It is one of those afternoons where we almost had nothing to do. The nearest shoreline is about two hours away so fishing or swimming is not a viable option to beat the summer heat.
We decided to take a drive along the hills near our place. We brought some food, a mat and our camera to snap some photos. I am planning to tackle the career of a travel photographer, by the way.
Utoy spotted this one hill that looks interesting to him so we parked on the foot of the hill and while I am preparing our stuff for the uphill climb, Utoy and Bossing started their ascent.
The breeze atop is refreshing and the sun stopped biting since it’s almost 5:30 in the afternoon. We snapped photos like crazy, enjoyed the view, ate our food and just relax at the “summit”.
While we are resting, we spotted one water truck heading our way. Bossing got anxious but I told her to relax and reminded her that this is Oman – home to the friendliest people of the Middle East. So we stayed foot while looking down at the water truck that parked at the foot of our hill.
The guy shouted to us “Kumusta Ka!”, the Filipino’s greeting that translates to “How are you?”. It was then that we realized that it is our water-delivery guy, Mr. Hilal. He climbed up the hill and told us to come to his home which is just nearby. He speaks in mixed Arabic and English. He said he has “jamal”, I think that’s camel; and “baaa—baaaa”, which could be goat or sheep. He also said he has chickens.
Utoy immediately got excited, but Bossing was apprehensive. I assured here that I got this one and so we went down the hill and followed Mr. Hilal’s water truck.
Mr. Hilal took us to his mini farm, which is just beside his home. He is Arabic, though, and I understand they have strict customs so we did not get to meet his family.
He showed us the goats and the fowls. Utoy had his time chasing some of the goats. We had this little one that is so friendly he comes to us like a cute puppy.
After some time, Mr. Hilal told us to come with him to his camel pen which is located a little farther from his home. The camels are in the wadi nearby. There’s two of them which I believe is a couple. We took some photos of the camels.
It was a little late in the afternoon so we bade goodbye and thanked Mr. Hilal for his hospitality.
Another day has passed. One day closer to our long-awaited vacation in the Philippines. But also another day spent with a friend and in the outdoors. Days that the Nomads like us really love.
The Bluroze Farms of Lipa City is one of the most memorable places for us, The Nomads. You’ll know why in this Throwback Thursday edition of The Nomads travels.
It’s another Thursday and it means another Nomads throwback post. For this one, you’ll meet some members of our “tribe”. For today you’ll meet my one and only brother and my sister-in-law.
Utoy’s Circle of friends during their activity day. Left to right: Adin, David, Matt, Jacob, Utoy, Mariel, Angel. Photo credits to Sir Lance.
Living an expat life is a challenge. You have to make an adjustment to almost every aspect of your life: food, language, culture and tradition, religion and yes — education.
It is a Thursday and so let’s begin a series of Thursdays where I will be writing about our past trips as The Nomads. This one is about our getaway to the Philippine’s summer capital – Baguio City.
We took our longest road trip ever to reach one of the famous camping and fishing areas here in Oman. They call this place Ras Al Madrakah.
It is a long weekend here in Oman in celebration of the 46th National Day and of course we took this as an opportunity to explore yet another interesting place here in the Middle East. Together with our group, The Fishermen and The Mermaids as we call it, we searched the internet for places to go. The name of our group tells something about itself. Our core values are fishing and swimming.
After hours of deliberation, we were able to have a short list of places for consideration: Al Sifah, Qantab, and Ras Al Madrakah. Most of us favored Ras Al Madrakah and so after persuading those who were against it, we got down to hatching a master plan for the trip.
The Plan
Kickoff is at 0600H from Ibra. We will go through the wilayat of Sinaw and head south to our destination.
We will have our breakfast along the way and then we will have our lunch in Ras Al Madrakah. Google Maps said that travel time is a little less than five hours so we will arrive at the beach at about 1200H.
Fishing and swimming will commence after lunch. Our ice boxes are on standby. Since we know that Ras Al Madrakah is a fishing village, we know that ice will be available to preserve our catch.
We will have dinner once the sun sets and the fishermen will go fishing again and the mermaids will chat endlessly into the night.
On the next day, we will take our breakfast and then fish and swim again. We will leave the area after our lunch and then head back home to Ibra.
The Reality
We missed our kickoff time by about half an hour. Five minutes into our trip, we made a wrong turn. However, all is well and fine. We finally found our way and so our journey to Ras Al Madrakah officially started.
We had our breakfast at Lulu Hypermarket in Sinaw but not before doing a little shopping inside.
Google Maps is good enough to know that we are in Oman but it failed to consider that we are not Omanis. Maybe it made a mistake of calculating our travel time and used the Omani average driving speed of 160km per hour. And so by 1200H, supposedly our lunch time at Ras Al Madrakah Beach, we were still on the road.
We reached Duqum at around 1300H and we stopped by a Shell station to refill our tanks. The staff there told us that we are not so far from our destination. We are almost there as a matter of fact. We just have to drive for another 90km. And with that piece of information we decided to take lunch there at the station.
It took us another hour after taking off from Shell Duqum before we finally saw a signboard that points to Ras Al Madrakah Beach. At around 1430H, we set foot on the white sandy beach of Ras Al Madrakah. Let us call this Ras Al Madrakah Beach 1.
Ras Al Madrakah Beach 1
There is a slight problem by the way. This is not the exact place that we saw in YouTube and so we decided to look for that spot. We were able to locate that place, let us call it Ras Al Madrakah Beach 2, in just a matter of minutes. And so everything is back in order.
By 1500H, we started pitching our tents on the soft sands of the beach. There are other campers who came ahead of us but the beach is not so crowded so we were able to choose a nice spot.
Tents up… preparing for the big catch
Fishing started immediately after we finished setting the tents up. The sea is not that smooth and we had to stand of the rocks to be able to cast our lines. We fished and fished until dark and so when the night came in, one of our ice boxes is filled with four pieces of fish :). We cooked them right away so we can enjoy its freshness.
A sumptuous dinner followed under the star lights and LED lights as well. By 2200H, we started to feel the fatigue of the day’s ride and we drifted into sleep.
I got up by 0500H and saw Sir Darwin already on the beach. By 0530H, all the fishermen are up. We cast our lines and almost at the same time as the dawn approaches, the fishes started to tackle our lines. All of us fishermen enjoyed the catch. Even our Utoy who is nursing a slight fever got his own too.
Utoy and his first catch.
The mermaids prepared our breakfast so we stopped fishing for a while to feast on boiled eggs, coffee and cheese-honey-stuffed bread. We fished again and again but with more fish comes the problem with ice. So we went to the village searching for ice. Along the way, we met one expat who is friendly but cannot speak much English and we don’t know the Arabic word for ice. Luckily we have some cubes left in our box so we showed it to the guy. He gestured us toward the direction of the building where we bought ice for our fishes.
But We Were Still a Bit Disappointed
Yes, we caught a lot of fish but not the ones that we expected, at least in size. One of the main reasons we came here is because of the YouTube videos that show large breams being caught from the shore of Ras Al Madrakah. This led us to make a decision to take a quick lunch, break camp, and head back to Ras Al Madrakah Beach 1 and try our luck there before finally driving home.
Beach 1 is almost empty when we came which as a good thing. We cast our lines immediately but to no avail. Maybe it is because of the tide or maybe it is because of the season. Those huge breams that we are looking for are not there. We gave up after about an hour of fishing.
The mermaids, however, were able to get some mussels from the rocks so we left Beach 1 not so empty handed at all.
The Long Way Back Home
A couple of minutes of rest and by 1500H hours we started the long drive going home. We made three stops along the way. Twice to refill our tanks. Once to take our dinner in Sinaw. For dinner, we had chicken and beef biryani from a local restaurant.
We reached home just past midnight. Tired, happy and very much willing to go back.
I got my Oman driving license on the 4th of July, 2016 — two days before we went to the Philippines for our yearly vacation. We came back on the 26th of August, itching to buy a car that can take us to all of our adventures here in Oman.
As a part of our tour of the Province of Bohol, we went to the famous Bohol Bee Farm. It is an eco-themed tourist destination that presents a lot more than just the bees. For a very small amount of Php 30.00, you get a chance to have a guided tour of their herb farm, livelihood areas, ice cream factory, and of course the famous honey bees.
Our guide took us to the reception area where all the tours start. While waiting for our guided tour to start, we went to check out the ice cream bar that has lots of interesting and exotic flavors for sale.
Take your pick
I tried the Durian flavor because I personally like that fruit and yes, it tastes heavenly. They say that the flavors were all natural and that the cone out there that hold the ice cream is made from ground tapioca.
The Tour
Our first stop is at the organic vegetable and herb section. The guide gave us a short introduction about their farm and then went on to show us the different herbs and spices that they have.
The Herbs of Bohol Bee Farm
Next up is the livelihood area where we saw workers who are weaving materials from the buri leaves. The mat that they weave is later turned into bags and other novelty items that they put up for sale in their store.
Handmade bags on display at Bohol Bee Farm
We were then taken to the ice cream production area. There is also an area for tableya, tea, and spread production.
The highlight of our tour is on the Bee Farm. Well not actually inside the farm. The guide showed us one model unit of their honey bee production. It is like coming back to school and learning about the life of bees with an added bonus of seeing a bee colony in person.
We were allowed to see the bees up close and we were even able to extract and taste the honey straight from their honeycomb.
The guided tour ended there and we were led to their souvenir shop.
I said earlier that the entrance fee is just for thirty pesos. I didn’t know that the exit fee is way much higher. That is because we ended up spending a small fortune for the mouth watering stuff that they have inside the shop.
The store operates like a perfume shop where there are testers for the items on sale. The items were so good and are all certified to be made with natural ingredients only. We especially liked the spreads and so we had to pay for the exit fee. Something that we didn’t regret by the way. Who are we to say no to these…
A side story: I paid for our exit fee using my credit card. I received the notification from my bank about the debit, the staff however noted that it was not credited to them. The cashier called the manager who politely told me about the issue. I just left them my phone number and told them to contact if the payment was not really credited to them. Later in the day, I received a call and they told me that upon contacting my bank, the bank said that the transaction was reversed. This means, I thought, that I have to go back Bohol Bee Farm to make the payment. The person on the line however told me that they have a stall in Alona Beach and so we just went there because it was nearer. I paid my bill and I had the chance to buy another scoop of the Durian ice cream.
In conclusion, our visit to Bohol Bee Farm is worth the entrance and exit fee that we spent. We highly recommend it specially for family trips because kids would surely love it and much more, learn a lot from it.
The Nomads spent this year’s vacation on the beautiful province of Bohol in the Visayas region. Here’s our recollection of that wonderful getaway.
Our plan is to take a 4-day 3-nights stay in Bohol so we booked our flights with Air Asia. For the tour, we were able to get a 3-days 2-nights deal with Bohol Coco Mangos Place, a resort that we discovered by surfing the net.
Wearing our newly created The Nomads shirts, we departed from Manila on August 12 and we arrived in Tagbilaran Airport after an hour of flight, itching and ready to discover the beauty of Bohol.
Disaster Strikes
Well, not an earth-shattering disaster but just a little miscommunication with our host on our arrival date. We were expecting to see someone holding a placard of our names at the arrival area but no one came. I called our contact person only to discover that they thought we were coming on the 13th of August. The owner was apologetic by the way and she said that she will do her best to accommodate us. After about half an hour, our welcome party came.
This is Day One
The Nomads: Happiness in Panglao Island
This is actually our first time to go on a packaged tour on our own. Our expectation is that we would be taken to the resort, prepare our stuff, and then go on and start the tour. The guide who met us, however told us that we will immediately start with the Panglao Island tour that was included in our tour package.
Here are the exciting places that we went through:
Dauis Church
Bohol Bee Farm
Hinagdanan Cave
Panglao Church
After going through, taking snapshots and enjoying each of these places, we headed to our resort. We said goodbye to our guide and went to meet our host. As said earlier, there was a little miscommunication about our date of arrival with the resort’s staff. This, however went on to become an advantage for us, there was no room available for us so they gave us a bigger room. A free and welcome upgrade.
We then put our stuff in order and took a few minutes rest. On that night, we went to Alona Beach by the resort’s free shuttle service to have our dinner. After our meal, we headed to the beach area and watched the shows. Utoy enjoyed watching the fire dancers. We also enjoyed an acoustic band performance.
Day Two
This part of the tour is called the Countryside Tour. Our guide came by 8:00am and we set off immediately. Our itinerary for today:
Blood Compact Shrine
Baclayon Church
Exotic Animal Park
Butterfly Garden
Loboc River Cruise
Loboc Adventure Park
Chocolate Hills
Bohol Tarsier Sanctuary
Man Made Forest
Sevilla Hanging Bridge
Our tour package ended today but we still two more days to spend in Bohol. The resort staff told us that they have a motorcycle that is available for rent. We rented one so that we can have a ride in going to the other places not covered in our tour package.
By night, riding our rented motorcycle, we went back to Alona Beach for dinner and again watch the performers in the beach area.
Day Three
Days one and two were spent with our guides and both talked about the Tenten Bridge. We have our motorcycle today so we headed to that bridge and took some photos. After that we headed to the city in search for souvenir items and an local dining place.
We, however failed to plan accordingly and so we ended up drawing circles in the city. Instead of a souvenir shop or a local dining place we ended up on a mall. And as usual, Utoy is the happiest of us all. For he was able to catch a lot of Pokemons. He didn’t even mind that he is still wearing his helmet while catching those digital monsters.
Day Four
This is the last day of our stay in Bohol. For now, we have to say goodbye. There is still a lot in Bohol that we have not covered. A return trip is not impossible.
We were invited by our friends from ICT to go on a fishing and camping trip and of course, being The Nomads that we are, we said yes. Here is our recollection of the adventure
Our group took two cars in this adventure. We left our village of Ibra just about an hour after our day’s duty. We took the route that passed thru the city of Muscat. We went by the Muttrah Corniche and took a short stop at the park for a few minutes of rest.
After a couple of minutes of rest, we hit the road again. It is almost dark and we cannot see the road signs clearly. None of us were familiar with our place of destination and we are navigating our way using a smartphone.
After a few wrong turns, we arrived at our destination. The screenshot below shows our campsite which is located between the villages of Qantab and Yiti. The famous Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa is just nearby but we prefered to do it in a Survivor-ish manner and so we went past it and headed to the fishing area.
It’s already dark so we pitched our tents and prepared our dinner of sorts. We had chicken and beef biryani that we bought from a restaurant. Ma’am Dolor served her special chicken-adobo-with-a-touch-of-India. It is our world-renowned adobo mixed with a spices that came from India.
The fishermen were so eager to fish that immediately after the dinner, we started casting our lines.
To be honest, this is my first time to cast a line using a fishing rod. After a couple of tries, I learned the proper way of using the rod.
Sir Darwin is first to snag a fish and a few minutes later, I caught one too. The two fishes looked like father and son. Sir Darwin caught the father and I had the son. So maybe you have the idea of their sizes right. We slept under the light of the stars hoping for a better catch in the morning.
Sir Darwin and his catch.Fish Senior and Fish Junior
After an hour or two of fishing, we gave up. We slept under the light of the stars hoping for a better catch in the morning.
A beautiful dawn started our morning. Only then did we realize that we are in a little paradise. The calmness of the sea and the serenity of the surroundings are just so calming and relaxing.
Coffee, bread and hotdogs for breakfast and then it is fishing time again. We met some locals and some expats in the fishing area who also spent the night there. We even met two fellow Pinoys who came from Muscat.
Early morning fishing in the Al Qantab Yiti fishing area.
I was wondering why is there a marina in the place but there is no resort, or hotel, or any commercial building nearby. The Pinoys told us that some investors started building a golf course in the place way back in 2008. But due to the Stock Market Crash, they stopped the constructions and so they scrapped the project and lucky we, they left a very nice fishing and picnic area behind.
Did I say a nice fishing area? Well, maybe I’m wrong because the sea has not been that friendly to us. Yes, we enjoyed her beauty but she won’t let her children bite our baits and hooks. We called it quits and so we just went on to dip in the water. We can’t catch them, so we just joined the fishes in the sea. The water is so calm and we, especially Utoy, enjoyed the water a lot.
By 10:00am, the sun started to let us feel his power. Summer in Oman has started and now we have no choice but to break camp, say goodbye to Al Qantab and start on our way home. Not home really. We took a side trip to Muscat and did a little shopping before going back to our homes in Ibra. It is such a nice trip to a nice place with a nice group of people. An experience that we won’t hesitate to repeat if we will be given a chance.
More Snaps…
Preparing for the big catchThe DawnThe Dawn and The SunshineEnjoying the watersThe Jump
Trip Notes:
The path to the beach area isn’t paved, it is made of dirt and some sand. A sedan can go through, but you have to drive with a lot of caution.
Bring your own food since there is no restaurant or coffee shop within the vicinity.
No source of freshwater nearby so bring a lot of water for your washing and bathing needs.
The Nomads would like to thank Sir Eric, Sir Darwin, Sir Rudy, Mam Nancy, Mam Dolor and Mam Elsie for inviting and sharing this wonderful trip with us.
That’s it fellow Nomads. Thank you for reading. Feel free to express your thoughts on the comments section below.
