home. the prize was in the form of a packet of glow in the dark stars. again, a perfect reward as ben has a great fondness of the following: sun, clouds, moon and stars. this includes pictures of and the creations themselves. just like the previous day when we threw our meal plans out of the window, ben's sleeping was out of routine yesterday. following our arrival home he had a sleep and we watched dharma and greg on youtube. then, when it came time for tea, ben ate very little and we ate a george foreman version of the pork bits we had left to defrost a day earlier. see previous entry. it was a lovely day for our family and as i took ben to say goodnight to the moon and told him once more that God loves him i felt extra happy to be his father. i then went and looked at the photos of the day, again. something you can do to the left.