28th August

Oman to Sri Lanka

First thing in Oman was a tour; we hired Salem (a little Muslim handler) and his land cruiser through the Hotel and went to the old souk. That was great, bought some jewellery, frankincense and myrrh for the girls and looked through the antiques. There were lots of older rifles and muzzle loaders for sale, relics of the past I guess.  

Oman is prosperous, peaceful and quite western for an Islamic state. We couldn’t go into the grand mosque because Friday was prayer day but outside was enough. It was a huge building, holds 80000 people in the main hall. There is a smaller less imposing mosque attached for the women, Typical, no equality in the eyes of Allah. We went past some of the old ports and the forts above. This was an important sea port and the buildings are still impressive. Sinbad the sailor came for Oman, not sure if was a good guy or a bad guy then! Depends on your point of view I suppose. We were taken to a new Intercontinental hotel that was certainly grand in the Arabic style. It was on the beach and the facilities were fabulous. I could holiday there, and the kids certainly could!  

Salem dropped us off and we decided that we would have a typical Omani lunch and were directed to a nearby restaurant. Not a female in sight, the man ushered us into a windowless stuffy little room, pillows on the floor. The food was Ok, just. Omani cuisine is not exactly one you would go out of your way for. 

Off the next morning, late because of the bureaucracy. We headed straight out for the Indian coast striking land after about 5 hours over water and then over India down to Sri Lanka. Indian air traffic control was interesting to say the least, talk about pedantic! And the place just shut down at 5!!!

It was about 10 hour flight, we had decided by then to push on to Singapore the next day.  

We stayed near the airport that night, had an entirely forgettable meal in the Hotel, and were at the airport by 6 AM to fix the flaps and fuel up. The flaps took ½ an hour (We wound them up by hand) getting the fuel and then the paperwork took until 11! Talk about bureaucracy it was out of your worst Indian movie! I sat with the airport director while he inflicted fear upon his minions! Wish I had a hidden camera! 

We bought 3 205l drums but they didn’t have a working hand pump! Brett and I repaired it for them, pumped it in so we got going eventually, a circus really, but it all adds to the experience.

Omani silver and antique shop

Omani fort

Omani beach resort

Oman Mosque for 8,000

Brett and Salem in the old souk

Brett stunned by the good sorts in Omani restaurant