Muscat, Oman

So on Thursday we FINALLY got our internet (and cable) connected! I am very excited and so I thought I would post some pictures from our trip to Muscat.

We really had a great weekend in the capital of the Sultanate of Oman -- Muscat. For those rusty on their Middle Eastern geography, Oman is the country bordering the UAE on the east. Jared and I went to the Musandam Peninsula of Oman when he lived in Dubai before and I visited in March 2008, but we had never been to the mainland of lower Oman before. It is about a 5-6 hour drive from Dubai, and we went with our friend and Jared's work colleague, Melissa, and her friend Simona.

We arrived on Saturday, September 19th at about 2pm in the afternoon, after fighting traffic (the drivers in Oman were even more crazy than the drivers in Dubai... hopefully it was just because they were hungry from their fast since we were there during the last couple days of Ramadan, the month during which Muslims fast during daylight hours) and finding and checking into our hotel.

Once we were settled, we decided to head to the Crown Plaza Hotel, which is located on the coast and has a beautiful beach area, which you can pay to use if you aren't a hotel guest. It was low tide and the beach area in front of the hotel spread for about 200 yards in front of us, with a couple giant puddles created by sand bars. We swam in the Gulf of Oman and relaxed on the beach and in the pool for a couple hours and decided to stay and have dinner at the hotel. During the month of Ramadan, most restaurants have huge buffet dinners every night that are a mix of Arabic, Indian, Asian, and Western Food. The Iftar buffets are for the Muslims to break their fast from the day, but also delightful for non-Muslim westerners like us to pig out (especially since in Oman and the UAE no one can eat in public during the day during Ramadan, so getting to eat openly is kind of novel).

After dinner we decided to go to the Mutrah Souq, which is a huge traditional covered Arabic outdoor market. They sell a combination of antiques, Indian and Omani artifats, textiles, hardware, gold, and even goats! Yes, goats are pretty much everywhere wondering around in Oman. The souq was the most authentic I've been to because the locals actually shop there and it gets busiest after dark. So we walked around the souq for awhile, but didn't actually do any shopping because it was so hot and crowded. Afterwards, we drove around for a while and got a bit of a driving tour of Muscat while looking for a Sheesha cafe (no alcohol was being served anywhere in Muscat due to Ramadan, so there were no bars to go to).

On Sunday, 9/20, we woke up bright and early and had the free breakfast our hotel (the Hala Hotel) was offering. It was mostly different weird Indian dishes, so I stuck to toast and corn flakes (with warm milk) and some fruit. We wanted to go to the Grand Mosque, which is open for two hours daily to non-Muslims. It's a huge Mosque the the Sultan built to celebrate his 30th year ruling. Things did not go as planned, however, since apparently Oman is much more conservative than Dubai. We had read that we were supposed to dress conservatively so all the girls wore either long skirts and pants (I had capris on) and pashmina scarves to cover our heads. Since it was about 95 degrees though, we were all wearing short sleeve shirts and just planning on covering our arms with the scarves. Jared was wearing a t-shirt and khaki shorts. The workers at the front door took one look at us and told us, rather rudely, that we were "not welcome." They seemed to take issue with the fact that my ankles were exposed (so revealing!) and that Jared was wearing shorts. However, as they were rejecting us, some guy walked in next to us wearing the exact same outfit as Jared. Kind of disappointing, but I guess we learned our lesson. That was my first real brush in with how conservative the Middle East can be.

So we decided to cut our losses and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which also has a beautiful beach and pool area right on the Gulf of Oman that you can pay to use if you're not staying at the hotel. So we hung out at the pool (the Inter Con had a chill pool, unlike the Crown Plaza. The weather is so hot here, that if the pool isn't chilled it's like bath water and not refreshing at all) and also swam in the Gulf again. The sand was so hot it was burning Jared and my feet so we had to run to and from the resort area into the water. We relaxed at the pool for most of the afternoon (we were smart enough to stop at the super market beforehand though to get some food to covertly eat for lunch since none of the hotel restaurants were really open during daylight hours). We didn't really want to have another buffet dinner so Jared and I decided to go for a little walk and explore the area around the hotel to see what other options there might be for dinner.

We found this great little shopping plaza directly next door to the hotel that had a Dunkie's and a Starbuck's, and even a DQ! We were quite excited because there were also a bunch of cute little restaurants (Pizza Express, Costa, a small Italian restaurant) and also just a kind of general cafe called D'Arcy's with burgers, sandwiches, and soup. There was also a shop called the Omani Heritgage Gallery that sold traditional Omani handicrafts and supported local artisans. So, around sundown (when the fast was getting ready to break), we all packed up at the Inter Con and headed back to the shopping plaza. All of the beaches in Muscat are open to the public and in front of the shopping plaza there was a beautiful public beach where we watched the sunset. Then I did some shopping at the Omani Heritage Village to buy some pottery and gifts to put away for Christmas and we had dinner at D'Arcy's. Nothing special, but nice to have western food instead of Arabic buffet. After dinner we headed to an Arabic cafe within the plaza for Turkish coffee and Sheesha (for Jared, Melissa, and Simona) and Moroccan Tea for me. It was really relaxing and after we finished we took a long walk on the beach in the dark.

Monday, 9/21was Eid in Oman (it was a couple days earlier in Dubai because each country has their own "Moon Committee" to decide when the holiday should fall), so we started the day with breakfast at the hotel again before checking out. We planned to go to the Fish Souq (giant outdoor fish market) but because of Eid absolutely everything in Muscat was closed (it's kind of like their Christmas Day). We still walked around the Souq area and got to see the Sultan's yacht which was docked in the harbor and chatted with some young Omani boys for a couple minutes. We also decided to check out the Sultan's Palace and then go back to the shopping plaza we had dinner at the night before for some coffee on the beach before hitting the road.

It was a really wonderful and relaxing weekend and just really nice to get out of Dubai for a couple days. Jared and I liked it so much that we're hoping to go back to Muscat again soon... Maybe we'll take someone when they come to visit.... (hint hint... start planning your trips people, we want visitors!)