Salalah – Day 3

We woke up Friday morning and headed off only to find a slight malfunction in our four wheel drive. The only remedy was to exchange it. After this two hour delay we began our drive toward Wadi Darbat.

Outside Salalah there are fruit stands lining the streets. We decided to patronize one. I failed to mention the acres and acres of orchards growing various types of bananas, mangos, coconuts, date palms, and multiple other fruits. The fruit man was kind to let our banana-lover have a sample.
He convinced the others to have a coconut. It was interesting to watch him whack off the top and stick a straw in.
It was also interesting to watch their reaction. They were all very polite though. The general consensus (once we got in the car) : It was okay. Not our favorite. I think we spoiled ones are used to chilled milk and I don’t think he had any chilled coconuts available. In the monsoon months of July through September the wadis of Oman are green and lush with many waterfalls. Unfortunately we missed that period. We can imagine that was the time of year Lehi’s family arrived which would convincingly have earned this region the name Bountiful. Apparently in this wadi grew many trees used as lumber for building ships. You can see Nephi's harbor here behind the kids.
We drove around the wadi and found many camels. We had come prepared again with apples. Dano tried again to entice some camels. A few turned up their snouts. He convinced one to smell it and once she did, he jammed it in her mouth.
No, I’m kidding, but that’s what it looks like. I was just waiting to catch the picture of him getting spat on in his attempts. I guess camels don’t spit as much as we thought. She seemed pleased with his offering.Around these camels we drove up to a cave. Unfortunately because I was trying to convince Dano not to make the very steep ascent (the sound of popping tires was just too fresh in my mind) I didn’t get a picture of the open cave. He and the three bigger kids hiked up to the cave. He came down after realizing there was a place to turn around up in the cave. I can’t say enough times how glad I am to have a husband who knows how to drive very well in a variety of conditions. This trip was also a good way to show the kids the importance of learning to drive a stick. We made the steep climb without trouble (although my eyes were mostly closed), but we made it to the top. It was an amazing cave with many crevices, and stalactites and stalagmites forming. There were also smaller caves to be explored. Erin demonstrated from her perch what some of her Egyptian friends have taught her.
As we drove on we saw some beehives tucked under a rock. We had heard about Omani honey and its great value and had kept our eyes out for bees. Omani honey ranks among some of the world’s finest and most expensive. Omanis believe it is a wholesome and nutritious food. I have wondered about that myself as I have many times considered John the Baptist whose food was locusts and wild honey. I’ve wondered if it could have some type of healing or rebuilding effect on our bodies. Some of the Omani apiarists I’ve read about lived beyond one hundred years.Would you believe as we drove further through the valley we passed by more camels? Ethan thought he’d like to try to feed one. Our girls were a little too chicken. (That’s okay. Their mom was, too. I still think they spit…and not just slime…big loogies! No thanks!) Ethan succeeded and came back elated and saliva-free. Only in Oman would we have seen camels, goats, cows, and donkeys all on the same road. I thought we took a picture of it but couldn’t find it. Cows in Arabia are mostly only found in Oman and we saw a lot of them during our week here. It was like being back in Oklahoma.

There was still some water remaining from the monsoon and some green. There were some trees growing in quite opposing conditions…terrific examples of adversity. I’m not sure how these trees stay alive when their roots are wrapped in and around rocks. They’re just amazing.
We saw these signs anywhere we saw water, except the sea. And everywhere we saw the sign we saw people swimming in the water. Dano thinks with the literacy rate being low perhaps people can’t read the sign which makes me sad. When we got home I looked up bilharziasis. It’s not a pretty disease. Kennedy had to stop my reading aloud when I got to the part of the parasite producing between 300 and 3000 eggs per day and what they fed on. Oh, and wouldn’t you think defecating in the water would be prohibited just because it’s disgusting and not just to control the infection?! As it was New Year’s Eve we had a nice dinner at the hotel and hoped for a fun night of games. However, the men in our family couldn’t make it past about nine o’clock.
Abby conked out sometime around then as well. So, Kennedy, Erin and I rang in the New Year playing a fun, new game Erin got for Christmas called Rat-a-Tat Cat and eating smarties and some coveted candy pumpkins I’ve saved from my Halloween stash. It’s fun to say that for the third time we have begun a new year in a different country. Maybe that’s a new tradition we’ll have. That could prove to be a difficult (and expensive) one to keep…

Salalah-Nephi’s Harbor

On Thursday morning we left and drove to the ancient city of Sumhuram. It was built around the 3rd century BC and remained one of the most vital trading ports in the region for nearly eight hundred years. It was great to roam through the ruins and see the floor plans they had that depicted living areas, storage areas, work area. (Thank you, Pat and Vanna.)
It sits just up from a harbor. This particular harbor is one that LDS scholars believe is Nephi’s harbor. Again, for those not familiar with the Book of Mormon, a couple of entries ago I mentioned the family of Lehi and the valley of Lemuel. Nephi was also a son of Lehi. After traveling for eight years this family reached a land they called Bountiful. After much research, scholars believe the Dhofar region of Oman is that area. While here, Nephi constructed a ship which would take them to what is now the Americas. These scholars also believe it was in this harbor down from Sumhuram that Nephi built that ship.
Dano and the kids wanted to hike both sides of the harbor’s promontory rocks. We thought it would be best for Abby and Emily not to make the hike as the cliffs are steep at the top. Dano tried to get us as close to the beach as he could. Unfortunately he got us a little too close and we ended up deep in the fine sand. Here the Lister kids would get a lesson in how to get a car out of the sand. We all took a wheel and started digging. Dano got back in, we pushed, and the car lunged forward. We repeated digging, pushing, lunging; digging, pushing, lunging until the car (thankfully) got out of the sand. We had again been in a place where I don’t know where we would have found anyone to help us out.

Abby, Emily, and I walked along the beautiful beach wading in the surf and picking up seashells whilst Dano and the kids hiked up the rock. We also found footprints belonging to a desert cat native to the area which is similar to a lynx. It didn’t take too long before we heard them hollering down to us from atop the rock.
They looked around, snapped some shots, and hiked back down. Can you find me and Abby on the beach?
After hanging out on the beach for a little bit we drove around to the other promontory rock.
As we drove down the gravelly road, that Lister Luck set in again and POP! Out went our back left tire. Thank goodness we had our spare. Dano, Kennedy, and Ethan began to change it only to find the key described in the owner’s manual to release the spare was non-existent. With no way to get the spare down we could only wait for help to come. (I really need to take pictures of these moments of debilitation.)

We walked over and watched a flock of flamingos that inhabits the area during certain times of the year. Who would have thought?
With still more time, Dano and the kids decided to continue with their second climb.
At the top they discussed the story of Laman and Lemuel threatening to throw Nephi from the cliffs. This could have been his view of nature's fury. A little unsettling. (Another reason I didn't care to make the hike with the little girls.)
We have considered ourselves very blessed to have the opportunity to visit these sites which bring the scriptures to life.

We waited two hours for the man from the rental car company to find us. Well, actually Dano had to go to the main road to find him. When he arrived he began to change the tire. Dano told him he needed a key to release the spare tire. He told him no, that was on a different car. We showed him the owner’s manual (with the cover torn off). Sure enough, it belonged to a different model and had just been tossed into the car to claim there was one in it. I think it was the Tootsie Pops that made it more of a jovial situation. How can you be upset about anything when you’re sucking on a Tootsie Pop? Dano and his assistants secured the tires and we headed home alongside the beach and another Omani sunset. Have I mentioned how beautiful Oman is?

Salalah – Day 1

We stayed in a beach chalet at a new, beautiful Marriott resort about forty kilometers east of Salalah in the little town of Mirbat. Our villa was right on the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful, peaceful location. Our family has come to the conclusion that we absolutely love the beach and all its tranquility. Ethan and Abby woke up early to comb the beach for seashells and play in the water.
Our first stop was up the mountainside to see what is purportedly Job’s tomb. Lebanon and Turkey also claim to have a tomb belonging to this great prophet of the Old Testament. A small building has been built over the grave and a mosque has been built next to the building. It was a quiet, reverent spot. We removed our shoes upon entering. You can see from the picture the space was small and mostly occupied by the neatly enshrouded grave. (I was so curious to know what exactly is underneath that green cloth and really wanted to lift it for a peek.) Other notables in the room were a pot of burning frankincense, some intricately engraved verses from the Quran, and a family tree illustrating the origins of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all stemming back to Abraham.

After visiting with some very nice German tourists we drove back down the mountain. Abigail had brought an apple with her which she had nearly finished. We told her she could give the remainder to a camel as we had seen many on our drive. We pulled off amongst a fair size caravan of camels. Dano took Abby and they ventured over to find the lucky one who'd get the tasty treat. The first one rejected it. He didn't know what he was missing. The next one smelled it and then to our collective delight, took it and ate it. I'm still not sure if he even chewed it.
He then posed while Dano took some pictures. He just couldn't decide which which was his best side.

We drove on to Ayn Razat. “Ayn” is Arabic for cave. It wasn’t a huge cave, as the kids were hoping for a spectacular hike, but it was fun, nonetheless and the scenery was nice.

This is the view from the cave.

We visited the site of a very large sinkhole, Tawi Atair. It measures 140 meters by 100 meters and is 211 meters deep. Since I am still familiarizing myself with measuring in meters, that’s the equivalent of a sixty-story building or better yet, imagine the Empire State Building plus another hundred feet. That’s deep! They don’t allow you get very close to the edge so it was hard to get a great shot of the immense depth of this monstrous hole.
The kids loved this towel puppy they found when we returned to our villa. We obviously had a very talented hotel maid and Abby’s puppy had a new friend. However, this required extra towels for our room for the week as no one could bring themselves to unfold the room mascot.

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?!

Christmas and a Tradition Kept

We woke up Christmas morning and Santa had made it through the desert to find our home. Erin had informed us that one of her friends had informed her that here where there are no fireplaces people leave a key in the front door for Santa to use. We teased them about all the thieves out there-to which it was suggested we hide the key under the mat and leave a note on the door hinting where to find the key…for all the honest thieves? Alas, this is precisely what we did. Our villa is adjacent to the security gate so we thought we’d be okay. All was well and everyone was quite pleased with what Santa left.

This year we had no Christmas parties to go to, no Christmas concerts to attend. We did no caroling. We didn’t decorate a nature’s Christmas tree and read The Night Tree. There were no bell ringers to give coins to. We weren’t able to make gingerbread houses. There were no angel trees, clothing drives, or food pantries to give to. We had nowhere to drive around to see Christmas lights. There were no Toys for Tots drop-off locations. These are just some of the traditions we missed this year. However, since I was a young girl our family has always had cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. For many years now we have also taken cinnamon rolls to our local firemen on Christmas morning before opening our presents. We have loved this tradition. When we arrived in Saudi early last January and realized we would probably have to abandon this tradition, we were quite sad. First of all, there are virtually no fire stations. Second, they would not appreciate receiving sweets for Christmas the way our firemen had. I thought about this from time to time. About October I recalled Dano mentioning he’d learned there were Marines at the Jeddah U.S. Consulate. That was the answer I’d been hoping for. Dano made the necessary contacts and we were warmly welcomed Christmas morning. We visited with just a few of the Marines stationed here. We we excited to hear there was one from Columbus, but he had had night duty and was sleeping. They were so friendly and kind. The kids loved talking with them and the special coins the Marines gave them. We have a special place in our hearts for those who protect our country and keep us safe. This was a terrific substitution for our wonderful firemen and allowed us to keep one of our favorite Christmas traditions.
When we returned home, the kids had a great time opening their presents.

I think Kennedy loves her collection of Lois Lowry books.

Abby gives a cheer for Ethan’s book (which he finished in two days).

Erin contemplates what she’ll write first with her lettering and stencil book.

Abby just can’t believe it all. Christmas is magical.