The Hills Have Tombs

Beehive Tombs (the small mounds on the ridge) at Al Ayn, Oman, with Jebel Misht (Comb Mountain) in the background

Continuing in Oman, here is an eerier, but absolutely scenic place to visit, between Nizwa and the UAE Border Post in Jebel Hafeet / Al Ain. These so-called beehive tombs (coz they look like beehives, don’t they?) date back to maybe before the age of the pyramids! But no one knows what they’re actually for, or whether they're really tombs, as no human remains have been found near them.

The place is a 20km detour off the main Nizwa to UAE road. I did the trip without Anu knowing that it needed a detour hehe (or she wouldn’t have said OK). I said, “it’s kinda on the way”, so it ain’t an outright lie either, right?


A closer view of the ancient tombs – it’s like a 5 minute walk from here, but the missus was absolutely against mucking around ancient tombs, especially with the young one around, so this was the closest we got


Another view of the beehive tomb site and Jebel Misht, from where we parked our car …in the middle of a friggin dried up river (wadi). Ya, you'd have to cross the wadi to get there


The typical landscape around the road leading to Al Ayn, Oman


Pyramid of the Scorpion King, from the Mummy Returns – just kidding, it’s a hill near the beehive tomb site in Al Ayn, but it sure looks like the pyramid, doesn’t it?

The Road Behind the Mountains

Bidbid to Nizwa Road, Oman

Somehow or other, my mission in Oman seems to be continuing. Recently, ended up making another one night trip to Muscat, with about 20 colleagues and associates. Went there for a meeting. Work isn’t such an interesting subject, so what d’ya think, some photos of Oman instead? Ahem.

The office workload has actually reduced, but we’ve started this business of hunting for a new apartment to shift to. This has turned out to be a time-consuming and frustrating affair. We’ve gotta shift out by the end of June, company’s orders… Wish us luck on finding a good place!

In the meantime, here’re some photos of our road trip from Sur to Nizwa in 2013, using the road behind the mountains, (i.e. via Al Kamil, Ibra, Bidbid). I didn’t exactly want to use the same coastal route we took from Muscat to Sur for the return trip, so here we are, tada!!


Our trusty rented Toyota Yaris, parked at an Omanoil Petrol Station on the Bidbid to Nizwa Road, Oman – not bad for a small car, drove a couple of thousand km in 5 days, thru causeways with running water, gravel roads, etc, and made it back in one piece without any problem




On the road between Ibra and Bidbid, flanked by barren mountains

A Wish Not Granted

Looks like my Chinese New Year wish didn’t come true after all. And it was just a simple wish, no more plane crashes please… (see the post before)

I hope this Germanwings crash is the last one for ages to come. Is there some super sophisticated terrorist organization out there that could alter the mindsets of pilots? And cause them to crash a plane or make it disappear (like MH370)? Such an organization could like threaten the governments of the world to pay a ransom, or it’ll make a random plane crash or disappear?? Nobody will know exactly what happened in the co-pilot's mind before the crash. What drives someone to commit such a heinous act, ...only God knows.

May all the innocent souls lost in the crash rest in peace. May the affected families, friends and loved ones find solace and peace. May God be with you all.