The area around Jebel Shams is just amazing !!

Digging through the sand

Oman's Capital Muscat is embedded inbetween the rocks along the Golf of Oman

Omans Hauptstadt Maskat liegt versteckt zwischen den schroffen Klippen am Golf von Oman.

Our last night's hotel presented itself in a very fine, artful design.

This is exactly how the scenery looks like behind our hotel. Only having a closer look at the picture tells you it is a painting.

And through this picture, we are sending out a warm welcome to an amazing motorcycle tour in the middle of winter. Although ... here in the Emirates and Oman, winter is almost coming to an end. Nevertheless, we are all looking forward to finally getting back on our motorcycles. Everyone - that's Mark from America, Rahul from India, John and Maria from Brazil, Joerg from Australia, Johann from Austria, Martin and Uli and Thomas from Switzerland and Jörn from Germany.

We are all looking forward to experiencing the great motorcycle routes in the Emirates and Oman.

Feel free to join our adventure through this blog!

Day 1 - Emirate of Sharja to Al Aqah (Emirate of Fujairah)

The road leading to our tour start hotel was a little busy, but not too bad

A first coffee stop in the morning of our first riding day. This is how a drive-in Café looks like in the Emirates

What a surprise - rain in the desert !! An experience even I haven't yet made here in the UAE.

The route leads up to the highest mountain, Jebel Jais, which is located in the emirate of Ras-al-Khaima.

It is quite an impressive road structure.

We made it all the way up on top of Jebel Jais. Unfortunately, the weather conditions didn't allow for a ride with the world's longest zipline.

Rahul from India

Thomas was busy taking picture of his fellow riders with the Jebel Jais Road in the background

Jörn from Germany

Johann from Austria

How lucky we are! We can always rely on Ibrahim He and his vehicle are always there when you need them

Day 2 - Crossing into Oman

This structure made out of Arabic words was my favourite piece of art in our hotel near the city of Dibba

Well... it might have also been this one ...

These frames carry traditional objects such as wedding jewellery, prayer carpets, etc.

The first place to stop for a picture was the first mosque that had been built in the Emirates. John, of course, had to carefully read the historical background

Even tough the skies were not cooperating today either, we were at least lucky to stay dry at our visit of the Mosque

The view from the watch towers above the Mosque

It goes without saying that we had to climb up the stairs to enjoy the view

The remaining part of the group decided to comfortably watch from below

Sometimes you are just lucky and you pass by a coffee stop just at the right time - in our case, before it started to rain again...

The famous giant painting of the sheiks Ibn Raschid and Ibn Zayed at the Hatta water park

Entering the Sultanate of Oman !

A quick and unofficial picture at the border crossing

Day 3 - Sohar to Muscat

Once we had left the highway from Sohar behind us, the view of the mountains opened up in front of us.

Camels always make for a good background

A camel close-up

It must have been a mistake in communication. Asked was for "medium-sized"

Along the route, we passed by a small local market.

Different place but also not medium-sized. Other people eat potato chips. Here they snack dried fish while watching a movie

John found a future motorcycle fellow

Today, Uli and Martin well deserved their 5 tours shirt !!

Day 4 - Rest day in Mascat

On our rest day in Muscat there is quite bit to sightsee. Luckily, Muscat is a compact city, so that visiting the most important sights doesn't require much travelling.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque with its gigantic chandelier , of course, is a must-see.

The Quran in a handy size

The Sultan's working palace at the seaside

This is the over-sized frankincense burner, a symbol for Oman's production of frankincense

There is not yet much going on in the afternoon. Muscat's souk is getting busier in the evening, when also the locals come to shop for their daily needs.

Here you can find anything you need: all sorts of spices ...

... and as well frankincense and all sorts of spices

A special highlight for me was The National Museum of Oman, which I haven't had visited before myself. It will definitely become part of the city tour in Muscat. I didn't imagine it was that interesting.

Even if you visited Oman for one day only, spending this day in the National Museum, you would get to know everything about Oman

A model display of Mutrah, one of Muscat's quarters

A frankincense tree

The different qualities of frankincense

A model of one of the many forts in Oman

Leaving Mutrah we passed by this place that gives you the impression as if the city was being "spilled" between the rocks

A memory picture. About 12 years ago, Johann and myself took a similar picture on one of Johann's many Edelweiss tours

What a beautiful day, it comes to an end in our beautiful Hotel on the beach of the Gulf of Oman

Day 5 - Mascat to Ras Al Jinz

Today's riding day, like every riding day, started with a morning briefing.
This time, however, John made a surprise proposal to his already wife Maria It was Maria's first time to ride with him as a pillion on a dirt road. So sweet - how much more can a motorcycle woman wish for?

The first part of the route took us on a stretch of unpaved road and mind-blowing nature

Thomas wants to collect more experience riding on dirt. He is a natural talent

More camels along the way

João said, he had found a handy piece of equipment for his motorcycle

Cooling down and chilling at the Bimmah Sinkhole

After the sinkhole we continued to Sur

For a hike into the Wadi Shab you should plan in at least 1 hour, better more. To many things to do and see for us today, so we stopped at least to take a picture.

Towards the end of the day we visited the only, still existing Dhow factory in Oman, which is located in the city of Sur. The owners used the time since our last tour to finish the newöy built museum on the same premisses. And it has turned out really nice and worth the visit.

This show model Dhow even has a Toilet

Outside at the workshop there is the same Dhow than last year - still under construction

The second one is almost finished

A day full of exciting experiemces comes to an end at the Turtle Reserve, Ras al Jinz. We hopr to see some tonight

Our Glamping tents

The people from theTurtle Reserve are going out to find the giant turtles.

The Turtle Beach

Day 6 - Ras Al Jinz to Al Wasil

Returning from the turtle beach this morning, we passed by again the small port city of Sur. This time, however, we saw it from the other side ...

... this way we could also get to look at the Dhow boat workshop from the water side.

Actually there are always people lining up in front of this small coffee box. Not sure, why nobody wants to get any now ... ?

The first highlight of today was the Wadi Bani Khalid. It is one of the few Wadis in Oman that carry water all year round. A a sophisticated system of water channels, called faladj, spreads the water to the near date orchards.

Wadi Bani Khalid

The water runs through the gorge, all the way down to the largest of the Wadi's pools.

Today Rahul and myself took the challenge to explore the Wadi's rocky paths a bit deeper.

It was a great idea to do that. Because the deeper you got into the gorge, the larger the boulders became. We finally got to a point where it would have been taking too much time. So we turned back around. It was a great experience and I am glad I brought my hiking shoes on the bike

After our visit of the Wadi Bani Khalid, we continued the ride to our partial destination Al Wasil. We parked our motorcycles there and proceeded to the desert camp. Ibrahim doesn't seem to be too happy with the way we parked our motorcycles

Having arrived at the desert camp we were shuttled up the sand dunes for the sunset. It is unbelievable, what kind of plants the desert can produce

One could sit here forever to simply watch and unwind. Running down the sand dunes barefoot, on the other hand, is a lot of fun, too

Unfortunately, the sunset did not turn out as good as we were hoping for. Instead the real beer supply turned out really well here.

Day 7 - Al Wasil to Al Jebel Al Akhdar

Day 8 - Rest day at the Jebel Al Akhdar

Day 9 - Al Jebel Al Akhdar to Al Hamra

Reluctantly we accepted our faith and left our excellent hotel at Jebel Al Akbar. But we also knew that another great riding day in the Hajar mountains was waiting for us.
Our first stop was for sightseeing the ancient village of Misfat Al Abriyeen. The quaint little village is surrounded by date orchards same as ...

... by some banana plants

The old houses, made out of clay bricks, were built closely together

Our second sightseeing stop for today was the traditional Omani house in Al Hamra. The lady showed us how Omani people used to cook coffee ...

... and also how they produce the typical Omani bread, which is only very thin.

An Indian Omani, a German Omani and a Swiss Omani ...

... and a real Omani

ancient inscription on top of one of the house's doors.

Once we had left the Omani house, it was time to get down to riding. The aim was to ride up the dirt road to Jebel Shams and the famous Grand Canyon of the Middle East.

The heart of the Grand Canyon of the Middle East.

The tough boys getting back strength during lunch break

After lunch part of the riders continued on the dirt road around the summit of Jebel Shams.

A fantastic experience ...

... with an even more fantastic view !!

It was an awesome riding experience, today !!

Day 10 - Al Hamra to Al Ain (UAE)

Day 11 - Al Ain to Dubai

Our last riding day of our tour UAE & Oman has started. And along with our "oh, our wonderful tour is coming to an end", the heavens sent a rain shower to accompany us on our ride into Dubai.
Luckily, it wasn't too bad in the end, and we all arrived safe and dound at the hotel

Wegen des Wetters mussten wir allerdings eine kleine Programmänderung in Kauf nehmen.
Das verrückte Erlebnis in der riesigen Dubai Mall beschäftigte uns über eine Stunde, ohne etwas zu kaufen! Das muss man erst mal schaffen