We ventured across the border to Muscat for the weekend to see Australia play Oman in soccer. The border crossing in Al Ain is just a small trailer next to some buildings that has a piece of paper on the outside that says Visa Office. A bit strange, not sure if they are upgrading this area, but didn't look like it. You go inside and there are about 5 Emirati guys at desks, the TV is on, they are reclining in their comfy chairs, seems pretty unofficial for immigration. We handed over a few dirhams, got our exit stamp and were on our way. The Oman border is about 30km away through a border town, I guess it's no man's land, but seems to be a busy little party of town. We got visas at the Oman border, more stamps and were quickly on our way to Muscat.


It's a nice change of scenery from the UAE as all of a sudden you are no longer driving amongst sand dunes, but through mountains, proper mountains! Once we got closer to town it's about 2 hours driving on the main road with roundabouts every 10 minutes, obviously a bit annoying.

In Muscat we visited the Grand Mosque, I actually liked this one more than the one in AD, shopped at the Mutrah Souq, ate dinner along the water (great sea views) and drove along the coast which was beautiful.


Muscat has a much different feeling than Abu Dhabi, it's more relaxed, they don't have as much money so things aren't over the top. Buildings are mainly white and are only a few stories high. The Omani people are very friendly and are happy to talk to visitors unlike Emiratis, which was a nice change.


The main reason for our visit was to see Oman play Australia in the soccer. With about 150 other Aussie fans we cheered from the stands as they landed a victory for the night 2-1. We had 2 Omani guys who we met as we walked to the stadium join us, both were very nice and even wanted to sit with the Australians and cheer from our side instead. Thankfully after the game even despite the loss, the Omanis were very friendly and good sports congratulating us on the win.