Now we are in Salalah, Oman. Here we did have a tour. But
first, here are a couple of things about the last posting. The last picture
that we thought was a palace was a 7 star hotel. One of our friends went on a
tour that stopped there. Also there was one picture of a white building with
lots of pictures of the Sultan on it. The reason for this was that he had been
ill for a year and was in Germany, and he just came back this week. So,
everyone was celebrating. He is 75.
Once the capital of the sultanate and now its summer
capital, it has long played an important role in Oman’s history. It was the main
trading port on what was called the Frankincense Trail, the trading route for
the once highly prized aromatic resin that was used in religious rituals and healing.
Grown only in this region of the world, the frankincense trees can be seen
around Salalah and the history of the ancient trade can be discovered in the Frankincense
Land Museum, located in the archeological site at Al-Baleed, once a thriving
port visited by Marco Polo.
The tour was good, but I preferred Muscat to here. We had a
female tour guide that is quite a rebel. She told us a couple of stories. When
she was 15, she and 30 of her fiends wanted to go to the beach for a picnic.
The parents said that was fine as long as two teachers went with them. So, they
got the bus and the teachers and the day came. The bus stopped at her house
first and there were no teachers; however she ran in and told her mother
everything was fine and left. Then she took her scarf and covered her face as
the other students got on and the parents thought she was the teacher. When
they got there they asked where she was and she pulled back the veil. They
decided to stay as they would get in trouble no matter what. She was confined
to her house for 30 days. After she finished school her parents wanted her to
marry her cousin and she refused. Needles to say that did not go over well. She
met a man from Muscat and after much ado they got married and her parents
accepted it. She is Sunni and he is Ababi (not sure how to spell this). However,
her mother-in-law felt that since he had to spend two weeks at a time in Muscat
that he should have a second wife (they can have up to four). Our guide them
told her mother-in-law that it was fine, but if he did then she would find a
second wife for her husband. She is also one of the few women who work and she
has only 3 children. Most women do nothing but have kids; her mom had 14. They
get free healthcare and education, but you still have to tend to them all. She
was very interesting.
The first thing we learned was that the port where our ship
is dced, is the port that you see in the beginning of the Captain Philips
movie. It is very desert looking here, but from June-August they have rain and
she said everything turns green. As we are going to our first stop she tells us
they built this beautiful road so they could get to Yemen quickly, only two
hours down the road. Not what we wanted to hear. They import cows from Somalia
and have some big feedlots. The camels are all over the sides of the road and
are their most prized possessions. They let them out in the morning and they
come back about 5 PM. They raise them for their meat. They are worth about
$3000 each. When a man marries he must give the brides father about $12000 and
often they will give camels. There you get rich by having girls. They also
export bananas, coconuts and papaya as well as ground up limestone. The women
must wear all black here all the time, but not if they are in Muscat. But,
women can drive here, and they cannot in Saudi Arabia.
Our first stop was to see the Frankincense trees. They look
like dead trees but are really very old. They scratch the bark and a white
liquid comes out. They let the liquid set for a couple of weeks and you have
the frankincense that you can burn. We then went to Mughsail Beach. It is
nearly two miles of white sand and features high cliffs at both ends. If the tide
is right (and it was not) you can see sprays of water up to 45 feet tall
gushing from the natural blowholes in the rock face. It shot up about 6 inches
for us. We then visited the tomb of Job. He was the look-suffering biblical
hero admired by Muslims, Jews and Christians. His tomb is located on a hilltop
overlooking Salalah. We then stopped at the Al Husn Place, the summer residence
of His Majesty Sultan QaboosHis Majesty
Sultan Qaboos. His to take pictures, but all you see is a high wall. It
looks like a prison with minarets. The sultan has no children so when he dies
there is a group that will pick the next sultan. If they do not do this in
three days, the army will rule. Our last stop was at a Souk where we did a
little shopping. They had mostly incense and clothing.
Last night at our sail away, themed 1001 Arabian Nights,
they gave us free drinks. Needless to say it was very crowded. Now we are off
for four sea days. Should be interesting as we are going by the coasts of both
Yemen and Somalia and then up the Suez Canal to Jordan where we will visit
Petra. It is hard to believe there are only 31 days left. But, it will be good
to get home.
Pictures:
1 – Sign at port in front of limestone; this is a working
port
2 – Building on side of road
3 – Frankincense tree
4-6 Mughsail Beach
7 – Houses across from the beach; the government gave them
to the fishermen so they would stay and fish and they would not get foreigners
in to do the fishing
8 – Limestone cliffs
9 – Tour guide
10-13 Blowhole area at end of peace
14-16 Camels
17 – Boy’s school
18 – Mosque
19 – Where Job prayed. The indent in front of the prayer rug
is so that he would know where Mecca was. The alter to the right is so he could
pray towards Jerusalem
20 – Job’s Tomb
21 – Mosque near Job’s tomb
22 – Camel waiting for taxi behind him
23 – Banana and coconut trees
24 – Palace
25 -26 Souk
27 – Roadside stand
28 – Poster for sultan
29 – Sail away party décor
30 – One of the bar staff – Gurly
31 – Officer, Assistant Cruise Director Marcel and Cruise
Director Gene – Sign says: OFFER: 3 Camels for your beautiful wife
32 – Frankincense and burner. You put a small charcoal tablet
in the burner and when it is hot you add a tiny piece of frankincense and it smells
great.
