Trip report: Oman, UAE, Bosnia and Turkey (2023)

This trip was done on my way from Taiwan (to visit families) back to the US earlier this month. I chose these places partly because of pretty cheap flights connecting them, and partly because I felt at this time when our world is entering an uncertain future and genocide is committed in the heart of Europe once again, I would like to go see Bosnia myself, where war crimes were carried our right when I was born. This is really a trip to Bosnia, while the other 3 countries are layover/transit visits.

I only got 2 days in Oman (originally it was just an 8 hour layover but I managed to extend it by playing around with the tickets).

D1: Nizwa castle, fortress and souq. walking around Azaiba, Muscat at night

D2: National History Museum in the morning; Mutrah Souq and the fish market; Al Alam Palace, Mirani Fort and the National Museum. Fly out to Abu Dhabi in the evening

A friend who went to Oman before had pretty negative experience so I didnt have too high an expectation. I was wrong, the country had such spectacular histories and vibrant culture. A downside was it’s quite a car-oriented place and I am really against the car culture (heck I don’t even drive in California). I arrived at midnight and stayed in a small hotel at Azaiba (walking distance to the mwasalat bus station). The next morning I took the early bus to Nizwa. The Old Castle and Fortress in Nizwa greatly exceeded my expectation, it’s probably second only to Petra, Jordan among similar sites I’ve visited before. Since the bus back to Muscat didn’t come until 7pm I had plenty of time to wonder around the nice antique town. Note that the bus back to Muscat in theory stops in a different stop (Nizwa souq 2, closer to the town center) from the one that drops us there (Nizwa souq 3), at least according its website and my ticket. However it never came to Nizwa souq 2 and I had to run all the way to Nizwa souq 3 to catch it. Almost got stranded there! Passengers on the bus were mostly South Asian migrant workers who were flying home for the new year.

The next day I was able to complete the top sites in Muscat (also seeing the grand mosque from the taxi, which I called via “Otaxi”, an Uber equivalent). I guess National History Museum is not really a top tourist attraction but I’ve made it a habit to visit such museums, zoos or aquariums in countries wherever they are easily accesible. I enjoyed seeing the day to day life of people living there, in particular the Mutrah fish market.

I could easily spend one more day here in Mutrah, but other attractions may be out of reach without a car. However I certainly would return to this country someday, when I am ready to do Yemen.

D3 Abu Dhabi grand mosque in the morning, flying out to Sarajevo at noon.

I only got a morning layover in Abu Dhabi. First I walked around Yas Island, where my hotel was located. It was mind-blowing to me how the shopping malls and restaurants (all closed at the time nonetheless) looked remarkably similar to those in California. Many even didn’t have Arabic written on signs and logos. Then I ubered to see the grand mosque, which is probably the symbol of this country. The architecture looked splendid indeed; however it feels more like an Islamic exhibition hall catering for tourists. No local people were seen praying in the mosque (they were probably in difference sections and using a different entrance. To enter the mosque as a tourist we had to go through a shopping mall….) and all visitors were moving along a unidirectional traffic flow. My morning layover in the UAE has been eye-opening to me, but I would certainly want to revisit and take a look at the falcon hospital, the aquarium, the grand palace etc.

D4 walking in downtown Sarajevo at night

D5 walking in downtown Sarajevo, visited the Museum of War Crime against Humanity in the morning, continued walking in downtown at night

D6 took the cable car and hiked the Trebevic loop in the morning, visited the War Museum Sarajevo 1992, walked all the way to the White Fortress, visited the War Childhood Museum

D7 more downtown exploration, visited the Olympics Museum and the National Museum of Bosnia, evening train to Mostar, walking around Mostar at night

D8 walking around Mostar in the morning. noon bus to Konjic, visited Tito’s Bunker, walking around downtown Konjic, night train back to Sarajvo, walking around the SCC downtown area

D9 day trip to Srebrenica

D10 morning flight to Istanbul got canceled due to heavy fog, so I walked and explored Istočno Sarajevo (Eastern Sarajevo, the de jure capital of Republika Srpska, one of the 2 entities under Bosnia)

afternoon flight to Istanbul, walked around Sultanahmet at night

D11 walked around Sultanahmet, visited the Tokapi Palace and Hagia Irene, very brief visit to the Grand Bazaar. noon flight out.

During my time in Sarajevo, I had the chance to stay in the “War hostel”, which is one of the kind in the entire world. It’s a hostel run by a family who survived the war (the family also ran the War Museum Sarajevo 1992 right next to the hostel). I slept on the iron wire beds (with blankets on it) used during the war, used the war-time soap to shower, and read the newspaper clips hanging all over the wall. The hostel honestly is a museum by itself. But the most precious experience is to talk with 01, the owner of the hostel. As I was the only guest during my stay, we chatted extensively at night about his family’s experience during the way, sites in Sarajevo among other topic. I highly recommend his museum as well, which housed countless exhibits that gave visitors a rough idea how lives were like during the war, how harsh the situation was, and how people surprisingly adapted to the new reality by various means rather quickly.

Winter is certainly not a popular season to visit Bosnia, with the snow and smogs (this year is unusually warm so there was now snow, but the smog was bad). Among the places I’ve traveled, Bosnia got to be the most surreal one. Words completely failed me. Sarajevo is a city with too many stories condensed within. It’s a city where the West and the East met, as you could see a rough divide between Ottoman/Austo-Hungarian style architecture. The so called “Jerusalem of Europe” witnessed the most brutal war in Europe after WWII. While the war ended a while ago, the wounds were still bleeding today and the nation has been shaped profoundly. The Museum of War Crime against Humanity has gruesome details of stories from individuals killed, raped or suffering otherwise during the 4-year siege of the city. The War Childhood Museum depicted childhood stories from people growing up under constant bombs and shells. In general the vibe is slightly more positive than the previous one. The Olympics Museum felt very surreal. It’s typical sport exhibitions until you realized this took place 8 years BEFORE the war. While we saw in many cities where the war was in the past, and the Olympics was held as humanity looks into the future, it is the other way around here in Sarajevo. In today’s world with democracy crumbling and geopolitical tension soaring, it is chilling to see. Same with the bobsleigh tracks around the Trabevic Mountain that were used during the Olympics, but deserted after the war. Looking at these scenes and thinking about what’s going on in Ukraine as well as various other places in the world where authoritarianism trumped democracy, I kept wondering where are we heading to as a species?

And here comes Srebrenica, very likely the single most impactful sites I’ve seen in my life so far. It was where over 8000 civilans were massacred. Our driver did a very good job sharing his stories being a soldier as a teenager during the war, and going to a hospital to search for his brother’s dead body. He knows all the details about the massacre in Srebrenica: where the bus departed, where the victims were gunned down, where they were buried in multiple places and part of their remains were yet to be found to this date. As part of the tour, we went to Asja’s (name changed for protection) house for lunch and had a good chat with her (the driver speaks good English and translated for us). Asja survived the genocide but lost many family members, including her father. In the cemetery we saw the names of dozens killed from her family. As Srebrenica is still ruled by Republika Srpska (The Serbian entity of Bosnia) today, Asja and her family is still facing severe discrimination. Her daughter was physically attacked at school due to wearing a hijab, while Serbian teenagers came to their front yard to harrass them during the Orthodox Christmas. A number of photos we saw on site looked like typical WWII Holocaust photos; however they were with colors (instead of black and white), which constantly reminded us how recent the crime took place. The wound was not only recent, but even ongoing. Looking at the “Never again” sign at the cemetery felt extremely surreal as well, as we all were fully aware of the fact that such crimes have unfortunately repeated itself, again in the heart of Europe, in another country with a flag of similar color scheme as that of Bosnia’s. Bucha, Mariupol, Izium…. may become the next Srebrenica after the war, where people come visit and vow “never again”. But who’s the next?

The final day, thanks to my flight cancelation, I got a chance to walk around Istočno Sarajevo, the de jure capital of Republika Srpska. It’s surreal that the two parties at war so recent are now so close to each other, with literally no clear signs on the road to mark their borders, yet so distinctively separated at the same time. Once I crossed the “border”, flags of Republika Srpska and the Republic of Serbia could be seen flying everywhere. The vibe was totally different as numerous police officers roaming on the road. The following day there would be a military parade held here to commemorate the anniversary of Republika Srpska (which I unfortunately didn’t have a chance to see).

I firmly believe Rick Steve’s “travel as a political act”, that travel as an important means to educate oneself and to humanize others. Such is the reason that despite all difficulties, I would like to travel to all countries and territories in the world, to witness lives in different corners, and to connect different cultures as a generation of ambassadors.