Salalaaaaahhhhh!

Day 15-17: Sea Days

I caught a pretty nasty cold the first of our next stretch of sea days. I have 3 days to kick it. I guess if I’m going to get sick, this is the best time.

We are now headed to the Middle East, and as luck would have it, just as the Holy Month of Ramadan is beginning. The daily ship notice, “The Explorer,” put out this statement regarding Ramadan:

“It is now the Holy Month of Ramadan. During this time, Muslims adopt a more humble lifestyle and look inwards as they reflect on their religious beliefs. It is especially important for visitors to the Sultanate to respect this important time in the Muslim religious calendar.

Eating or drinking in public places during Ramadan hours (from sunrise to sunset) in Oman can get you arrested, under the Sultanate’s Penal Code. The article defines the a punishment of imprisonment for a period of not less than 10 days and not exceeding three months for whoever is caught eating, drinking or breaking the fast during the fasting hours in public places in the Sultanate…

The most important thing for expatriate women to remember is the way they dress. It is inappropriate to wear short, clingly sleeveless dresses which show the outline of your underwear. Neither is it acceptable to wear shorts, semi-transparent tops or dresses, or dresses with long slits. This is extremely offensive to our hosts in this country. If you must wear short dresses, pair them with non-transparent leggings which are much in vogue now. Remember the dress should cover your hips. Tight t-shirts should preferably be left at home but if you wear them, try adding a fashionable loose top as well. It is important to cover your elbows and your legs and avoid plunging necklines.”

Wow, that was a lot of rules! Lynda and I spent a ridiculous amount of time coming up with outfits that would be deemed appropriate, yet not stifling in the hot, humid weather. We also wanted to bring head scarfs for any holy places.

The next portion of our trip will be very different from the first part and I’m super excited for the move from Asia to the Middle East.

Day 18: Salalah, Oman

As we were leaving the ship I noticed a large, well-muscled man standing at the door to the gangplank. He was wearing a tee-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. Not a passenger, not crew, and Caucasian, so not Omani. I started puzzling it out, but then we were walking down the gangplank towards our bus and I forgot all about him—until later.

Salalah is famous for its frankincense, all the way back to biblical times. It’s also the 2nd largest country in the GCC (oil countries with Saudi Arabia, etc.). The American dollar is very weak here, and you can see the difference in the wealth of this country compared in stark contrast to India, from where we just came. Even the average citizen here lives in 4000 square foot houses. And there is no traffic, no overcrowding. Really quiet. It felt like we were the only ones out there on the road at times. I don’t know if that is normal or exacerbated by Ramadan, but it was a bit eerie. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw more camels that people in Oman.

We first went to an underground spring that has caves and gardens. It’s called Ayn Razat Springs and is a popular picnic area for the locals. No locals today—no picnicking when you can’t eat. On the way there our air conditioning on the bus completely broke down. It was stifling hot and we all were pretty much covered from head to toe because of Ramadan. The tour company brought in another bus to replace the old one while we were at the spring, so thankfully, it was swiftly remedied.

Next we went to the Ruins of Sumhuran. This place was pretty neat, it was an ancient port and the sight of the Queen of Sheba’s palace. Here, frankincense and myrrh were traded around the world. What exactly is frankincense you may ask? (I did) Frankincense is a tree resin that is often burned as incense in religious ceremonies.

After the ruins, we went to the Bin Ali Tomb and Mosque. I can’t tell you exactly who Bin Ali was, but he was a very religious man and we saw his tomb in a small mosque. It was next to a graveyard with really interesting tombstones.

We also stopped at a souk (market) for frankincense & souvenirs. Unfortunately, because of Ramadan most of the shops were closed. We still managed to get our frankincense which was high on our shopping list of “wants” for the day. We also try to get a Christmas ornament in as many of the stops we can. Often, it’s some small trinket that we can make into an ornament when we get home, but it makes for a fun tree that is full of our travel memories. In Oman, we each picked up a small camel for our trees.

Our guide, Salem, was a happy spirited guy. He loved saying the word, “Salalaaaahhh” (a lot!) and he really loves the Sultan. Not that long ago, there were only 3 schools in Oman. Now, because of the Sultan, there are over 1000 schools. Our guide said he wouldn’t have been able to go to school before, but now has earned his PhD! (Masters in Egypt, PhD in Malaysia) The tour guide thing is a side gig to his main job, and something he enjoys doing. He even sang for us and he closed every explanation with “Welcome to the land of all seasons and welcome to the Salem show!” I smile even now remembering his enthusiasm.

We stopped briefly outside the gates to the Sultan’s Palace and then headed back to the ship. Oman was not a place I’d go back to on its own, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to go there once. It was an easy start to our Middle East experience.

At dinner that night, Graham 1 and Graham 2 asked if we had noticed our new passengers at the pool. I hadn’t been to the pool, so no, I hadn’t. It would appear we’ve taken on some “Security” for this next part of our trip. Tomorrow we’ll be passing just to the north of Somalia: An area known for its modern-day pirates. It was then I remembered the guy I had seen that morning as I was leaving the ship. Yep, that’s exactly what he looked like—straight out of central casting-- hired “Security.”

Some people might be thinking after reading about the challenges of Ramadan and threats of pirates, “I would NEVER go to the Middle East.” While maybe inconvenient, we also view it as part of the world experience that we are actively seeking out. To understand the rest of our fellow humans a little bit better by meeting them and learning about their lives.

Day 19-22: Sea Days

This will be the last of our long stretches at sea. After this we are on a much tighter schedule, with basically two port days followed by one sea day. It will make keeping up with the blog a challenge, but one I’m definitely up for.

Random Info:

Our team finally won at the Quiz game. We got 19 out of 20 right and Lynda pulled us ahead with the answer to the question: What is the only word in the English language that ends in an “mt?” (Answer at the end.)

There are fewer than 900 passengers on board. I’ve seen them refurbishing some of the rooms on this voyage, so I assume we’re full minus the rooms they wanted to upgrade. Over half the passengers are Australian, next are the passengers from the UK, then American, and finally German. The staff, as you can imagine, is very international, although, Ukrainian seems to be the number one nationality. None are from English speaking countries as far as I can tell.

On day 2 we had a special, fancy teatime to celebrate the birth of Archie, the new Royal. We even had champagne—at tea!

On day 3 at sea we woke up to eerily calm seas and fog. Just like what you’d expect to see in one of those ghost ship movies. We are cruising through the Red Sea now which is more of a straight and not as prone to the rough waters of the open ocean.

I haven’t seen much of the hired guns on board, but occasionally I’ll cross their path. I think there are about 6 of them, but I’m not sure. No signs of pirates either.

Answer to the quiz question: dreamt.