r a s   a r   r u w a y s

We shall not cease from exploration/ And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first time./ Through the unknown, unremembered gate/ When the last of earth left to discover/ Is that which was the beginning;/ At the source of the longest river/ The voice of the hidden waterfall/ And the children in the apple-tree/ Not known, because not looked for/ But heard, half-heard, in the stillness/ Between two waves of the sea./ Quick now, here, now, always—/ A condition of complete simplicity/ (Costing not less than everything)/ And all shall be well and/ All manner of thing shall be well/ When the tongues of flame are in-folded/ Into the crowned knot of fire/ And the fire and the rose are one.
T S Eliot, Little Gidding

Days ago, we had driven out of Muscat down the Samail Gap, turning off the six-lane highway at Bid Bid, heading south through Samad, Mudhaibi and Sinaw. After that, it is 200km of desert expanse on either side. That ride will take you through the foothills of the Hajar range that slowly recede into the occasional mound. Towards the end it is just gravel, until pebbles give way to sand, stretching from horizon to horizon. It might get monotonous after a while, but the moment when that great expanse hits you is an incredible experience. It is in that unending unapologetic vastness that you will discover the Bedu and their ways, the pink lagoons and the secret settlements. In that blank space on the map you will discover things most people in Oman have never seen, experiences in the middle of nowhere.

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