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After all the glitz of the United Arab Emirates it is such a contrast to arrive in the sleepy Sultanate of Oman. This fairytale kingdom is ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said who has done a good job of preserving the unique essence of the country while slowly moving it into the 21
stCentury. Oman was a closed country until the mid-1990s. Now education is encouraged and Oman has one of the few Arabian female ministers in its government. The Sultan maintains good relations with both the United States and Great Britain. Omanis are in a dither though because their 72 year old monarch has no heirs to the throne. So it is uncertain who will carry on the Said dynasty.
We arrived on Friday which is a holy day for Moslems so we had to make a beeline to the Muttrah Souk before it closed at noon. This is our favorite bazaar as it oozes with exotic charm and is filled with the aroma of frankincense. The merchants are friendly and the prices are reasonable.
Since everything is shuttered in the afternoon we headed out to the beach area in search of a restaurant. We ended up at the
MUTTRAH FORT
Towers over Muscat and the Gulf of OmanAl Qurum Hotel where we were the only customers at a lovely outdoor Asian restaurant.
We have the Portuguese to thank for all the photo opps they left behind. The forts and city walls in Muscat look like they were designed by Warner Brothers for a movie set. When sailing out of Muscat, the huge monument depicting an incense burner is a striking sight set against the dramatic Al Hajar Mountains.
With only 2% arable land in this desert country, it is a hard life for the Bedouin tribes but the camels thrive in this environment. In Salalah we drove up into the mountains to visit Job’s Tomb and along the way came across herds of these nomadic animals. There are over 50,000 camels just in the desert surrounding Salalah. These amazing beasts can run up to speeds of 40mph and suck up 53 gallons of water in three minutes. Until recently the Muslims from Salalah would ride camels to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage. This trip took three months each way, so it was quite an undertaking. Now they just jump on a jet plane to Saudi Arabia to fulfill their religious duty. The annual monsoon, called
the Khareef, turns this part of Oman lush and green every year; a rare site in Arabia. There is even enough water to support extensive coconut and papaya cultivation and sustain the ancient frankincense trees.
Both men and women still wear the traditional garb which for a man is a white dishdasha robe and the taqiyah hat. Women wear black abayas but most don’t cover their faces. Sultan Qaboos forbids women from covering their faces in public offices. Men in Oman are still allowed to have four wives, however many of the younger men are opting for one spouse. Also, as the women are becoming more educated they don’t seem to want to share the marital stage with other wives.
The waters off Salalah are home to many marauding pirates. We had one “Yankee Papa” alert when four small skiffs came directly at our ship at a high rate of speed. The Captain notified Coalition Headquarters and our ship broadcasted warnings both by VHF radio and a loudspeaker system to the approaching boats. Apparently the boatmen did not understand the warnings. After the skiffs passed by, Captain McNeill determined that they were fisherman out on a joy ride.
Happily the rest of the trip across the Gulf of Aden was uneventful. The entrance to the Red Sea is called Bab el Mandeb, or Gate of Grief. In spite of its foreboding name, we were glad to enter the Red Sea and leave the pirates behind.
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Dick
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Oman
Remember Oman fondly. THe souk is fantastic, June go me a white dishdasha robe and the taqiyah hat which I wear someteimes at costume parties. UP the Red Sea the canal I presume with Petra on the way. Thaks for blogs--they are wonderful, as usual.