There are perhaps certain advantages to being delayed for nearly twelve hours, even if that means waiting out that half a day in a tiny, characterless terminal in Dubai with only a McDonald’s and Baskin Robbins to keep one occupied. In this case, the advantage was that, from my fortuitous window seat, I got to see my destination come into view all a-glitter in the night. There were the long ribbons of highways, as well as the bright curves of the bays and harbors that are the reason this city exists. I could also see the black gaps in those lights, mysterious to me from my aerial perspective, but once we landed I could see that those unlit spaces were craggy mountains, another shaper of the city. I had arrived, at last, in Muscat. **** I
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