Wed. Nov. 16th Salalah, Oman
By Jain
After four days at sea we arrive in Salalah, Oman. It is our 99th country to visit in our world travels. Well maybe we won't officially count it as 99 until we reach Muscat, Oman the day after tomorrow, since we were only in Salalah, on shore for ½ an hour. We had planned to spend the day looking around and going to one of their beautiful beaches, but we're quickly discouraged. Our experience on shore was like being thrown in a shark tank.
We took the ship's shuttle to the port gate. When we got off and quickly were surrounded by100 Arab taxi drivers vying for our business. Trying to negotiate the one mile trip downtown among the other 50 bewildered tourists with their mouths open... was crazy. The best we could do was get the price down to $50.00. That is $50.00 for one mile, one way. We decided that was nuts and proceeded to catch the shuttle back to the ship. Others followed our lead basically muttering, "Let's get the Hell out of here." We had been warned that taxi rates were high, but didn't think they thought of us as stupid. We will do our sightseeing when we get to Muscat, Oman where we will be taking the hop on hop off bus.
Oman not too long ago was a poor country. That was until Quaboos bin Said planned a coup against his father the Sultan in 1970. He actually tried to contract for his assassination, but that failed. He was successful in having him exiled to Great Britain. (These kids today.) Once he was Sultan he ended the country's isolation and took back the oil revenues so long enjoyed by Great Britain and U.S. Since that time, education, public works, and tourism have taken off. The port of Salalah is huge, modern and construction is everywhere. I can't speak of the city cause I didn't see it.
The Sultan has been in power now about 40 years. Basically the Sultan government works like this, 'What Sultan wants, he gets and what he wants to happen, happens", otherwise heads roll. There are no checks and balances. In recent years there have been numerous protests against his leadership and he has surprisingly responded to some requests; one specially, creating more jobs.
The Oman people are supposed to have the reputation of being friendly and helpful to tourists (I can't vouch for that). In return they ask tourists to respect their ways and traditions. I can't tell you how many times in the past 3 days, there have been public announcements, notices in ships newsletters, and signs asking the guests to dress conservatively when going ashore. Conservative dress here is long pants and long sleeve shirts for both men and women. On the shuttle bus there were people wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. People amaze me. Its no wonder our taxi quote went up to $50.00!
Anyway returning to the ship we had a great afternoon at the ship's pool. P.S., it is hot here. Tonight we are having dinner at Cagney's Steakhouse so no afternoon canapés for us; unless of course they are chocolate yummies.
By Jain
After four days at sea we arrive in Salalah, Oman. It is our 99th country to visit in our world travels. Well maybe we won't officially count it as 99 until we reach Muscat, Oman the day after tomorrow, since we were only in Salalah, on shore for ½ an hour. We had planned to spend the day looking around and going to one of their beautiful beaches, but we're quickly discouraged. Our experience on shore was like being thrown in a shark tank.
We took the ship's shuttle to the port gate. When we got off and quickly were surrounded by100 Arab taxi drivers vying for our business. Trying to negotiate the one mile trip downtown among the other 50 bewildered tourists with their mouths open... was crazy. The best we could do was get the price down to $50.00. That is $50.00 for one mile, one way. We decided that was nuts and proceeded to catch the shuttle back to the ship. Others followed our lead basically muttering, "Let's get the Hell out of here." We had been warned that taxi rates were high, but didn't think they thought of us as stupid. We will do our sightseeing when we get to Muscat, Oman where we will be taking the hop on hop off bus.
Oman not too long ago was a poor country. That was until Quaboos bin Said planned a coup against his father the Sultan in 1970. He actually tried to contract for his assassination, but that failed. He was successful in having him exiled to Great Britain. (These kids today.) Once he was Sultan he ended the country's isolation and took back the oil revenues so long enjoyed by Great Britain and U.S. Since that time, education, public works, and tourism have taken off. The port of Salalah is huge, modern and construction is everywhere. I can't speak of the city cause I didn't see it.
The Sultan has been in power now about 40 years. Basically the Sultan government works like this, 'What Sultan wants, he gets and what he wants to happen, happens", otherwise heads roll. There are no checks and balances. In recent years there have been numerous protests against his leadership and he has surprisingly responded to some requests; one specially, creating more jobs.
The Oman people are supposed to have the reputation of being friendly and helpful to tourists (I can't vouch for that). In return they ask tourists to respect their ways and traditions. I can't tell you how many times in the past 3 days, there have been public announcements, notices in ships newsletters, and signs asking the guests to dress conservatively when going ashore. Conservative dress here is long pants and long sleeve shirts for both men and women. On the shuttle bus there were people wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. People amaze me. Its no wonder our taxi quote went up to $50.00!
Anyway returning to the ship we had a great afternoon at the ship's pool. P.S., it is hot here. Tonight we are having dinner at Cagney's Steakhouse so no afternoon canapés for us; unless of course they are chocolate yummies.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab® S2
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