Muscat, the capital of Oman, is one of the fabled ports of the Near East, a legendary trading centre connecting Europe and Asia since the 1st century AD when Roman merchants, Indian traders and even Buddist monks met and mingled in the city's streets.
Archeologists, maintain that Muscat has been a crucial seaport for at least 24 centuries with links to India and beyond, dating back as early as the 6th century BC. Excavations have uncovered pottery from the early cities of the Indus River Valley digs outside the city.
Muscat has a colourful and turbulent history due to its strategic location and importance as a commercial port. A long line of foreign interlopers have staked their claim to the city and its' riches over the centuries.
During the West's Middle Ages the Iraqui Caliphate (ruler) of Baghdad exerted control over Oman for 2 centuries until 1508 when the Portuguese, Afonso de Albuquerque, (don' t you just love his name) took possession of Muscat and became the dominant power over the entire Indian Ocean and Muscat for the next 151 years. In 1659 the Ottaman Turks took possession of Oman but they were driven out in 1741 by Ahmed bin Said of Yeman who liberation Oman from foreign domination. He consolidated the sultanate of Oman in 1744 and founded the present Royal line. Since this period the Al Said dynasty has ruled over Muscat and Oman.
In 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said ascended to the Sultanate, and began an ambitious program of revitalisation of Muscat and Oman. Tourism has been part of this revitalisation. Today, Muscat looks like a city out of Arabian nights with traditional Arab dhows cruising beside modern liners and merchant cargo ships. There is also a fascinating mix of ancient and modern buildings.
Camel trails have been replaced with modern highways which link Muscat with the vast Aabia Desert with it's stark barren and Rocky Mountains, isolated and scattered seasonal wadis, hidden oases and new towns. Many people live in the city today but out in the desert permanent homes have replaced the carpeted-tents around wadis where once camel traders gathered. Today small irragation channels carry water round these settlements where banana, date palm and home vegetables can be seen flourishing in the desert.
Petroleum makes up 95% of exports whilst banking and shipping services are also important. Other exports include copper, asbestos, marble and limestone.
It is summertime now in Muscat so temperatures are between 30C and 42C. Winter temperatures range from 17C to 25C and are much more comfortable.
Languages: Arabic (official), English, Baluchi, Urdu, Nepali, Indian dialects Muscat is a multi- cultural country but only Muscat born people can have citizenship. All other foreigners can never have citizenship and they need to be sponsored by a national to be able to work in Muscat and they are paid less than citizens from Muscat employed in the same job. However, for many foreign workers conditions and job opportunities in Muscat are much better than their home countries. By working in Muscat they are able to send some money home to support their families. Working in Muscat also provides an opportunity for these families to rise above the poverty line and educate their children.
We entered the harbour which is "guarded by" two 16th century forts - all that remains of Albuquerque's ambitions to control the waters of the Indian Ocean. On our port side we could see the absolute monarch's official residence: the Al Alam Palace which is an impressive blend of both modern and contemporary Islamic architecture.
Muscat skyline is dominated by wide mountain ranges, tall domed mosques with sky bound intricate minarets, modern apartment buildings and date palm plantations. Images out of the fabled, "Alibaba and the Fourty Thieves" filled our minds as we docked.
Ken had arranged a 23 person tour into the desert and down the coast with a tour company in Muscat. We gathered together as a group, in a prearranged area on board ship, attached name tags with a coloured H for Hodson Tour so that we didn't get mixed up with any of the other 60+ tours heading off the ship at the same time and headed own and off the ship's gangplank to the bus below. We climbed into our air-conditioned coach (already 34C at 9am) and drove 20 metres and had to walk through the immigration building and then exited out the back door, back into the coach- in that time one of our tour members manage to loose us so we spent the next hour waiting for him, going into the city area to "find him" and then back to the port gates in case he'd also gone back to find us.
Finally we decided we'd have to trust that he would find his way back to the ship and we began our tour . All through the trip we wondered about him and we enquirerd about him on other coaches if they stopped at our venues. (We heard from him next day that he'd gotten on the wrong coach after immigration and eventually went back to the ship to get out of the heat. )
Here are some of the sights and colours of modern Muscat as seen from our coach window. The coach was cool but the window glass was very hot when touched.
Our first stop was at the a fishing town at a delta entrance. The sea breeze was cooling though the sun was blazing hot. Our guide, Khalid was a happy faced friendly man of about 60. He was also very agile as he scaled a rough date palm in his bare feet and he handed us fresh warm and tasty dates to consume.
Next we headed further into the mountainous and desert areas of Muscat . The landscape was parch-dry, with varying shades of browns, rocky outcrops, little or no vegetation and from time to time this vista changed at areas where villages have been established around wadis or waterholes . Here they grew date palms and other family crops. Theses wadi areas provide patches of green relief in an otherwise brown world. Many of these clusters of white homes belong to tribal communities who once roamed the desert as traders and goat and camel herders. Today they have community schools and occupations fro farmers to teachers, merchants, bankers, tourist guides and medical workers. Solar power is plentiful and we passed at least 2 dams wedged between mountain valleys so water is provided to homes in this most arid region today.
The temperature kept rising as we continued on our tour and at one stage our coach began to overheat. We drove along modern expressways, over mountain passes and looked down onto the dry valley floor where flash flooding occurs suddenly once or twice a decade. From time to time we passed clusters of trees with goats or sheep sheltering in the shadowery-shade provided on the hot sandy desert floor.
Our next destination was to a small village community set between mountain ranges in a high valley floor. Whilst it had road access from the city our coach had to park outside the village entrance as the road narrowed and access was either by foot or car. We really enjoyed walking into and through this village. It was cooler ( 32C) because there were trees and a slight breexze are we wander up the slight incline into the village. We followed a narrow channelled watercourse alongside our meandering road into the village. The houses were sparsely placed and hidden behind walled gardens but we were able to see crops, banana and date palms through gaps in the walls where the water courses branched into family homes.
We were able to enjoy more dates from overhanging clusters of this delicious fruit. We felt like we were in our own special isolated world as we saw no other people at first. Later a few cars entered the village and welcoming "hello's " echoed in the valley. What a special time we shared in this short valley walk. We both enjoyed the shade of a robust tree and the brightly coloured desert flowers growing alongside the roadside. With reluctance we climbed back into the coach to continue use our tour.
We were still all gushing about our village wadi oasis experiences when we reached a massive sinkhole, way out in the desert. This was our next wonder to enjoy. The sinkhole formed when a massive cave system's ceiling collapsed years ago, filling with water which is fed from an underground river. We walked down the 85 steps but could only hold the metal railings for a few seconds as they were blisteringly hot touch. The water, though luke-warm was refreshing and it looked so inviting with it's many the hues of aquamarine and with the flashes of sunlight that danced off the surface of the water. Many locals and tourists were frolicking, diving and jumping about in this pool in the desert. Some local lads even dived or jumped from the sinkhole rim above and received gasps of applause. We had come prepared with neck- to- knee swimming attire but because of the hour we'd spent searching for our missing tourist we only had time to walk down into the sinkhole and paddle. We enjoyed seeing others relishing the pleasure of waters and the tiny fish which nibbled on their skin, added to their joy. As we climbed back out of the sinkhole " beach area " we viewed this exercise as par for the course but also a preamble to climbing the mountains in Matupitchu in a few weeks time. It will not be as HOT as today so we think we'll be able to complete the challenge: only time will tell.
One thing about this fabulous tour today is that although it is 7 hours long it is FULL OF SURPRISES . The coach is cool, there are plenty of cool drinks and water being provided and the guide is interesting, informative and obliging. However the sun and heat are unrelentingly oppressive when we leave the coach but wearing long sleeves and doning a wet snap-cloth microfibre cooling towel around our necks helps to cool our bodies and prevents heat exhaustion. We bought these snap-cloth cooling towels in the Katmandu shop in Wollongong and they are proving to be very useful. 
After more desert kilometres of brown tones dotted with green oasis sites we arrived at our 2.30pm lunch stop venue. It was a hotel (single storey desert design) set on the cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean. WOWIE! What a sight! A blue, blue ocean, sandy beaches and rocky headlands. Our restaurant, perched on the cliff top served a 3 course Lebanese type meal and it was YUMMY.
Our return trip was filled with ever-changing desert views as the sun began to lower in the sky. The shadows on the mountains, across the desert floor and around the oases sites, lengthened and formed patterns across the passing landscape.
As we came towards the city centre we began to climb 2 mountain ranges but on the first assent our engine of our coach began to overheat so we slowed down and snail-crawled over the top. It took ages and we began to wonder if we'd make it back to the ship on time before we set sail at 5 pm. Ken followed our "progress" on his i-pad satellite navigator and realising we may be waylayed he suggested that the guide ring ahead and pre-warn the ship of our situation. However all was well . The coach recovered once we'd summitted the second mountaintop and we drove into the dock at 4.30 with thanks and praise to God for our safety and for the wonderful day tour of Muscat that we all experienced. Everyone tipped the guide and driver for such a memorable experience.
For several days now, as we have moved around the ship, Ken has received thanks from grateful guests who'd been on our trip.
