Salalah, Oman: Yemen’s neighbor…

Our half-day in Salalah, Oman was a bit of a let-down after our day in Muscat.

While Muscat is a thriving cosmopolitan city of about two million without the glitz and plasticity of Dubai, Salalah is a dustier, more sedate large town of about 200,000 located on the edge of a very large desert and mountain range.

It is strategically located on the Gulf of Aden such that it could provide for a more direct overland route for oil, minerals, and other commodities should the Strait of Hormuz ever be compromised or closed. Sultan Qaboos is no dummy. He has initiated a VERY large building project at the Salalah port to create a Trade Free Zone, housing, port infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, and all of the accoutrements necessary to make Salalah Oman’s “second city.” The work started several years ago and, based on what we saw, we imagine that if we returned here in a few years, it would be substantially complete.

The map above will give you an idea of where we were in Slalah.

Since we only had a few hours here,we opted for a short bus tour of the major highlights. This region is known for its incense and perfumes. Frankincense, Myrrh, and several lesser known perfume bases originate here. In fact, there is no other place in the world to obtain frankincense. Unfortunately, after a short walk in the souk, everything begins to look and smell alike…but more on that later.

The Grand Mosque in Salalah was nowhere near as grand as that in Muscat. Since we were there in the afternoon, we could not go inside. We had to content ourselves with a quick walk around the perimeter.

After a quick look at downtown Salalah – very quick since it is very small – we drove out to the Al Baleed Frankincense Museum and Archeological Site. While we could take pictures on the outside, no pictures were allowed once inside.

The museum is rather small (two main halls: maritime; history) with a gift shop and ultra-clean bathrooms. Since I love old boats and maritime history, I spent most of my time in the Maritime Hall reading the plaques (in English and Arabic…I read the English…) and admiring both the reproductions of old ships and small boats, but also the ingenuity and stamina of these ancient mariners. I came away from that exhibit with a new respect for the Omanis and their culture.
A short visit to the History Hall to see how Sultan Qaboos took a rather non-descript and ragtag pile of sand and turned it into a vibrant, modern country. There were several before and after photos of Muscat and Salalah that showed the dramatic changes in about 40 years. It is, again, no wonder his people revere him.

We also learned about the Frankincense tree and how the sap is collected and used to make Frankincense and Myrrh. Rather ingenious and I really wish we could have taken some pix of the process.

 The inner courtyard of the museum has a small shrine to the Frankincense tree.

The archeological site has a mock-up of what the Frankincense trees would look like growing in the desert.

We never did get to walk any of the archeological site, but since it was around 3:00 PM and the sun was high without a cloud in the sky, that was probably not such a bad thing.

A short drive later we arrived at the Sultan’s palace. The Sultan was born in Salalah and in addition to his “normal” dwelling in Muscat, the capitol of Oman, he keeps as palace in Salalah as well. I suppose it’s nice to get back to the old neighborhood once in a while and just sort of hang out with your homies…even if you’re a Sultan.

Since he was not in residence and since the wall surrounding the palace was about 12’ high and since the front doors were made of solid teak (hand-carved in Thailand), all I could get were a couple of rather uninteresting pictures. Below is our view of Al Husn Palace.

Ten minutes later were at the market. It is called Al Husn Souk, but I really wouldn't dignify it by calling it a souk. It was more a series of small shops fronting on several streets and all selling the same assortment of Frankincense, perfumes, pashminas, incense burners, trinkets, and other such stuff-that-nobody-needs. We all pretty much decided that the “real” souks in Muscat and Dubai were far superior; however, that did not stop us from getting the required fridge magnet and a Kofia, or small round hat worn by all men and boys.

We received word that the ship would be leaving slightly later than planned, so – goody, goody – we had almost a full hour to wander and re-wander the shops. For me, that wasn’t so bad since I stumbled on a man preparing dough for bread-making. In the right-hand picture, you can see his hands moving so fast that even my fastest shutter speed could not catch them.

Finally, back to the ship, a shower, a change of clothes, several adult beverages, and off through one of the most dangerous waterways in the world: the Gulf of Aden and into the Red Sea. We are on our way to two more of the real highlights of this trip: the Valley of the Kings at Luxor in Egypt; the stone city of Petra in Jordan.

Both of these day trips will be quite long - 13 hours and 12.5 hours per the schedule – so I will probably be a bit lagging in my follow-up postings, but fear not, I will return. Stay tuned…