Salalah, Oman

Salalah, Oman Eastern Time plus 8 hours As we left the ship we were greeted by this band and these young girls that were heavily made up. They seemed to be between 8 and 10 years old. A man on our ship gave them these clown noses and they really got a kick out of them and so did the adults. We exited the port and went through security. All we had to do was hold up our tourist permits. Easy one this time. As we drove out of the port area along the Dhofar Coast all I noticed was brown dirt, sand and rocks. Event the land right along the water was brown. Something was wrong with my camera settings most of the day and so the pictures ended up very light. It was very, very bright and once again we had to deal with bus windows. We also saw many camels roaming. We were told they are not wild camels. They are all owned by someone but they let them roam free during the day. The camels all return home at night for dinner. These were all one hump camels. The larger the hump, the more valuable they are. This is because they have more fat which is desirable. Our guide also discussed racing camels which go for as much as 6 Million US.

The fishing village of Taqah was once an ancient trading port. We visited the fort and Taqah Castle.

We saw a wedding celebration in this tent. Their weekend is Thursday and Friday and this was Thursday so we saw three different weddings.

A fine example of medieval Islamic architecture, the twin-domed mosque is the tomb of the prophet Mohammed Bin Ali, who died in 1135 A.D. We also looked at the adjoining cemetery. We were amazed at the number or rocks in this cemetery. It was hard to see what was what. Women's graves have 3 stones and men's have 2 stones, but the entire place is covered in other stones.

Dhows still moor in the small bay of Mirbat. It was once the ancient capital of Dhofar, a trading centre dealing in frankincense, horses and slaves.

These ruins near Taqah are Samhuran and date from 1500 B.C. Samhuran supplied Pharaonic Egypt with frankincense. Its fortress is often called 'The Queen of Sheba's Palace'. The great queen once ordered an entire shipload of frankincense for her lover, King Solomon.

Next stop was on Banana Road for coconut juice. This is the home of coconut and banana plantations. They have many varieties of bananas including the red banana.
We also passed the Sultan's Palace gate.

The port of Oman was pretty and the water was a beautiful color. We skipped dinner and stayed on deck for sail away.