I woke up at 7am. Considering I went to bed around 8:30pm, I think it’s safe to assume my body was exhausted from the previous day’s adventure.
I looked at my phone and there was a Whatsapp message from my Airbnb hosts. The ladies had made a traditional Malaysian breakfast called Nasi Lemak, and wanted to share it with me! I was so excited and suddenly extremely hungry!!
After a delicious breakfast I packed up my bags said my goodbyes. The days single goal was to cross the Oman border successfully and get a fresh stamp in my passport. I had done visa runs before when I was living in Mexico, so I had a general idea of what I could expect:
To be asked a lot of questions when I exit UAE. Wait around for an undetermined amount of time… perhaps pay exit fee’s.
To be asked a lot of questions when I enter Oman. Wait around for an undetermined amount of time… perhaps pay entrance fee’s and temporary visa fee’s.
To be asked a lot of questions when I exit Oman. Wait around for an undetermined amoutn of time… perhaps pay another fee to exit.
To be asked a lot of questions when I enter UAE. Wait around for an undetermined amount of time..perhaps pay for a visa again.
In each step of this process the typical questions revolve around, “Where are you coming from?”, “Where are you going?”, “What will you be doing during your visit?”, “Where will you be staying?” and “How long are you staying?”. If you don’t have answers for these questions, they tend to look a little suspicious..that’s the look you want to avoid when you’re attempting the border crossing for only a visa run.
I had decided that I would attempt my border cross at Mezyad Border Post. Of all the places to cross the UAE/ Oman boarder, I had read though several different peoples experiences that this one was pretty quick and easy.
Also, let me just clarify why I say “attempt” a boarder cross.
In my experiences, as well as the stories I have heard from other friends who had to do these “visa runs” to stay in a country for an extended period of time, sometimes a boarder patrol officer will decline your renewal because, by law, you must exit one country for 24-48 hours (depending on the country) before you can return to it. Other times you’re expected to have a bus or plane ticket to prove your plan to exit the country you’re entering. If the officer declines your renewal, you can expect to be stuck for the 24-48 hours necessary before you can return. This, of course, comes with unexpected costs for accommodation and car rental extension, and the most expensive thing ever, your time.
The drive to the Mezyad Boarder meant driving straight past the Al Ain Camel Market, so of course, I planned to stop. This camel market is the last souk of its kind in the UAE and is an excellent opportunity to see all different breeds of camels up close. There is also plenty of other livestock such as goats, sheep and cattle. As you walk around you see and hear traders discussing the price and merits of their animals.
It was about 9 am when I arrived at the camel market. I parked my car and began to walk around. My Airbnb hosts had warned me that the traders would offer to take my photo with their camels but then expect me to give them money, but they didn’t quite express how aggressive the traders could get.
At first I just smiled and said, “No, thank you”, when I was asked if I had a camera and wanted a photo. When that stopped working they took out their phones and then wanted to take pictures of me and with me. They kept saying they wanted a photo with “American Girl”, which lead me to walking around with my hand over my face telling repeating the two phrases, “No, thank you.” and “No, please stop”.
A few nice traders recognized I wasn’t there to buy a camel or get the best Instagram photo, and so they took me around for a “Camel 101” crash course. They were two men who looked to be in their 60’s, and they showed me the Arabian Camels, the Oman Desert Camels, Saudi Camels and a few breeds of racing camels. From what I could gather with the language barrier, they use the different traveling camels based on weight of what they plan to carry and distance they plan to travel. Overall, camels are amazingly resilient in the desert heat and so they have been used for several centuries. I also learned that some camels are a “smoother ride” than other camels, much like different breeds of horses.
The men also brought me inside one of their camel pens and let me bond with a 3 day old camel they had brought to the market. Despite it only being 3 days old, the camel was still bigger than me! After about twenty minutes I snapped one photo and took off to the refuge of the air conditioned car ready to get this visa run done.
I began to head south with the radio turned up playing Arabic music I didn’t understand but still enjoyed and the air conditioning on high. I knew there was no need to look at any map, I just had to keep driving until I got to the border.
The drive was only about twenty minutes. As I got up to the boarder I had a pleasant surprise!!
As I exited the UAE I was asked to pay 33 Dirhams to leave, sure.
As I entered Oman, the officer began to ask me how long I was staying and where I was headed (exactly what I expected). I told him I was visiting Oman simply for a day trip and that I planned to go to the mountainside town of Dhank.
Considering my brothers status in the UAE, I felt it would be in my best interest to be honest about my intentions. I figured if they asked me questions about why I wouldn’t be staying longer on my way out, or why I had only been gone a short time on my way in, I would simply tell them about my brothers family relocating and my role of helping my precious niece and nephew get acclimated to the desert life (I’m not above pulling out some cards to help myself out a little).
The border officer looked at me a little sideways and asked me to park the car and go inside. I went inside and there were groups of men hovering over the counter. I figured I’d wait patiently until the chaos subsided before standing in line, but as I wandered around the office looking at maps and reading about the history of Oman, I realized the “line” wasn’t dwindling at all… In fact, more men just kept piling up behind the other men. Zero sense of order…so, I jumped right in. Neglected my personal space and held my ground until it was my turn.
When the officer asked me what I needed I told him I wasn’t sure… I was just told to come inside. I gave him all the paperwork I had and he asked me to pay 33 Dirham. I told him I had just paid 33 Dirham and showed him the receipt. He advised me that this was different, and that this one was for my travel visa… Ok, whatever, the reality for me is it is less than $10 USD, I can afford that.
As you can probably tell from the photos, the Mezyad Boarder Cross is all under construction. I don’t know if that’s why people claimed this was a pretty easy boarder to cross, or what, but after only about thirty minutes, I was in the country of Oman.
The drive to Dhank was just short of an hour from the border. Because of the thunderstorm from the previous day, the two lane highway into town was narrowed into one lane for much of the drive. Sand-slides and standing water occupied the other lane.
I drove into Dhank and grabbed a cub of Arabian Coffee (it’s becoming my addiction since alcohol is such a chore to get around these parts), and found a nice spot along side a quiet road to stare into the mountainside and enjoy my coffee.
After finishing my coffee, I figured it was time to try the drive back again. If I wanted to return the car and have at least two hours to enjoy some drinks with my New Zealand buddies at the hotel bar on Yas Island, I would need to get movin’.
I did stop to take a few photos on my way out of town.
As I drove toward the Oman/UAE border I had to keep changing the radio station. No station was coming in clear except the reading of the Quran, and that was only in Arabic. It was then that I noticed a bluetooth symbol under the radio display. Really!!? I could have been jamming out to my own music this whole time!? While simultaneously driving 120km/hr and fiddling with my phone and the audio display, I managed to hook up to bluetooth and play my favorite playlist I made on Spotify, Turnt Up Ladies (If you have Spotify, feel free to follow that station of mine, it’s the best!).
The drive out of Oman was a little daunting. As I pulled up to the boarder crossing, I encountered the same officer who I had spoken to when I exited.
“Oh, only one hour you spend in Oman!?”, he says to me with a troubled look.
“I was there more than one hour! I took a whole driving tour of Dhank! What a beautiful countryside”, I say with a smile and a hint of over the top enthusiasm in my voice. He stamps a piece of paper and tells me to take it to the next gate.
When I get to the next tent I have to drive though what appears to be an x-ray machine and then I’m asked to pull over for them to physically inspect my car. Sure… no problem.
The officer asks me for my paperwork, and tells me to pull over into the parking lot and go inside.
Ugh…… again!? Good thing I have nothing better to do… Like drink an ice cold beer with a whisky on the side.
I pull into the parking lot and go inside. There are two ladies sitting at desks at the front and people sitting in chairs all facing these two desks. It reminded me of being at the DMV. I didn’t see anything that suggested I “take a number” or anything, so I walked up to one of the women and asked her what I needed to do.
“Just have a seat, we will call you”, she told me.
They’ll call me? I didn’t give them my name or anything… I guess the other officers must have communicated it with some computer or something… I sat in the back.
After about fifteen minutes one of the ladies waved me up. She asked me for my passport and the piece of paper I was given at the Oman exit. I gave her the requested items, and she stamped the piece of paper and sent me on my way. One more step until I’m officially back in the UAE and legal for another 30 days!
I drove to the next post and presented the officer with my passport and paperwork. He handed me back my passport. I asked him, “I’m good for another 30 days now, right!?”. He looked at me confused. I asked him again. He responded, “I don’t know what you ask me.”…ah, forget it…I’m sure I’m fine, I thought. I drove into the UAE.
As I was driving back I got a sneaky suspicion that something wasn’t right… I pulled out my passport to verify that I got a fresh stamp. I flipped though the pages. I saw my original entrance to the UAE on June 18th. I saw my exit of the UAE on July 20th. I saw my entrance into Oman on the 20th with a Visa giving me 8 days to travel Oman (must have been that 33 Durham I paid…) and I saw my exit of Oman. I didn’t see another stamp showing I had re-entered the UAE!! Ugh!!
I called my brother to tell him I was pretty sure they didn’t stamp my passport back in. He assured me that we would make the necessary phone calls and figure out what I would need to do next. He told me he had heard that sometimes even when the passport doesn’t have a physical stamp that the computer systems are indeed updated correctly.
I then called a friend I met a few weeks prior, who lives in Dubai and works for the Immigration Department. He told me a similar thing and assured me that he would get it resolved.
The rest of the way back to Yas Island was about an hour and 45 minutes. I rocked out to my Turnt Up Ladies radio station the whole way flying down the nearly empty highway going 160km/hr stopping only once to fill up the gas tank.
When I arrived back to the island I returned the car to Edgar and told him about the whole passport stamp fiasco I might be in. He pulled out a special light and scanned though the pages on my passport. Lo and behold, there was the stamp!! It was stamped with a very fainted blue ink that blended in way too well with the background of the pages of my US passport. Phew!!!
Crisis averted, yet again!
So, naturally, after returning the car, I called up the boys to meet for a drink at Stills, the bar attached to the Crown Royal Plaza Hotel.
And we celebrated!
I have a video of Chris dancing under some awning on our way to a neighboring hotel bar. If I knew how to post videos on here, I’d share it! It’s pretty precious.
So here I am again, home again at last!!
Well, at least for another 30 days.
I’ll plan my next visa run in advance… where do I want to go next!!? India? Thailand? Turkey? Philippines?
Be well. Be happy.
One Good Globe 