Berlin Diaries - PART 1

Arrival into Berlin around midnight on what we had been told was one of the coldest few days they had in a few weeks! From 40 something in Oman, to I think around 0, now that’s a temperature change!
Time to explore this alluring city, first port of call was meeting up with some friends at Mauer Park. On Sundays this park comes alive, there is a flea market, full of antiques, vintage clothes and an amazing array of foodstalls – The apple strudel is the best I have ever experienced, doused in vanilla sauce, and all for around 3 Euro! After exploring the markets we joined in for some karaoke!

Hundreds of locals head to the park, for some straight from the club’s for a Sunday wind down drinking session, some karaoke and a few drinks, and drinks I must say a beer takeaway from the bottleshop is around 50 cent’s Euro! Hello Berlin I think this is the beginning of a long relationship!

It’s fascinating to walk around and learn about the history of the once empire of the world that came crushing down to rubble. From the cold war, to the Holocaust, to the Berlin wall. So much history surrounds every part of this city and you can still sense the shame and disgust amongst some of the Berliner’s. We spent an afternoon in the Jewish holocaust museum, and got more of an insight to the Nazi horror that went on during the holocaust. It was emotionally draining. The design of the building is amazing. Outside and above the underground museum there are 2711 grave-like stone’s rising from the ground, which gives a sinister feeling when emerged into it.
Another afternoon was spent wandering alongside one of the few bits of the Berlin wall that has been left intact and named the East side galleries. Where 28 years after the wall has come down, which once divided the city in East and West this 1km stretch has been drenched in hundred’s of murals by artist’s from around the world depicting there depiction of this gruelling time in Berlin’s history.

Having been in Berlin for over 3 weeks now, we are starting to get our favourite little local places, and area’s off Berlin. We tend to stick to the East of Berlin, the West is a bit to prim and proper for our liking. Melbourner’s – it’s a bit like the North Side to the South Side – people from Fitzroy stay in Fitzroy and same goes for the one’s from South Yarra and Prahran!
We have started full time German and the basics are coming along, but I never thought learning a language could be so difficult! It’s mainly the frustration of there grammar, and feminine and masculine words, and than when it all starts to make some kind of sense there becomes a formal and non formal way of saying what you are trying to say depending on who and where you are speaking! One day it will hit home… I hope!
We have grown to love the Turkish Markets of Kreuzeberg / Neukölln. They are held every Tuesday and Friday along the canal. There is a very big Turkish community in these suburb’s and the food on offer is so cheap and so amazing. We have our dried fruit and nut man. The exotic options are endless, from candied kumquat’s to dried Islamic dates all for next to nothing. Than we have our French Cheese man where around 200g of Chévre goats cheese can cost you approximately 2.50 Euro’s!

The rules are, we shop for the essential fruit and vegetable items, than we get the extra naughty indulgences and to finish of this tiring task we finish with THE best falafel wrap this side of the middle east, and sometimes if there is room left in there for a German tradition called Quark, which is curd that resembles the taste of yoghurt – my personal fav is the chocolate nougat topped with kirsch (Fresh Cherries) There is usually always a bohemian, hillbilly band playing some extraordinary music to watch and unwind down to.

Thus far exploring and enjoying what we have so far experienced in Berlin has been a great stepping stone for much more to come. The downfall at the moment is getting an apartment. The system here in Germany is totally by the book, so many forms and documents needed. Now we have all these documents ready to go, seems as though the 3 Australians are not really who gets the houses and they give them to the local German’s I guess as a safe bet they must think. So the game goes on and hopefully one day soon we get a fantastic apartment and we can spend our days exploring this enticing city and less running around to find a home!

OH MAN - OMAN

Oman, the land of Sultans and Sinbad, frankincense and the impression that you’re the only person around these arid terrains.

We started the journey to this intriguing country with the reunion at Muscat airport - it was like we hadn’t seen each other for months (It was only just over a week). After exchanging stories of our last few days of travels and Naomi’s exciting time in Cambodia, it was the realisation that now was the beginning of just the two of us! We collected our hire car - now it was time to tackle firstly driving on the right hand side of the road for the first time, secondly the majority of road signs being in Arabic, and then directions from the locals not actually being correct! The driving in Oman frustration begins!!!
We spent the first night in Muscat, woke early the next day and drove down to Mutrah markets, the old Souk trading areas in Muscat old town. Naomi treated herself to a beautiful Arabic blend of perfume that we got from this little old man in his shop that gave you the impression it had been around for thousands of years. I was than treated to a traditional Omani cap worn by the local men – now was the beginning of, “Are you from Oman?”

After a fresh pomegranate juice and a falafel alongside the waterfront of Muscat we mapped out a plan and started our descent south. First port of call was a small seaside town named Yitti. As soon as we got out of Muscat onto the highway it was as though the roads were ours and ours only, very rarely was there any other car in sight. Driving through the magnificent mountains splashed with red hues from the burning sun, we arrived to Yitti mid-afternoon and set up camp for the night, right on the beach! As soon as the sun went down, the stars were out in their full glory and we really had nothing else to do but sleep.
On the road again, we headed south to Al Seifa, as Lonely Planet said that it was a great secluded place to camp on the beach, and that it was. Again, after hours of asking for directions when the road suddenly ends and you’re faced with an unsealed dirt road with no signs and you wonder ‘Is this actually what they mean?’ and then, as if by magic, at the end of these long stretches of bumpy dirt roads you are faced with the most picturesque little bay. It seemed so desolate as if no one had been there for quite some time, not even one footprint in the sand. This was the most incredible camping experience so far. We pretty much spent the day, swimming, sun baking, swimming again because it was so hot, eating, then swimming, and we made a camp fire then time for bed as soon as the sun had gone down.

Early rise. Pretty much as soon as the sun comes up, so do we. On the road again this time we headed as south as Tiwi - there isn’t much to this small fishing village but it is the gateway to Wadi Shab, which is said in all the guidebooks to be the most impressive Wadi in Oman (A Wadi is a riverbed often dry except for after a massive rainfall). By the time we arrived it was looking like we needed to find somewhere quick to camp before it started to get dark. The road we took led us straight to the Wadi, and we were unsure if we were able to camp inside the Wadi as the mass of tourists were departing. We had a quick look in and thought that maybe we could, or really had no other choice, found a spot and then started to head back to the car when we were approached by this stylish looking young Omani man, who pretty much asked if I was Omani! We started talking and then he said not to camp in the Wadi, but that he would take us to a secret beach for the night to camp 15 min down the road. So he jumped in our car and took us to this magic spot where we set up camp for the night. We were told that we were to meet our new friend Salaah at his house at 9am the next day and he was to take us to the Wadi and show us around - Naomi was a bit sceptical about this but I assured her he was just showing his true Omani hospitality that I had read about and he sure did!

The next 24 hours we were spoilt and taken everywhere possible, to experience what Salaah could in the time we had together. The Wadi was one of mother natures’ wonders. We walked for half an hour or so through the blistering heat until we were met with the most magnificent blue turquoise pools, and to a mystery cave inside the mountain, where we jumped off waterfalls and sipped on the purest water I have ever tasted.
After our amazing Wadi experience Salaah invited us to stay the night at his family’s house and would not take no for an answer. So we accepted his offer, and in the meantime we had a day full of activities planned. We went to a sinkhole which the guidebooks say is the house of the demon, and that you could come face to face to with more than you bargained for - but Salaah’s version of why and how this peculiar 40m by 20m limestone hole was created was that a star fell from the sky and made this hole and that the water comes from the nearby ocean, the depth of which is unknown to this day. Following the sinkhole we drove to the nearby city of Sur with its attractive forts, lighthouse and famed for its history of dhow (Traditional Arabian boats) building.

Salaah took us on a quick tour of the local souk where he bought us some fresh mango juice and stocked up on some provisions for the family dinner, and we bought some Persian saffron for ourselves. Then off we went back to Tiwi where we were the guests to a traditional Arab family feast. Salaah has 9 siblings, 3 brothers and 6 sisters. It was great to interact with them all, many not even being able to speak a word of English, and learning as much as we could about the life of a Muslim family.

The next morning after breakfast it was time to depart and say our goodbyes to Salaah and his generous family. Salaah told us he was coming to Germany to visit friends in Munich later on in the year and we convinced him that he must come to Berlin so we could repay his kind hospitality. We ended with our last night in Seeb, which was 20 minutes north of Muscat International airport, right on the coast. This was our last Omani beach experience. Oman was in one word: awesome. We pretty much came here blind-eyed, not really knowing what to expect and we left with some of the most amazing experiences.

Heads up for next time and anyone planning to travel - hire a 4WD as there were many places we couldn’t possibly get to because of this. The food was mind-blowing, the landscape out of this world and the local Omani people were more than hospitable. Oh and eating fresh dates were out of this world, my personal fave!

STA party in the UAE - Dubai

I was lucky enough to be eligible for the first STA Travel world wide awards weekend, which we were told of earlier on in the year that the top 30 from each country would be rewarded with, yet destination was unknown at the time. The location chosen was Dubai, I guess one of the most central locations for everyone from all worldwide STA Travel divisions to meet and party!

I said my final goodbyes to the family, met up with the Australian STA staff at the check in for our Emirates flight to Dubai… so long Melbourne. We were firstly shattered with the news that our tickets were non-upgradeable - being travel agents we expect upgrades - but hey, a free flight to Dubai, I wasn’t complaining sitting in cattle class. We were met on arrival by an STA representative and taken to our lush, over the top 5 star hotel – the Atlantis, located on the palm island in Jumeriah beach. This is a man made island that seen from the sky is in the actual shape of a palm tree. True story!

We checked in and after seeing our 2 day itinerary and working out that our free time was pretty much non-existent we decided to quickly head to the on-site water park for some waterslide joy, than spruce up for the actual awards dinner where we were taken to a private part of the beach that had been decked out extravagantly for our 5 course meal and awards. First award was awarded to yours truly for selling the most GAP tours in the Asia Pacific region - very unexpected and shocked. The night was ended after hours of dancing on the beach to the tunes of apparently Dubai’s elite DJ’s.

Day 2 – After breakfast, me and a few of the Melbourne crew snuck away to Dubai’s old town to get a real feel and sense of the life outside of the resort. Having been to Dubai a few years ago I remembered this amazing little café I ate at and, miraculously, I remembered how to navigate the taxi driver there. We relaxed in this amazing outdoor café and were treated to some actual local middle eastern style cuisine. I ordered an apple and cinnamon juice and shared a moist date cake with cardamom yoghurt. It was incredible. We decided to keep on with the consumption of food and found this area full of little art galleries and quirky little café’s. Lunch was some of the most amazing hummus I have ever eaten, with pita and the freshest smelling tabouleh ever experienced!

We were than taken out in a convoy of Jeeps to the sand dunes, an hour or so out of Dubai, for some dune bashing! After doing this last time I was in Dubai I thought these guys were a bit tame, yet still a fun experience. As the sun set over the sand dunes we arrived to our desert oasis thanks to STA: a Bedouin camp, complete with Arabian BBQ, belly dancer and even the chance to dress like a true Sheik!

Back to Dubai and ending the night at the hotel’s beach bar for the last drinks with the crew. Said my goodbyes early the next morning with hours left until I was to be reunited with my love at Muscat airport!!