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Published: September 5th 2008
Oman was an amazing break from India. It was clean, sunny, mosquito free... and did I mention clean? This country is the best kept secret of the middle east, hands down.
The streets were lined with amazing white mansions, that belong to ordinary middle class families, and streets with beautiful new cars. Most of the men are in white traditional wear with a small cap, and the women in long black jackets and black scarves on their head.
As soon as we stepped out of the airport the heat hit us. About 35*C at 11:00 at night. Nice. Our friend Salim picked us up and we stopped for some Turkish food! Dale developed a bit of an addiction to Mediterranean food while we were there!
Salim has a great apartment about 5 minutes from the airport, more of a temporary place to live while he builds his house, and lives with his family in a small town outside of Muscat.
August 12, 2008 We were eager to get our day started and explore Muscat! Next to his house is Sultan Qaboos University, the best school in Oman. Salim's brother Nasser teaches Economics here and he stopped
by the say hello to us. A very impressive campus, huge and still growing.
Popped our heads into a mall to see some western shops and for me, it'd been a long time since I'd been inside a mall!
Next stop was the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) facilities. This is where Salim works when he isn't out in the field as a Well Engineer. He got a chance to impress us with his knowledge of Oil and the process of extracting it from the Omani ground. Unfortunately Omani oil isn't pressurized like Saudi Arabia, so they have to spend a lot of money to pump the oil.
Saw where the oil goes through a hose out to the oil tankers while they wait off shore. Very Interesting!
Had lunch at a Lebanese place and then coffee at a very nice and cool coffee shop. Used the high speed internet there and was so happy to have a rest from the heat! They say they don't even worry about the actual temperature, it is either hot or really hot.
Checked out the Muscat Beach, not really any women around... a lot of men playing soccer though!
We were there for the sunset, but near the end, it disappeared into a dust cloud.
The Mutrah Souq (market) is a super clean, super organized market (so completely opposite of India) that we visited in downtown Muscat.
Mutrah Souq was the cleanest market I’ve ever been to! It was well organized into little shops with minimal hassle to get you to take a look at their wares. After checking out store after store of traditional dresses, hats and jewelry we had some hamburgers outside the Souq.
The Sultan’s City Palace was very impressive! It is mainly used for hosting guests and creating large fan fare with rows of horses and soldiers in the front of the palace. The Sultan is a very admired and respected man in Oman, since his family brought the country to the 21st century. Up until 1970 Oman was without electricity, paved roads and running water.
August 13, 2008 Salim picked us up from his city apartment, with his very pregnant wife Mafoda in tow. We headed towards the country side where his family home is. Dropping Mafoda off at the house, we carried on to
our first fort! It was called Nakhal, and it was really amazing surrounded by date palm trees and mountains, but it was about 45*C in the direct sun… so we made it a pretty quick visit.
On the way back to the house we stopped by a hot spring, Athawra where many people were having barbecues near the spring.
Eating lunch at Salim’s parent’s house was no question one of the most cultural experiences I’ve had traveling. I was dressed conservatively, as you can see in the photos- long sleeve shirt, long pants. The house has several entrances so that the men and women can relax in separate guest rooms and often enter without seeing each other.
I didn’t see Dale from when we were outside the house until we were getting back into the car after lunch. So I’m in the ladies guest room with three of Salim’s sisters (who all speak English very well), his wife, his sister-in-law and his mother. (the last three don’t speak English at all).
The walls of the room are lined with heavy pillows to lean on and a beautiful rug fills the room making a very comfortable setting.
They have housemaids from India to prepare their meals, which they serve on one very large platter placed on a plastic “table cloth” on the floor. All seven of us ladies crowd around, they continuously offer me a spoon but I am determined to eat my lunch Omani style (by using your right hand)!
The meal was delicious, long grain flavoured rice with vegetables, baked king fish, and roasted chicken all mixed together. I was semi-successful at eating with my hands, but that might be debatable by Salim’s family!
I got to see wedding photos from Salim and Mafoda’s wedding, but Dale wasn’t able to see them because the ladies have their heads uncovered. You might notice that there aren’t really any pictures of people! It isn’t acceptable to take photos of women especially.
Went to a second fort called Rustaq which turned out to be our favourite, maybe from the break of the afternoon sun and also in Salim’s words- it was a very simple fort. There weren’t many people around any of the places that we went since it was off season for tourism.
On our way back to the city we stopped at
Oman’s largest hot spring, Kasfa. Dipped our toes in… VERY hot.
Got dinner once we got close to the city by means of my new favourite thing. You can pull up to a shop, honk your horn, and a guy comes to the car for you so you can stay in the comfort of your air conditioning. We got wicked chicken shwarmas on hummus and took them to the beach after sunset.
August 14th, 2008 This was our road trip day out to Nizwa. It was a beautiful drive through mountains that reminded me of the Rockies sans the trees! It is a geologists dream. It wasn’t too hot early in the morning when we arrived at the Nizwa Fort and Souq. They had a really interesting market where you could buy goats, fish, fruits and veg.
We were told that this is one of the more complicated forts. It is circular with five traps leading to the inside. Each trap was found with a door, above the door -a tunnel where they could pour boiling honey onto the enemy. If he survived the boiling honey and made it through the door then
Women's traditional Wear
the ladies were super excited to get me all decked out!there was a trap door. So the chances of making it through this five times to make it to the centre, were pretty slim.
Had lunch at an Omani style restaurant, but paled in comparison to home cooked food!
Jibrean (not sure if that is even close to the right spelling, I can’t read my writing!) was our fourth and final fort, well more of a fort turned palace actually. It was being renovated at the time and really beautifully decorated as well. This palace was surrounded by more desert and mountains than a town like the others.
On our way back to Muscat, got caught in a rain storm and watched the outside temperature drop from 45* to 23* in about 10 minutes. Had some dinner, Dale found himself a gym, and for me- an internet café.
On the topic of internet café, I tried to go to PerezHilton but it was BLOCKED by OmanTel. Thought the ladies out there might find that interesting!
August 15, 2008 Nasser, Salim’s brother, picked Dale and I up and took us to the beach. It was so hot and beautiful we
were so happy! There weren’t any people on the beach, except for a few women. We were there during Friday Prayers so most people were busy! Oh, Thursday and Friday are the weekend in Oman, which they are trying to change to Friday and Saturday like U.A.E. for convenience sake.
We went to Nasser’s wife, Eman’s parent’s house for lunch. Salim’s sisters were also there and we dined in separate guest rooms. Her parents have a huge brand new house, very fancy, with chairs and seating lining all the walls. A grand staircase in the centre, all marble of course.
After another delicious Omani meal, it was dress up time. The girls got me all decked out in Omani traditional dress, and the men got Dale all done up. We were very fancy looking! Ha, it was fun!
Late in the afternoon we went to the Sand Dunes. You can rent a 4x4 or a Jeep and rip up and down this huge hill. I passed so that I could be the photographer, but Dale, Nasser, Eman, Myriam and Zikeya went for a ride!
Went for a drive through Muscat to the Shangri-la hotel to check
it out. Private beach and all. Then to the movie theatre, only to miss the movie, but enough time to buy nachos! We walked over to the beach to eat them!
August 16, 2008 We were up early to go to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque! Foreigners are allowed to visit the mosque under strict rules from 8-11am. I had to wear long sleeves and pants and cover my hair with a scarf. I tried to learn as much as I could the time we were in Oman about Muslims since I have never really met many! The mosque was a great experience since most mosques don’t allow non-Muslims in at anytime.
McDonalds for breakfast… wait a second- no breakfast at any McDonalds in Oman?!?!
Next stop was the mall, for me to try and find some new pants and a shirt. Home for a looong nap and packing for our flight that night.
Salim took us for a fantastic dinner at an outdoor restaurant, and once we arrived at the airport told us that it was his 30th birthday. We were so upset that he didn’t tell us earlier! After he
dropped us off at the airport he was going to his parent’s house for his birthday party! I still can’t believe he didn’t say! Ha.
Had a good flight Muscat to Bombay, although slightly dreading the thought of being back in India!
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