As salama alaykum (hello) from Oman. I love this place!! In Muscat now, the capital. Oman is another country that doesn't encourage budget/backpacker travellers. I was a bit apprehensibve about where I was going to stay and spent lots of time trying to research while I was in Dubai. After not being able to get on the couchsurfing.com website due to it being restricted (for religious/cultural reasons - geez a bit of sleeping on couches of people you don't know isn't bad is it?) I spent a bit of time on Lonely Planet's Thorntree. And met the FANTASTIC Ted and Janine, Brits who live in Oman. They offered me accommodation in their flat!!!

So left Dubai on Saturday in an early taxi to the bus stop for the 7:30 am bus. Lucky I got there early as it left at 7:15 (which it always does, according to the photocopy shop-bus ticket man). Was a peaceful journey through the desert: large sand dunes, tufty bushes, then some flat-topped Acacia trees (made famous from African documentaries). Me and an older Scottish bloke were the only 'Westerners' on the bus. Unfortunately (but interestingly) we were delayed at the UAE-Oman border due to a bloke having some Arabic books confiscated - religious, political? Don't know. But he had some long chats with the border guards and police.
Town in the mountains near the border post.

The bus at the border post (the 'Dubai demountable')

Got into Ruwi (one part of the very spread-out city that is Muscat) about 2pm and I got a lift closer to Ted and Janine's from the Scottish man. Ted picked me up and we went back to his flat and we chatted about travel, life, work etc. before Janine got home and we all went out to dinner. They have really looked after me. Another night we went to the 'Al Bustan', a 6* hotel, and I had the best Pina Colada I have ever tasted! Sadly, it's being closed for 9mths or so to be refurbished by the Sultan - crazy! as it is immaculate!!!

The next day, Janine and I visited the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It is huge and everything is very beautifully designed (as you can see from the carvings in the archways below). Apparently the carpet in the mosque is the biggest single carpet in the world. The areas around the mosque were lovely too - lots of mosaics deliberately done in different styles from different regions eg. India, Turkey.
The Grand Mosque terraces

Inside the mosque - giant and exquisite chandelier as well as intricate tiling on the roof. Very impressive.

Excellent pina coladas at the Al Bustan.

Drinks with Janine and Ted and friends (Ballber and Dave) at Pavo's where there was a brilliant singer-guitarist.

The Muttrah Souk (market/bazaar), down by the water, described by Lonely Planet as one of the best in the Middle East, was great fun to visit. The cup of tea I had for 60c (with a piece of cake) was the best!! Milky and sweet. I didn't buy anything from these markets but did visit another small market in a shopping centre and scored a whole bunch of silver off an Indian bloke for REALLY cheap. He said he was so generous because he'd had some big sales that day from a couple of yanks who didn't bargain at all.

I also visited the Natural History museum and learned a bit more about the desert in Oman. The Arabic Oryx, which was almost extinct (down to 28 in a breeding program in the early 80s), has now been bred up a bit and there are wild populations roaming again. The latest estimate is about 250 individuals. It was also interesting to see how many of the mountains in Oman are oceanic sediments - this is because the oceanic tectonic plate that Oman rides on, clashed with the next one and rose above it, rather than sinking below which usually happens. So you can find shells and things up in the mountains.
This is what an oryx looks like (very realistic Natural History Museum display) The Museum also has a full skeleton of a pilot whale that washed up on a nearby beach...

After the museum I met up with Ted (after he finished work) and we went for a drive over the hills, south to Seefa Beach. I was great to see the traditional village lifestyle. Groups of people relaxing and chatting together on colourful mats, while the sun set. Kids running around and playing games while the call to prayer echoed out over the village. We got so many ways and beautiful smiles. We made it to the beach just as it was getting dark, there was no one around at all. We tried to coax a few hermit crabs to race each other but they weren't really interested. They must have been happy with their beachly serenity :)

An estuary we passed along the way. Happy to report lots of wading birds.

The view out the windscreen in the Seefa village.

The mountains behind Muscat, at the beginning of our drive.

Kiddies playing.

This morning I went to the fish market at about 7am. I was the only woman there and got quite a few stares, however a lot of the older blokes were lovely, smiling and saying 'good morning'. It was all hustle and bustle, spirited bargaining, fast-moving wheelbarrow drivers, blood and guts, huge tuna and some still-flipping reef fish. One taxi driver I had said that when there's an overstock of fish you can get 25kg for 5 Real (about $17 AUD). After that, I went for a walk along the (recently-built) esplanade and watched a few blokes being rather successful catching mullet and some blue reef fish with only bread on their hooks.

I was enjoying my stroll on my lonesome when I attracted the 'kindness' of an African-Omani. He was nice to talk to but when I told him I liked walking alone he insisted he come with me. In the end, I said I wanted to go up to the fort for a look. I knew that noone is allowed in the fort but my guide managed to talk our way into the fort, so that was good. After saying goodbye to him it was time for a juice before heading back to Ted and Janine's for their party!

The Esplanade - lots of seagulls fly around as there are always people feeding them. Note the fort in the background.

View over the Muscat harbour from the top of the fort.

Pics from the fish market:

Big fish coming in on trucks. The bargaining begins in the carpark even before the fish have been loaded onto wheelbarrows for transport into the market building.

One of the highly-skilled filleters. Apparently you can buy a whole fish then take it to a filleter to get it ready for you.

The negotiations are hot. Would love to know how much Napisan they need to clean those rugs...

I have spent a bit of time relaxing on Ted and Janine's roof at sunset and the sound of the traffic is the most obvious - predominantly car horns. So much beeping goes on and there are many different rythmic patterns, like the drivers are having morse-code conversations. And if I got $10 for every time someone (taxi or otherwise) beeped at me, I would be very, very rich!!!! I ended up doing a very strange walk where I avoided looking at the traffic while doing an almost-constant shaking of the head and 'No' wave of the hand automatically without thinking about it. People walking is a real oddity because the summer gets so hot, and a single person of the female variety is even more odd :)

The view from Ted and Janine's place. Bonus points to anyone that can spot the group of men sitting in the carpark who were there every night! They arrive about dusk and stay to after 9pm I think, just smoking and chatting, sitting on their carpet, different men coming and going.