BEIJING TO LONDON CRUISE- 78 DAYS : MUSCAT, OMAN

Friday, April 26

We arrived at the pier in Muscat, the capital of Oman, at 8am. As you see the city lies on the coastal plain with the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman on one side and the rocky Western Hajar mountains dominating the back drop of Muscat. As we toured today my eyes were drawn to the very colorful volcanic rock formations. You will have to endure those photos below. I also found the low-lying white buildings of Muscat to be a refreshing change from the modern high-rise architecture of the UAE countries. Muscat has a population of just over 750,000. It's economy is dominated by trade. Their exports include mother of pearl, fish, and of course, dates. The Omani government and national petroleum company are the two major employers in Muscat followed by port related import and export activities.
The history of man can be traced back nearly 7000 years and as a result there are lots of artifacts discovered over the years. We saw a lot of these today for sale in shops and at the museum. Jewelry, coins, knives, swords, guns, maps, and a lot more. It was quite fascinating and rather expensive. So at the Souq (market), we opted to purchase T-shirts and colorful pashminas. Another difference between Oman and the UAE was men here wear different color dishdashas as well as white ones, whereas Emirati men wear white ones. Women in both places were black burqas. The women will not speak to us tourists but the men will.
Well, it is now 5:30pm and we just sailed from Muscat for our next port which will be Salalah in southern Oman. Tomorrow will be a day at sea as we will not arrive in Salalah until Sunday. I think we have decided to dine up in Sette Mari (Italian venue) this evening. We definitely want to see tonight's show featuring actor and West End star, Ben Richards. He is a great singer and we really enjoyed his first show a few days ago.
It's cocktail time so better get this posted as you have probably just climbed out of your beds and may be looking for it.

Sailing into Muscat harbor

Ship full of lumber

Our pier

Today's tour

Monument but our guide did not say what for.

Unlike the UAE, the buildings in Oman are just a few stories high and architecture is basic.

As in the UAE, the houses are big compounds.

Coastline here is similar to Fujairah, mountainous.

One of the many Islamic Mosques in Muscat.

Huge compound

One of many government buildings

Zawawi Mosque. Not very big and not sure why we had photo stop at this one. We were not allowed inside.

Our guide. He was a very funny and nice young man.

Before they can go in to pray they have to wash themselves in a very specific way. They start with the face (each of these have to be washed 3 times), then mouth, then nose (inside and only once), then ears (one time), then hair (one time), then hands (being sure to get between each finger), then each arm (one at a time), then feet (again being sure to get between each toe). Now they can pray!

This is the wash area.

Government offices

Small but very interesting Arab museum owned by a family. They served us Arab coffee and dates at end.

This is owner of the museum going through the front door.

Exiting museum

Police or military area. We were told not to photograph military installations.

My new house???

Housing area

More housing

Sorry but I love the colorful stone and formations so have several "rock" photos.

Flour mill

Monument at the port

Mala, Andreas, and Thei. They work in dining rooms on ship. They had some time off so took shuttle to Souq (market)

Inside the Souq.

We did manage to buy some things after hard bargaining.

One guy on our tour bought a turbine. It was a cloth that they wrapped around his head after he bought it. Doubt if he can ever get it wrapped and tied again. Our guide said the turbine is their more formal head wear and what they wore when doing business.