World Cruise – Days 15-22 – Salalah, Oman and Sea Days

Rear of the boat - getting ready to leave.

The longest stretch of Sea Days was coming (3 days at sea, Oman, then 4 more days at sea), and believe it or not, I was looking forward to the rest. India had taken a lot out of us, Leslie had a cold, and I was trying to stay healthy and not get it, which is pretty hard with such close quarters. The water was particularly smooth when I took the first and last photo.

During the Sea Days, we slept in, worked out, went to lectures, played cards (hand and foot with our new friends Lauren and Bob), and ate a lot. We also tried to make it to the 3:30pm Daily Quiz every day. You play in teams and they ask 20 questions. The team that gets the most right wins some lame prize like a pen or one ball in a juggling set. We managed to win one day, we got 19 out of 20 with the team below.

Here is a pic of us playing cards with Lauren and Bob.

The gym is pretty nice, so most days I’d go there; however, Leslie and I did walk 3 miles on the Promenade deck one day, which was nice. We have to get ready for our day in Jordan coming up, where we have to walk 6 miles in the hot sun.

One day, the ship had a barbeque by the pool for lunch. That was nice, and broke the monotony of the buffet and restaurant choices.

We also had one of our 5 formal nights during this stretch. Here’s Leslie and I all dressed up.

Salalah, Oman – Day 18

I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I was just hoping that it wouldn't affect my day. Turns out, that I felt much better when we got on the bus to go to our excursion.

In Oman, it was in the middle of Ramadan, so we had to cover our shoulders, knees, and elbows, which was a challenge to find something to wear, since it was also really hot out (probably about 95 degrees). We also couldn’t eat or drink in public, including water.

Leslie and I managed to find outfits to wear, and headed off for our Salalah Contrasts tour.

Salalah is Oman’s immortal second city, famed for its frankincense since biblical times. It really wasn’t developed until the 1970’s so all the buildings are fairly new and more modern than I expected. The houses are huge. Men are able to have up to 4 wives, and their living space is determined by the number of wives they have. I don’t think the extra trouble of juggling more wives is worth the extra space!

On our bus ride, I was also surprised to see camels roaming around. They seemed to be wild, but our driver said that they are all someone's property. Also, the streets were empty of cars and people. I assume this was because of Ramadan. It was just strange to see after the hustle and bustle of India.

Our first stop was Ayn Razat Springs, a natural underground spring amidst the tranquil mountains. There was also a cave that we climbed up to. It wasn’t much to look at, but here are a few pics anyway.

On the way to the springs, the air conditioning on our bus stopped working (no windows to open either), but the tour company rectified the situation right away and had a new bus waiting for us at the Springs.

Our next stop was the twin domed Bin Ali Tom and Mosque. The graves with 2 stones are for the men, and 3 stones are for the women.

We had a short stop at a native Omani mud house. We had to wear a head scarf there, and it was so windy, I didn't know whether to keep my head scarf on, or keep my dress from blowing up!

Back to the bus to visit the ruins of Sumhuran, reputedly the site of the Queen of Sheba’s Palace, where Arabs, Greeks, Persians, Indians and Africans converged in the early 1stcentury to trade in frankincense and myrrh. The ruins were beautiful, especially against the backdrop of the sea.

You can’t go to Salalah and not get frankincense, right (the last pic above is a frankincense tree)? After the ruins, we stopped at a local Souk (market) to shop. Unfortunately, because of Ramadan, only a few shops were open. It was enough for us to get our frankincense, myrrh, a camel as a Christmas ornament, and some perfume. The woman in the picture with me below is the one that I bought the perfume from. The other woman is burning frankincense. All in all, a successful trip.

The last stop before going back to the ship was to the Sultan’s Palace (Al Husn), and through the town of Salalah, which has a gold market, and the main mosque in town.

Our guide’s name was Salem, and was very entertaining. He was well educated and convinced us that he would become the Prime Minister of Oman in 5 years. We had to get a picture with him in case this was true.

I’m excited about our next stop – Egypt.