Muscat Love

(Thank you, Joe Maas, for naming this post. You are a clever man.)

Alright, a weekend of mild productivity at best. Today I downloaded some good new music and thought a lot about writing and didn't do any. I tried to go clear my mind at our gym but the power was out, so I made a pizza instead and my stomach was killing me after I ate it, probably because it was from Iceland, for some inexplicable reason. (This is not to say anything about the quality of Iceland's frozen foods, just that this pizza travelled an unnecessary distance to be consumed, and probably suffered in the transfer). I have to say I'm disappointed in myself. I didn't really relax this weekend, just thought about work and didn't do much of it. Oh well, I feel better having confessed. Will take a new approach to my next weekend.

I'll tell you about Oman now. Part of the reason for my delay is that I'm working on an article for the Makeout Creek blog about my experience there and thought I could kill two birds with one stone and direct you to that post for a recap. But now I'm figuring this will help me get my thoughts together for the other one. As I mentioned earlier, I went with Renira and it was a really short trip--Thursday morning to Saturday morning. We left from Doha airport and this was my first experience flying out of the city. Fairly easy departure--nice duty-free, and the flight was almost empty (as opposed to the chock-full return trip). It took only an hour. About 45 minutes into the flight I was introduced to the landscape feature that would dominate the next two days of our trip...the mountains.

Doha is flat. Like flat-flat, and beige. There are dunes and formations in the desert and the desert is beautiful, but in terms of geographical variety--Qatar doesn't really have it going on. Oman, on the other hand, is a smorgasbord of natural wonder! The Al Hajar mountain range is in the north--and the low hills of the range go right up to the ocean in Muscat, and include the Green Mountains and Jebel Shams (about an hour away from the capital) which is called the "Grand Canyon of the Middle East"--it even snows up there! As soon as we got to our hotel we requested a driver to take us out to the desert to see Jibreen castle and Nizwa fort--two famous 17th century structures outside the city and surrounded by mountains and desert and date plantations.

Being a seaside girl by birth and for most of my life, I'm always impressed by mountains and these were particularly overwhelming. One, because many were striated, like rainbow color rocks (natural, naturally, not man-painted); two, because they were so epic in comparison to the flat landscape of the place I'd come from. These mountains are like what you imagine the setting of Ten Commandments to be--I kept thinking of a robed Charlton Heston rising up on a summit with tablets raised to the heavens.

To give you some perspective, I'd guess the word written on this mountainside is about the size of the Hollywood sign (it, like the Hollywood sign, is designating the name of the town below):


In short, pretty impressive scenery to drive in. And, added bonus, I didn't at all feel like I was going to vom! Miracle of miracles. Omani, by the way, drive like Qatari--fast and fluid (lanes are suggestions)--except they do it while they are talking to you nonstop and turning around to look at you, to make sure you're getting their point! What a thrill! We went with Ali, a local tour guide and dive master, on the first day, and he was very nice--very chatty, as interested in us as we were in him. All of this friendliness had me a bit on guard--I've become a wary tourist where packages and all-day excursions are concerned, sometimes it seems like you end up signing your vacation away, with mixed results. This was not the case on Day 1--since Jibreen and Nizwa were the main things to do, so Ali was our guide.

It was HOT. It was also interesting. Here is a little photo essay of the two sites (I know some of you are new to blog-reading...so just click on the photos if you want to see the pictures enlarged...also to see more pics, check out my flickr):

Renira and Ali entering Jibreen:


A spooky old date storage room! A bat almost took off my head. Shrieks galore!:


The date plantation surrounding Jibreen. Still operational. By the way, if you like dates, let me know. I will send them to you. We have a surplus!:


Chillin' in my library:


Okay. Multi-purpose dates. This poster describes "Murder Holes" at the Nizwa fort. If you can't read the text, I'll summarize: they used to heat date syrup to its boiling point and pour it out of holes at the top of the fort in order to scald attackers. Ow!:


Men's room sign. This shows the traditional Omani garb, complete with the khanjar (that sweet curved knife at the belt), worn mostly now for ceremonial purposes:

(Sorry dudes, no khanjars for Christmas--I tried. These babies cost a pretty penny!)

We spent all day in the desert heat and were so exhausted by the time we returned back to Muscat. Unfortunately, en route we had a detour because Sultan Qaboos (the leader of Oman) was leaving his vacation home in Nizwa for Muscat. He travels in a huge caravan of trucks and SUVs, complete with overhead helicopter escort. Exciting! (By the way, the Sultan's presence is everywhere in Oman, but he seems to be much loved. His pictures were in every restaurant--in traditional clothes, royal garb, on balconies with machine guns raised in hand..you name it. These eccentric portaits aside, apparently he's done a lot to maintain the country's character-- for example, no building in the city of Muscat can be over four stories tall. Oman, in general, is what you think of when you think of Old Arabia.)

Day Two we spent exploring Muscat itself. It was Friday, so almost everything was closed (Friday=Sunday in Islamic countries), but we were able to walk the corniche without being fried; there was a really nice sea breeze. I've been told that scuba diving and snorkeling in Oman is incredible, and though we didn't have time to do that, I did get a taste of what people are talking about. Clown and angel fish were swimming right up to the jetties and baby crabs covered the rocks. The water was beautiful...if you want evidence of this, check out my flickr account at right. The corniche is part of the "Old Forts Route" in Muscat--and on the mountains that skirt the sea, you can see about a half dozen Portuguese forts from the 17th century. Oman used to have a huge amount of territory under its control--from Zanzibar to parts of India, and also had feuds between inland bedouin tribes and Portuguese colonizers. The history is hazy to me still as I didn't get to go inside the museums (again, closed for Fridays), but the walk was lovely and the forts, formidable--as they should be.

One such fort:


We ran into a dead puffer fish, belly up!:


A seaside amusement park. Creepy and abandoned. Wish I could have seen it in action:


A neighborhood mosque:


At about mid-day, I hit a heat and hunger-induced wall of crankiness, right about the same time we met our next Omani driver, Khaled. He appeared out of nowhere as we were passing through the Muscat gate (another imposing, fort-like structure) and asked us where we'd like to go. To a wadi (a river-bed swimming hole at least 2 hours away) or to a beach? Maybe we want to swim nude? He doesn't mind! The Germans do it! It's our vacation! Khaled was a scammer, but a real driver (there's only one kind of taxi in the country--all orange and white, with furry interiors), so we had him show us the nearby public beach and the Al Bustan hotel. No swimming--it would have been weird, we were in someone's neighborhood--but we did get some cool pictures.

Practical use for those pesky oriental rugs you have lying around:


Me inside the lavish Al Bustan hotel (translates to "The Garden")--5-star luxury and too rich for my blood. This is where oil magnates and euro-jetsetters stay. Excellent air-conditioning though, I must say:


Khaled was disappointed we wouldn't let him take us anywhere else. He really wanted to take us to a place "where a star fell in the ground and made a hole of water"--which I translated into a crater lake in the countryside. This description was so nice, I almost said yes, but we were beat and needed lunch, so we declined. He told us that he would bring us to the souq that evening and get us the very best deals from his very best friends there, and that he in turn would get deals for bringing customers. "Maybe you don't like me?" he asked, when I told him for the zillionth time we weren't sure about our evening plans. Oh brother...so we finally agreed to the souq, and after we ate and napped Khaled was back at our hotel ready to bring us on a shopping excursion. It was great, actually.

The souq:


An amazing and jam-packed, but wildly expensive, antique shop:


The owner with his khanjar. So cute!:


Prized Omani silver. Despite it's humble display, all jumbled together in a barrel, pendants and rings were upwards of $75!


Our final chapter in Muscat: The Grand Mosque of Sultan Qaboos. Truly a sight to behold, the mosque was on the ride to the airport, so we stopped off on the morning of our return flight. The mosque took over six years to complete and was opened to worshippers in 2001. It has the largest handwoven rug in the world and a chandelier the size of an elephant inside--it's entirely made out of Swavorski crystal.

We couldn't wear shoes and had to have our head/hair, arms and legs completely covered to go inside. Here I am, excited to be pious for the morning...it was sweltering:


The interior, though you can't get a true sense of the scale from this picture.


But here, maybe you can. That's tiny me in front of the big altar:


As I mentioned earlier, I had to pass on the silver, but I bought a hat. I love it! It smells like frankincense (native to Oman--as is myrrh):


But I think I might look a little like Sinbad from his A Different World days in it. After I took the picture at home, I decided it was true. What do you think? Regardless, this thought brings my post full circle, as Oman is the birthplace of legendary Sinbad the Sailor.

Ma'as salaama! (I think it's how you say goodbye here! Look at all those "aa"'s!)

PS. Congrats to Mom on a successful First Annual Wall High Boosters Dog Show Extravaganza. We'll get Fiona to the Purina National Dog Show yet! (Sadly, I'm told she took an undeserved 3rd in the Canine Companion competition... but at least now she has a goal to shoot for...)