Oman (19-22 May 2010)

A “long” weekend (just the Thursday extra but an early end of school on Wednesday too) gave us the chance for one last trip before we return to Canada on July 1^st. So we headed to Oman which is just over an hour’s flying time. If we had hoped to escape the heat of Doha, we were not successful. It was 47 C. in Muscat on Saturday.

We had found a “package” trip with Oman Air which included the flight, three nights’ hotel, & airport transfers, all for a very reasonable price (under $500 each). The Majan (old name for Oman) Hotel was a little disappointing at first (small, potentially noisy, musty room) but after a couple of changes & a slight upgrade charge, we ended up in a good room that turned out to be very comfortable once we had discovered a way to redirect the rushing wind of the air-conditioning.

Determined to make to most of our time, we took a taxi right away & headed down to the Souq Mutrah just off the Corniche. We explored a little & resisted the pressure of insistent vendors selling everything from frankincense to pashminas & toy mechanical camels to silver jewelry. We ate shwarmas at a small outdoor “Fast Food ‘n’ Juice” just outside the souq opposite the harbour. Our taxi driver was there to take us back to the Majan & we asked him whether he would be willing to take us out of Muscat for a day (& how much?). His price was good & so we booked him for next day.

Qais (the taxi driver) turned out to be a real treasure & became a good friend. We were to spend the next three days with him & got to know his friends & family. Our first full day (Thursday) was spent driving south out of Muscat for about 150 km to visit the towns of Nakhal & Rustaq. The Hajar mountain range of Oman is imposing & even desolate but quite beautiful in its own dramatic way. Small forts & watch towers dot the countryside, reflecting the not-so-ancient feuds between families & tribes. Nakhal has a much more substantial fort built on pre-Islamic foundations & reconstructed in 1834. We endured fierce heat to visit the interior, pondering the cauldrons of boiling honey used to repel attackers.

A little further along the same road, we escaped to see the hot springs at Ath-Thowra. Although it’s also a favourite place for families to picnic (especially on Thursdays which are the start of the weekend), there were few people there & just the odd goat wandering around. The waterways of Oman (“falaj”) are sophisticated networks of mountain streams diverted for irrigation & household use. Hot springs are always hot but on a day like this the water is unbearable. Sustaining ourselves with dates (brought by Qais) we continued in the air-conditioned comfort of the car (an old vehicle with almost 500,000 km on the clock & still going strong)

Next stop was Rustaq which was briefly the capital of Oman in the 17^th century (when the Portuguese controlled the coastline but not the interior). They were chased out around 1650 after almost 150 years of struggle. We looked briefly (from the outside) at another substantial fort & at more hot springs, used still as bathing rooms. A cursory look at the old souq & we headed back to Muscat, stopping only to buy some locally made “halwa”, not to be confused with the more familiar sesame based “halvah”. “Halwa” is made of sugar (or dates), saffron, cardamom, almonds, nutmeg, & rosewater, all heated in huge vats & served at any important social occasion. Dates are also part of normal hospitality in Oman & are generally accompanied by small cups of “qahwa” (Arabic coffee flavoured with cardamom), as we were to discover next day.

An Omani friend in Doha had suggested we eat at “the best Indian restaurant in Muscat”, so, after a brief rest & swim in the hotel pool, we called Qais & he took us to the Mumtaz Mahal, set on a hill overlooking the bay & the Qurm Nature Reserve. It was one of the finest dining experiences ever & the service was impeccable. This was no doubt partly a result of our dropping the name of our Omani friend in Qatar whose family is well respected in Muscat.

On Friday we set out again with Qais, heading this time for Nizwa & Jebel Shams, highest point in Oman (over 3,000 metres) & overlooking the Wadi Ghul, known as the “Grand Canyon of Arabia”. However, we stopped first in the small town of Izki where we met Ali who spent the rest of the day with us. Ali works with the same security company in Muscat as Qais (his “other” job) & we suspect that Qais asked him along partly because his English is quite a lot better but also because the two of them get on very well together. Next stop was Nizwa, site of yet another fort but known for its souq & a favourite tourist resort. It is sometimes called “the Pearl of Islam” & is also known as a very conservative area. We explored the souq looking for silver jewelry (too expensive & priced by the gram according to the current market value of silver), & also old “Maria Theresas”, silver coins widely used throughout the Arab world for well over two hundred years. We looked at quite a few but most were fairly recent, the only genuinely old ones found in a collection album & not for sale. The highlight of the visit was when we were invited to join a small group of tailors who were taking a break of dates & “qahwa”. They were as excited as we were & it was certainly thanks to Ali that we could take photos & share a few minutes with them.

Next stop was Jebel Shams (“Mountain of the Sun”) & stupendous views across the mountain range & into the deep gorge beneath us. It was quite a bit cooler (mid-thirties) at that altitude & we thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful place. We stopped on the roadside to buy “boot” fruit, which is a small bluish cherry found only in this region. On our way back down to Nizwa we passed through a small town where we met yet another friend, Mohamed who works in Muscat with Qais & Ali. We were invited into his house where we sat in the “majlis” (Arabic guest room) & waited while Qais & Ali went to the mosque for about thirty minutes (a must on Fridays). Then we were served more coffee with delicious date paste & local thin bread. Mohamed’s brother, Souleiman (& his son Daoud), along with their father & uncle, all joined us & we were impressed by the easy going hospitality & friendliness towards us.

Then we drove back through Nizwa to take Ali home, whereupon we were invited in for yet more food. We enjoyed spending some time with Ali’s six-year old daughter Latifa. She was very shy but eventually talked to Pat & tried out her English. Ali wanted us to stay for supper but we needed to get back to Muscat, still almost two hours away.

Saturday was our last day & we still had many things we wanted to do. Qais took us first to the Grand Mosque, opened in 2001 after six years work. It is a magnificent complex & was a gift to the nation by the ruler, Sultan Qaboos. Sultan Qaboos seized power in 1970 from his father (who ended his days in exile living in the Grosvenor Hotel in London) & is revered in Oman. He has done great things for the country & is internationally recognized for his work on the environment. The country’s first environmental legislation was issued in 1974 & 8 January is widely celebrated in Oman as Environment Day. In spite of the 47 C. heat we spent about an hour visiting the mosque marveling at the architecture & amazed by the Persian carpet covering the main prayer hall which can hold 6,500 worshippers. The carpet is the second largest hand-woven carpet in the world (the biggest being in Abu Dhabi & was completed in 2007). It measures 70 m. by 60 m. & took 600 women four years to weave.

Qais took us back to Mutrah Souq to visit the tailors there. Roger wanted to buy a traditional Omani “dishdasha” (man’s robe) & “kummah” (pill-box shaped hat), so needed to be measured for them. Qais insisted on buying them & looked after all the negotiating that needed to take place. The “dishdasha” will be ready later & Qais’s son who works in the military in Qatar will bring it with him when he next travels home. Incidentally, we discovered that Qais worked in Doha for fifteen years as a policeman before he returned to Oman.

We still had time for a quick air-conditioned drive through Old Muscat, past the Sultan’s palace, & then along the coast to the resort area called Bandar Jissah. Qais drove us to his home (small village just on the outskirts of Muscat) for lunch. We met his four daughters & two-year old grandson (Khalood) & feasted on chicken & biryani rice prepared by the Indian servant. We never did meet Qais’s wife. The daughters we very friendly & the second oldest talked freely about her life & feelings. Khalood kept us entertained with his rascally ways, clearly “spoilt” by his grandfather & suffered by his aunts & mother.

Qais drove us to the airport & we said goodbye to a new friend who had opened his heart & country to us in ways that we could not have imagined possible. Oman will remain one of the highlights of our time in the Middle East & one of our favourite places.