Muscat, Oman

Monday, June 25 - Day of the Seafarer

Population: Approx. 4 million with around 1 million in Muscat
Language: Arabic, English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects 
Oman Capital: Muscat
Type of Govt: Absolute Monarchy
Currency: Omani Rial (OMR)... Approx. 3.5 AUD

Muscat is one of the fabled ports of the Near East, a legendary trading centre connecting Europe and Asia since the days of Pliny the Elder.

The harbour is guarded by two 16th century forts and between the old fortresses stands the modern Al Alam Palace.  The official residence of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Palace blends classical and contemporary Islamic architectures.  Vendors still offer Frankincense and Myrrh in the souks while the regal Grand Mosque, completed in 1999, stands as the symbol of contemporary Oman.

The temperatures were predicted to be 38 degrees but were more like 47 degrees!

As this is a working port there was a free shuttle to the Souk which ran all day... we asked to be let off at the Port gate as that is where our tour guide, Muso was meeting us.  The funny thing was we all piled into the shuttle bus as we got off the ship then we drove to a building at the end of the ship where we were all asked to get off the bus and go into a building for scanning.  We basically walked in one door, put our bags through a scanner, walked out the other door and back onto the bus!

We were a group of 4 heading for the Wadi Shab.  Muso picked us up from the port gate as arranged in a very comfortable Toyota Prada for the 90 minute drive to the Wadi.  The landscape was very rocky with large cliffs and mounds of rocks that looked like shale... not much greenery or wildlife anyway.  We did pass a loan camel, some long haired goats and a couple of donkeys.

One arrival at our destination we then walked for about 55 minutes over rocks, up and down rocky outcrops to the water hole where we had a much needed swim.  We rested here for about an hour before the trek back which was slightly easier as it was down hill and there was some shade from the rocks.  At the end there was no pool to cool off in just the air conditioning and a comfortable seat for our 90 minute drive back to the ship.  Our tour included a picnic lunch which would have been nice to have had at the waterhole but instead we had it on the fly trying to balance rice, chicken, curry, salad and a cold drink on our laps while we were speeding down the highway.  We arrived back at the ship in time.... phew!!

An adventurous day was had by all.... approximately 14,000 steps for the day.... a quite day tomorrow for our first day in Dubai.

Photos: arriving into Muscat and our drive to Wadi Shab