Sorry for the long delay in getting this posted! We have been busy at the office getting ready for our next tours coming up - Iran, the Caucasus, a private group going to Morocco, clients on independent tours to Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and more. And Maha is in Egypt right now - I have a post from her that is going to be entered next! - Brenda
Monday March 12th
Today is the last day in Muscat and there is a lot to do and see
before we leave. We start out early this
morning at 7:30am and go straight to the Big Mosque, built by his Royal
Highness Sultan Qaboos. It is about a 20
minute drive from our hotel. The rules
to go into the mosque are more restrictive than most. Before getting on to the property of the
mosque, women need to have their arms, legs, and hair completely covered. No hair showing at all, no short sleeves -
the sleeve of your shirt need to come down to your wrist. Once you get to the door and the guard sees
that hair or skin is showing he is able to turn you away.
The mosque is beautiful but not elaborately ornate.
The dome is made from gold and the marble has
been brought in from Italy.
The mosque can accommodate 20,000 people at one time.
The carpet was made in Iran and weighs over 27 tons, and
covers the floor of the prayer room. The driver, who is Yemeni, said he prayed
there only once since he kept looking around at everything that was there and
you should not do that when praying.
I
had a discussion with some of the guides outside the mosque while the group
toured around, asking them questions about marriage, etc. There is no civil marriage in Oman, most
Omanis do marry someone from their own country.
A couple of drivers knew Omanis that went out of the country and fell in
love but with other Arabs in Morocco
or Syria,
etc.
They talked about watching TV and seeing the American
stations and how families lived, and about divorce and the fighting and what
happens to the kids. This is the
impression they have of us. The
discussion went on about the age of the person when they get married is about
18 for the girl and older for the man.
If he finds a younger girl he is interested in he will tell his family
and they will talk to her family and say they are interested but will wait
until she is old enough for the marriage.
The average price that is given is 4,000 riyals and it can go up
depending on the family wealth, but it will not be less. If for some reason the woman wants to get a
divorce and is able to prove he is not good or something they will get divorced
and she or her family will need to repay 50 percent of the price they were
given.
When the group came back I discussed this with them and they
asked questions, it was a good conversation. After the visit to the mosque we
were rushed to the port for dolphin watching. We drove to the Marina to embark on a search for dolphins and
we found them - beautiful coastline and clear blue waters with a variety of
fish and other sea life here.
Oman
is a blend of the old and new and it has done very well with the architecture incorporating
all of this. While on the sea we were
able to see the city skyline and also the rugged mountain range that come right
to he city walls. The city builders built right next to the mountains so you
have the jagged mountains blended with the Islamic architecture of white stucco
buildings.
We went after this to the Bai Al Zubai museum which shows
you the traces of Omani history and development. I remember the first time I came here, it was
about 10 ears ago, and there was a small city and the center was near the marina
and the fish markets- now it has spread so wide and far, and a bigger
population, and new industries.
Took the group to the souk, which is ok but it is mostly run
by Indians and Pakistanis, rather than Omanis.
If you have traveled in the Middle East before you will be somewhat disappointed
with the markets here – they are not like Syria,
Egypt, or even Turkey, but for
the first time visitor it is a good introduction to bargaining and seeing the
buildings of the covered souks and the small alley ways. There are a lot of
different buildings and some old homes inside, and you do need to wander around
to see them.
Still one more visit to a hotel before we leave for the
airport. We were invited to the Grand
Hyatt and also had a hosted dinner at the property- very nice and upscale. They tried to incorporate Middle Eastern
design and also North African in this place.
They had a meeting of Ministers so a metal detector was brought in to
check people at the door, otherwise Muscat is a very safe city and this is not
normal to have these in the hotels - first time that we saw this in Oman and
also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
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It is 2:30am and our driver and guide are downstairs to take
the group to the airport. This is still the old airport but there are plans on
the walls of what they are planning to do for a future airport. The flight is 45 minutes only to Dubai and then you get to
this incredible new airport with masses of people from all nationalities and so
many different languages being spoken.
It is a huge shopping mall - everything you heart can want is available
- almost too much that you just want to find a spot to hang out in and get away
from the mobs.
Our flight is almost empty we have only 82 reservations in
economy class and a full business class - I decided to spread out on the four
middle seats and just sleep. The 15 hour flight to Seattle was not as bad as I thought since I
was able to relax. One of the people in
the group mentioned that each flight attendant was more beautiful then the next. It seems that we are back in the days of PanAm,
where you had to be a certain size and look and weight, etc. They were all so
pleasant and so accommodating to the passengers. Also, the trip back had a number of languages
spoken - I think it was about 8. Now to sleep and I will wake up in beautiful Seattle. I was told it snowed there so I am looking
forward to the cold after the heat of the Arabian Peninsula.
