Three Parts/Peoples in Oman

Thursday we drove down off the mountain and over to the highway to head south into Oman in Mazyad.  At the traffic circle off toward the mountains was a guy riding a camel.  He wore typical Arab clothing and he had two additional camels alongside him with beautiful camel blankets on their backs.  So fun to see.  I didn't want to miss the experience so I wasn't able to get a picture.  

When we got to the border crossing it took us about 30 minutes to complete the process.  We paid 70 Dirhams to leave the UAE and another 100 Dirhams to get into Oman.  We had to get out of the car to fill out registration cards and then get back in thr car to go through another line.  Interesting process, but we cleared through with no problems.

        Approaching the border and entering Oman...

   

Immediately we knew we were in another country.  It appears there are three completely different environments in which you can live in Oman...the stark desert, the beautiful but desolate mountains, or the wonderful coastline.  We were not there long enoughto get to know the differences in people, attitudes or backgrounds of these three regions.

           The desert...

         The mountains...

           The water.....

We saw lots of goats and camels along the road.  We got to the town of Jabrin late morning.  Several people had told us stop and see the Jabrin Fort there.  Was worth the stop....very interesting...a school room, a library, a women's prison room, a small opening near the floor to the men's prison, large open barrack rooms, visiting rooms,,,lots of different levels and lots of twists and turns to the rooms.  The fort was built in 1671 by the Yaruba dynasty Imam Bil'arab bin Sultan, who ruled from 1769 to 1692.  One review said this was the most interesting fort in the country.

The man who sold tickets was helpful and attentive....and willing to have his picture taken with a big smile.

          The flag of Oman flying over the Fort

From there we went - yes, you guessed it - to the mall in Nizwa for lunch.  I have eaten in more food courts in the past month than in the rest of my life!  Good thing there are lots off types of good food represented.  We paid in Rials here...they are small denominations as a Rial is worth 10 Dirhams.  Gets a bit confusing to go from one, through another to figure out what they are worth.

Nizwa has a fairly new city gate...seems to be an up and coming trend in Oman for the cities to have a large, impressive city gate over a major highway entering the city.  We also saw 3-4 new and very large Mosques in progress.  We talked a bit about the advantages of the government, the religion, and the leader all on the same page...and with lots of money to make things happen.  Money in Oman comes from natural gas - not oil.  They are already seeing signs that the gas may run dry in the near future, so in some ways they are reaching out and hoping to develop the tourist industry.  They are pretty conservative and do not want to compromise in order to bring foreigners into the country.  Right now many of the visitors come in the winter during the cruise season.  It's not unusual, we are told, to have 3 ships in port each day during the night season.

After lunch we turned what seemed like northeast and headed for Muscat, the capital of Oman.  I think I'm in love with Muscat!  Many of the buildings are classic in style and pure bright white - very striking.  No tall sky scrapers. We went to a McDonalds in As Seeb to meet up with M and C who immediately whisked us off to the old part off downtown Muscat.  The road runs all along the coastline.  The harbor was fabulous.  The Sulton of Oman had a huge yacht moored at the pier....impressive.  The Sulton flies around the Gulf and his yacht meets him there so he can sleep on his own boat. nice!

We went to a cluster if museums...artifacts, coins, stamps, pottery, artwork and even a great cofffee shop with a traditional Omani home all set up in the shop. Very cool.  Many of the buildings were neat old homes made into museums.  Outside the Bayt Al Zubair Museum they even had a collection of  30 life sized Nubian Ibex painted in bright colors and a variety of designs....like Chicago's cows and Dubai's camels.

         Anyone remember these scenes from The Amazing Race a few years ago?  

         Ali Baba was not around so we didn't get our picture with him!

            The amazing Ibex...

Inside the Omani home...very interesting to see how others live...

          One of several forts around the city and over the water....very pretty. 

      

          The Sultan's Palace downtown....and his yacht...

Next came supper at a nice place overlooking the water...what could be better than that?  To top it off we went to the big old public Souq with its quaint shops and helpful ( but not real pushy) salesman.  I bought some gifts and then found some long Indian kurti tops.  I really cannot go another 5 weeks wearing those white and black jackets.... Just tooooo hot.

It was a great evening with wonderful hosts and tour guides...a night to remember for sure.

I'd like to go back.  I think I may like it better than Dubai...