What a beautiful sight when we awoke. We were looking at a beautiful coastline. Rugged mountains provided a dramatic backdrop to a collection of white buildings and a fort sitting on a rock in the harbour.
Muscat is a new city being built by the current Sultan. Oman is a Sultanate, the Sultan, referred to as His Majesty is a supreme ruler, his advisors, ministers etc are all appointed and it sounds like they are often family members – cousins. This is an inherited position and the family keeps their private life a mystery. No one knew of the Sultan’s existence until his was 18 years old. He was educated in England and Germany. Until his rule Oman was a backward country. He has built roads, many public buildings, introduced free education and health care, is training the local workforce, is attracting industry and tourism. He came into power in 1970.
Construction is ongoing everywhere. Roads, a huge mosque, hotels, a huge arena, a new airport etc. One thing that is very surprising is the lack of public transportation. Muscat is a city of one million and the only way to get around is car or taxi, no buses, no subway, no trains. To make matters worse the Sultan has designed the city in blocks of like businesses. All the grocery stores in one area, all the government offices in another area, all hotels in yet another etc. So to get groceries everyone has to go to the same district. We did see traffic jams!
Another decree of the Sultan is that all buildings must has a white or light colored exterior. It does create a beautiful sight as you approach by sea.
The current Sultan is 74, it is not known if he is married or has any children, there are rumors of 2 wives. He is adored by the people because of all the improvements and the improving standard of living. They are not worried about what will happen on his death as they believe he will appoint the ” right” person to succeed him.
The Sultanate has been in the same family for many generations. He is obviously extremely wealthy. He has 17 palaces that he spends time between, a huge yacht that we saw in the harbour. He uses his personal funds for some of the building, e.g. The Grand Mosque, an Opera house, which is third largest in the world.
Gary and I visited an old fort, a spring in the mountains, a museum, a souq (market).
The population of Oman is 3 million with about 400,000 immigrants mainly from Pakistan and India.
The main industries are oil, gas, date exports, Frankensence and fishing. The Frankensence is grown in the most southern region. It is basically the sap from the Frankensence tree, a rare tree only found in this area. The Sultan is training the workforce to take over jobs currently done by immigrants.
While there is a strip of fertile land between the mountains and the coast, most of the. Countryside is bleak – stony, mountainous without much vegetation other than achia trees. The Sultan is importing trees and flowers which are starting to line the roads and create oasis of greenery in areas. The terrain going inland from the sea is a narrow fertile plain in some areas, in other areas the mountains come right down to the sea, beyond this is a plateau, then desert. Drinking water is mainly desalinated water from the sea plus some spring water from the mountains.
We were told than women are equal to men here, but did not see evidence of this – we notice there were no women walking along the streets except in the market area. The women we did see were wearing the traditional black covering, some with their face totally covered, some with their face not covered at all and everything in between. The men were usually in traditional dress and I have added some pictures of this. We are not allowed to take pictures of the women at all. We are told women hold office in the government, drive taxis, are policewomen, can wear whatever they want.
Oman is a young country and was created when the Arab countries divided the Arabian peninsula. The peninsula consists of 4 countries – Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yeman. In Oman alcohol is permitted. There is archeological evidence of trading with China as early as 10th century.
We visited a new hotel for lunch – beautiful beach and evidence of excellent facilities for tourists. We visited the local souq for shopping. It was something like the Grand Bazar in Istanbul but more subdued and less aggressive merchants.