POPS - you DEFINATELY have to go to Oman next time you are in Dubai - you can drive from there - to Muscat (where we stayed) it is about 4 hours by car, or 45 minutes by plane.
It was around 30 degrees celcius - hot enough to lie on the beach and go snorkelling!

I was totally overwhelmed by the beauty of the country - ubfortunataly Bahrain is a stereotypical Mid East landscape - dry, sandy and flat!

We flew via Dubai, and we met up with 3 other families (my husband's colleagues and their wives and kids). The others all drove from Saudi, via UAE. My husband's bosses wife is CRAZY about cats - she has 4 - so we had fun talking about our "babies" and sharing photos etc (whilst everyone else looked at us like we were nuts). She is staying in Dubai at the moment, and I got to visit her cats on the way back to Bahrain. 3 of them are regular DSH, and she has one pure white Angora - so gorgeous!!! She also feeds a load of cats in the garden - the "local" street cats there - very similar to Ally and the Dilmuns around here, and also similar to the cats in the pics Lut posted of her trip to Egypt.

Barbara, you are right - they are juveniles! We have a camel farmer who lives near up, and every once in a while he herds his camels right past my house, and blocks all the traffic! I have to try get a photo of it. (We also have a camel crossing on the highway!!!)

The pic of the camels was taken during an excursion. We went out into a desert camp close to the hotel, and had traditional Omani food served in tents (you sit and eat on the floor). They had traditional singing and dancing, and all the ladies had henna painted on their hands. POPS - let me know when you will be in the region and I will PM you all the details - where to go etc.

Oman is famous for its silver, and I bought an antique Omani silver necklace and a silver dagger, which I have had framed.

It was such a great holiday. We have resolved to try and see as much of the region as we possibly can whilst we are here, as it's not really convenient to come back on vacation! Next on the list is Petra - in Jordan!