Oh Man, We Made it to Oman!
I bet Oman is annoyed with how many times it’s heard that joke.
November 17, 2022 (T) - Just In Time
We arrived late. Visas can be complicated and even if you read the government’s website about their visa requirements, it can still be a really confusing process. The only places you should ever go to research about a country’s visa requirements are that country’s government site or your country’s government site. A lot of visa scams are out there now. We had applied through Oman’s government site for our visa and we thought all was well. Under closer review, the expiration date had already passed for it, even though we correctly put the dates we would be there. I emailed the Royal Oman Police and they informed me we’d be able to pick up a new visa for free at the airport. So, when we arrived we found the visa counter and were surprised when they told us that if you’re from the US and only staying less than 2 weeks then you don’t even need a visa! I don’t remember seeing that on the website and I included our dates when emailing Oman. We moved over to the immigration line and made it through fine without already having a visa.
While we were waiting in line, we noticed some posters announcing Omani National Day, which just happened to be November 18, 2022! We were pretty excited to have accidentally timed our trip just in time for that and decided to look into any events.
It was around midnight now. Our driver picked us up from the airport and we arrived at our art deco-styled hotel within about 20 minutes. We were tired so we checked in and went to sleep.
November 18, 2022 (T) - Red, White, and Green
On The United States’ Independence Day, July 4, you’ll see red, white, and blue everywhere. In Oman, it’s red, white, and green. Our hotel’s lobby had balloons and streamers scattered about.
To understand the significance of Omani National Day, we need to discuss the impressive legacy of the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. G and I both would have loved to have met him (he passed away in January 2020). November 18 is his birthday and is known as the beginning of Oman’s Modern Renaissance which began in 1970 when he peacefully ousted his father from the throne and took power. Known as “the father of Oman”, Sultan Qaboos led Oman through an absolutely incredible transformation in his 50-year reign. Oman is the perfect example of what can happen when a country’s leader truly cares about and invests in his (or her) people. In 1970, there were only 3 kilometers (< 2 miles) of paved roads, 2 generators for electricity, no drinkable water, no phones, no t.v., no radio, 3 primary schools that only boys could attend, and only a few hospitals in the entire country. The life expectancy was 49.6 years old. Sultan Qaboos had his work cut out for him and he knew it. With 10 years of studying, working, and traveling abroad, he had a diversified set of ideas for what to do. Fast forward 50 years, Oman has 65,000 km (~40,000 miles) of paved roads, 99.1% of the population has electricity, 500,000 phone lines, potable water across the country, 5 Omani t.v. channels, hundreds of schools and over 50 universities where men and women study (and women actually have a higher graduation rate), 66 full-fledged public and private hospitals. In 2020, the life expectancy was 79.4 years old. He drafted the country’s first constitution in 1995 which gives people freedom of religion. Women are allowed to work in the government, police force, and military. There is a National Omani Women’s Day. The more we learned about him the more respect we had and understood why he’s so revered across the country. On one of our day trips, we learned that he created a hospital in Salalah, close to Yemen, to provide prosthetics for free to those who were injured in Yemen. I could continue, but need to keep moving along, so if you’d like to read more about him, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349946443_Omani_Renaissance_in_International_Relations_and_Political_Economy is a good article.
The only plans we had for today were to find a celebration and go observe it. Our hotel had a delicious buffet breakfast every day. While we were eating breakfast, we started Googling events around Muscat. We found a party at a park nearby and decided to check it out later. It wasn’t until the evening, so we relaxed most of the day. Our room had a great view of Muscat, we could see the mountains on one side and the sea on the other.
G downloaded the app Otaxi which is like the Uber or Lyft equivalent there. It worked great when there were taxis available. We ordered a taxi to go to the park and arrived in the early evening.
There was a big, flat, green open space where many people gathered for picnics. If you didn’t bring food, no problem. Wide walking trails were easy to follow all around the park. As we followed them, we found one path lined with many tables full of homemade food for sale at reasonable prices. Of course, we purchased some food and juice. We kept walking around and saw a stage for some performances later, and chairs and a big screen for videos to watch later. Everyone was wearing red, white, and green. Many people wore Omani flags as capes. Every once in a while we heard a fan and we’d look up and see someone in a chair with a fan on the back and parachute overhead zooming around the sky, pulling the Omani flag. We had made it to the other side of the park and saw an old car show which we explored for a bit.
We walked back to the other side of the park and found a bench where we sat and ate the delicious food we purchased. I’m not sure what all was in it, but it was the best food we had while we were there. An adorable little girl who was maybe 2 years old, wearing a frilly red, white, and green dress, smiled and waved at us. We smiled and waved back. Other kids were laughing and riding bikes on the trails by us. Oman is known for being a safe and accepting country. Our first day definitely gave us that impression.
It was starting to get dark and we didn’t want to stay too late so we made another round through the park before leaving. When we walked by the stage again we stopped to watch a dance recital. We walked past the large screen that was now playing Omani propaganda (not the bad kind) with inspirational music. We stopped to watch it for a bit. Oman does have quite a lot to be proud of. It’s one of the more progressive countries in the region, has come so far in the past 50 years, and has some beautiful natural gems. In fact, it’s known as the gem of the Middle East.
We made our way back to the parking lot and struck out trying to find a taxi on our Otaxi app because the demand was so high. Fortunately, we found a very friendly taxi driver who said we could share a cab with his other rider. He was the epitome of Omani hospitality. I had worn a hijab (head scarf) to respect the modest culture. Our driver asked where we were from and if we were Muslim. When we replied we were from the US and that we weren’t Muslim he asked why I was wearing the hijab, because I really only needed to wear it if I went to a mosque. After I replied I wore it to respect their modest clothing preferences, he said they truly didn’t care if I wore it or not and they respect how others dress.
Our other rider made it to the car and we dropped him off first. The drive back to Muscat and to our hotel was entertaining to say the least. Omani flags were hanging out of windows, music was blaring, cars were honking, and young teens and adults were having silly string and water gun fights from their cars. When we arrived at our hotel, G and I tried asking for a price for the 3rd or 4th time, and our driver refused to give us a quote and to give him what we wanted. We gave him what we thought an Uber would probably cost and he was appreciative of it.
What a great introduction to a wonderful country.
November 19-20, 2022 (T) - Plan, Blog, and Workout
We used most of our time on the 19th and 20th to plan more of our trip and to catch up on the blog. We found a local company that had good day trips from Muscat that we booked for the 21st and 22nd. The only other notable thing during these days is we got a good workout on the 20th. Our hotel had a pretty solid gym facility (separate for men and women. But, hey, the women’s gym had more than 5lb dumbbells so I appreciated that). G and I worked out pretty regularly in the US. The majority of our hotels or hostels haven’t had gyms, so we’ve walked, hiked, and done some bodyweight workouts. It was nice to be able to use a gym and I was happy to still be able to run a mile without stopping.
November 21, 2022 (T) - Wahiba Sands, Wadi al Khalid, and Marrying Your 1st Cousin
Our first day trip we booked was to Wahiba Sands and Wadi al Khalid. We ate breakfast and were picked up by our local guide at around 8AM. He was a nice, older fellow and was very open about the culture. He wanted to make sure we knew we could ask him anything we wanted, and also learned a little more about him than we really wanted to. We’ll get to that later.
After a couple of hours of driving, we made it to Wahiba Sands where we visited a Bedouin family. We were invited in their large tent for tea and dates. We had taken off our shoes, and one of their little boys, who probably wasn’t even 2 years old, took interest in my hiking boots. He began walking around the tent with just one of them on. It was pretty adorable and entertaining to watch. When we were finished with our tea and dates, we perused the handicrafts, I purchased a unique bracelet, and we said thank you and left. Since G and I had already ridden camels in Jordan, we declined the offer to see their camels, but one still caught our attention on the drive up to the sand dunes.
We made a brief stop to walk around the dunes of Wahiba Sands. The color of the sand changed from a pale orange to a deep red-orange depending on the sun’s position which was really fascinating. G and I walked across a few different dunes, snapped some cool photos, and made our way back down. Now, it was time to drive to Wadi al Khalid, a real desert oasis.
By this point, we knew too much about our guide’s European girlfriend and got a good glimpse into Omani married life. While governmental and legal freedoms and rights have come very, very far for women in Oman and are better than the surrounding countries, Oman has progressed rapidly, so some social progressions may still take a while to happen. For example, it’s very common to marry your first cousin in Oman (and in other Islamic countries. It’s to keep the money in the family. One of our tour guides in Egypt was also married to his first cousin.) Our guide’s wife is his first cousin. Women can only have one husband but men can have up to 4 wives. Women have the right to say no to a marriage proposal but may be pressured by their family into marrying their cousin. He had married a few other women but ended up getting divorced from them. Women have the right to initiate a divorce, but the majority of that control is still up to men and the court. Our guide had confided in us that his wife had said she would get a divorce from him if he married again, so to be honest, we were a bit uncomfortable knowing about his European girlfriend who he kept telling us about and he would get distracted by messages she would send him during our excursion. As we’d learn later in the day, women do not have the right to prohibit their husbands from marrying another wife, or 3. Oof. Hopefully, you have an agreeable first cousin or no cousins if you’re a woman in an Islamic country.
After another hour and a half drive or so, we arrived at Wadi al Khalid. We hiked for about 45 minutes next to the stream, up some rocks, and arrived at a cave. Now, G and I have been to quite a few caves, but this one was a little more chilling for us. It was very dark, but we were provided with headlamps to use, and for the majority of the walk we couldn’t stand up straight. We walked for only about 10 minutes into the cave where we decided to turn around. There were some cute little bats hanging from the ceiling though. However, not only was it dark and cramped and we saw a troop of roaches on the way, but it was so incredibly humid that we were dripping sweat and ready to jump into the oasis waiting for us outside. On the way back, small flashes caught my light, which were the eyes of a tarantula. I noped out of there pretty quickly.
We hiked about halfway back where the swimming hole was. The water was a beautiful, clear, green turquoise color and it was the perfect temperature to swim in. G and I swam around and enjoyed the cool water for about an hour. Little fishes were very interested in nibbling our legs and feet. It reminded us of the fish at The Devil’s Pool in Zambia, only there were many more fish here. We made a game where we tried to see how long we could handle the biting. Some people pay for this treatment at spas. Our guide was so used to it he could sit there for a full hour and deal with it. I think my max was about 10-15 seconds before the giggles got me.
While we were in Oman, The World Cup was happening not far away in Qatar. We found out that numerous people attending decided to spend the majority of their time and money in Oman and fly to Qatar for the game and return to Oman after. If we had gone to The World Cup, we also would have chosen to spend as little money as possible in Qatar, given the number of human rights violations in that country. We met a fun group of Aussies at the oasis (most Aussies are fun) who were doing just that.
It was time to change and go back to the car and stop for a late lunch. We ate at a nearby restaurant, then were on our way back to Muscat, which took about 2 hours. When we arrived back at the hotel, it was after dark. We said goodnight to our guide, who we would have as a guide the following day as well.
November 22, 2022 (T) - Nizwa Fort and Jebel Akhdar
We ate breakfast early again and met our guide around 8AM. We had another full day ahead of us. As he promised the day prior, he brought us some Omani coffee and tea. G preferred the ginger tea and I preferred the spiced chai. Our first stop was about another hour and a half to 2-hour drive away, Nizwa Fort. When we arrived, before visiting the fort, we walked through the market. We had expected a market like in Egypt or Jordan, but this was the most laid-back market ever. So many different types of shops were in a large building. Some of the shopkeepers would greet us but not one person tried to pressure us into buying anything, which in turn made us want to buy things. Alas, we only have our backpacks, so the only thing we purchased was some saffron from nearby Iran. We had searched for the type of hat that G had lost in Israel to no avail.
After wandering around the market, we mosied up to the fort, which was so cool. Think about a life-sized sand castle and that is what Nizwa Castle and Fort look like. The castle was built in the 9th century and the fort was built later in the 17th century. We tried a local food which was like a crepe with egg, butter, and honey. We spent quite a bit of time exploring both the castle and the fort.
Then, we walked back to the car to drive to Jebel Akhdar, a tall mountain range with cliffs full of roses and pomegranates. The best time to see it is in the Spring but it’s still beautiful in the Fall. This was one of Princess Diana’s favorite places in Oman. We stopped for lunch on the way, where our guide spent quite a bit of time chatting with another tour guide and messaging his European girlfriend. He hoped to marry her someday as well. Nod and smile, G & T. Nod and smile.
When we were done eating, we drove to a path where G & I decided to walk over to the mountainside where our guide would drive to and meet us. The area is stunning. Mountains and valleys are in the distance with a palace on one of the cliffs. We walked through a tiny town across a mountain to make it to the mountain with the roses and pomegranate plants. We walked with our guide for a while and took in the scenery. The whole mountain smelled like roses.
After visiting the mountain rose terraces, we headed down the mountain to an old abandoned town. The town had historic significance due to a series of aqueducts that had run to it from the mountains and irrigated the growth of date palm trees for generations. The old town itself had fallen into disrepair and the old buildings were eventually abandoned. A newly built town had grown right next to them and in a way, both preserved them and made them accessible to visitors like us. We wandered the ruins until sunset, then hopped back in the car for the return trip.
We had a long drive ahead of us, about 2-3 hours. This time we listened to music most of the way back. We think our guide could tell we didn’t really want to hear more about his girlfriend. Overall, he was a fine guide and we learned a lot about the culture and the places we visited, but we could’ve done without knowing so much about his personal affairs.
It was after dark again when we made it back to the hotel. We thanked our guide and said our goodbyes. We were pretty tired from the past couple days and had a lot we wanted to do on our own the following day, so we called it an early night.
November 23, 2022 (T) - Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and Mutrah Souq
Our last full day in Oman had arrived and we wanted to spend it exploring Muscat. I’ve gotta say, Muscat is one of the cleanest cities we’ve ever been to. If you’re caught littering then you’ll be fined and the police will watch you throw your trash away. That explains why.
We slept in a little, ate breakfast, and relaxed for a bit before venturing out. Our first stop was Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which is touted to be the most beautiful mosque in the world. After visiting it, we really think it is. It was completed in May 2001 but sticks to the original Islamic architecture. The attention to detail everywhere on the grounds is so intricate and impressive. We’d definitely recommend visiting, but be sure to look up hours before you go because it’s only open to tour on certain days before 10:30 AM. We have never felt so welcome in a mosque before. It’s free to visit. There are representatives who will introduce themselves, ask you where you’re from, welcome you to the mosque, give you a little information (like all of the scripts on the walls are about Islam and the history of Oman), and ask you if you have any questions. It was definitely worth visiting.
The next stop was the Royal Opera House Muscat. Completed in 2011 at the request of Sultan Qaboos, it was the first opera house built in the entire Arabian Gulf. We had looked at the hours online, but, unfortunately, those hours were referring to the hours of the mall which is a part of the opera house and the opera house itself had a performance going, so we couldn’t see the theater. The outside of the building is a wonder in itself and we had a good time nonetheless.
Finally, it was time to go to Mutrah Souq, the old part of Muscat with a market. We set out on another quest for a new hat, but once again came up short. We spent some time wandering through the stores and walking along the coast when we decided to head back to the hotel to pack for our flight the following day.
November 24, 2022 (T) - Happy Thanksgiving!
Since our flight was around 11AM, we decided to check out of the hotel early to get to the airport early and eat breakfast in the lounge. This ended up being a good plan. The lounge in Muscat’s airport is very nice (we weren’t surprised), so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before boarding our flight to Delhi, where we’d start a whole new adventure in India.
Some Final Thoughts (T)
After visiting Oman, there’s no question why it’s considered to be the gem of the Middle East. We barely scratched the surface of the natural wonders held within the country. Human rights and the development of civilization have come so amazingly far in the past 50 years under Sultan Qaboos’ reign and look promising under the new Sultan’s (his cousin) rule. Women have many legal rights in Oman that women don’t have in neighboring and other Islamic countries. Freedom of religion in that region is also a huge feat. Sultan Qaboos had multiple churches and Hindu temples built under his rule as well which goes to show people of other religions are cared for. It isn’t illegal to convert from Islam to another religion. However, there’s still some Islamic influence in their laws which oppresses the people and so there is still a way to go.
For example, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by law. More shockingly, premarital sex is illegal, and women are expected to obey their husbands, so there are no laws against rape that protect women (or men). In fact, if a woman is raped, she could also go to jail if it was sex outside of marriage.
If a married woman’s husband does not want her to travel then she’s not allowed to. If a daughter is still living at home and her father doesn’t want her to travel then she’s not allowed to. Our tour guide informed us of those two points. A common thought here is it’s for “protection”. If a married woman wants to travel, many people believe her husband should accompany her to protect her and a young woman isn’t safe traveling alone.
While women are allowed to work in all sectors and women actually are part of the government now, that’s all dependent on their situation at home.
By the time it was time for us to leave, I was ready to be done with countries that had any form of Sharia Law mixed in their government. I was starting to feel less than.
The future of Oman is promising though, I believe. If they go the same distance they went in the previous 50 years, they’ll be one of the best countries in the entire world for human rights, gender equality, infrastructure, healthcare, education, etc.
I’d recommend reading this brief article. The fact that an Omani outlet publicizes the challenges Omani women have faced and do face and the accomplishments they have made in spite of that and give them credit for their accomplishments is something else. https://www.omanobserver.om/article/9067/Main/nation-celebrates-achievements-of-women