Camels, camels everywhere and not a drop to drink.

21 March 2008

Salalah, Oman

Sea days are a killer and days spent onboard while the ship is in port are frustrating, so it was with no small amount of relief and excitement that I went down the gangway yesterday and breathed in the hot and dry air of Salalah, Oman. I’d been trapped on board for the last 12 days, unable to get off due to the distances to be covered from Singapore and the fact that I didn’t have the correct paperwork for India. It was really frustrating to have to spend an overnight port in Mumbai just sitting in my cabin watching TV, although I did recruit a couple of people into buying me some Indian souvenirs so I can at least tell people that I’ve been there…damn, I’ve given that one away now.

I really would have liked to have seen India; it seems to be the place that has caused the greatest polarisation among those that did get off. Some loved it; the majority seem to have been unimpressed, to say the least. Some got off in the first port and refused to venture off in the second. Others couldn’t wait and came back with tales of wonder and amazement and wanted to see more. Any place that could generate that sort of wide ranging opinion is something that I would like to see but I’m pretty confident, from some of the stories I’ve been told, that it’s not a place my mother would visit.  But India for me is simply going to be the few things that others have bought for me and a memory of being so close and yet so far.

Yesterday was Oman though and the first view I got was from the deck, lined up wearing my lifejacket during a training drill. If I looked past the stacks of shipping containers and out towards the horizon then there was little doubt that we’d arrived in the Middle East. The air was dry and warm and had a dusty haze that softened the brown mountains in the distance. Everything had a dusty look that was less dirt and more a fine layer of sand and there were clumps of palm trees scattered around just outside the port area. Had a camel wandered lazily out from behind some containers I wouldn’t have been at all surprised.

After the drill was dismissed we all trooped back to our cabins and 4 of us met in the corridor, deciding to share a cab into town having been told that fares were expensive and that it was quite a way. Down the gangway we first had to be taken by shuttle bus to the port gate and then we had to wade through the pack of taxi drivers waiting for fares. Negotiating what turned out to be a good deal ($30 for the four of us for three hours) we got into the cab and set out.

The roads were good, wide, well maintained and with surprisingly little traffic. For an oil rich country there didn’t seem to be many vehicles moving about but Salalah isn’t the capital (that’s Muscat) and I’m not sure how many people live in Oman so I it may be unfair to have expected Singapore or Hong Kong like crowds. Houses were large, pale coloured and built in a style that screamed Arabic as soon as you saw them. Many places had large walls around them and the largest was around the palace of the Omani Sultan. Having been born in Salalah he prefers to reside here rather than the capital and the brief glimpse we got of the palace as we drove slowly past was impressive. It must be nice to be the Sultan.

We also drove past the impressive looking beach with a number of large resort hotels set up to take advantage of the white sand and blue water. Salalah has a temperate climate compared too much of the Middle East and attracts tourists from many countries during the hotter times of the year.

Our first stop was to be the “old souk”, a place we were told we could buy souvenirs, but before that there was much excitement at our first sight of camels. Someone spotted them just standing a little way off the road in the empty space between some houses and immediately there was a lot of pointing and exclaiming, much to the amusement of our driver who, it turned out, owned a few camels himself. He kept them for milk and occasionally for meat and he explained that these weren’t wild camels so much as ones owned and just let free to graze. It may have seemed strange and photo worthy to us to have camels wandering unconcerned through what was essentially peoples urban backyards but to him was something not worth noticing.

The souk turned out to be more a collection of small shops lining a regular street than the impression you might have of a Middle Eastern marketplace. There were a few other tourists wandering about but not much other activity. The majority of the shops seemed to be selling perfumed oils or frankincense and since a frankincense burner kit was the one thing that I wanted to buy I turned out to be spoilt for choice. The aromas were wonderful though, with each shop burning frankincense both inside and outside in an attempt to lure buyers.

I have to explain that I have no religious affiliation at all so the smell was a new one to me but I have since been told that it reminded everyone else of the incense burnt in churches and since frankincense was one of the gifts that the wise men brought for Jesus I guess that makes sense. The little kit included a burner, charcoal, scented oil and frankincense and set me back the princely sum of $3 so I was pretty happy. In fact I was so happy I ended up splurging on a small silver jewellery box embossed in an Arabic design.

From the souk we drove around the town with a couple more photo stops in front of impressive buildings and at a small road side stand selling fruit and vegetables. Despite the arid surroundings there are large patches of garden growing bananas, coconuts and various other fruits I was unfamiliar with and a stop at one stand gave us a chance to try a few things.

As we entered the town proper it struck me as being very quiet, few people out walking the streets and many of the businesses seeming to be closed. I was not really sure why this was and the limited English of our driver made it impossible to ask him complicated questions. I’m not sure if it was a special day, if it was the off season or if it was normal but the wide and sandy streets were quiet and the whole place had a feeling like it was a holiday and everyone had gone somewhere else or was at home.

After a short stop at a supermarket while the girls bought groceries we asked the driver to take us somewhere that we could get local food. We ended up at a restaurant having one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. I chose the mixed grill, hoping it would provide a good cross section and it certainly did. There was a variety of meat, bread and dips and everything was presented in an immaculate way. A bit of swapping was done from one plate to another so we could get a better variety and some things were wrapped in napkins and put in purses for later. The bill arrived and even with tip it only cost us $10 each, a real bargain for all that we got plus the priceless atmosphere.

From the restaurant it was back to the ship with just one quick stop to chase some camels down a street on foot trying to get a photo. Back at the port we paid off our driver and headed into the air conditioning. It may have taken me some time for me to get off the ship but it turned out to be a day well worth waiting for.