Tour The World 07/08: Sunset in an omani desert.

On the 11th of February we left impressive Dubai to meet BCs lovely parents, Lisen & Christian, in Oman. We had looked very much forward to these days with them. Lisen in particular had always felt a special connection to this country, and they decided to share the omani experience with us on our "Tour the World-trip". And after long time with no see, we could impossibly find a better place to hook up!

They had arranged everything for us - booked hotelrooms, planned activities and collected impressive knowledge due to the culture and the must do's in Oman.
When we came to the Hotel in Muscat they waited for us with a drink :) We were in heaven. We really felt our shoulders came down for the first time in a long time.

To see and hold around them again was indescribable. And I realized my "traveling emotions" were a little bit "on the edge" compared to the normal. It felt like we've been away for years, and I realized that I DID really suffer from lack of family contact...

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat. The Grand Mosque was built by the sultan as a gift to the people of Oman in commemoration of the thirtieth year of his reign.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said became ruler of Oman in 1970 replacing his father, Sultan Said bin Taimur who had ruled since 1932. Under Said, Oman was an isolated and backward country. Upon taking power, Sultan Qaboos opened Oman to the world and modernised its society and economy, while preserving the best of Omani traditions.

The thing which I found the most fascinating about the Mosque was the Prayer Mat inside the main hall.

The prayer mat which took four years and six hundred weavers (!!) to produce, covers 4,200 square metres and weighs 21 tonnes. Isn't it unbelievable?? The mat consists of 28 different colours in varying shades and intricate designs, and contains 1,700 million knots!

Both male and female visitors should dress modestly in the Grand Mosque. Men and women should ensure their arms and legs are covered, and women should cover their heads. Here our guide tries to explain me the textual meaning from the Koran.

Oman has a lot to offer the lucky tourist. We soon realized we had come to a charming and warm country. We wanted to explore the mystic and fairytale-like country, so we rented a car ( A HUMMER!) and went on "Tour the Oman". Christian had planned a well organized four-day route for us.

Under: Lunch at a local omani restaurant - women were not actually allowed. But somehow we got in anyway. The food was served on the mat..

The cities we visited were amongst others Sur and Nizwa. In Sur we went to see the nesting turtles. Oman is one of the very rare places in the world where turtles can be watched freely and calmly. Turtle nesting attracts lots of visitors to Ras al Hadd so we were not alone. But it was a very interesting and a nice experience to be in the nature near these beautiful animals.

Another beautiful animal is definitly the camel. Along the road the camels appeared frequently, and some of them succeeded in following the Hummer for a while. But most of them were standing in the shadows to protect themselves from the burning sun.

We drove and walked through beautiful Wadis (valleys), and small local Omani villages which still were unharmed by tourism. Through the Hummer window we got several of two-seconds eyecontact with the locals which we all quietly kept in our hearts.

Warm and breathtaking deserts, lonely and "untouched" beaches, and spectacular mountains are areas which make Oman unique to its neighboring nations. The wadis are a must see and the fantastic beaches along the coastline are of a caliber of which I will describe as near perfect, with pristine, white sands and a crystal-clear, warm turquoise sea.

Once we heard the Koran reading loudly from loudspeakers in the Mosques, we had to stop the Hummer and walk out. It was indescribable to tell you exact how we felt standing there, in the middle of a little local town with goats jumping around listening to Allah prayers coming to us from the clocktower. It was mindblowing and almost meditative.

Omani women have very colourful costumes which vary from region to region. The main components of a woman's outfit comprise a dress which is worn over trousers (haaf) and the headdress, called the lihaf or hijab.

There are numerous traditional styles of Omani costume seen in Muscat. This woman has a facial costume which recognizes her as a Beduin.

The Bedouin are the Arabic speaking nomads of the Middle East who have proudly maintained their pastoral way of life over thousands of years. They spread out into other lands and now live in the desert regions of all countries between the Arabian Gulf and the Atlantic.

We were of course very curious of the Omani costumes as well. BC had to try on the national dress for Omani men - a simple, ankle-length, collarless gown with long sleeves. The colour most frequently worn is white. Omani men may wear a variety of head dresses. The mussar is a square of finely woven woollen or cotton fabric, wrapped and folded into a turban. BC wear the kummah, an intricately embroidered cap, which is quite frequently used by the Omani men.

Doesn't he look cool?

A very important part of Omani culture is hospitality. One evening as we were having a drink in the bar after a lovely dinner, two Omani men came to our table and started a conversation. We soon got new friends in Diyab and Mohanna.
Diyab is actually very famous in Oman. He is a writer and was previously working as a journalist and made interviews with Saddam Hussain, Margareth Thatcher and lots of other profiled persons.

This picture is taken in Muscat at Mohannas private club. He invited us all for a tasteful dinner in typical Omani style.

The food? Delicious, substantial, sweet, salty, sour and spicy are only a few words that can describe Omani food. At the crossroads of the Middle East, Africa and the South and Far East, Oman boasts a variety of dishes that are unique in flavor. Spices, herbs, onion, lime, garlic and vegetables make up the traditional combination around which most Omani food is based.

The company? I haven't laught that intensively for ages! The Omani men are very cute and funny. They are true and serious "Don Juans". Mohanna showed us his repertoire of his many love-theme pictures and songs on his mobile phone. A typical picture was a bumping heart saying: "Sweetheart, I love you!" along with a Celine Dion-ballade.

I could't believe this was coming from a religious Omani man! Again I had to bite my tongue in order not to forget to throw all my presumptions away.
Again, I felt suddenly very little in the whole picture and knew I had so much to learn! And many ideas and expectations to bury...

We loved our new Omani friends company. They were so generous, humble and friendly. Sometimes I was feeling embarrassed for paying us all these nice dinners. As a norwegian girl I sometime wondered why they did all this. This could rarely happen in Norway. Well, I had never heard of any Norwegians inviting totally strangers for dinner like that! What was the catch? After the sun comes the rain, right? I actually got a little suspicious!! (How cruel is that?) Maybe they were after us for a reason or another?

NO! I finally figured out that this was just how they were! This was their culture behaviour! This was their proud way of being, their lifestyle. When I asked Diyab why he was so generous to us he told me that this is how they have used to treat travellers - for thousands of years! Oman has always been a meeting point for people traveling through the desert or coming from overseas.
I recognized it all made sense and I felt calmer.

Above, our friend Diyab. And his book filled with beautiful love poems presented in many different languages. Even in Norwegian, he claimed. Oh wonderful! we said, and read the "norwegian poems" in Danish :)