Our first weeks in Oman

First of all, here is a map showing just where Oman is in the world.

It's on the edge of the Arabian peninsula, bordered by the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It's capital city is Muscat, the place in Oman where I spent nearly my entire trip. 

 

Here are two rough street maps of Muscat (click to enlarge either of them):

Muscat isn't one continuous city, its more like many smaller cities that are linked up by the Sultan Qaboos Highway (which is the main route through town).  It's sort of odd driving through a capital city that has so many areas that are undeveloped because of terrain. You literally transition to different parts of the city through passes in the rugged hills, going from one part of town to the next with only the highway connecting them. Steffen said that the passes used to be how invading tribes from the inland would try to attack Muscat in the past. Those once useful defenses are now a hinderance to development. 

Steffen and I met in the airport after we arrived, I was just a few minutes behind him coming out of security. It was good to see a friendly face after so many hours of traveling. I was definitely a minority in Seeb International Airport and the sounds of Arabic washed over me. It was night and I was a little disoriented. Steffen grabbed us a taxi, and soon we were driving all the way across Muscat to Mutrah (or Muttrah), the port area of the city. Mutrah is in the far NE corner of Muscat, and is one of the older parts of Muscat. We passed the Sultan Qaboos Mosque, a large structure lit up at night:

 The Lonely Planet recommended the Naseem Hotel, at only 20 dinars a night it was a "steal!" It actually wasn't all that bad, and it was right on the corniche (which is what they call water front roads).

Mutrah from the hills above

The next morning we were up and at it pretty early, trying to fight off jet lag. Our first destination was the Mutrah Souq, (souq = market). This tunnel-like market place was covered from the elements and packed with shop after shop of trinkets and do-dads. Some specialized in jewelry, others in fabric, still others in frankincense (yeah, like the stuff in the Bible). Not to mention tons of other things you never knew existed and probably don't care that they do.

Part of the ceiling of the Souq

More of the ceiling

Steffen and I spent a good chunk of the day looking for places to eat and kinda browsing through the junk that was for sale. Then something strange happened, all of the shops started to close. It was like 1 pm, prime shopping time in my opinion. It turns out that Omani shops (not the large chain stores however) close during the hottest parts of the day, from 1 until 4. Even in the dead of winter (which it was in January and February - a chilly 75 degrees during the day!) they still close up and go home for 3+ hours. We were a little surprised by this, but took the time as an opportunity to walk down the corniche to old Muscat (the region of greater Muscat which houses a bunch of the government buildings) where the entire region got its name. This is where the Sultan's palace is located. It didn't seem that far on the map, but in practice it was quite a jaunt. My little feetsies hadn't worn sandals in months, leaving them torn up by the harsh straps as we walked. I soon developed some hard calluses, but that first week was murder.

It was a scenic walk along the coastline. On the hills stood the famous watchtowers that seemed to dot just about every other hill in Muscat. It was a reminder of the invaders throughout history in this region of the world. Soon we passed through the gates of Muscat and were on our way to the Sultan's palace.

The Sultan's Palace is a unique looking building, unlike anything I've ever seen before. It is flanked by numerous government buildings and has a long boulevard leading to it.

The day that Steffen and I were there, we saw a guy with one of those big floor polishing machines working on the marble along the parade ground. For outdoor marble, that's pretty serious maintenance.

One of the funniest things I noticed about the Sultan's Palace is the front gate's intricate lock. It appears to be a bike lock, check it out:

No doubt there are more defenses than this lone lock, such as the numerous guards around, but it's still kinda funny. I've been to Buckingham Palace - where the queen of England lives, and her front gate was a little more hefty than the same sized lock I use on my Schwinn. 

We hiked back to our hotel, both of our feet a little worse for wear. A few nights later we moved farther down the Corniche to the Finar Hotel, a relative steal at only 15 rials a night. What does 5 extra rials a night buy you (the Naseem was 20 rials)? Well, for one it buys you a tub to shower in. And a toilet seat. And includes toilet paper. And clean sheets every morning. The Finar lacked all of these things. The beds were ok though, which was the most important thing. 

One night stands out in particular. It was late, sometime in the early morning hours. Someone started pounding on doors down the hallway, yelling something in Arabic. The person soon was pounding on our door as well. I was more than a little freaked out that maybe the place was burning down and this was our fire alarm, so I pulled my pants and shirt on and opened the door. A little bald dude stood in front of me saying something. I told him (in English) that I had no clue what he was saying. He then started making a movement with his hands like he was trying to light a cigarette, and asked "lighter?" He just kept repeating this motion and saying "lighter?" while I stared in disbelief. This dude was actually going to wake the entire floor up to use a lighter? Steffen couldn't take it anymore. I'm not sure how awake he was (or how awake I was, for that matter) but he started shouting all sorts of threats and obscenities at this guy from the darkness of our room behind me. The guy got pissed and said something under his breath while walking down the hall. But it shut him up. I laid in bed for awhile wondering how long it would take for this dude and a bunch of his friends to come pay the Americans a visit, but it never happened. Just another night in the Finar.