Here’s another piece of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, Oman. Those guys really do know how to pack detail, pattern, and texture without overloading the eye.
If you ever find yourself in Muscat, Oman and need a light (or trumpet???) you know where to go!
The Grand Mosque was such an amazing place to explore but it took on an extra level of awesome when it got to the night… not only was the heat much more bearable, the reflections really kicked in!
When we were in Muscat I went out exploring along the beach with my camera for a while as sunset approached. It was a comfortable 70f/20c as it doesn’t really get cold there in January… or at all. From what I remember it doesn’t really rain there either. I sort of get what that’s like having lived in Texas, but it feels like a whole different world compared to NZ with its ever-changing weather!
I’m glad everyone is still excited about our new bags on Kickstarter! Here’s a new video – the deep dive on the Tote bag.
Two days in a row, two mosques in a row! This is in Muscat. I spent the day here with my family, but at night I went back alone with my driver to really explore this place. What I found most interesting, other than how beautiful it was, was how there was no security at all. Or, there was none as far as I could see. Maybe there were infrared cameras or something and a huge underground bunker of guys ready to jump out if I did something strange… But luckily that never happened! I was on my best mosquey behavior! 🙂
When you travel to strange places, I always advise to go ahead and do the touristy things but then see if you can do anything special to hang out with the locals. It’s not always easy to figure out how to do this and takes a bit of legwork! …but always worth it.
When we were in Oman and went out to explore the desert, there was a really interesting stop at a Bedouin’s home. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was invited in and sat down on some carpets. The whole home was open to the air in a way, adorned with many small decorative carpets and pillows along the tented walls. After I sat down, the man of the home offered me some extremely strong coffee, then his whole family with kids sat around me. I pulled out my iPad and shared photos from around the world. The kids loved it and we all laughed together even though we didn’t speak the same language.
I really love my android watch, but it always has the wrong time. This is a silly thing to say, I know. I’m pretty tech savvy, and I just can’t figure out what the hell is going on!
When I was at the Grand Mosque here in Muscat, I asked if I could be the very last tourist to leave. The whole place was very busy, but I wanted to have less people around… I think with just a few people here and there you get a tremendous sense of the scale of the place. You also get an idea of how shiny the floor is!
and… HERE IT IS! 🙂 Enjoy! If you wanna grab all 15 episodes plus extra stuff now, visit the Becoming An Artist page pronto. 🙂
I love my Sonos system and listening to Spotify, but their integration is absolutely horrific. I don’t understand why I can’t “throw” the music from my Mac right onto the Sonos, unless I am missing something.
It was a moody and somewhat cool afternoon in Oman, and I was out with my son on a catamaran. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever spelled that word before… I can’t believe it has that many a’s. I was writing it out and fully expected the red squiggly. ANYWAY, while we were on the four-a’d boat, we passed this rock outcopping and saw this scene back on the beach. I didn’t even get a chance to visit this spa. It’s the Six Senses spa there at the Al Bustan Ritz-Carlton and it’s over 33,000 square feet! I think even if I did have a chance to go visit it, I’d only be able to see 10% of it.
Here’s a cool infographic that shows how Aurora HDR is just blowing up… I am glad so many people love it!
Remember you can click on these photos and follow through to the Smugmug site where you can then see the ultra-big version as well! 🙂
What an incredible mosaic! These mosques I’ve visited in the middle east are all over the top and so beautiful. This one was in Muscat, Oman and the craftsmanship was impeccable. Also, thank Allah they let me use a tripod, otherwise a shot that is this detailed would be impossible.
What’s dune bashing? Well, it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You just take a truck and run up and down sand dunes. I found it more stressful than anything, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it!
If you go to the Middle East you gotta get a little desert time in, eh? From Muscat, we took a 2-hour car ride out to where the dunes were massive! It had just rained the day before so the sand was pretty dense and easy to walk on. This was the total opposite of when we went to the dunes a few days later in Qatar, where it was bone dry. Those dunes are VERY hard to walk on…
