Until we meet again...

Sorry for the late post, I had to make a quick decision to finish my break a day earlier. The day itself was not interesting at all since I was at home the whole day and went to meet Nasser in the evening. Met some friends from high school which is always good.

I was supposed to come back to Doha tonight but I came last night because it dawned on me that I have a lot of homework and I cant do it in Oman. Its to much distraction.

So with this post, I will be ending my travel blog about Oman. I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures and comments about the beautiful places in Oman. I hope I was able to portray a good image of this amazing country. I will try to make a google album soon and put all the pictures I took in Oman.

Until I travel again, take care and see you guys soon. Please leave your comments or suggestions below so I can know what you think of Oman.

P.S. I am already making plans for my next travel plans. This time, Its a country I am sure you all have not been to; I am going to Ethiopia!!

Stay tuned for more updates!

A day in China of the Middle East!

It was amazing! I loved China. I cant wait to tell you guys about it.

Alright, jokes apart, here is what happened.

So we had planned to go to Dubai today and do some shopping. We woke up at around 5am and were out of the house by 6:30am. The drive from Muscat to Dubai takes around 4 hours and the road is amazing. If you plan to visit Oman for a week, than you should think about doing this road trip.

On the way, There was a lot of fog in some area and I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture to show you guys.

Here are some pictures of the scenery on the way.

Our destination in Dubai was a place called Dragon Mart. It is a huge complex on the outskirts of Dubai and it basically sells everything. However, the catch is that everything in that huge complex is from China! The entire complex is Chinese and even the shopkeepers are Chinese. I literally felt like I was in China.

We reached Dragon Mart at around 11am and started our 4 hours shopping madness.

The thing I liked about this complex is that it had everything and its really cheap! Some of you might argue saying that the quality is bad, however, I was shocked to see some really good quality products for a relatively cheaper price.

Here are some of the things I took pictures of that I found really amusing.

This is a women's purse and a matching Iphone cover. It costs 600 AED (163 USD). Apparently, its expensive because its completely hand made and the blings are costly. But seriously, talk about creativity!

Here is a very nasty looking t-shirt that I was wondering who would even think of buying.

Dragon Mart is really a place I would advice anyone to check out if you are in Dubai. It has a very interesting collection of phones (Chinese Iphone 4,lol), electronics, furniture, textile, and everything you can imagine the Chinese to make (which is basically everything!).

We left Dragon Mart after walking across it for hours and started our drive back to Muscat. We were back at around 8pm.

This is one of the reasons I love Oman. You can go to a different country and come back on the same day!

Before I forget, I did not mention that even thought the products and shopkeepers were from China, the visitors of the complex were from all over the world. There were a lot of visitors from Oman which made perfect sense since its so close. The place was so diverse with visitors that I even saw a fellow Aggie from the Qatar campus over there. Talk about small world!

Numbers and stats

Since today was not a very fruitful day and I basically did nothing expect facebooking, blogging, and visiting family in the evening, I thought to share with you some other interesting stuff.

Since I started blogging my trip in Oman, I have been getting several comments from you guys, (my readers), suggesting me ideas and things to say and not to say. Thank you all very much.

I have also been testing out different blogging techniques and various ways through which I could increase my reader's circle. After all, I am typing all this so it could be read. Let me share with you some of the numbers I got since I started this blog in July.

I have got 1,344 pageviews since I started my blog in July. This is really good given that I just wrote 17 posts. I blogged two countries until now, India and Oman. I got 815 views for my India trip and 451 views for my Oman trip until now. Here is a snapshot of the graph that google analytics gave me.

Other interesting figures that google analytics gave me was the countries I got visits from. Here is a snapshot of those stats. Let me just point out that these are not all the countries since I changed the template in between and this caused some numbers and countries to disappear. I know South Africa, United Kingdom, and Australia should be on the list.

I don't know how these graphs will be useful to me but here they are. Views by browser and operating systems.

I want to thank everyone who has been following me since I started my blog. Thank you for reading and continuously providing me with feedback to help me become a better blogger. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

A traveler's guide to Muscat

This post is a day late because yesterday was a very busy and long day. To the people who asked me to have fun, I did have fun. It was a very eye opening and eventful day. I also got some comments from my readers saying that I am not describing Oman in my posts. Its hard to do this when its your own country but I will try today to talk more about it. I have loads of pictures as well.

As I told you, I got 4 friends from Doha visiting Oman. They arrived to Muscat and I planned to take them around on the whole day. The girls, (C & B) stayed at my place and the boys ( M & D) stayed at a couchsurfing family.

Me and the girls woke up early morning and went to the fish market in Mattrah. I missed that place alot because I remember when I was young, dad would always take us there to buy fresh fish.

The fish market functions in the early mornings because the fishermen go to the sea right after the fajr (dawn) prayers and by 7:30am, they will be back to shore with their catch. Everyone from around Muscat comes to this fish market to buy fresh fish. There are two sections in the fish market: a section to sell the fish and the other section to clean and cut the fish after its bought. I really like this system as it is very efficient and quick.

After the fish market, We went back to get the boys from the house at which they stayed.

Our next stop was the Grand Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Al-Azaiba area. This mosque was at one time the largest in the Gulf (after the Masjid al Haram in Makkah) and is still one of the largest Mosques in the Middle East region.

You can click the link to read more about it however I will tell you that the carpet is so huge that it was woven on site and it is one complete piece. It cost more than 5 million Omani riyals

(around 13 million USD). Here are some pictures of this majestic Masjid which is one of my favorites around the world.

After the Grand Sultan Qaboos Mosque, we did a short road trip tour around Muscat in the car. We drove by the sand dunes in Al-Khuwair area, the malls in Al-Qurum Area and than went to the Old Muscat City.

The Old Muscat City has many historical sites that you have to visit if you come to Oman. We started the tour by going to the Qasr Al Alam Palace, Or the residence of the Sultan (president) of Oman.

Our next stop was to an Omani research facility that focused on the Omani Fishery. It had a huge Aquarium that had fish native to Oman. I had never been to this place and I advice everyone to go there. It makes you proud to be Omani.

After we took several pictures of the fish and the sea turtles, We went back home for lunch. Mom insisted that we have lunch with them at home. We rested for a while before we continued on our schedule for the rest of the day.

We headed out to the bandar Al Jissa Resort. This resort has 3 hotels that range from 5 to 7 stars. Its a very lavish and amazing place to be at. We went in and took a walk around one of the hotels. The beach is amazing and they even have a lazy river!.

My friends didnt want to leave until they finished the game of chess they had started on the big chess board!

Our next stop was the corniche. We chilled around there for a few minutes before we went into the Mattrah Souq. This souq is very touristy and has silver and gold gifts like jewelery and swords.

My friends wanted to get some souvenirs and gifts for their families and friends. They went on that quest while I chilled and helped them bargain for some of the things they wanted.

By the time we were done, it was sunset. We watched the sunset over the corniche which is a view that you must not miss. Sorry, no pictures of that.

After sitting by the corniche water fountains for about an hour and talking about random topics,we moved on and went to see the Sultan's Palace again at night, since the view is a lot much better.

We ended the night with an amazing BBQ with the family that the guys had stayed with. It was an interesting chat.

This is all about my trip around Muscat. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Filling up the space

This post will be short and simple as I have a long day tomorrow. The whole morning was very useless as I did nothing usefull except facebook and blogging. I made a new blog http://www.aboods.tumblr.com/ . Check it out if you got time.

I was waiting for my friends from Doha who were coming later in the day. At 4pm, I went with mom and my sisters to visit my family since mom did not see them since she got back from Dubai. At around 7pm, my friends reached Muscat and I picked them up. We went to have dinner at my dad's restuarant and than I dropped the guys off at the house where they were going to couchsurf at. The girls came back with me to my place. We walked by the beach before that and I showed them around my neighborhood.

I have a long day tomorrow because we are waking up really early to go see the fish market, then see the Sultan Qaboos Grand mosque, and then show them around Muscat. I was planning to take them around Muscat tonight but they came in late and they were really tired.

So hopefully tomorrow, there will be pictures and stories to share. Sorry that today's post wasnt as eventful as it was supposed to be but thanks for reading. As the title says, I am just filling up the space with this blog post, there is nothing much to say in it ;)

Al Nahda Resort and Spa = Epic Awesomeness!

I planned to wake up late today but failed. I woke up at 8:30 after my sister bashed into my room waking me up so we can leave to Al Nahda Resort early. I was ready in five minutes (as usual) but for some weird reason, we left home at around 11:30am. Don't ask me why, all I can say is that I was with three women! Dad did not come with us as he had work to do.

Al Nahda Resort and Spa is located in the city of Barka, around 45 minutes by car from Muscat. We reached the Resort at around 12:30. In short, if you ever visited Oman and did not come to this place, then you did not see everything in this country. This place is epically amazing! The prices are not so bad compared to the services you get.

We started the day off chilling in the pool for about an hour or two. Here are some pictures of the pool to give you a better idea.

After the pool, all of us went to the jacuzzi. Now I have been to several jacuzzi's around Doha, but I never had the same relaxation as I had in this one. The temperature of the water, the water bursts, everything was perfect. I really had the time of my life!

After the jacuzzi, we took a bike ride around the place. Given my current physical status (completely unfit!), I was not able to bike much. After 15 minutes, I was done! Here is a picture I took while biking around the resort. The place is paradise on earth. It was 4:30 pm by than and we had to leave since the place closes down at 5 for visitors.

We packed our bags and headed back to Muscat. On the way back, we stopped at KFC for lunch and did some shopping at lulu. We got back home and the sisters went to bed while I spent the rest of the evening facebooking, tweeting, and checking out ways to make my blog look cooler. If you haven't noticed, I added my twitter feed to the blog.

Tomorrow's plan is to go out with my friend's from Doha and show them around Muscat. I am sure tomorrow there will be loads of pictures of the city and its beautiful night life. Stay tuned!

It's always good to be back home!

Today started off pretty late as we had nothing planned for the morning. Parents are coming latter today in the evening so me and my sisters planned to kill the afternoon doing something eid-ish ( stuff people do during the eid days).

Nothing came to our minds since my mom is the one who always plans trips and things to do. So being the not so mature people we are, we decided to go watch a movie ( if you don't remember, that is exactly what we did yesterday evening too! ). My sisters said they wanted to go watch an Indian movie this time.

We looked up the timings and saw that "dabaang" was in Al Nast cinema at 2pm. It was 12pm at that time. To kill time, my elder sister went to shop for some things and me and my other sister wasted time on the internet. Productively enough, I typed my blog post that was due yesterday night. 1:30pm came and we were off to the movies.

We confidently parked the car and went in thinking we would find seats easily. The entire cinema was sold out for the whole day! OWNED! Then we decided to check out the other cinemas. We ended up going to Al bahja cinema which is a good 30 mins drive from where we were. We watched the expendables which is one of the best action filled movie I have watched this year. It's insane! You have to go watch it. Here is the trailer to get you excited about it.

After the movie, we got a message from dad saying that they would be arriving in 30 minutes. We had more time to kill so we decided to go to City Center which is another mall close to Al Bahja. We chilled there for a while and checked out the electronic store and had a light lunch. We didn't realize that time was running out until we got another message from dad saying that they had landed and will be coming out in five minutes. We were lucky that the airport was very close to the mall.

We were there in no time and picked the parents up. Its good that they weren't waiting for long. On the way back, they told us all about Dubai and their trip. I was just happy that they were back.

We headed home and I felt that there wasn't going to be much going out since they were tired and didn't feel like doing anything. However, we did plan on what we were going to do tomorrow, ( I told you, my mom is the best trips planner!).

When I thought that I was going to end my day in a not so fun manner, my mom told me to go get some stuff from the grocery store. Over there, I met my very close neighborhood friend Nasser. I was actually planning on meeting him tonight but his phone wasn't working. So it was my fate to meet him there. We talked for about an hour before my mom called and asked where I was. I told him I will drop the stuff back home and then we would meet up. He came in his car after few minutes and we went to chill.

Nasser is a guy that I really don't get bored talking with him. We chilled on the beach near my home and talked about life and other random stuff for hours. Its 1:20am right now and I just got back home to type this up. I must say, this guy is awesome! I really love being back home to hang out with him.

As for tomorrow's plans, we are going inshallah to the Al-Nahda Resort. If you are a CMU Qatar freshmen or sophomore, you know what I am talking about. This resort is the one that CMU Qatar takes its freshmen class every year for their first year experience program. I haven't been there before but I hope it will be a good experience. We are planning to spend the day there so hopefully there will be a lot of pictures and fun stories since my little crazy cousin, Ahmed, ( the one from yesterday's post) will be there as well.

Until then, this is me signing off and hoping that you all are enjoying these posts so far because I know I am!

Family + Food + Friends = Amazing Eid!

This blog post is coming a day late because yesterday was a really busy day. I got back home and slept straight away. However, let me try and remember as much as possible.

The day started off really early at around 5:30am when I got up to go pray the Eid Prayer. I didn't know what time it was at so I guessed that they would pray at 6. Good guess since they prayed at 6:20. The Eid prayer, for those of you who know what I am talking about,

is one of the best parts I love about Eid in general. I feel that all muslims around the world come and pray and greet each other "Eid Mubarak". Its a really good feeling. I met some of my neighborhood friends that I havent seen for a long time. This is a picture of the sun rising as I was going to the mosque.

After prayers, I got back home and wished my sisters "Eid Mubarak" as well. The plan was to go to my uncle's house and see the rest of the family. However, we were a bit confused since every year, my uncle calls the night before Eid and invites us to his place. However, this year, and since my parents are not at home, he did not call. We called dad and mom in Dubai and wished them Eid Mubarak and told them our plans. While my sisters were debating the idea of going to my uncle's place, I remembered that I had some friends coming over from Doha to visit Oman. I decided to go pick them up from the airport since I wasn't being of much use at home.

The friends are three american exchange students from College Station who are doing a semester abroad in Doha and one Germany friend who is studying with me in Qatar. I picked them up from the airport and dropped them at the bus station since they were going to go to Sohar for the first few days before they come back to visit Muscat. I will update you guys about them more once they arrive here.

Going back to the story, I went back home and saw that my sisters had decided that we were going to visit the family even if they didn't invite us, after all, they are family!. My sisters got ready (which took forever!!) and after a long photo taking session, we headed off.

Seeing the big family has always been a joy and source of great happiness. I chill with my uncle and aunts and cousins all day. However, this year was a bit different since Dad and Mom were not there. Its always them that make the whole atmosphere lively and crazy!

We started the feast with the traditional harees.

If you don't know what this is, I really don't know how to explain it. Here is a picture in case you are confused.

After that, fruits and coffee came in. Then some guests came to visit and more fruits and coffee came it. This kept on going until it was Friday prayers time.

It was really weird to see that most of the people during the sermon were so sleepy and you could tell that they had eaten a lot at home. The sermon itself was extremely short!

After Friday prayers, me and the sisters headed back home because we were very sleepy and had a movie to watch at 5. It was 1 when we left. We got back home and slept until it was movie time.

We watched the Egyptian movie " Al-talata Yashtaghlonaha (The Three Pranksters)". It was epically funny and I really advise everyone to go watch it.

After the movie, I left my sisters and went to go see my old neighborhood friend, Ahmed. My sisters went to see their friends. I chilled with Ahmed for about two hours and chatted about life and other random things. Its always good to be back and meet this guy. I got back home at around 10. My sisters were back already.

This in short was my first day of Eid. I met family, ate food, and met my old friends. What more can a guy ask for!

Here is a picture of my crazy cousin who wanted me to take a picture of him. His name is Ahmed and he is 7.I simply asked him to smile for the picture and this is what i got! I love this guy.

Muscat: The beautiful city!

I started the day in a very lazy mood and woke up at 10am. (Yes that is lazy for me!). Since my parents are not in the country for the coming two days ( they went to Dubai for a family friend's funeral), it is only me and my sisters at home. It will suck since I really wanted to spend the first day of Eid with my parents around.

I don't remember doing anything useful until Iftar time other than getting my Omani phone number and sleeping. For Iftar, me and my sisters decided to go out to Pizza Express. Amazing food. You have to check it out if you ever come to Muscat.

After the Iftar, we took a cruise down to the old souq area because my sisters wanted to see the Eid preparations and crazy last minute shopping people usually do before Eid. For me, it was a good opportunity to take some cool pictures.

It was than that I realized how beautiful my country is. I had always come down these roads several times when I lived here 3 years ago, however, I never looked at them from a tourist's point of view. I really admired the beautiful buildings and amazing road infrastructure in the city. You don't get to see much of this in Doha.

As we approached the old souq area, called Muttrah, I was amazed by the amount of changes that had happened since the last time I came. There were water fountains all across the streets of the corniche and many of the old buildings were renovated. It really gave a sense of modernity to the area yet still holding on to its traditional flavor.

We walked across the narrow streets of the souq and bought some stuff. I couldn't take much pictures because my sisters were telling me that I was embarrassing them with the camera in my hand! However, I still managed to click some shots of the amazing corniche. The problem is I am having some trouble uploading the pictures to the computer since the camera memory card is not compatible with my laptop. I will get Dad's laptop tomorrow and upload the pictures.

Here is one I stole from my friend's facebook profile. It is a picture of the corniche and Muttrah area.

As for now, I am heading to bed since I have to wake up tomorrow at 6am for the Eid prayer. After that, we will head to my uncle's house for the big family gathering. I really can't wait to see the whole family!

Eid Mubarak Everyone!

Updates, and my Oman Travels!

Lets keep this post short and simple. I am sorry I didnt update the blog for a while but a lot has been happening. First of all, I did not end up going for Umrah since I had other plans. As much as I am sad that I didnt go, I really appreciate the things I did instead.

Right after international orientation got over, an amazing idea came to my mind. I wanted to host the largest charity iftar event in Education city. The purpose was to raise funds for the victims of the recent Floods in Pakistan. I was debating whether to go for Umrah or stay in Doha and plan for this event. I decided the latter as I hoped Allah would reward me with this good cause.

In short, the event happened two weeks latter and it was a huge success. Check out the event page on facebook here and I will try to upload some pictures as soon as possible. I really want to thank everyone who helped out in making this event a huge success. We finally managed to raise 74,000 QAR (20,325 USD) which made us all proud. I really felt happy that we, the students of Education city, were able to make a difference.

Moving on, other updates about me, hmm, I started my senior year and its amazing. I am enjoying ever bit of it. As for travel plans, I doubt there will be much this semester since it is fully packed and busy.

Right now, I am in Oman with family on the Eid-ul-Fitr break. Its the Eid right after the month of Ramadan. I will be here for a week and I hope to spend it chilling at home and meeting friends and family. Since I am back home, I don't really consider this as a travel plan. However, for my readers, I will try to post a blog post everyday and tell you about my awesome country. For once, I will try to be a tourist in my own country.

Expect to see loads of pictures as I will try to give you a good idea of how Oman is beautiful and different from the other countries in the Gulf Region. Hopefully, I will try to convince my family to travel to some places inside Oman and explore this country's beauty.