Green as Green Can Be

Switching from the Green Mountain of Oman to truly green mountains… Nepal in the monsoon!


If Jebel Akhdar is green, I dunno what you’d call this? But I don’t blame whoever named Jebel Akhdar (literally, 'Green Mountain') in Oman its name. For an arid country like Oman, Jebel Akhdar is indeed green, and cool (even in the scorching summer of Arabia). But in the rain-drenched southern slopes of the Himalayas during the monsoon, green, is everywhere, wherever you can see, except for the cities, and the patches of yellow, here and there, where the trees have been washed away but landslides caused by the rain…


This is Nepal, during the monsoon, where we were stranded for a day (thanks to Jazeera Airways… They were 5 f$$#$@ hours late, which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh). Anyway, we’re not people who’d fret over some small hitch or mishap, hehe. Since, we had to spend an unplanned day (and night) in Kathmandu, we took the opportunity to not only wander around Kathmandu (it wasn’t our first visit, by the way), we headed for the hills outside the city!


Welcome to Nagarkot, Nepal, about 30km from Kathmandu (an hour-plus drive, depending on the traffic). We decided to visit early in the morning, before heading directly to the airport to catch our flight to Dhaka!

This was a recommendation from a Nepali friend of Anu’s, the husband of her colleague, Rini, who used to work together with Anu in Haulawng, Mizoram. We’ve met the couple before (twice maybe), in Gurgaon (Haryana) when Justin was really little (2013, I think), and Delhi during Amrita’s wedding. Sadly, the husband committed suicide, a couple of years back. RIP mate.


Mommy, come up, the view’s amazing! (Mommy’s scared of heights), c’mon conquer your fears – Nagarkot Geodetic Survey Tower, Nagarkot, Nepal


Bravo, you did it!


See, it’s nice, isn’t it? You can even see snowy mountains…


And that’s it for this post. Signing out, Nagarkot, Nepal, Jul 2022

And for the Buddhists out there, wishing you a blessed Vesak Day.

The Green Mountain of Oman

Jebel Akhdar (literally, ‘Green Mountain’ in Arabic), Oman, Dec 2022 – A view of the hanging terraces of Jebel Akhdar, from Al Aqr village. The villages in the view are Al Ain (top, right), Al Shuraijah (middle) and Al Qusha (bottom, left). The pinkish building in the background on the top of the mountain, in the middle left, is a palace belonging to a prince of Qatar. A nice thing to do here, in the cooler months, and if you have time, is to trek along the terraces from Al Aqr to Shuraijah… and beyond! We went half-way, and came back (bcoz our phone batteries ran out! What’s the point of having beautiful views, when you can’t snap ‘em!)


We liked it so much, that we revisited in April 2023! This is the view from the other side, i.e. from Al Shuraijah side. That Prince of Qatar’s palace can be clearly seen here!

I’ve been pretty busy recently. During the Eid Al Fitr holidays (end of March), we went over to Oman (yes, again), and I discovered that our trusty ol car’s 4WD no longer works! Oman’s full of mountain villages, and we were driving to one (Wadi Mibam) and our car couldn’t climb a friggin slope, in the middle of a congested village. We sat there, parked at the side, watching all the other 4WD’s driving easily up the slope. Heck, even some saloon cars were doing it! We eventually drove back down, parked our car and hired a local pickup up to Wadi Mibam (10 OMR, for a return trip – Not bad! If you want the contact, message me, haha). Yeah, the road’s pretty steep and narrow, and you’d have to be a pretty good driver, but I’m not a bad driver myself. Am I getting old??

I then remembered that during last year’s Eid Al Fitr holidays, we failed to drive up another slope, at another mountain village in Oman (Wukan). And then, there were a couple of times last year, that we struggled to climb up some slopes at our local Wadi Shawka (in the UAE), which we had no problem, going up before. So, I suspect that it may not actually be me. Could it be our trusty ol’ car? So, I sent the car for checking, and lo and behold! They confirmed what I feared all the while. The 4WD, or in the case of our car, the All-Wheel-Drive (AWD), has stopped working! And to fix it all up, it’ll cost us a hefty 37000 friggin AED!! Fuck, that’s more than what I can sell the car for. In fact, it’s nearly double the friggin market price of our car, if we sold it! But this was from the OFFICIAL Hyundai workshop. Maybe, an outside workshop could fix it up for cheaper. I’ve not sent it out for checking yet. Summer’s already in full blast here, no plans for driving up any hills for at least the next 6 months, so, there’s still time.

I can’t emphasise how important 4WD is here, if you wanna drive around and explore the mountains of Oman and the UAE! Jebel Akhdar is actually, officially forbidden for non-4WD (or non-AWD) cars. No kidding! There’s a police checkpoint at the foot of the mountain road, that checks your car. Non-4WD cars would have to park there, and hire a local 4WD to drive you up, and down. (Don’t worry, there’re loads of them, waiting around just for that opportunity!)

Since, I’ve not sorted out the photos of our recent trip to Wadi Mibam and Wadi Shab, and last year’s trip to Bilad Sayt, here’re more photos of Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain of Oman, which we visited earlier (2022 and 2023).


Good morning people! Breakfast at our hotel, the Green View Hotel, Saiq, Jebel Akhdar, Oman, Dec 2022


The town of Saiq, the main town on Jebel Akhdar, from the Green View Hotel


A view of the mountain terraces of Jebel Akhdar, from near Shuraijah village, Apr 2023. We revisited in spring, to visit the rose gardens when they’re in bloom! Check out my old post of the rose gardens!


A view of the mountains from near the Jebel Akhdar public park, on the road to Alila Jebel Akhdar


A wonky tree, at the Jebel Akhdar Public Park


Cliffs at Al Hulailat Village


Ahem, yours truly, at the cliffs near Al Hulailat, on the road to Alila, Jebel Akhdar


Wow! It’s friggin high! Canyon viewpoint, near the Alila Jebel Akhdar


That’s the end of the road! Sunset from the Ar Ruus mosque!


Let’s get back to town… Dusk on Jebel Akhdar, on the left is the town of Saiq, where our hotel is. Jebel Akhdar is on a plateau, high above the rest of Oman, which you can see on the horizon in the photo. It was the last bastion of the Imamate of Oman during the Jebel Akhdar War. (Yeah, there was a war here before). Oman used to be 2 separate countries, the Sultanate of Muscat (which controlled the coastal areas of Oman) and the Imamate of Oman (which ruled the interior, and had Nizwa as its capital). Subsequently, Muscat invaded and annexed the Imamate, with British help (yup, they’re the culprits, again). Jebel Akhdar was the Imamate’s last stand before it was defeated.


That’s it. Let’s get back down… On the way down, Jebel Akhdar, Birkat Al Mouz Road, Dec 2022


Here we are again, at the same place, Apr 2023


Back to the plains! Birkat Al Mouz Fort, Dec 2022. (Birkat Al Mouz is the gateway to Jebel Akhdar).

That’s all for now. Bye.

The Church That Was a Mosque

It’s the Holy Week this week (the week of Good Friday and Easter). So, here’s a church for a change! From the series of mosques in the last few posts. (Incidentally, it was also Songkran, the Thai New Year, (and a horde of other new years) a few days back – How contrastingly different these festivals are, huh? That's the beauty of diversity!)


Anyway, back to the post, this church happens to actually be a former mosque! No, it isn't the only mosque to be converted into a church, but it’s one of the more renowned ones. Welcome to Andalucia, Spain!


This is the cathedral of Seville. The bell tower on the right of the photo (aka the Giralda) used to be the minaret of the Grand Mosque of Seville (or Ishbiliya in Arabic). This is how it is with humans. To the victors, go the spoils. This is a church that used to be a mosque. We've visited a mosque, which used to be a church, the Hagia Sofia. When we visited, it was a museum! Now, it's a functioning mosque, once again

Andalucia got its name from Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the region in current Spain & Portugal that used to be under the control of Islamic rulers. Al-Andalus was under Islamic rule for 7+ centuries until the Reconquista, when the Christian kingdoms in Europe reconquered the area and made them into Spain and Portugal as what they are today. The new rulers either forced converted the remaining Muslims and Jews, or drove them out altogether. I suspect Israel and Trump have the same ideas for Palestine… Sigh… (I would’ve thought that modern people were less ‘barbaric’ than our ruthless ancestors, but it looks like we remain the same, barbarians by nature) …


I diverge. Back to my post. Here’re more photos of the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See), or more commonly, the Seville Cathedral.


A view of Seville city, from the Giralda


In this view from the Giralda, you can see the Court of Oranges (the courtyard with orange trees, in the lower part of the photo, or in Spanish, Patio de los Naranjos). The lone skyscraper in the background, is the Torre Sevilla (Seville Tower), which housed the Eurostars Hotel, which was one of the hotels yours truly stayed in, during his 3-day business visit to Seville! More specifically, I was there for a function, the IPMA (International Project Management Association) Global Awards actually, thanks to my Malaysian passport (because of that dang Schengen Visa, my bosses and colleagues, who’re mostly Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, etc, couldn’t attend, and I, being Malaysian, do not need a visa for Europe! 3 cheers for Malaysia!!!)

Being an ardent traveller, how could I be in Seville, and not experience a little something of the city? I’ve missed out on a whole lot of opportunities travelling with other, less travel enthusiastic people, on business trips. Not this time. And that’s how I planned a trip to the cathedral! (Tip: BOOK ONLINE BEFORE YOU VISIT, AT LEAST BEFORE THE SLOTS FILL UP. It’ll save you a whole lot of time! I did it on the morning of the day of my visit). (And if my company, would’ve stuck to the earlier, ungodly flight schedule they said they’d book me into at first, for the return leg of my journey to Dubai that is, I would’ve spent a half-day in Lisboa as well! And seen a whole new city, and a new country! But luck would have it, that they finally booked me into a more sensible flight, departing mid-morning, with a stopover in Barcelona. I’ve seen Barcelona before (in 1994). It’s a huge city, too big to get around, so I just stuck around in the airport, eating Iberian Ham sandwiches and drinking sangria, Salud! The Lisboa flight was like 6am, on the morning after the award function, which ended past midnight, meaning that if I’d taken that, I’d have to make do with only a couple of hours of sleep, before I head off to the airport… Urgghhh, that’d be too tiring. Luckily, they found a ‘better’ flight!)


Back to the cathedral, this is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Yeah, believe me not! It’s in fact, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Yeah, sez Wikipedia… But it doesn’t feel as big as the Milan Duomo. Is it because the Milan cathedral was surrounded by a huge, spacious square, whereas the Seville cathedral is sorta hemmed in by the surrounding buildings??


Look at that humongous pipe organ!! And it’s not the only one. It has a twin on the other side


The Choir! Now, if only they were people singing… Those rib vaults (on the golden ceiling) are one of the defining features of Gothic architecture by the way


Not every part is Gothic though, here’s a Renaissance dome in the cathedral. I think this is the Chapter House, whatever that is…


That’s the screen that shields the Retablo Mayor, the largest altarpiece in the world, from visitors. Aww shucks, but why?


There, the Retablo Mayor (High Altarpiece)! No iron grill is gonna stop my phone from squeezing in, and getting a shot, haha. I didn’t even know what it was, until I started writing this blogpost! And there it was, on Google. Apparently, it’s a masterpiece designed by Pierre Dancart, and it took 80+ years (in the 15th to 16th century) to finish (No, Pierre Dancart did not live to see the completed works)


The cathedral isn’t only famous for the things I’ve said above. Some famous people are also buried there. The most prominent one, Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the new world! That’s his tomb / catafalque above, carried by four figures


The tomb of Columbus, Seville Cathedral


Holy Santa Maria, what’s it with the heads? If anyone knows why Mother Mary is standing on some heads, pray do tell, OK? An exhibit in the Main Vestry of the Cathedral


There you are. Signing out, Catedral de Sevilla, Sep 2023. Happy Easter everyone!

Guess the Mosque

C’mon, guess where this elegant mosque is from?


Looks like it came right out of Central Asia, doesn’t it? Or Iran? Uzbekistan is a likely guess…


Just look at the entrance portal! With its exquisite ‘muqarnas’ (those beehive-like formations on the inner side of the arch)


Except that the weather looks too sunny and green. Look at those flowering trees! Wonder what they are?


Heck, the wooden pillars look exactly like the ones we’ve seen in Uzbek mosques or Iranian palaces!


But, it’s too new and shiny, not like the medieval structures we typically see in Uzbekistan or Iran


And look at that gorgeous interior!

Give up already??


It’s actually a mosque much nearer to home! Across the Gulf of Oman from Iran. It’s the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Sohar, Oman

Oman is one of our favourite destinations on short holidays! It’s full of majestic mountains, mysterious gorges, beautiful wadis where you can swim in, astounding castles and mosques, quaint little villages where local tradition is still very much alive, and locals who are friendly, unpretentious and honest, not the type of people who would make a quick buck out of you!

And that’s why from 2022, we’ve travelled to Oman every year, and this year was no exception. We’ve visited the Sohar Mosque twice now, en route to our destination, the first time last year, and the second time, just a couple of weeks ago, during the ‘short’ Eid holidays. Here’re the rest of the photos of the mosque. Go, see Oman for yourself if you can!


Anu, at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Sohar, Oman – Apr 2024


Anu again, Sohar, Oman – Mar 2025


Jayden and Papa, Mar 2025 – Too bad, Koko isn’t around. Justin has never visited this mosque. It’s because, we usually do Oman trips on short trips when there’s a longer weekend in the UAE. Maybe next time, when Justin completes his studies, the kids could go on their own! The last time Justin visited this side of Oman was in 2013, when Jayden wasn't even born!


The central chandelier of the mosque


That’s all for now folks! Signing out, Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Sohar, Oman, Mar 2025