Today we left Muscat. We really enjoyed our stay here. Oman a very safe, rich country where the people are very friendly and welcoming and Muscat is a great model for their capital. I'm impressed they can be part of the 21st Century yet retain most of their traditional way of life. On the other hand, it's a Sultinate which means the Sultan has absolute authority. Since there's no taxes, free education and free medical care, nobody seems to mind. Oil revenues are a wonderful thing.
Fist stop this morning is Birkat Al Mawz, an abandoned (mostly) mud brick village that was typical of Omani life 50 years ago.
We had a tour guide for this part of the trip who we also (reluctantly) convinced to be a photography model.
As well as Carol.
There were many date palms growing outside the village and workers were busy trimming the leaves, tough job, especially in the 90+ heat.
OK, off to check in to our hotel - the Golden Tulip in Nizwa, have lunch, chill out ready to leave again at 2pm.
For some variety, and for good reason, we piled into a convoy of 4X4's (Toyota Land Cruisers, the "must have" transportation for anybody who's anybody in Oman) and headed off to Misfat Al Abrieen, a very picturesque village (mostly populated this time) where we would explore the terraced streets and do a serious photo shoot. From across the valley the village looked spectacular.
If you think Russian Hill in San Francisco has a parking problem, you should see this place. The 4X4's clogged up every open space but we eventually were dropped off into the village. Remember, we're on a photographic expedition, so the main event was to capture the spirit of the village and we had a new model to help us with this task.
You can look in the photo album (eventually) for more pictures but it was a spectacular photo shoot, great fun.
This evening we were to have a traditional Omani dinner at a local restaurant in the village called the "Old House". We arrived, were welcomed and had our first "dry" dinner - no alcohol, no problem, but I could see a few nervous twitches in our group. (to be fair, this group are not the boozy lot you normally find on othet NGS expeditions). In truth, the dinner was pretty rubbish although the view was good and the hospitality was warm. After a long day we were keen to get back to our hotel and crash.