Thursday March 28^th

Salalah, Oman

Coming face to face with a camel

Having had a series of very hazy days, it was wonderful to wake up to brilliant sunshine in Salalah. We docked at about 7:00 AM, and while we consumed our room service breakfast, we watched a Costa ship dock in front of us.

We had booked a private half-day tour of East Salalah from Best Shore Trips. I must say I was a bit dubious about whether it would work out or not, but sure enough as we got off the ship at 8:00; Ali our driver was waiting for us.

We were docked in the cargo port, so there is no cruise terminal or opportunity for free wifi. There is a shuttle bus to take you to the main gate of the port, but to get to Salalah itself you would then need to take a taxi, which costs about $40 each way.

It was hot, and I was glad that Ali had great air conditioning in his car. We drove along the coast road past Salalah, and stopped at a beautiful beach where we could walk along the palm fringed shore, and watch flamingos and hoards of seagulls playing in the surf.

There seem to be hundreds of camels in the area, and they were wondering all over the road, with no sense of the danger involved. We frequently had to stop to let them wander past, or at times simply to watch them as they seemed quite content to just stand in the middle of the busy highway and admire the view.

We stopped in Taqah to view the castle. It did have crenulated walls, but otherwise didn’t look that much like a castle. Still it was an interesting building that had been built in the 19^th century as the residence for Sheikh Ali bin Timman Al Ma’shani and later served as a residence for the local governors until 1984. They were burning frankincense at the entry, but alas I could not smell it at all. I did sniff away at the frankincense tree in the courtyard, but alas there was no aroma there either. I later learned that frankincense is obtained from the resin of the tree rather than the leaves, so sniffing away at the leaves was bound not to be helpful. We were the only people at the castle so we could freely explore all of the rooms, and we really enjoyed our visit.

On the way out of Taqah we stopped at a scenic lookout to marvel at the beautiful coastline, and had a great view of Taqah with the desert and mountains in the background. Unfortunately it was beginning to become hazy again, and it was quite hot and humid. From there we drove inland, and up the mountains to the spring at Ain Razat. which is truly a beautiful oasis in the desert.

As we had observed before, there are camels everywhere providing a huge hazard to drivers on the highway. Well they also seem to appreciate the water at the spring, and we spent quite some time there watching them, and they watching us, and checking us out. It was a magical sight.

Our final stop of the morning was at the ancient ruins of Sumhuran, said to be the ruins of the Queen of Sheba’s palace. Be that as it may, it also used to be a very active city and port dealing with the trade of the local crop, frankincense.

Although we didn’t have the opportunity to purchase it, Ali spent a lot of time telling us about all of the wonders of frankincense, including its antibacterial and cancer treating properties. It seems that there is still a huge market for it, although the main exports from Salalah are now bananas and coconuts.

We took a different route back to Salalah, and passed by many stalls selling coconuts and bananas on the way. After a brief drive through the center of the city of Salalah (the 2^nd largest city in Oman, and aiming to be a major tourist destination), it was time to head back to the ship, and we were back on board by 1:00 PM. I would have liked to see more of the area, but the port is so far away from everything, and our stay in Salalah was so short, it simply would not have worked out.

The lifeboat outside our balcony was missing on our return to our cabin, so we had a great view of the port for a brief period of time. However, they must have found it again, and now it is back in its place. A good thing too, just in case in comes in handy for something later on.

Back on board time was 3:30, and we left the harbor soon afterwards. Hopefully everyone was back on board by then. We apparently only had such a short stay in Salalah as we have a fair way to go to get to our next port, Aqaba.

The show this evening was the group Ida. They are 4 sopranos who sing popular music, and throw in some opera too. We had seen them previously, and I had enjoyed them. Brian not so much, but he did agree to accompany me this evening. As much as I love opera, I am really not a great fan of sopranos. This is possibly related to the fact that I am an alto who sings rather flat, and I may be am intimidated by them. When I was performing in a musical at university I was told by the director (a soprano) that my singing produced some unusual harmonies that were not always unpleasant. I think that may not have been a compliment. Anyway, Ida’s singing was actually very pleasant, and I thought they did a splendid job, especially as they sang my favorite aria from La Traviata.