wanderingquilter

Last week,  David and I left home early with Robert to go to the Friday market in Sinaw. After a two-hour drive, we arrived, only to discover that the market has been changed to Thursday morning. The souq was bustling with activity, however, so we went in to see what we could find.

Aha – Robert spied the gun shop – he had heard about it and had always wanted to check it out. I’m not sure where they sell the UN-conventional Guns!

A pile of sandals sat outside the door, so we left our shoes there and went inside. And what did we see?  There were a few guns

and ammo belts

But mostly, there were khanjars. These are the knives with curved blades and the curved scabbard that you see on belts of well-dress Omanis and Yemenis.  They used to be worn most of the time, but now, they are just for formal occasions.  (By the way, those small round things are shields made of rhinoceros hide.) If you know what to look for, you can tell the area where the knife was made and even for which family by the handle and the decoration on the scabbard.

Here is the inside of the shop – with David and Robert at the back checking out the wall of khanjars.These are handles – they are mainly made from sandal wood or bone, although some are horn or ivory.  The design is made by tapping small silver nails into the handle.

This photo was taken through a dirty window, but you can really see the designs here.

The sheath is made of wood, and usually covered with of leather, with fine silver wire the thickness of sewing thread either sewn into the holes in the leather, or twisted into ornate designs and soldered to silver or gold plates which are fastened to the leather surface,  There will be from two to seven rings – the more rings, the more important the wearer….. seven is reserved for royalty, as is the distinctive cross-shaped Al-Saidi handle.

Now, this one is different – it is a Yemeni khanjar – the scabbard is much more upturned, and it seems to be made all of metal… silver? The belt is torn, but also quite ornate.

This is Said Abdullah Al Rashdi – the patriarch of the business.  He was really interested in selling this Yemeni khanjar.This is his son, Omar, weighing some gold that a gentleman had come in to buy.  He is apparently very knowledgeable about khanjars, as he received this award from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2005.As well as khanjars, he also makes gold and silver jewellery in traditional forms.

This young man was sitting in the shop, watching the proceedings – I’m not sure I even heard him speak other than to greet the shop owners. That is a camel stick in his hands – the men all seem to carry them.  They are made of bamboo, and are so flexible that they will bend right into a circle. Some have silver tips and ornamentation.Robert decided to purchase the Yemeni khanjar, as he doesn’t have anything like it in his collection.  After a bit of bartering, me playing translator, we proceeded around the souq.  I’ll close now and tell you about that later.

Wednesday evening, we had the wonderful privilege of attending the Annual Oud concert at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel.  We, luckily, have a friend whose daughter is has been taking lessons with then, and was playing with the group.  Here is our invitation from Alia-

Amal has only been playing the oud for less than a year – so she is really doing well.

The oud is a pear-shaped is a stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music.  The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor . Unlike the guitar, the oud has no frets.  It has 11 strings, five pairs and one lone tone. It is played with a narrow wooden plectrum. Here is a photo –

We arrived for the concert just before 7:30 – but of course, it didn’t actually begin until 8.  I was a bit daunted when I sat down and looked at the program –

only to discover it was all in Arabic.  I found Amal’s name on it, however, (circled in red) and then Alice and I proceeded to find as many other names that we could recognize from our smattering of Arabic script knowledge.

Pretty soon, the dignitaries entered, and soon after, the musicians.  As well as the 16 oud players (oudists????), there were percussionists, a wooden flute, two violins which were tuned very differently to what I am used to, a guitar, a kind of zither, and a pianist.

Here is the group playing.  There were only two girls – Amal is the one in the pink and blue. I saw her after the oud part of the concert – that dress is totally encrusted with stones – and it is very heavy.  It is a typical Omani formal dress – the female members of the Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra wear something similar.

The music was great – and oh, so different from what we are used to.  The rhythms were vibrant and driving – the tonalities were very Eastern, but here and there Western ones merged with them. The audience was very enthusiastic – you could tell which tunes were traditional folk songs, as many in the audience were singing along.  Several young men in the row behind us were very involved, at times not only clapping along, but doing the associated dances while seated – or even once standing in to dance along.  It was great fun.

After the oud orchestra played (here they are taking a bow – see how interesting the backs of the instruments are!), there was a break and then the vocalists took over the stage.  apparently, there had been a singing competition in Muscat, and we got to hear some of the winners.

This lady is Omani – and she won second place in the contest.  She has a very deep voice.  In Eastern music, the timbre of the voice that is prized is very different to Western – the singing is much more in the throat.  Again, very different, but very, very interesting.

The last two soloists played the oud along with their singing, and played much more traditional sounding music.

After the concert, we went inside the hotel and got a bite to eat – not used to eating dinner at 10:30 pm.  Here is the Christmas tree in the atrium of the hotel.

Thank you, Alia, for inviting us to this concert, and giving us the chance to step behind the Omani musical culture curtain and experience a new world.  It was an evening to remember.

We were to be in Norway already – David’s start date for his new job was December 1.  We are still in Muscat!

I was pretty upset at first, but then realized that we have been give bonus time in a country we love – and in warmer weather as well. I felt quite chilled walking the dog this morning – temp 16C.  It’s 5C and raining in Stavanger.  And we have wonderful friends here that we will really miss. Delay equals more time with them as well.

So, here is a bit about how I spent the past week.

Saturday saw three of us at Wendy’s place for coffee.  Wendy has now left for Christmas in Scotland (did you hear about the raging storm they have had?) She made the most delicious ginger cake – everyone wants the recipe.  It’s the good old-fashioned kind with eggs and butter – and one piece satisfies, unlike these so-called healthy alternatives that always make me feel I’ve missed something important.  She showed the others her card-making – Wendy makes the most beautiful card – and she left one for each of us when she flew off to Scotland for Christmas.  Thank you so much, Wendy!

Sunday morning I toured the Grand Mosque with Paramjeet, who had never been there.  I’ve been several times, but always discover something new, and am again overwhelmed by the majesty and beauty of the place. Here are a few shots of the mosque, but there are lots more in the slideshow at the end.Workers outside at the front of the mosque, and two of the guards/guides.And Paramjeet in my favourite nook at the back of the Grand Prayer hall.

Monday, I stayed home and tried to catch up on my sewing.  More about this in a separate post. I also did laundry, and caught up, almost, on the ironing.  Gosh, do I muss Thiru.  She was so quick that I never had to worry about ironing.

Tuesday saw Jo, Alice and I at our quilting class. Lots of good visiting and great food intermingled with sewing and unsewing and lots of learning.

Wednesday – our Friday here in Oman. Paramjeet and I went down to Muttrah to the old souq.  We didn’t buy much – but we poked around in all sorts of things – mostly looking at old jewellery.  In one shop, there was an amazing necklace of leather with old camel teeth sewn onto it. Paramjeet got a photo of me holding it up – will share it with you when I get a copy. Here are just a few of the marvelous wares the shops have to offer.

It was quiet when we arrived, but by 11 am the place was packed as a large cruise ship had docked, and all the tourists were out for bargains.  Don’t’ think that was what they were getting however, unless they were good at haggling.  In the Syrian shop, Paramjeet asked the price of a lovely pashmina – 6 rials.  On our way out, a hawker in the main hall wanted 12 for the identical shawl.  Paramjeet had a few sharp words for him in his native language.  When we got to a shop that I have frequented quite a lot, the merchant, recognizing me, asked 4.  So, buyer beware.

By 11:30 we were shopped out – we had a glass of fresh juice at a shop just outside the souq entrance, and watched the tourists being herded onto buses for their next stop.  I don’t think I could ever go on a cruise.  If I did, I would have to go my own way, and just make sure I got back to the ship on time to leave.

From there we went into Ruwi to an Indian restaurant for lunch – puri pani (crispy hollow shells filled with lentils, black chick peas and potato, then sweet sauce and then dipped in a spicy sauce – you pop the whole thing in your mouth.  We also had a variation that come prestuffed and swimming in yoghurt sauce – I think I preferred those.  Then thali – a lunch special consisting of a plate with roti and small dished of curry, vegetables etc. We were too stuffed to finish.  What a lovely treat!  This was the dessert Paramjeet had for us at lunch on Tuesday – milk cake.  Yummeeeee!

Thursday already – this has been a very busy and full week – how could I have lived without it? We went with friends to Bait Al Baranda – a museum in Muttrah about the history of Oman. The special draw was a new book launching and signing by Abdullah Al Shuhi.  David and Robert had met him on one of their treks, and discovered that he is a photographer and author.  We bought his first book, “Oman, The Big Picture”, which highlights the main sights of Oman.  As it is packed, we couldn’t get it signed, but we bought his latest,” Oman, Living Traditions” and received a calendar with his photos as well.  He is a very personable man, and a wonderful photographer.  the book has 6 sections, with both photos and text that really give you the true story of Oman and its camels, horses, fishing, souqs, dates and traditional costume.  It is a coffee table book that will get well used, for sure.

The museum starts with the movement of the earth’s plates that caused the unique geological features of Oman, and carried on through ancient history to modern times.  Here are a few photos that show what Muttrah used to look like (top ) – Muttrah souq and the shore in front of it.

After touring the museum – a worthy morning pastime in its own right, Alice and I took some photos of the old buildings and narrow streets in the area while Robert backed  a long way to get out of the parking lot.  It’s a bit of a hazard here, getting hemmed in.

I think we are always hungry here, and there is always somewhere new to eat.  We went for lunch to The Golden Oryx, a Chinese/Thai restaurant which has been here for a long time.  Excellent food, incredible service.  Five stars!

The week concluded with David and Robert going out into the mountains on another safari – David will really miss this when we move – and Alice and I attended the Christmas concert by the Muscat Singers.  Wow – beautiful music, well performed, and accompanied by a brass ensemble that boasts two resident arrangers. The choir sand a Renaissance sang that I remember hearing in my Music Appreciation class at university – a VERY long time ago. I would have loved to be in this choir – if only we were staying.

I haven’t had time this week to be sad that we haven’t moved yet – hardly had time to sit and watch the lights on my Christmas tree twinkle merrily.

What a lucky, lucky person I am!

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Hadbeen is a very typical Omani town – very rural.  We managed to find a small coffee shop that made chicken sandwiches, and he ran to the store for Pepsi for us. We sat outside, and along came the water truck. Everyone had their water jugs out to fill, small and large.  We talked to a young man who told us about the abalone they caught and dried there – quite expensive, too. He also told us that a storm was forecast for that night, so the roads would be impassible tomorrow.

There was an auto body shop just across the road – we imagined that they were doing quite a good business with the roads the way they were.  I saw this sign on a shop near where we parked the car…… translations are amazing sometimes, aren’t they. If I ever need to get dents put in my car, now I know where to go!

The Omanis who had been driving ahead of us came to ask us if we were going farther along the road to Hasik.  They said the road was better, and the scenery was very nice, as the highway follows the shore almost the whole way there – it’s only another 30 km or so.  Well, it was only 1:45 pm, what else would we do with the afternoon?  David asked them to go ahead, and we would follow.

They were right about one thing – the scenery was incredible. And  aside from the avalanches along the way, the road was quite good…. for the first bit.

And did I mention that there were camels walking along the road?  Here we were on a makeshift road just after a wet crossing.Then we forded some streams again – including a few where I would just as soon have turned back.  David, however, is much more adventurous than I, and as HE was the driver (good thing) on we went – until we reached to road into Hasik.

It, like Hadbeen, is on the FAR side of the wadi….. and we weren’t going to try this one.  After all, we could see the town now, and we could also see young men up to their necks in the water just beside the road through the wadi.

We stopped a few places on the way back to Hadbeen to take photos, and took a stroll up to these old walls – they look like very old houses, although a few seem to be used as fishing shelters or storage for gear.  There were a lot of shells on this high ledge, so weathered that only the mother-of-pearl was left.

The rocks along the way change in form and composition at almost every bend.  I’ve decided that if I had my life to live over again, I would be a geologist, as rocks and formations have always fascinated me.  Wish I’d been smart enough to figure that out the first time round.

After the ford at Hadbeen, we stopped at a wadi and walked along it toward the sea….. after about 45 minutes, we realized we were still along way from the crashing waves, and had better turn back or we wouldn’t make it back to Mirbat before dark…. one really doesn’t want to be fording streams in the dark.  It was a lovely walk, though, and a good run for Snoopy.

When we finally arrived at the turn-off to Sadah, we went the kilometer into the town, and were surprised by the size of it.  We were also a bit surprised to discover that main street, which ran down to the ocean, was a river.

Still more fording between Sadah and Mirbat, but nothing too scary, so even in the dark, we made it back without incident.  We were more than ready for a beer and supper.. and an interesting conversation with Said, an Omani who is working in the oilfield, and had brought his family for a one night holiday from Salalah.

It was a great day…. I’m really glad that we had the chance to go to Salalah again and see more of the countryside.

Here are a few more photos.

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The beginning of November, we went on a 5 day road trip, and spent a full day in Dhofar on the road east of Mirbat (east of Salalah), in the south of Oman.

We had never been east of Mirbat, but had been told that the shore line scenery was second to none.  After breakfast, we headed out, with Snoopy in the back seat.

Sadah is about 40 kilometers from Mirbat.  first, you climb up on a plateau, driving down through wadis, or dry(??) riverbeds along the way.  There had been rain recently in the mountains, so there was often water running over the pavement in the low spots. The British devised a way to tell if the water is too deep to drive through – it doesn’t have to be very deep sometimes for the current to wash a vehicle sideways.  Anyway, they put white cement posts along the side of the road  with the danger level painted red. A sign before each wadi remind you to watch out.

We were surprised to see weeds and branches stranded on the railing at the edge of the road…. surely the water couldn’t have been THIS high!

We stopped where there was, or had been, a rest area along side the road. Water was still running across, and we got out and walked towards the sea, which wasn’t very far away.  The water was quite warm where it was shallow, but there were some sudden deep spots.  Snoopy thought he could just wade across in one spot, and was suddenly forced to swim. He loves the water, but doesn’t like to get where he can’t touch bottom – we we found out that he swims very well when he has to.  This rock was incredible – I’d sure like to know how this was formed.When we finally met with rocks we couldn’t climb over and water we couldn’t wade through, we headed back to the car, checking out the rest area on the other side of the road. Then off we went.

Through more water – did I mention that there are camels everywhere, and they always seem to think they have the right-of-way, even when they are miles from a camel crossing sign?Another stop was right by the ocean, in a tiny inlet.  The shore was rocky, and the waves were tall and came crashing in. The rock formations were quite interesting – like this big rock with bisecting seams. I could have stayed there for a long time, just listening to the waves crash on the shore – I think in a former life, I must have lived by the sea.

Before we got to the Sadah turn off, we went through a few wadis where the road had been washed right out…. we followed other vehicles and made it through with no problem.  David thought maybe I should just wade ahead of the jeep, taking photos, and making sure we didn’t run into any deep spots.  He found out that there are limits to what a farm girl from Saskatchewan will do, and this was one of them!

At the Sadah turn, we headed on up the highway.  We went through wadi after wadi, some not so bad, some that had me biting my nails a bit…. I am really NOT an adventurous passenger. We were beginning to get hungry, but there was not a shop or restaurant in sight.  And then we came over the crest of a hill, and saw a fair sized town….Hadbeen…. and the road was completely washed out before it.  Well, the SUV in front of us went on, so we followed.  The last bit, the road had been built up so you could drive into the town, although it was very rough and rocky, and we weren’t sure if we had done some damage to the bottom of the jeep… but we made it.

Since I am so slow at putting photos into these blogs, I will stop there, and continue the trip in the next edition.

Time for a short update on our situation.

You may remember that David’s new assignment in Norway was set to begin December 1, and that most of our house was packed up for moving to Canada on Sept 29 and 30.

Since then -1) HR in Dubai took over 2 weeks to send David the official offer, 2) the clinic took over 2 weeks to send the results from David’s medical to Halliburton, and 3) it took over 2 weeks from then for the contract to arrive for him to sign – all of which has to happen BEFORE Norway can apply for the work visa so we can enter the country.

We have the contract now – but Norway HR cannot get an appointment to apply for the visa until December 6 – and it will take 2 weeks to process. This means that we will probably be heading to Norway sometime between Christmas and New Years, or maybe just after.

So, we are here for another month, and will celebrate Christmas without snow one more year. disappointing, as we had hoped to go to Aberdeen for Christmas.  But……..

We have another month to spend with the good friends we have made here, another month to be warm (although it is cooling of here, that only means a low of 20 and high of 27).  We will have to chance to explore more of this beautiful country of Oman. And, although most of our belongings are boxes up, we have a comfortable bed, stove and fridge, A dining room table that collects the same clutter it did out of the box,cars to drive, food to eat, my sewing machineand computers with plenty of boxes to set them on.

I will unbox the artificial Christmas tree and some of the decorations, and set it up for as long as we can, and a comfortable chair to sit in to sew.  The mail is fairly reliable from here, so I will find the presents I bought for everyone and mail them – they will arrive after Christmas, but they should arrive.

I don’t know when the boxes will be taken away, but until then, we will glory in each new, sunny day that we get to live in Oman.

How many of you saw a sunset like THIS last night? It will be a bit different in Norway.