Because True Stories are Best

Yesterday me and 3 friends were coming back from a (wonderful) dinner at a Pakistani restaurant...we waited for a taxi outside a grocery store while Salah, the one guy with us, compared taxi prices and we took the cheapest one.

So, our taxi driver (and older gentleman, probably 45-50) was talking to Salah, when he suddenly announces, I have 2 wives, and 9 children...and she is going to be my third wife -- and points directly at me! And I was like...no, no, thank you....I am taken....and he says, "No, no, you are going to be my third wife, and teach me English," we all laugh this off and Salah luckily changes the subject (Thanks Salah!).

I should explain that this is actually not that common here -- and this guy seemed quite serious, and like he really couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to be his third wife.

Then at the end of the ride, we rush out and Salah stays behind to pay, but the taxi driver won't let him pay, saying that because I was there, the ride was free! And then he gives Salah his phone number for me!

Speaking of multiple marriage -- my teacher, who is Syrian was explaining how one day he was teaching a class at the university and asked the girls whether they would prefer to be a second wife or to never be married at all, to which 75% said 2nd wife. Third wife to never married -- 50%. 4th wife to never married -- also about 50%!

This may not be a fair assessment but the principle of marriage and elementary school dodge ball seem the same --- you never want to be the last one picked to be on a team. More stories to come later! It is truly the greatest fear of girls here. The question is why? Is it social status that marriage brings? Freedom? Kids? Financial concerns?

Ok, more stories to come!

Onward to the Golden Dunes...

On the whole, tend to be very hot and not support much human civilization. This means that traveling out to the desert (in any country) is a time-consuming and very hot endeavor.
We must suffer for our fun in the sun (and sand)! Our trip out the Arabian Desert is no different. It was incredibly incredibly hot!! It was between 110-120 degrees the whole trip!

We had some adventures along the way though -- which include seeing dead roadkill (big lizards). See the picture:

The first night we stayed in a hotel on the way (the electricity in the hotel went out every 10 minutes and there was absolutely no hot water) Really, on our way there I thought...oh we are really in the middle of nowhere now and this hotel reflects that, but on our way back it seemed like a completely different hotel -- cool and dark inside compared to the terrible heat outside and with clean bathrooms inside! What a difference one night in the desert makes.

Most of the second day was just spent driving out to the desert, with a few intermittent stops at nearly-abandoned cafes and restrooms along the way....eventually we made it to the hot hot desert (right around dinner time actually) and climbing in the sand dunes and setting up camp quickly ensued.

So here are some pictures of the desert -- unlike in Morocco this is not the Sahara, but the Arabian desert -- different country, same principle -- lots of sand, stacked very high. Barren of life. So when the temperature is 120 at sunset, there is no camel riding. Instead we took SUVs and just charged through the sand dunes.

Essentially if you have ever wondered what it would be like to be in a Ford Truck commercial -- I have now experienced it first hand, playing in the desert in vehicles...it's fun, if not a little scary to see SUVs look tiny and insecure compared to the dunes.


Also in the picture below, you can see a pack of black camels! Really cool! I have never seen black camels before.

And there I am...also like a black camel...haha, joking, but seriously, we had to cover up from head to toe because of the sun and the black abaya seemed like the coolest option because it is loose fitting (undecided as to whether that was a good choice or not)

You can see our campsite (real camping...in the middle of nowhere!)

From Green Mountains to Golden Dunes

Every two weeks, our large group divides into 3 small groups and travels....to the North (to the Desert), East (to the Beaches) or West (to the Yemeni border). We don't go South because that is the Arabian Sea (please look at the map in posts below if this confuses you).

My group's first trip was North to the Desert! In order to get to the desert you have to go over the mountains, which are beautiful, misty and green thanks to the monsoonal rains. Also, at this time of year, there are a whole bunch of natural springs to go visit, which are like green oases and swimming holes.

So in the next few posts, I will share pictures on our first excursion. In these pictures you can see how green and misty the Monsoon season makes Salalah. These pictures all come from the mountain ranges right around Salalah -- probably no more than 15 miles. The picture to the left is a cave that we visited. You must remember that this is a country to which modernization is really very new -- and as recently as 50 years ago people still lived in these caves...(remember before electricity or cars or anything!)

So please when you are looking at these pictures, keep in mind the fact that we are in a Gulf country! And the day after seeing these beautiful Ains -- we were in the Rub3 il-Khali (which translates into English as "Empty Quarter") and is essentially one of the largest expanses of unoccupied barren desert land in the world. And it's famous because the majority of the Rub' Al-Khali is in Saudia Arabia)

A Shout out to Emily!

Update!

One of my friends has agreed to help me with the blog....her name is Emily Voight and we have had many an adventure together here in Oman, including camping in the desert (the famed rubu3 il-khalee) as well as the windy coasts....(stories to come)

Here is a lovely pic of her:



(She's not happy with this. Quote "Anything taken on our trips is clearly bad news")

Stunning Beaches

One of our first weekends in Salalah, we went to one of the beaches nearby, and they are just stunning! They are really isolated and foggy, due to the monsoon climate.
Unfortunately, we can't actually swim in the water, which is just a tease. We can look at the water, we can put our feet in the water, but that's about it. This is because of the monsoon climate, which creates really terrible undertow, and they told us about four times at orientation that we could die. So not wanting to tempt fate, we went to the beaches and played frisbee and soccer, and took lots of pictures of the beaches from which you will now benefit.

They look much more romantic than they really are. In reality, they are just beaches. They are really pretty. But what is a beach really, without swimming in the ocean?

Shopping and Suqs in Salalah

While most of our time is spent at the university in class or in peer facilitation sessions (with Omani students who study here at the University) we do have time to get out around town. I wanted to show you some pictures of what Salalah looks like.

Again, it is a very hard city to get around in by walking. Luckily taxis are cheap and easily available. But taxis are only so useful as the person taking them -- and in our first week or two here, we really didn't have any idea of what was available to do or see here. Unfortunately, we had a tour of Musqat but not Salalah!

Café culture does not exist here like it does in most of the other Middle Eastern countries I've visited. But there are a lot of juice shops and fresh juices such as mango juice here is wonderful!!

Here is a picture of a coconut juice stand right on the beaches here. You just go up and point to what you want, and you can get a 'coconut juice' which is really just a straw stuck in the top of a coconut.

They also sell really yummy bananas and other 'exotic' fruits that I don't know the names of, because we don't really have the equivalent of it (or at least I've never had it in the US).


So the oldest, most famous and most touristy suq (Arabic for marketplace) here in Salalah is called Suq Al-Hafa (funny because our hotel was called "Bayt Al-Hafa" which means Hafa House) as well, even though they were in completely different neighborhoods.

So one night we went out to explore Suq Al-Hafa. This is where they sell lots of traditional hats and dresses as well as traditional Frankinsence incense and traditional sweets.

Here is a picture of a traditional shop in the interior of the suq....can you read the sign?

It says "Perfume and Incense Shop"

You can also see the next shop, which is a man (not Oman of course, but Southeast Asian or Indian -- a topic for another day) at a sweet corn shop -- its just sweet corn, but seasoned with vinegar and butter.


I have another picture of a street in Salalah -- so you can see all the cloth that is for sale in this neigborhood.

I already wrote about the traditional outerwear, but innerwear (under the Abaya) is really quite different! It's very colorful (bordering on tacky) and very loose fitting and robe-like.

Here is a picture of all the cloth for sale in one shop, and another of a typical street:

Onward to Salalah! (صلالة)

After our orientation in Musqat, we came to Salalah, in the south of Oman. (We flew -- its about an hour flight). Salalah is the biggest city in the south of Oman, and gets much larger in the summer, with the influx of huge numbers of tourists here to visit during the Khareef -- the name for the Monsoon Season here.

It is the capital of the southern Dhofar region of Oman, and borders Yemen!

So even though Salalah is the second largest city in Oman, the population as of the 2005 census was only 178,469.


Here is a map of Oman showing where Salalah is.


You can also see its strategic placement, close to the other Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE) and right across the Gulf of Oman from Iran!

Pictures and stories of Salalah to follow!

Quick History Lesson

Question of the Day: Why do Omanis love Sultan Qaboos so much?

First, let me explain the extent to which Omanis love the Sultan -- they really love him, they really do say nothing bad about him, they really do credit him with creating a modern nation, and his name is on every building and street. I would liken Sultan Qaboos to Mohammed V in Morocco.

One interesting note is that I opened the newspaper today, and on one page alone (4 different advertisements for banks, a total of 4 pictures of the Sultan, one in each ad...the same was found on every page of the newspaper -- each page overflowing with pictures of the Sultan)

They say its because before he 'ascended the thrown' Oman wasn't a real country. So, before 1970, the Sultan Qaboos's father was Sultan, but he was completely against modernization.

Public education wasn't provided. Omani's couldn't really leave Oman to travel or study abroad. Electricity was not allowed. They didn't have anything really -- no infrastructure, social services, etc.

But Sultan Qaboos was educated abroad in England and learned the ways of the modern world and so in 1970, with support from inside, he staged a non-violent coup and ousted his father, who was exiled abroad.

In fact yesterday was the 38th anniversary of the day of the (what we could call coup), but was called (with complete sincerity) "Renaissance Day" here.

It is true -- in the past 38 years, the country has been revolutionized -- schools, roads, modern facilities, tourism, technology, tons of Southeast Asian immigration, and of course -- OIL! (النفط)

ُThese and more will be the topic of blog updates to come!

(That's him above...in his official royal garb...kind of weird for a national leader to look like he's wearing silk pajamas doesn't it? Oh, that sword is called a khanjar... pretty cool, huh?)

Big Fancy Mosque in Musqat

So one day of our orientation we visit the biggest and fanciest Mosque in Musqat.


I forgot the name of this mosque -- and I ask my friend Kristen and she gives me a strange look, because of course there is only one thing this mosque could actually be called -- how could I forget!

Sultan Qaboos Mosque. Everything is named after the Sultan here.

So here are some touristy pictures of the mosque. I will go into the history of Oman a little in the next post so you can understand why everything is named after him here.


The picture above is me outside the mosque in an Abaya and head scarf.

This is a picture of our little tourist group -- kind of awkard -- but nice.


The inside of the mosque is very fancy and tries to incorporate all the different styles of Arab mosques into its interior (quite intense and very ornate!)

While the mosque is most certainly beautiful, it lacks a little "je ne sais quoi" in my opinion -- mainly because it was built in the 1970s -- I mean isn't what makes the Alhambra and Al-Qaraaine in Fes so special is that they are so old and you know they were built by hand with expert craftsmen instead of modern technology?

More pics...

English and Silly Stuff!

English is the second language here -- but in general English language levels are still very weak (at least to a native speaker's ears). In fact, I would say that Moroccans tend to have much better pronunciation, if not better overall mastery of the language as well. Omanis have an incredibly difficult time with distinguishing between 'b' and 'p' -- and in fact my Arabic teacher who has a PhD in Arabic-English translation and lived in Britain for years, still has trouble with that (even though he is Syrian).


I think learning French and the presence of lots of languages in Morocco is good for Moroccans' pronunciation. So, here is a fun thing we noticed at the hotel where our orientation was being held a sign for a beauty saloon....unfortunately misspelled....


(It says Beauty Saloon, in case you can't see!)

Typical Omani Dress

Typical Omani dress is still very traditional. It is still very traditional -- men wear a white long one-piece outfit called a "dishdasha" and women wear a black long gown called an "abaya". Almost all the Omanis I've seen here wear traditional dress unless they are playing sports or something.

Almost all women I've seen cover their hair as well, though some in Musqat do not, but in Salalah all do.

An Overview of Muscat in Pitures

When we first arrived into Musqat, the capital of Oman, it was hotter than I've ever been! It was over 100 even at night. Musqat is a beautiful city, but the heat stifled my ability to enjoy it. Really. Also, it is also a hard city to access because there is no public transportation, and it is hard to walk around the city. Impossible really, because neighborhoods are so spread out only connected by networks of highways -- think any US suburb or LA-esque.

I have some pictures of streets in Musquat to show you what it looks like. These pictures are from our first hotel. Our hotel was nothing special, but it was in a nice neighborhood with lots of juice shops, and old suq and Internet cafés nearby.

Another great thing is that it was easily walkable even at night -- past midnight.
Here is a lovely picture of Musqat from the hotel -- you can see the stunning pictures of mountains in the background and the contrast with the white buildings of the city.

The mountains in Musqat really are goregeous, they help frame the city.

Backtracking in Oman

I know I am starting late here, but I wanted to provide easily accessible pictures with commentary for my fans. (hehe)

So, I am going to retrace my steps.