This time, it was off to Dubai and Oman. Ovaise has many cousins who live there, so it was a good opportunity for us to go and meet them and travel at the same time. We left the day before Eid and had to cross through Saudi first (which, by this time is second nature to us :)), then on to UAE. Since it was the day before Eid, the border was crazy! We must have been there for at least three hours. We broke our fast there and shortly after maghrib, we were in UAE. We stopped at the first restaurant and got some food to eat. It tasted great. We ate and were on our way to Dubai. We passed through Abu Dhabi and later on, me and the kids fell asleep. When I woke up, I thought we were in Toronto. Of course, we weren't, but the gas station looked just like a Petro Canada! In all of our travels of the middle east, the gas stations were quite run down, but this one was different. As we continued driving, you could tell were in Dubai. Skyscrapers were all over the place and I don't know how many lanes there were on that highway. It reminded me of New York city, except for the masajid. After driving around and making a few calls to Ovaise's cousin, we finally reached their place at about 2 am. We ate and went to sleep. Eid prayer is very early in the morning in this part of the world, so Ovaise went while we slept on. Later on, everyone woke up, got ready and had an all out breakfast. :) After that, we packed and were on our way to Muscat! It was fun travelling all together in one car and Ovaise's cousin has two kids, so Ibrahim and Asma were occupied as well.
Once again, when we arrived at the Emirati-Omani border, it was a mess! Cars everywhere. It took us a very long time-nearly three hours again. The sight inside was quite hectic. People packed inside everywhere. The nice thing about it was the scenery. Mountains everywhere and the weather was great. For most of the time, we brought the kids outside and they played.
We finally crossed the border and were in Oman. We stopped to pray maghrib and grab a bite to eat.
I find it quite interesting to see what various Muslims in the middle east are wearing. For the women in Saudi, Qatar, UAE and Oman, black abayas, hijabs and sometimes niqabs are the norm. The men all wear white thobes, but what changes is the headpiece. In Saudi, it is a checkered red and white cloth, while in Qatar and UAE it is plain white and in Oman it is a high kufi.
Oman was beautiful and much less congested than Dubai. It was nicely developed and more relaxed.
We arrived at our destination (Ovaise's other cousin's house) at about Isha time. A full day of Eid travelling! Alhamdulillah, it is an Eid that I will never forget. The good thing was that Oman was celebrating Eid the next day, so we could party hard with them. :)
The first thing I noticed was the house. Wow, mashaAllah, it looked like a mansion. They had a worker who took our bags and showed us to the sitting area. Ovaise's cousin is into interior design and you could tell. The house was very nicely decorated, mashaAllah.
After dinner, we sat around for a bit and applied henna (the women and girls) and got to know each other. It was fun. By the time that was done, it was time for bed, as it was Eid (again!) tomorrow.
We woke up the next morning and got ready and had another good breakfast. The man who had greeted us when we first came lived with the family and did everything from cleaning to cooking. His name is Riaz bhai and he was very nice. The best thing is that he used to be a chef in India, so this dude could cook! :) I kind of felt like I was in the sitcom, 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air', except instead of Jeffrey it was Riaz bhai and instead of Bel Air, it was Muscat. :)
The rest of the day was spent eating and meeting the many visitors who came to the house for Eid. That evening we went out to the waterside and had some chinese food at a nearby restaurant.
We drove by the grand mosque, which really is grand! It is one of the largest mosques in the world.
The next day after some light breakfast (too much food from the day before), we went out in Muscat. It was very nice and scenic and the weather was much better too. The Omani people are said to be very good hosts, although we didn't really get a chance to interact with them.
We drove up to Jebel Akhdar and there were many people there, picnicing and enjoying the Eid break. The view was great and once we got up there, we broke out the food again and started eating. These cousins of Ovaise sure knew how to eat! :)
By the time we got back it was maghrib, so we prayed and took some rest. We were invited to another dinner party for the evening. Even though I wasn't too hungry, the food at this Auntie's place was amazing! So, once again, I ate. :) 
We came back and crashed. All that eating was starting to have a negative impact on my poor stomach. I needed to detox. :)
The next morning, we packed up all our stuff and said our salams. It was an amazing stay in Muscat.
We decided to leave early in the morning, as it was jumaa and also we didn't want to get stuck in border traffic again. Alhamdulillah, we had left early enough that the border was empty and we made it back to Dubai in record time. We had the rest of Friday and Saturday to hang out in Dubai. We went shopping and of course, out to eat. Ovaise has sooo many cousins in Dubai, it is hard to keep track. So, we basically had to go and see all of them. We also went to a few of the malls and the souq as well. And, I also got the chance to hook up with a friend of mine who lives in Dubai, so it was nice to see everyone.
Having said that, however, the best thing about Dubai, in my opinion, is the food! It is overpopulated and crowded. Besides that, all you can see is skyscrapers amongst the 'tallest building in the world.' The hadith of the Prophet (salAllahu alaihi wasalam) about the end of time can surely be seen, especially in Dubai: '...you see poor, naked, barefoot shepherds of sheep and goats competing in making tall buildings...' This is from the hadith jibreel and it is scary when you see all of these tall buildings in the city.
The malls are overally extravagent (as in Qatar as well), but Dubai was even more. There is one mall which has a skiing hill inside! And another, called 'Ibn Batutta Mall' is structured around the travels of Ibn Batuta (may Allah have mercy on him). I was thinking, if he was alive today, would he really want a mall to built in his name?
One of the worse things about Dubai was the fact that it was really no different that being in a non-Muslim city. With the exception of the masajid, of course. The way foreigners dressed there, was sometimes worse than what I was used to Canada!
Needless to say, I would only come back to Dubai to visit family, maybe do some shopping (abayas were cheaper there!) or eat the amazing food. :)
On Sunday morning after fajr, it was time to head back to Doha. All in all, it was an unforgettable Eid.
The next task: how to stay on track after ramadhan.
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