Oh man! It's Salalah, Oman

Oman.  Where is Oman?  Better yet, what is Oman?  You may never have thought about Oman.  I know I certainly had never thought about such a small country, smack dab in the middle of a lot of Middle Eastern power house countries vying for world attention.  How little we know.

Seal of Oman on Palace gate

Sultan's palace in Salalah

You see, we may not know a whole lot about these countries, but John Kerry and Uncle Sam knew way more than we did.  So, way back in December of 2011, then Senator John Kerry, with the blessing of the Obama administration, flew to Oman on a commercial flight to give a present of an architecture book to the Sultan of Oman, Sultan Qaboos.  Why, you are probably asking.  I was.  Well, he approached the Sultan to help us open a dialogue with recalcitrant Iran on their nuclear intentions.

It had been more than 30 years since the US had had talks with Iran.  And we needed help to bridge that gap.  So Sultan Qaboos, long known as a moderate ruler, did his work and – 2 years later – we are communicating with Iran.

Pretty remarkable for a small Sultanate on the Indian Ocean, across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, tucked in between Yemen, the UAE, and Dubai.  So now is a time for a bit of a history lesson from our first day in Salala, Oman, the 3^rd largest city in this small but obviously powerful Middle Eastern country.

One of the few people we saw out and about.

A gold souk we were lead to.

Buying frankensense with our guide's help.

We were met yesterday morning with a young university man dressed in traditional garb whose job it was to stuff us with info about his country while showing us the “sites”.  Actually we only saw men and women in “traditional garb” in this country, compared to other countries we have visited.  By that I mean, men wear a long ankle length coat-like robe with stand-up collars.  On their heads, the men wear mussars, either a wrapped headscarf with fringes or a simpler round caps with embroidery.  And all men were dressed like that.  I asked our guide, Mohammed, what, if anything he wore underneath and he showed us a loosely woven cloth somewhat like our cheesecloth that men wrap around their bodies from the waist down.  That’s it.  Oh, and the ubiquitous sandals on their feet.  Women, on the other hand, wear the dishdasha also, but with loose-fitting trousers that gather at the ankles and a head scarf called a lihaf.  Of course, we saw more than our share of women in abayas and even burqas, only the eyes peeking out.

Qaboos Grand Mosque of Salalah

Our guide and driver entering the mosque.

Courtyard of Grand mosque

One of dozens of nooks with beautifully
bound Holy Qrans on the walls of the
main prayer room.

Main prayer room of the Grand Mosque

Kathy and Mohammed as we leave the Grand Mosque

Oman is a hot, dry climate reminding me of Arizona.  It only gets 3.9 inches of rain, usually only in January.  And there are parts of the country that get no rain – zip, nada—so water has to be pumped from the mountains there.  Temps can get as high as 122 in the summer.  See why Arizona? 

Camels wandering freely in the reserve area

Camels in the market

Stand with dried camel meat just waiting for the lunch crowd.

Goats by the truckload.

But Arizona does not have a camel market.  We visited a camel market, and saw gobs of camels wandering all over the landscape.  Camels are used for meat, although Mohammed said it is tough even after cooking for hours and hours, for milk, for racing, and for long-haul moves!  Cheaper than a moving van for the  Bedouins?  The camel market looked to me like a US cattle feeding lot before slaughter.  So I asked Mohammed who buys camels?  Apparently, it is a good market.  If you want a racing camel, you can find one there, but he will cost you more than the others.  Roughly the price of small car! And a heavy milk-producing camel is also a good buy.  You do mark your camels with tattoos, so, as they wander all over, you can pick out your brood.  And, while driving past camels, we saw several large tents with lots of regalia.

Mohammed told us those were wedding tents.  As it was a holiday, the day was chosen for a wedding. BUT the people attending the wedding were only men.  They eat and drink all day without women.  The women have a party of their own.  I asked Mohammed when the actual ceremony happened and this puzzled him.  Apparently, there is no official ceremony.  When the bride’s father agrees to the marriage, it is a done deal.  It felt a little paternalistic – and anticlimactic.  They still have a dowry system, so the bride goes to the gold market and buys a few thousand dollars of gold and the young couple probably lives with either set of parents after the non-ceremony.  No long white dress.  No church filled with flowers.  No dancing at a reception, unless the men dance together in their tents!

Wedding party tent. One of many we saw today.

Up close on wedding party; all men in white.

Empty beach front properties

Beautiful long sand beaches for miles.

The biggest difference is it has some of the most beautiful beaches we have seen in any part of the world – white soft sand and gentle blue-green waves lapping the shores.  It was a holiday when we were there yesterday and we asked Mohammed why the beaches were deserted on such a day.  He was vague in his answer, but told us women could not wear swim suits of any kind – had to swim in their dishdashis.  My thought: ugh.  The government, which is really Sultan Qaboos as he is an absolute ruler of the country, has bought up all the structures along the beaches and is planning on building hotels, restaurants, in the area. They are counting on those Europeans, especially Germans, coming for holidays in the future.  The beaches looked as good as our favorite beaches in Bermuda --- and that is saying a whole lot.

On to Qaboos. (Fun to say, since it sounds like “caboose”).  He overthrew his father the Sultan in 1970 to take control of the country.  His father was a kind of recluse.  At the time, the country had only 3 schools and 2 hospitals. The population was illiterate. People were living in poverty while the Sultan lived within his palace in great splender.  The new sultan, Qaboos, had other plans.  He has been on major building projects in the country, new airports, new housing,  lots of schools, hospitals, roads, parks and mosques.  And he is paying for it with newly discovered oil.  So there are no taxes for their citizens.  And, as expected, the Omanis love their now 70 year old Sultan. 

One looming problem: Sultan Qaboos has no heirs.  In fact, he is not married.  While this could be a big problem, he feels he has solved it by including his family in the discussions of who should succeed him.  If they can agree, that person will be the new sultan.  If not, he has written a name on a piece of paper, sealed it, and stored it away to be opened only if no agreement can be made within 3 days of his passing!

But back to Oman.  It has only 3.3 million people, compared to Yemen next door with 24 million people.  Its GDP is $71.7 billion in US dollars, which works out to nealy $24,000 per person – a relatively prosperous country with a 9% growth rate.

It is a Muslim country and has a gorgeous new mosque built in 2009,  air conditioned with a Swardoski crystal chandelier.  When one enters the mosque, you need to take off your foot coverings, wash your hands, face, mouth, nose and feet before worshipping, which happens 5 times a day. 

Now, about women and Islam.  Women are not allowed to worship in the mosque.  To visit the mosque, a woman, which included we tourists, had to cover our heads, and wear pants to cover our ankles, long sleeve shirts to cover our wrists and, may I say, in 90+ weather; it was darn hot!  To see women all over Oman covered head to toe made me so glad to be American!  However, Qaboos, when he took over, did decree (you can do that when you are an absolute ruler!) women will not cover their faces in public places.  And he has allowed women to vote, although any elected officials serve at his pleasure!

Reading the Bible, or was it just the Christmas story? I always wondered why those Wise Men visiting baby Jesus brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  Well, if that thought has ever crossed your mind, frankincense is one of the major products of Oman.  And it comes from frankincense trees that they “milk” similar to maple syrup trees, by cutting slits in the bark and the stuff oozes out.  It smells like perfume, so of course we are bringing some home.   

Our guide with the frankincense tree

Showing us how to draw the sap that
hardens into frankincense.

Frankincense forming from the cuts.

Coconut market;  another good export crop.

Yes, this was Thanksgiving Day.

A French quick response helicopter cruiser
as part of the international anti-pirate task force
in the waters of the region.