Category: Oman

I decided I wanted to go to Lahore, Pakistan, for no particular reason, but for reasons I will deal with in my post on Lahore. The flights from Vancouver to Lahore all required layovers in London, England and Muscat, Oman, so I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to see something of Oman.  I booked a round-trip ticket from Vancouver to London, a one-way ticket to Muscat, a one-way ticket to Lahore, and a one-way ticket from Lahore to London. Not the cheapest way to do things, but I was able to maximize my sights in a nine day trip.

Oman was 100% off my radar until a few years ago when I started looking into it and since then I have been seeing more and more of its as a travel destination. It is on the tip of the Arabian peninsula, next to Yemen and sharing borders with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

It is a rich country (oil), an Islamic monarchy, Arabic speaking nation (though many people in the tourist industries spoke English).  It is known mostly for its beautiful deserts and the architecture of Muscat, which has resisted the urge to build space-age skyscrapers and has preserved its traditional styles.

I did need a visa for Oman, but it was an easy process. Online, not too expensive, and no onerous requirements.  I was approved almost immediately and given a paper to show to immigration on arrival.  Landing at the airport, there was a huge queue of people waiting to go through immigration.  The estimate was about 2 hours.  This did not work for me, as it was 7 am and I wanted to get to the Grand Mosque before to it closed to non-Muslims at 11am. Wonderfully, there was an express immigration line that was open to anyone who was willing to pay 8 Omani Rial (OMR). This is not cheap, but it was worth every penny in my opinion.  Minutes later I was walking to the taxi rank.

Here is the thing that is not great about Muscat: The city and the things a tourist is going to want to see is quite spread out.  There is no metro.  There are buses, which are pretty cheap and quite good, but the routes are seldom direct, so they are not fast. This means that if you are short on time, taxis are necessary and they are not cheap.  My taxi from the airport to my hotel in Muttrah was about $36 CDN.

Muscat has all of the comforts you could want and there are very posh neighbourhoods. There are gorgeous mosques everywhere.  Whenever I was in a taxi, I ached to photograph the delicate, colorful mosques that zipped by the window.  Many of them built by rich men looking for prestige and religious favour.

I was staying in Muttrah, which was a great choice.  I stayed at the Nassem Hotel, which is old and uninspired, but it is in an incredible location and it is cheap (by Muscat standards). I think I paid $40CDN per night for a private room and bathroom. Breakfast extra. Muttrah is right along the water. My hotel was just across the street from the famed Corniche (the long, curved walkway along the water) a one-minute walk from the busy fish market and a few minutes from the Muttrah Souq (the traditional, though now slightly touristy bazaar).

I checked into my hotel and changed into some clothing I felt was suitable for Oman – a long skirt and a long sleeved, high-necked shirt.  I will say that I saw a lot of tourists dressed a lot more revealingly, but they were made to rent clothes to cover up with before entering the Grand Mosque, though no one on the streets seemed scandalized.  I think it is always best to be more respectful.

As was explained to my by a taxi driver, by law, women and men must each wear long, loose garments.  For men it is a long, plain gown called a dishdasha, with a short, dangling braid at the collar that they soak in perfume. Men generally wear embroidered hats shaped a bit like a fez, but without the tassel. Women wear a long dress over loose trousers and a headscarf. For work, men must wear white and women black.

There are a lot of unusual laws in Oman. For example, it is against the law to yell or express anger of any sort in public. You are not permitted to have a dirty car. Sex before marriage is outlawed.  I imagine there are many more, judging by how clean and orderly the country seemed.

The first thing I did was hop back in a taxi and head to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.  The Mosque is free, but the taxi was pricey. It was worth it though, as the Mosque is stunning. It is new, being built from 1994-2000 and is an achievement.  A huge structure in gleaming white marble, with a labyrinth of courtyards, leading to prayer halls, domes, minarets, and gardens. 

The chandelier in the main (men’s) prayer room is the largest in the world, weighing 8.5 tons.  The carpet in that room was the largest in the world (it took over 4 years to weave by hand) but now is the 2^nd largest). It is all quite beautiful.

From there, I bused back to Muttrah.

I walked to the fish market and looked around.

I walked along the Corniche, taking pictures of the pretty buildings and people walking.  In the distance, forts perched on the cliffs, looking out at the sea.  In the harbor, two big cruise shipped were docked, their passengers out to see the city for the day.

I had a juice by the Souq before continuing to walk along the water, past yet more forts, fountains, and rocky cliffs to the area called Old Muscat.

In Old Muscat there is a big museum and other smaller sights, but I wanted to see the Al-Alam palace. You can’t go inside, but it is still a sight to behold, with its curved, colorful columns, flanked with beautiful gardens on the back and facing the sea at the front.

Things were a little subdued in Muscat, as the Sultan (Sultan Qaboos) had died the month before and the country was in an official 40 day mourning period.  The Sultan was beloved. He was a leader of peace and he (unlike his father) shared the wealth of the country with the people, such that every person in Oman gets free land, free education, free healthcare. There is a high standard of living. So when the Sultan died, people were sad. During this period of official mourning the theatres and cinemas were dark, no music was allowed in public, including on the radio, and I believe the clubs (such as they are) were closed. None of this affected me too much, but I will say that everything seemed quiet; like a Sunday.

I wandered around Old Muscat, chatting with a few people, hearing about Oman and the Sultan mostly. 

Finally, I caught a taxi back to Muttrah, where I looked around the Souq and had dinner.  I had wanted to have some shisha, but there are, weirdly, no shisha places in Muttrah. No one was sure why, but they do not seem to be allowed in that area. They are in abundance elsewhere. 

So I just walked around a bit more, loving the clusters of all-white, low buildings set against a rocky background. As it got dark, the lights along the Corniche were beautiful.

I had these plans of staying up later or going out for a cigar, but after dinner I went back to my room, flipped through the room service menu (camel burger!) and crashed early.  It was just as well, as I had a full schedule the next day with a trip to the desert.