5 DAYS in OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Our New Favorite Country?)

5 DAYS in OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Our New Favorite Country?)

This trip to Oman wasn’t supposed to happen. We originally planned to visit the United Arab Emirates and continue on to Europe. But after we realized Oman had this, this and this and was only eight hours away, we extended our flight and got two tickets from Dubai to Muscat, Oman’s capital, on a really stinky bus. Everyone’s kind of eating and letting their smells go, so the border crossing did take a while. But after a few days of editing, laundry and cooking, it was time to begin exploring one of the friendliest, most beautiful and delicious countries we have ever been to. This is Oman First time in Oman proper. So there’s no one here. Sprinklers are on. It’s huge and beautiful. We’re starting out today at Sultan Qaboos Mosque. Let’s go check it out. This place is truly amazing. Made from 300,000 tons of Indian sandstone. There’s so many intricate carvings. The use of color is so intentional. And I think mosques are one of the prettiest architectural religious buildings in all the world. They’re just amazing already. The beauty and serenity of Omani mosques reflect the deeply rooted faith here. Located on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman’s population is roughly 85 to 95% Muslim, making faith a central part of daily life and culture. Commercially, because of its coastline, Oman has long been a hub for spice and frankincense trade, connecting cultures across continents. And while glitzy neighbors like Dubai chase extravagance, Oman’s architecture is less flashy but equally grand, rooted in tradition and matched by a warm, authentic welcome. I feel like you’re Jasmine. I can show you the world. Getting an Otaxi. Such a nice app, actually. Yeah, basically the Uber of Oman, but using taxis. But it’s the same thing. Like you have to haggle for prices and pay with card. Pay with card. So hey, it’s here. 835. This is it. Hello. Okay, time to eat some Omani, food for the first time. Okay. We were going to have to go to an ATM later cuz we actually been surviving just on card so far. But now we’re expecting some of these places like markets and stuff to just only accept cash. So our first glimpse of Omani Rials, they’re called Rials. It’s interesting. This is one of the first currencies, if not the first we’ve ever encountered, that each one is worth like many dollars, usually $1’s worth many of a different currency. And so this 10 Rials or Rials, I guess it’s not Spanish. It’s Rials. Is worth $30. Elevator dance. Elevator dance. Elevator elevator. Elevator dance. Okay. This is nice. This is traditional. Thank you so much. Thank you. We both got traditional Omani dishes, of course. I got Shuwa, which is slow cooked marinated goat with a, side of rice. And they have a ton of spices on both the rice and the goat. Super excited to try it. Delicious. Spiced to perfection. Doesn’t really have a kick to it, but has such a good flavor to it. The meat is so tender. It like melts in your mouth when you eat it. You don’t even have to cut it. Like it’s already just like pulls apart on its own. The rice has a little bit of a sweetness factor to it. Really good. This is like a great hearty dish. I feel like that’s such a classic Middle Eastern. Just meat and rice and sauce, you know, 100% samul na kadal. It’s basically like roasted vegetables with tomato sauce on top and then a side of yellow rice. Actually really it’s like a tomato sauce that you traditionally have on like a carbonara or something, but just roasted vegetables inside. I’m so glad we came here. We just like looked up Omani food into Google. Frankincense water. Is it good? Tastes like water. So wild. We just came here, learned that Anthony Bourdain sat right there. That’s just crazy. He rented out this entire room just for himself and the crew. And the guy who brought us food actually has pictures with him. This was his crew inside the kitchen that was shooting. That’s crazy. Anthony Bourdain sitting right here. As a dessert. A classic Omani delicacy. They have dates, dried dates. They’re gonna be super sweet. It’s kind of like candy, honestly. So good. It’s like gummy. While they look like cockroaches, they do not taste like cockroaches. They must grow really well in this dry, arid climate. So as Wyatt was eating the date, they actually ended up giving us a ton of different complimentary treats. All very local to this area of the world. This is a halwa. Whoa. It looks like it has a similar consistency to the date. It’s like a jello consistency. Tastes like date with nuts inside. It looks like a brownie. That’s super good. Gooey, right? It’s just turned into an Omani food tour. Very strong cinnamon taste. A little bit of a crunch from the nuts, but mostly like a jello consistency. This is cassat, you know, very coconutty. More of like a cookie consistency. A soft cookie. This is maho. They often have this, the same taste. It’s like a little bit caramelly and sweet and creamy and cinnamony. This is the consistency of like, caramel. This is the madoola, a gooey, spicy thing covered in seeds. That’s really good too. And then to finish it off, they give you a little shot of coffee, actually. Fun fact, the coffee bean that people drink around the world, Arabica bean. Arabic. Comes from the Arab Arabian peninsula. So this is where this coffee bean’s from. Strong. That’s good though. I haven’t had caffeine yet today. All right, that was a sweet food tour. Let’s keep exploring Muscat Reyka’s struggling to get out so low. Rose water. Just press in your hand. You can, you can just open your hand and you can just rub your hand together just to do pressing hand. Okay. Thank you. It was worth it to serve us. Thank you so much. Yeah. Have a nice evening. See you again. Yeah, you as well. You as well. Okay, so we’ve begun walking through Muscat and we found the boulevard. I know I’m wearing this. This is for women. But it’s so hot out, here. Mutrah Corniche. One of the top things to do here in Muscat. The water out there is just gorgeous. I have a big head. This is the traditional Oman, hat they wear in like a white gown. Big head, big mind. Big head, big mind. That is the Mutrah fort. Reyka is going to hang out right here. Well, you don’t want to climb a fort. We’ve never climbed a fort. I know. And in this weather, it’s perfect weather. It’s like, come on. We mainly make that joke. It’s like every single city over here has a fort. And we’ve climbed probably like 30 of them at this point. And it’s so hot. So it’s just like not ideal conditions. But I want to see the city from above. So Reyka’s holding the stuff. Thank you. Pretty excited. Should be able to see the whole city from above. Oh, man, it’s hot, guys. Haven’t worked out at all in months because we’ve been traveling so much. It’s so hard to keep a good exercise routine on the road. But even a few stairs in this heat is brutal. Absolutely breathtaking, guys. Amazing. 360 degree views. Got the city, got the ocean, got the mountain and the coastline and the bay, which goes out. Only one up here too. Only cost about 10 bucks. Reyka is way down there for some history. This fort, Fort Mutrah, was actually constructed by the Portuguese colonists way back in the 1580s to sort of protect this bay. Now it’s obviously property of, the Omani government. As if the centuries old history wasn’t cool enough. Right behind me is a Hotchkiss brief loading gun or breech loading gun, which was used during World War II to protect against invaders. Hello. How are you? I’m gonna bring Reyka some fuzzy water. Surprise her. Surprise. Oh, yes. Where’d you get this? They had a cafe up there. Oops, sorry. No worries. Thank you so much. We’re stopping and taking a quick break at Juices and Grilled Meats. That’s what the restaurant’s called. I know. And we got lemon soda and pomegranate juice. I’m gonna try the lemon soda. That’s literally just lemon juice mixed with soda water. Big fan. Cheers. Cheers. How do you say cheers in Arabic? A little pomegranate juice. Oh, it’s so fresh. It’s so hot. So anything to sort of refresh ourselves is so welcome. But they gave us Karkade. It’s an herb, I think they put in tea. Smells really good. You put it with a hot water and keep it for a while, for 10 minutes after that. Big juice. Wow. Oh, it’s so red. This juice is made from the karkade flour, and they heat it up and then cool it off and serve it. And I guess it helps with blood. A lot of construction in Muscat today, but yeah, it’s like a fresh fruit tea. Cool. Let’s head out. Let’s head out. Let’s head into the Mutrah souk. Oh, that’s okay. Oh, it’s okay. It’s cashmere. Cashmere. It’s okay. Shukra. Okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. I gave him an inch. He took a mile. I have to remember to just say no. Habibi means like loved one. So everyone’s like, hey, come here, habibi. Cool, souk, though. Not many people. Not as crazy as the Dubai one. We did get here before it opened up. Yeah, it opens in, like, 10 minutes. But if you need anything at all, you can find it at a souk. Souk is like an Arabic marketplace. It’s a kitty. Hi. That was actually pretty chill. More chill than the souks that we’ve been to in the past. Yes. Oh, it’s okay. No, just. Just the. Just that. Just this. Yes. Nothing else. Sorry. We got a cute magnet. This place is a maze. The business game is hard. They want your business, they’re gonna come and tell you. Probably because there’s extreme competition with everyone selling very similar things. We made it out. The water’s gone so far down since we were here earlier. Now the beach is here. 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. 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 I actually made really good time. Dudes 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 is 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 gonna be awesome. But. 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. Yeah. How this works. Is you have to walk through the river at certain points because of 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. Alrighty. Here’s the point where we are gonna get in the water and swim up the river. I’m gonna attempt to hold the phone and the keys above the water because we don’t have a waterproof case. It’s 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 in the 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 because it has our car key. Bring a waterproof bag if you come here. Yeah. Bring a waterproof bag, guys. Making our way slippery. You good? Yeah. Oh, it’s really hard to keep the 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. All, Right. It’s crazy in 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, well shukrah (thank you)! This feels so good. To just wash your feet in the ocean right after. And your shoes too. And just, like, grab. 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 and Sur, which is on easternmost corner. Yeah, it’s a cute little coastal city. And we’re gonna go get some. 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 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. 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 gonna be so good. I was just saying how beautiful, Reyka. Beautiful. Oh, wow. 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’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 too much 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 ladu. 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 trail head. As you can see, the sand starts right there. It’s going to be awesome. It’s one step forward, two steps back. Honestly, I was not sure about this idea. I thought it was going to be another Wyatt last minute might not be a good idea idea. But it actually turned out to 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 seemed 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. Cuz it’s like a bunch of like food trucks or I guess drink trucks that are just on the side of a desert road and they have lights. It’s a cool little thing. Yeah. So neat. Thanks. Shukrah! 200. Thank you so much. Drive up tea in Oman. It’s 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. How are you? 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. No next time. Oh, yeah, we want to come many times. Yeah. Nice dudes. So excited right here. They were like if we need anything, just, let them know. They’re going to 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. Thank you guys so much for sticking around for this entire video. You really didn’t have to do that and I hope you enjoyed. Thanks so much for watching and take care. Bye.

Probably the best spontaneous trip we will ever take. Our week in Oman included massive mosques, delicious food, beaches, Hibiscus juice freshly made by locals, busy bazaars, waterfall canyons, and huge sand dunes. We CANNOT wait to hear what y’all think. Let us know in the comments – would you go to Oman? 🇴🇲
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Who are Wyatt and Reyka?!

If you’re new here, hi! 👋

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:
0:22 Exploring Muscat 🇦🇪
0:22 Driving to the city! 🏙️
0:31 Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque 🕌
2:02 Omani Rials 💵
2:46 Bait Al Luban for Lunch 🥗
3:19 Shuwa 🐑
4:06 Samuel nat kadal 🥘
4:31 Frankincense water 🍶
5:02 Omani Dates 🍇
5:23 Other Omani Desserts 🍪
6:31 Omani Coffee (Arabica Bean) 🫘
7:20 Mutrah Corniche 🌊
7:51 Traditional Omani Hat 🧢
8:18 Mutrah Fort 🏰
11:02 Fresh Juices 🥤
12:16 Mutrah Souk 🧣
14:15 Wadi Shab and Wahiba Adventure! 🤪
14:47 Driving to Wadi Shab! 🥱
16:04 Wadi Shab is INSANE! 😍
21:56 Exploring SUR, a coastal town 🏘️
24:57 The Wahiba Sand Dunes 🌄
26:58 Some Reeeeaally Good Chai ☕️
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5 DAYS in OMAN! 🇴🇲 (Our New Favorite Country?)
#oman #middleeast #travel