Along a mountain track
And as I go, I love to sing
My knapsack on my back.."
This pretty much summed up our day today. I am still humming the chorus as I
write this, and I can't help but smile, cause I am not sure there was a
whole lot of loving going on at the time LOL..
Sail in to port was just as magnificent as ever, especially with the calm
seas we were finally experiencing again. After all these trips you would
think that I have learnt pictures aren't always good first thing in morning.
Never take haze on .. You won't win.. So today my sail in pictures will
actually be my sail out pictures.
Last time we docked at the Port Sultan Qaboos there was not a Passenger
Terminal to speak of. We were simply ushered on to shuttles and driven
straight to the port gates. Today we were loaded into the shuttles, driven
100m to the terminal entrance where we security screened. Shame no one told
us that is what they were going to do, because I did hear of people leaving
their bags on the shuttles! We exited out of another door where we were
first bombarded by the Taxi mafia, who were trying to catch the business
before everyone reached the mass of taxis waiting just outside, then back on
to the shuttle for the ride to the Port gates.
With all these taxis at the gates, they must not have got the email that
said "hey the shuttle drop off point will be at the Muttrah Souk." Keep that
in mind if you ever visit.
Our tour guide from Oman Day Tours was picking us up from the gates so we
asked to be dropped off there. We arrived early so we had a little bit of a
wait before we found our guide. it was already starting to get hot.
Mosa turned up dressed in his white, well let's call it a kaftan so you all
know what I am talking about. His sparkling white airconditioned Prado was
also a nice touch. Prompted by a very inquisitive Peter he spoked to us
about life in Muscat and Oman during our drive.
Now not turning this into a history lesson but here are a few fun facts.
The current Sultan Qaboos came into power by overthrowing his father. In
his father's reign Oman was not a very pleasant place to live. Hardly any
infrastructure, lucky to have 6ft of paved road in the whole country. Hardly
any schools or hospitals. Hardly anyone was allowed in or out of the
country. Even after the Sultan started trading his oil, his coffers grew
larger and still nothing was spent to improve the living conditions of his
subjects. His only son was educated and sent to England but when he
returned he was kept under house arrest. Dad was starting to go a bit loopy
and became paranoid of a coup. He brought in stupid laws like no one being
allowed to be seen talking to each other for longer than 15 minutes. Enough
was enough and with the help of MI6 he overthrew his father. All this
information has come courtesy of Mr Google and this next part I kept getting
conflicting stories. Originally, we were told, showing leniency towards his
father, Qaboos shot him in the foot and then sent him off to London to live
out his years in a 5 star hotel. Another version is that he actually shot
himself in the foot as he tried to draw his gun. I will let you choose.. So
the roads, schools, hospitals, airports, seaports have all been built in the
last 40 years.
We got to the see the modern Muscat as we drove through the outer suburbs to
get to the Sur Freeway. So barren and rugged with the odd satellite town so
white against the surrounding rocky grey mountains. No lush green lawns or
colourful gardens of suburbia like we are accustomed to.
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