Salalah, Oman

After about a month of solid work and a stressful travel day I finally had a day off. My Hilton hotel in Salalah is kind of in the middle of nowhere on a beach in Oman. For a country that is mostly coastline, oddly, the hotel beach has a view of an industrial shipping port.

I started my day off with a booked tour of Eastern Salalah with it’s varied landscape, animals, and frankincense. My local guide took me to the Taqah castle and then to a place called Khor Rori which is the remains of an ancient and wealthy fort on a cliff-top facing the sea. Here frankincense, horses, and other commodities were exported four hundred years before the time of Christ.

Frankincense is basically hardened tree sap. When you cut the tree a milky white substance seeps out. If you come back a few weeks later there will be a large hardened and clear chunk of it. You can only do this to a tree about three times a year or you’ll kill it. Back in the day Frankincense was so expensive it was on par with gold! When it burns it has that Catholic Sunday mass smell. I hope I don’t get arrested when I arrive home. I bought a bag to bring back in a local market and it looks like crack. You are supposed to put a piece of frankincense on top of a hot coal and then it will burn, giving off that terrific smell. I got to touch and smell the sap from the tree and it was wonderful. There are different grades of frankincense. I bought some medicinal grade. My guide told me to put it in a bottle of water and then drink it first thing in the morning and it is supposed to cleanse the body of impurities.

At Khor Rori there was some ancient writing carved into one of the rocks and a I ran my finger over it. Somebody chisel those symbols about 2500 years ago and they have not been able to decipher the words.

We also went on a winding drive up through the mountains where I chased goats and a camel with my camera and explored a stream and a cave. We stopped along another stream near a massive Indian date tree where there were some local lads just chilling under the it on a blanket. My guide asked if we could join and they invited us to sit down. They offered me some food that they had cooked. On a large silver platter they passed me some rice mixed with a few vegetables. Somebody opened a can of tuna and put it on top. I was sipping my 7-UP and eating rice only with my hand, I ate a piece of meat that was mixed with the rice. “Is this lamb?” I asked. No, you’re eating camel. Wow! I tasted a lot like lamb and a bit like goat. I was lucky to have this little snack with the local boys who lived up in the mountains. It was a random event and because it was just my guide and I, that is what made it possible.

Back at the hotel I saw the Formula One race live from Singapore and had something to eat. Afterwards I went outside at dusk. I had a view of the Indian Ocean, coconut palm trees, the beach and the moon. I had strawberry flavoured Sheesha, also know as hubbly bubbly or Hookah in other countries (yes I was smoking!) with a glass of Australian red.

Not a bad day off. Not at all.

If I had a bit more rest I’m sure that my sense of humour and my writing would improve!