On to Oman

The day after Christmas we left on our trip to Oman. We had spoken with my parents and other people who have visited Oman so we were really anticipating this trip. We had a three-hour evening flight to Muscat. It was Emily’s first flight and was quite uneventful. Air Oman had a little infant belt that strapped through mine and around her. It was cute at first but then somewhat cumbersome to a little baby who wants to move positions.
I think she was the best little traveler. (And this could quite possibly be the cutest passport picture ever.)There were a few glitches with the rental car which took about two hours to resolve. Ethan didn’t seem to mind. Abby used the time running circles around the chairs and being silly.
As it was nearly midnight and it didn’t seem to be bothering anybody, I tried not to let it bother me.
We were finally assigned a car, stuffed Ethan and Erin in with the luggage, and headed to our hotel.
We all slept soundly…for about six hours and were up by seven. It was so nice to be in a country where Christmas is permissible. We loved the Christmas scene in the hotel lobby. Muscat was such a beautiful and clean city. I had no idea what to expect. They take such care in their landscaping. I think they could possibly be the petunia capital of the world. They must have millions and millions of petunias. It was hard to not feel happy driving around.

Our first stop was the Grand Mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world. It was inaugurated by the Sultan in 2001.
Unlike the Blue Mosque in Turkey, Kennedy and I had to wear our abayas and be completely covered to enter this mosque. Unfortunately Kennedy and I had forgotten our hijabs (head scarves) at home. Fortunately the tiny shop in the mosque courtyard sold some which were more like one step up from glittered tissue paper; but they allowed us entrance to the mosque. The mosque was beautifully designed with great attention to detail.
It contains the second largest hand woven rug in the world which you can kind of see here behind the kids. It is made of 1.7 billion knots and took six hundred women four years to complete. Can you imagine the blisters?!
Hanging from the dome in the prayer hall is a very large Swarovski crystal chandelier which weighs eight tonnes and has 600,000 crystals.
Only Dano, Kennedy, and Ethan were able to go in as the age limit is ten (although they kindly allowed Ethan in). The grounds were also beautiful and peaceful to walk around. We had to be quick, though, as the mosque is only opened to non-Muslims until 11:00 a.m.

We were preparing to venture out for a long drive in the desert (surprise, surprise) to find some great wadis (valleys) to hike through. We suggested to each of the children that they use the bathroom (I know, here we go again...)before we left the mosque. Dano and Ethan headed toward to men’s and Kennedy, Erin, and Abby headed toward the women’s. Abby came out quite quickly and I asked Kennedy if she’d gone. She told me she hadn’t and I asked if there wasn’t a flushing toilet. She told me there was but that Abby didn’t want to use it. What? I explained again that we were headed out to the desert. There would be no potties. It would be a long drive. She should try to go… Nope. So she stood and waited with Emily and me. I stood just people-watching around the courtyard. After only a minute or so I turned to say something to Abby and found her pants down, squatting beside me right there in the courtyard of the Sultan’s mosque. In a mere week she had become a little too comfortable with her outdoor potty usage. I took no time looking to see if anyone was watching or noticed. Luckily I was wearing an abaya. I instinctively flared it out to form a screen, told her this was not the time or the place, and helped her pull up her pants. Thankfully I caught her before she defiled the Grand Mosque.

From the mosque we headed out west of Muscat to find a couple of wadis (valleys). After driving for a couple of hours we reached Wadi Tiwi. We were surprised to see so many families picnicking along the riverbanks. We drove for about twenty kilometers up a very steep, narrow road passing several tiny villages with homes made of stone typical of what you’d find in a third world country. It really was a fascinating drive alongside a beautiful canyon with great rock formations. We got out to take in the scenic moment…and allow the kids to satisfy their climbing urges. We next drove to Wadi Shab. We didn’t get very deep in this valley as the waters are still too deep to drive through. There weren’t any places to change into our swimsuits so we didn’t wade down and across. It looks easy enough to cross, but what you can’t tell is it very quickly gets waist-deep. However, if we were to have done so, there are great caves at the end of this wadi. The water is such a beautiful turquoise.
We drove on toward Sur passing through Qalhat. We briefly stopped to see the sole remaining building of this once prosperous port. Qalhat was founded in 1100 AD. An earthquake hit the town in the 15th century and then it was ransacked by the Portuguese in 1508 leaving only this demolished mausoleum. Archaeologists have begun research on the site so it was roped off. Very cool ruins. Sur is a nostalgic little city noted for its ship building. It was also a port where much trading was done. For these two reasons it was outfitted with many forts.We watched the sun set behind the Eastern Hajjar mountains. We visited a park where they have displayed the last dhow (boat) built.
These shipbuilders originally built boats of teak wood that contained no metal (ie no nails). The kids enjoyed experimenting on the boats. The next day was rainy so we skipped our boat ride and went straight to the souqs. Some of the souqs were closed due to flooding. We sloshed our way through some of the other souqs and found some great treasures to suit each of our fancies. Here is a little glimpse of a couple shops we liked. I think we’re really getting the souq-shopping-bug. It’s quite fun to peruse these tiny establishments.

After shopping we zipped back to the Muscat airport to catch a flight down to Salalah (isn’t that fun to say?).

We just thought this was a funny sign. What is it for? No Honking as the Neanderthal Crosses the Road?!