Tuesday 9 February 2010

Oman: to the beach

After the recent rain, Fins beach looked more like an English country meadow than a desert beach with swathes of vibrant green vegetation, sticky brown sand and the occasional salt-encrusted pool of water. It is pleasing to report that it was not necessary to clean the beach on arrival, so lunch began with alacrity under overcast skies.

The afternoon was filled with delightful camping activities normally undertaken in wonderfully remote and peaceful locations on Oman’s undiscovered coastline.....hang on, what’s that...... a bloody taxi?! Yes, thanks to the highway and new road to Fins village, the end of camping as we know it has arrived. It is time to leave Oman.The three occupants, clearly not from round these parts in their white, coffee and chocolate coloured dishdashas, passed their time sitting on the beach and taking photographs of themselves squatting in the bushes. It was as if they’d never seen a beach before. Finally, they stood in a little group for about half an hour before departing after sunset. Very bizarre.

It was barbecue time. It was beer time. The clouds that had hung over the camp during the afternoon blew away revealing more and more stars encouraged to shine while the moon was not around. The temperature plummeted forcing Mrs M into a fleece and woolly socks as we snuggled around the fire with plates of hearty camping fodder. It was time for ‘smores’.

Over the years, our smores have evolved from the American soapy chocolate toothache-inducing recipe to something quite magnificent, based on Lindt 'Excellence' extra creamy milk chocolate, Ülker Tea Biscuits and marshmallows (all available from Carrefour). The only thing missing was a Westoll of port. Ahhhh......

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