wanderingquilter

On our drive back to Muscat from Dhofar at the end of the Eid Al Adha holiday, we stopped in at the Frankincense Park.  It is one of four UNESCO sites in Oman.

When we first pulled up, we didn’t think that it was much at all.  In a valley – or wadi – there were rows of small frankincense trees.  Several sets of stairs descended into the wadi – and there was a small building that housed the lavatories.  Letting the dog out of the car to get some exercise, we went down to take a look. A young man in workman’s coveralls approached us – we weren’t sure if he would ask us to get the dog out of there or what.  We were pleasantly surprised.  He is a Pakistani Christian who welcomed our company.  It turns out that he tends the whole area all alone, planting new trees, both by cuttings and seeds, and keeping them watered.  He hasn’t been in the country very long, I think,  as he wasn’t very fluent in Arabic – counting out the numbers to get the right one…. but between English and Arabic, we learned quite a lot.

An eight year old tree is about 4 feet tall. That means that the few I’ve seen here in Muscat must be quite old as they are probably 15 feet tall with thick trunks.  There were a few flowers showing on some of the trees, and also dead, black seeds that smell of incense when crushed. The new leaves grow right at the tip of the old wood.

“Come with me”, Tariq said, and led us through the trees toward a tall chain link fence. Inside the locked gate, there were taller trees.  ” These”, he said, “are the old ones.” He took us to one of the bigger ones, and showed us where the bark had been scraped away, leaving a cut about the size of your palm where the sap of the tree was oozing out.  He said that every two days, he had to go around and collect the beads of frankincense.  There are 4000 trees altogether, young and old.  I’m not sure just how many of them they are harvesting from right now.  The beads of sap were very white – the best frankincense of all.

Back on top, we walked down to the signs.Here, you can see the same trees in the background that are in the picture of the wadi on the sign.

For more information about frankincense and its history, here is a really good site.

http://www.mei.edu/SQCC/EducationalResources/TheHistoryofFrankincense.aspx

In my haste to get the photos of the opera house published, I didn’t take proper time to tell you about the concert with Yo-Yo Ma and the London Philharmonic – sorry about that.  After all, that was the reason I was so excited about going.

Yo-Yo Ma played Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor. Immediately the orchestra began to play, we were drawn into the rich, warm sound.  Yo-Yo is a gifted performer, and knew exactly how to catch our attention and hold it.  The hall did full justice to him, allowing us to hear the grand technical passages, but the whispers of the soft notes and the lyric emotion of the wonderful melodies.

It was a magnificent performance, and one which reminded me that I don’t have nearly enough cello music in my CD collection, or on my iPod.

The second half was an augmented orchestra playing Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major.  I don’t think I have ever hear this work before, but this performance will make sure that I always remember it now.  The music reminded me somewhat of the sea, with lovely, lyric passages broken suddenly by loud crescendos of melody being tossed from one section to another.  As we were in the second balcony, I could watch the players.  I felt sorry for the fourth trombone player – he only got to play in the really loud parts……. and I’m sure the percussionist on the cymbals was allowed one crash only.  There was one section that featured the cellos and double basses, of which there were 10.

Bruckner really made use of the whole, huge orchestra in this symphony, and the London Philharmonic did him proud.  The sound was pure velvet.

We left the hall in a hush of “wow, that was incredible!”.

is all I can say!  The hall and the orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma.

I was able to take a few photos inside, too, although not during the concert.  Still – let me tell you about the evening, and show you around a bit.

The inside lobby is even more magnificent than the outside….. more wood and ornate staircases.  Alice and JoLovely young Omani ladies and gentlemen in National dress to show you around.They have a separate room where the food and drink (coffee, tea, juice, water) are bought.  The menu I was surprised to find that we had to pay 2 rials for the program, but it is a real booklet, not just a little leaflet. It definitely means that they aren’t picking up tons of them after the show and discarding them.

I also bought a book on the construction of the opera house – lots of details and tons of photos.

Apparently, they plan to have an instrument museum some day.  Right now, there are several display cabinets of old instruments dating from the 18th and 19th centuries…. some very interesting ones too.

This is a pochette – small enough for a dance master to give rehearsal cues to his dancers, and then stick in his pocket so he could show them the steps.An old trumpetThe clear oboe here is made of crystal glass……  pretty neat hey – for a transparent sound, I guess (LOL).These serpents are made of ceramic and are from France – the blue and white on is Delft china.Inside – this is a view of the stage from the second balconythe boxes,and the musical motif on the upholstery.On the ceiling, there are musical puzzles painted – too bad it is so high that you would need binoculars to see them – here is the illustration in the book.The concert itself was perfect. The acoustics are great – and both Yo-Yo Ma and the London Philharmonic are incredible (did I already use that word?).  It is a long, long time (if ever before) that I heard an orchestra of this caliber.

What a sublime treat!

Tonight (Saturday), I am going to a concert at the new royal Opera House in Muscat.  The London Philharmonic Orchestra is playing, and the great cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, is the guest soloist.  The cello is my all-time favourite instrument – I learned to love it best when Heather and Aaron were taking Suzuki string lessons, and I got to learn to play it a bit as well.  I’d seen that this concert was sold out when I first went on the ROH website – cried buckets, and said that I’d kill for a ticket, but” c’est la vie”!

Well, it didn’t come to that….. no blood at all, in fact. On the ROH Facebook page, a gentleman posted that he had two tickets, but would be unable to attend.  Poor Snoopy didn’t get much of a walk this morning as I was so caught up in contacting this man to see if he was selling his tickets, and if so, could I be first in line.  By 10:15 this morning, I was 26 OMR poorer (a steal) and had those tickets in my hot little hand.  And my friend Jo had agreed to leave her husband for the evening to join me.  Alice had already become the proud owner of a ticket – so “Ladies’ night out” tonight.

No photos are allowed in the Opera House on concert nights, but here are a few I snapped on Thursday evening, when we went to see if there might just be one lone ticket floating around unspoken for.

This chandelier is over the door to the lobby.And inside the lobby:

This is on the ceiling!That’s it – I’ll let you know tomorrow how the concert was!  I’m assuming “Fantastic!”.

Friday afternoon, we had a beach barbeque with an Omani family we know.  David and Humaid worked together in Qatar, back in 2006.

We met Humaid on Friday morning to buy the supplies we needed.  We went to Al Seeb market – way different from the sanitized supermarkets us Westerners shop at….. and so much more interesting! But you need to go with a pro.

Al Seeb is a very Omani seaside town, just a bit west of the Muscat airport. Winding streets, chock full of cars and people on a Friday morning – indeed – most mornings, and definitely all evenings.  We followed Humaid into town from a fuel station on the outskirts, and luckily found two parking spots not far apart.

First stop was the meat shop, where they sell beef, lamb and goat from all over – Pakistan, China, India and Oman.  There, we bought some ribs and some chunks for roasting on sticks.  We left them to cut the meat the way we wanted, and headed to the bakery for Arabic bread., and then across the street to one of the shops selling chickens.  They had a display cooler inside with packaged chickens…. Humaid picked 4 and we left while they cut them up for us.

Next stop was a shop where they sell just about everything.  In Kuwait we would call it a bakala – but I’m not sure what they call them here.  Inside a tiny space, they stock everything imaginable.

We bough charcoal for the BBQ – real Omani charcoal that looks like black wood, not shaped briquets like we get in Canada. And look at these great barbeques to buy.  I’d love to take one with me. Another small shop yielded lighter fluid and tamarind sauce.

Back to pick up the meat and chicken, and then we headed down the road to the fish market.

We walked by this store selling bird – the Omanis love birds – and I ducked into the doorway to take a photo of these two and the shop keeper said “one rial” and laughed.  I did too – no way I’m paying to take a photo.

All the fish sellers are outside under canopies or umbrellas, with their wares displayed on tarps and bags on the ground.  What an amazing variety – Humaid didn’t even know the names of all of the fish – at least not in English.  We looked around and he chose one.

This man was putting water over the fish to keep them cool and fresh.In the shade of the building, there was a man selling salt fish and other snacks.  Humaid said that when it is salted, it will last for a year.  We didn’t try it – but it looked OK.These girls were sitting in the shade as well.

More salt fish inside.

From there, we went inside, where the fellows who prepare it for you work.  What a busy place! Lots of the workers didn’t look very old, but they sure knew their business.  they could fillet a fish in a very short time, or turn it into steaks or cubes or whatever you wanted.  they descaled our fish, and then cut it into steaks….. Humaid had left, and we misunderstood what he wanted to do with it.  Oh well….. still wonderful, fresh, firm fish. Look how fast that knife is moving!And the one on the end is our fish, waiting his turn.We drove with the fish to Humaid’s house, where he had gone early so he could do his Friday noon prayers. He showed us around – we met the children again, and the new maid, and then left for home to prepare for our afternoon at the beach.

Thursday, the wind in Muscat was blowing from the east.  Dust sometimes blows across empty lots like this, but mostly from the west.  I wonder if this means the weather is changing.

We went out to the civil Aviation Club for a quick lunch – we always sit outside, but this time we didn’t.    It looked like they were having a bit of trouble bringing this dive boat in to shore. I took a few shots of the whitecaps though, before we retreated inside.

In the afternoon, we took Snoopy for a long walk on Azaiba Beach. The tide was quite far out, leaving sand bars near the beach, and quiet pools of water.  Snoopy loved these,as he likes to lay down in the water, but isn’t all that keen on waves coming rushing in at him.

As we got closer to the west end by the point, there were kite surfers out…. nine in total.  It was amazing how quickly they moved in towards the beach… and even more so how quickly they could turn around and head out into open waters, seemingly against the wind. They were leaping off the water – from where we were, it looked as if some of them were 10 feet about the ocean waves.

I just had my iPhone with me, but got a few decent shots anyway.  I like this one, shooting against the sun.Gosh, did I wish I had my Nikon with its’ 30X zoom for the surfer shots though!

During the year I’ve been in Muscat – and indeed, the whole time I’ve been in the Middle East, I have taken many, many photos of windows and doors.  Fancy doors, plain doors, old doors, new doors……. they fascinate me.  I’d love to go inside and see who lives there and what it is like.

Here are just  a few of the ones that I’ve snapped lately.

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