Spiritual Haven: A Day in Oman

I can tell that Al Ain people are most familiar with Oman  than other areas of UAE

the close boundaries they share pulled few immigrants from Oman to Al Ain and vice versa over the years

It was a fine Friday and we were two days away from starting the next semester so my mom's family wanted to hold a family gathering and I was tempted to go

Now when we speak about Oman the image that comes to our mind as emiratis is a splendid journey to childhood memories and simplicity of shared heritage

I really love Oman for keeping us a decent space to get away from this smothering modern life

so I said YES ! I don't want another friday spent on window shopping at Bawadi mall or sipping up a cup of my usual coffee at Starbucks/Nero, Lets welcome the opportunities and see how it goes 

well I haven't got the chance to meet my mom's family after coming back from Korea so this is like .. 6 months that I haven't seen them ? I know.

 So our trip goes from Al Ain city to Al Buraimi city -where we stop at the usual Dukan (Grocery store) for beverages and some fresh fruits- then voilaaa~ we are in Wasit village our destination!

To make the picture clear here is a map from my google account, As you can see Wasit is not far from the emirati borders

Road Trip Map from Al Ain to Wasit village

in around 1 hour we were there at our peaceful village of Wasit, most of its people has already moved to Al Ain but still keep their houses for holidays. The village was only inhabited by the famous family of "AlShamisi" which I never knew till recently! The people are very friendly, generous and really attached to each other :)

when we got there it was the habit to be served coffee and fruits at the beginning of every visit; It is a must in a decent hospitality and that's agreed on in both UAE & Oman. In modern houses though; Its not a mandatory thing to have fruits but were substituted by other international deserts. Yet it all depends on the guest and their age and level of openness.

after few talks around the circle; the lunch was served and god I can't resist the aroma of feasts especially when its homemade!

I need lessons on how to eat using bare hands x)

Note: in gulf area we prefer goat meat over lamb cause gulf people were not used to raise sheep for meat that they consider it more dense and smelly. However in Arabian countries around the Mediterranean sea its more common and preferred

After lunch,there were many women talks and catching up going until the sun went down alil and that was the best part of the day a walk around the oasis !
people calls it alnakhal النخل which mean palm trees area
 It was the resource of agriculture & food

This oasis used to be fulled with people who lived through it and worked most of their days

The diversity of trees was extraordinary !

cotton, mango, banana, lime, lemon, oranges .. I didn't even knew Arabian Gulf area would be able to produce such fruits in such climate !

Mango Trees

Unfortunately though with people leaving the area as it lost its value, these trees were cut down or abandoned to death 

Front yard of one vintage house

More interesting area is the neighborhoods spread around the oasis, I would estimate the age of these houses to be more than 100 years old based on local people sayings and tracking down generations. Wonderfully they still stand in quite good condition!
 

Despite the peaceful image people always made excuses to fight and so there were tribal wars going on and people got killed out of misunderstanding and pride. I found few mosques built here and there and called by the name of each tribe, its funny though because each one is far by 1 min walk lol
they were really ridiculously proud people who didn't want to pray in the same spot! you gotta problem wid that! hehe~ :)

View from the building on top, all houses were built to serve the basic needs of humans

The following pictures shows an abandoned well, not sure how they made it though these stones of hard nature. As it is shown the well was between houses and on the top of the hill, the reason for that is that the power of a tribe relies on how well they hide their resources; mainly water resource!

The following picture shows a police station with a different kind of architecture almost like a fort with small holes as windows

 and here we were there fascinated by the view at the top then rushed back to our residence before the sunsets, you don't wanna be wondering around an oasis with no flash light or farmers to guide you out !! reallllly risky. My mom said it was not as scary in old days because people were really brave and would help each other unconditionally. And when the oasis was blooming many farmers stayed around for late hours.. I could imagine that scene in my mind and it seemed great to live at that time !

Sun hitting on an old fort making it stand out beautifully

I think the Omani archeologists should pay more attention to the national treasures in this area before they vanish for real! The place is breath taking and less stressful. When you are young you appreciate such places less but when you are captivated by the new lifestyle you feel like whaoo this life is so fast and frustrating and I need to catch a glimpse of my childhood where everything was as this village wide, free and natural !

Sunset by the end of the tour

After that long trip we went back home for dinner followed by hot milk tea! we were really exhausted and sleep was all over our faces. The trip was supposed to end around 5pm yet it got as late as 11pm ! and by that we ended our day~

What about you readers did you spend the weekend somewhere inspiring and interesting :)?

Peace,

Amna