One of the local forts.
I stopped off in Oman on my way to India, mainly because the plane landed there and it was a country I’d never been too. Arriving in Muscat and heading out of the Airport it seem very much like other Gulf States with plenty of land, and it has sprawled along the coast line, motorways, modern malls and the big trophy buildings which here are the Grand Mosque and the Opera House.
I was staying in the area of Mutrah one of the older parts. What was different here is that bare, rocky hills crowd around the coast and the developments are built between them. Even more interesting was the fact that many of them had turrets and Forts built on top of them, and if Oman could be said to have an architectural style, desert fort would be it, as many of the new buildings have castle like features on them as if they could also be used to repel attackers. Down at the centre of Mutrah is the corniche which has a promenade, places to eat, and a view of the harbour. Tied up is the sultans ship but I’m sure he considers it just a yacht. There is also a large covered souk selling mainly clothes and spices and at the corniche end, souvenirs for tourist so that they don’t have to walk so far.
And with good reason, as one thing that can be said about Oman is that it is hot, killing hot, 40 o C + when I was there. The place pretty much shuts down in the afternoon. Nobody walks anywhere and even at night it’s too hot to sit outside and eat.
Like many of these newly developing countries public transport seems to be none existent, as if they got stuck between cheap and cheerful mini buses fighting for trade and everyone owning a car. Interestingly they have bus stops but they seem to have forgotten about the buses. So to get anywhere I had to hail cabs, which are all owned by Omanis, all of whom only had a rudimentary grasp of the principal attractions in their own city. In fact I was quoted a price for a trip where it turned out that the driver had no idea where the place was. It turned out to be very close and I walked back to the hotel.
I was staying in the area of Mutrah one of the older parts. What was different here is that bare, rocky hills crowd around the coast and the developments are built between them. Even more interesting was the fact that many of them had turrets and Forts built on top of them, and if Oman could be said to have an architectural style, desert fort would be it, as many of the new buildings have castle like features on them as if they could also be used to repel attackers. Down at the centre of Mutrah is the corniche which has a promenade, places to eat, and a view of the harbour. Tied up is the sultans ship but I’m sure he considers it just a yacht. There is also a large covered souk selling mainly clothes and spices and at the corniche end, souvenirs for tourist so that they don’t have to walk so far.
And with good reason, as one thing that can be said about Oman is that it is hot, killing hot, 40 o C + when I was there. The place pretty much shuts down in the afternoon. Nobody walks anywhere and even at night it’s too hot to sit outside and eat.
Like many of these newly developing countries public transport seems to be none existent, as if they got stuck between cheap and cheerful mini buses fighting for trade and everyone owning a car. Interestingly they have bus stops but they seem to have forgotten about the buses. So to get anywhere I had to hail cabs, which are all owned by Omanis, all of whom only had a rudimentary grasp of the principal attractions in their own city. In fact I was quoted a price for a trip where it turned out that the driver had no idea where the place was. It turned out to be very close and I walked back to the hotel.
The Sultans Palace
I took a cab from Mutrah to Old Muscat, the cities first settlement which is where the sultans palace is. There’s something rather nice about there being a least one Sultan left in the world. The Palace is a fine building with a wide parade leading up to it, no doubt used for ceremonial purposes. There are a few ministries scattered about and you walk down to the harbour for a look at the Sultans back door. A large fort was being renovated here, one of many scattered around the surrounding hills. What was strange about the whole place was that it was deserted apart from workers tending the gardens and every blade of grass is on life support in this climate, and the usual Army guards. If the public buildings around about had people in them, there was no evidence of this. I found one place to have something to eat, so I guess most of them bring their own lunch.
The workers tending the gardens were Bangladeshi following the pecking order in this part of the world where the Pakistani and Bangladeshi’s do the donkey work, the Indians run the commerce while the Omanis drive taxis and do whatever nice jobs need to be done. At dusk I saw groups of Bangladeshi’s in blue overalls and their tiffin boxes getting into mini buses to be driven to building sites for the night shift, definitely the one to have. All the Omanis I spoke to were all very friendly and it seemed a very relaxed. As my cabbie from the airport told me, we don’t mind people wearing shorts and there’s no problem walking around at night. They are traditional in certain ways in that they all seemed to wear traditional dress, the white jelabia and round skull cap, while the woman were dressed in black but unveiled; and although one hears the call to prayer I never saw anyone actually praying and it seems generally very tolerant. My hotel served alcohol.
The workers tending the gardens were Bangladeshi following the pecking order in this part of the world where the Pakistani and Bangladeshi’s do the donkey work, the Indians run the commerce while the Omanis drive taxis and do whatever nice jobs need to be done. At dusk I saw groups of Bangladeshi’s in blue overalls and their tiffin boxes getting into mini buses to be driven to building sites for the night shift, definitely the one to have. All the Omanis I spoke to were all very friendly and it seemed a very relaxed. As my cabbie from the airport told me, we don’t mind people wearing shorts and there’s no problem walking around at night. They are traditional in certain ways in that they all seemed to wear traditional dress, the white jelabia and round skull cap, while the woman were dressed in black but unveiled; and although one hears the call to prayer I never saw anyone actually praying and it seems generally very tolerant. My hotel served alcohol.
The Armed Forces Museum.
One attraction I went to was the Armed Forces Museum, which is housed in one of the original forts so it’s worth going to see it just for that. It’s still managed by the Military and you have to have a solider accompanying you around, although it wasn’t clear why as he only announced what was in each room which I could read for myself, or maybe it was to stop you stealing the rifles that were just hanging on the walls? It is a very informative museum and a good introduction to Omani history. It seems that they spent most of the twentieth century engaged in internecine tribal warfare, hence the need for all those forts. They have strong ties to the British army, Royals and Sultans sticking together, and most of the weapons and kit on display were British although I looked in vain for any mention of the help we gave them putting down the Doufan Rebellion in the 1970’s or the 24 British soldiers killed along the way but I suppose it’s their museum.
The grounds are lots of big kit, like a small ship, some aircraft and a group of manikins in uniform having a pay parade.
Cost wise, I paid £36 for one of the few budget hotels which I booked online, and it was pretty good and managed and run by Indians. If you eat with the locals food is about £5 - £8 for a reasonable meal. What does push the cost up is getting around with the ‘think of a number’ cab negotiation. When cabbies are ignoring the locals and insisting in taking the foreigner first you can be pretty sure it’s not to improve their English; which by the way is spoken by just about everyone. As a guide the cab fare to the airport was around £13.
If money isn’t a problem and you can hire a car I’m sure there’s a lot to see out in the countryside but my impressions from the Army museum are that Oman is very big, very empty and there is not a lot to see apart from forts, of which there is no shortage. So a return trip is not on my ‘to do’ list.
If money isn’t a problem and you can hire a car I’m sure there’s a lot to see out in the countryside but my impressions from the Army museum are that Oman is very big, very empty and there is not a lot to see apart from forts, of which there is no shortage. So a return trip is not on my ‘to do’ list.
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