Exploring OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Sand Dunes, Hidden Oasis, and Markets!)

Exploring OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Sand Dunes, Hidden Oasis, and Markets!)

After exploring Muscat, Oman’s capital city, we’re hitting the road to check out one of the country’s famous wadis. Basically a natural oasis. It’s crazy in here. It’s like a whirlpool. And then heading out to the desert to see some dunes. First up, we rented a car from the airport. Thank you. We always get the smallest, cute little cars. Driving in Oman, so excited, that scared me a little bit. Sorry. And after a good night’s rest, it was time to explore Oman. Good morning. It’s super early 6am The roosters are crowing. And we’re gonna go on our road trip. You ready? Oman road trip! Yeah, go. You’re all good. Made it to Wadi Shab. 8:24am. Actually made really good time. Dude’s hanging out in the back of a truck. Here we are. And all the tourists got the same idea as us. Here we are. There’s our car. We are at Wadi Shab. Wadi Shab is one of the many wadis they have around, Muscat and in Oman in general. And they’re basically little pools of water surrounded by cliffs and rocks. This term wadi you hear pretty often around Oman, just means oasis, I think. But it is 8:30. It’s already getting so hot. So going to be awesome. Already breathtaking, though. Huge sandstone cliffs. You can see back there’s the bridge we just took the boat to get under. Yeah. And because it’s early morning, the sun’s blocked by all the cliffs, which is really nice. But, yeah, tourists like us come because the water is just supposed to be super blue and the cave is supposed to be pretty cool. Oh, yeah, There’s a cave. Already stunning. Check this out. So, yeah, how this works is you have to walk through the river at certain points because the banks like, you just walk up the river until it gets to the cool pools. Some big old crevasses here. You kind of have to step over or you can go around, actually. Classic tall folks. Watch your head. The trail is kind of right underneath an overhang, but pretty good trail, as you can see. They’ve made a nice bridge here. Breathtaking. Got a bunch of these river crossings. Reyka taking it like a champ. You all good? Yeah. Nice. Conveniently, they do have a lot of these arrows telling you where the trail goes. It’d be pretty hard to get lost out here. And there’s quite a few tourists together. Everyone can kind of figure out where to go. Oh, it’s beautiful. Whatever you want. All righty. Here’s the point where we are going to get in the water and swim up the river. Okay. I’m going to attempt to hold the phone and the keys above the water cuz we don’t have a waterproof case. Feels so weird getting in the water with shoes on. It does feel weird. All right. Here we go. It’s so weird swimming in your clothes. You’re swimming with a shirt. It’s because you’re supposed to dress modestly. Yeah. It doesn’t seem like the rules are really followed. No. But I’m a rule follower and I don’t want to get in trouble, so. Oman’s a very modest country. So slimy stuff on the rocks. Cool. Wow. So incredible. That is nuts. And there’s only like a few other people here. So glad we came early. Epic. Into the water we go again. Gotta hold this hand above water cuz it has our car key. Bring a waterproof bag if you come here. Yeah. Bring a waterproof bag. Guys. Making our way slippery. Yeah. Oh, it’s really hard to keep your phone above water. How you doing? Good. I think I’m gonna have to swim this section guys. It is so beautiful here. The water’s blue. The walls are as you can see, so steep. They have those cool caves. I’m gonna swim with the phone above water for a little bit longer and then we go through a cave. I can’t even talk. It’s so much energy. All right. Heading into the cave. Someone gave me their life jacket. Let’s go. Oh, this is crazy. Life jacket’s so nice. Wow. We’re in the middle of Oman in a cave with a waterfall. Insane. Only one here besides other people coming, but all right. It’s crazy up here. It’s like a whirlpool. What do you think? Worth it. Yeah. Is Oman pretty cool? Oman’s pretty cool. Okay. Heading back. Alrighty. Made it back down. There’s the bridge and wanted to show you guys. See the donkey? Donkey. You ring a bell and they’ll come back to you. Please ring the bell and notify the boatman. Yeah. Here he comes. There’s a lot of people coming in too. To the trail. So we are so glad we woke up early though. Yeah. There was so many people. Which would be fine. But it would have like ruined the peacefulness. Yeah. That was one of the highlights was how just quiet it was. Yeah. It was truly beautiful. So he’s telling us that this is wadi and this house is shab. So that’s why it’s Called Wadi Shab. No. Wow. This feels so good to just wash your feet in the ocean right after. And your shoes too, and just, like, dry. Yeah, My shoes were full of pebbles, so being able to wash those off was so nice. I changed my shirt because we’re in a little bit more conservative Oman. We’re in rural Oman in Sur, which is on the easternmost corner. Yeah, it’s a cute little coastal city. And we’re gonna go get some food. There are so many fabric shops lining this street. I think we’ve stumbled upon the Sur Souk. Souk is Arabic for market. This one’s, like, so calm. There’s nobody here, and it’s all just cool fabrics, which is crazy. Yeah. It is midday. It is. Yeah. I mean, they shut down usually when it’s hot out. So, yeah, it’s just us and a bunch of locals looking at us like, what are you doing here right now? It’s so fun because it’s been a while since we’ve actually rented a car and sort of ventured off the tourist track. And everyone’s staring at us, waving. People are very friendly here. Oh, there. Is that it? Yeah. Let’s go. So hungry. This place is going to be so good. I was just saying how beautiful Reyka is right now. Sounds beautiful, but. Oh, wow. Aloo jeera, which is, like, potatoes with spices on top, and chana masala, which is a ton of masala spices with, chickpeas. Yum. Let’s try the aloo jeera. And then Wyatt, I’ll try the chana masala. Tastes like there’s, like, seeds in it. Like some sort of sesame seed or something. Pretty good. I like the spices a little bit more subtle, not super spicy. How is the chana masala in the middle of Oman? Oh, man, everything’s just so fresh. They just whipped it up right back there as a little sweet. They gave us some Indian laddu. Oh, yes. It’s like a moist donut hole. Tastes like cake drizzled in a lot of honey. Back at the car. Oof, it’s hot! Is it hot? Welcome to the Wahiba sand dunes. Let’s go. So we’re going on a little Wahiba sands hike, a sunset hike. Here is the trailhead. As you can see, the sand starts right there. It’s gonna be awesome. It’s like one step forward, two steps back. Honestly, I was not sure about this idea. I thought it was gonna be another Wyatt last minute. Might not be a good idea idea, but it actually turned out to be be a Wyatt last minute amazing idea because, yes, let’s go. It’s just such cool terrain with the sand dunes. You get a cool view of the city right here from above, and it’s sunset, so it’s the perfect time to go because it’s not too hot and you get a cool sun. It’s so cool just to be up on this dune because you’re walking on the peak and the sand becomes kind of liquid. Like it just seems to just fall down. This sand feels just so good on your feet. It’s just crazy how many different ways people live on our planet. Like, I think sometimes we assume everyone’s has the same, like, way of life as us, but some people live in the middle of, Oman in the desert, you know? One small tea. How much? 200. 200? Okay. So cool. We were just driving back and we stumbled across, like, a bunch of food trucks. Yeah, I think it’s so cool because it’s like a bunch of, like, food trucks or I guess drink trucks that are just on each side of a desert road and they have lights. It’s a cool thing. Yeah. Thanks. 200. Thank you so much. Drive up tea in Oman. It’s a, chai, so just very thick, kind of like milk tea. Little teeny spice in there. So good. Loving Oman, guys. That’s really good. Bidiyah, Oman. Right at the foothills of the Wahiba desert. Good vibes, guys. Hello, friend. Good. I am good. How are you? Good. Good. Hello. Where are you from? Usa. Welcome. Welcome to Oman. How is desert? Good. Very good, man. Very good, Yeah. Yeah, Oman’s very nice. Next time you come here. Next time? Oh, yeah, we want to come many times. Yeah, yeah. Nice, dudes. So excited. Very weird. They’re like, if we need anything, just let them know. They’re gonna subscribe to the channel too. As you guys should. Reyka has been on her fair share of crazy Wyatt hare-brained adventures, but I think this one worked out. It definitely did. If you enjoyed this video, you’d also like our first video exploring Oman. We went to the same restaurant trying Omani food that Anthony Bourdain went to when he filmed his episode here. It was amazing. Went to a souk, went to the Grand Mosque. It was awesome. Thanks so much for watching and take care. Bye.

You can’t come to Oman without visiting a Wadi or the sand dunes. And in this video, we do both. Buckle up for a roadtrip to Wadi Shab and the Wahiba Sand Dunes, mixed throughout with us relishing the rural Omani culture. Can’t wait to hear what you think! 🇴🇲
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Who are Wyatt and Reyka?!

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In 2021, we were two college sweethearts from Ohio with degrees in hand and no real plan—so naturally, we booked a six-week trip to Mexico. We ate a disturbing number of tacos, failed spectacularly at surfing, and posted a few videos so our moms wouldn’t worry.

Then we moved to Spain to teach English and spent weekends in places like Paris and Lisbon. Somewhere between missing trains and butchering Spanish, we realized… yeah, we want to do this forever.

Fast forward a few years: dozens of passport stamps, plenty of travel hacks (and mistakes), and somehow we’re still at it—exploring our beautiful globe.

We know how lucky we are, and we don’t take it for granted. Thanks for following along—subscribing to this YouTube channel is the best way to keep up (and make our moms proud). 🥹💛🌎
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Timestamps:
0:00 Wadi Shab and Wahiba Adventure! 🤪
0:32 Driving to Wadi Shab! 🥱
1:58 Wadi Shab is INSANE! 😍
7:46 Exploring SUR, a coastal town 🏘️
10:42 The Wahiba Sand Dunes 🌄
12:52 Some Reeeeaally Good Chai ☕️
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Exploring OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Sand Dunes, Hidden Oasis, and Markets!)
#oman #wadishab #roadtrip