First Trip to Muscat, Oman in March, 1996
In March 1996, I made my first trip to the Sultanate of Oman. Joe Begue and I flew on a nice Gulf Air jet from Manama to Muscat, Oman. We spent the night in Manama and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Stayed in the Gulf Hotel in Manama. That was my first trip through Bahrain.
In Muscat, we visited the gold souk and I practiced my negotiation skills on jewelry and T-shirts. I learned in Oman that if you put enough water in the desert, you can grow anything. Very nice looking green grass and trees for 10 feet on the side of the road and then dust for as far as you could see.
When we were not working we saw the Souq, the harbor in Muscat and climbed on some old Portuguese towers used to guard the coast.
Click on any photo to see a larger view
Me with Joe Begue looking for some big shrimp – he still owes me a big shrimp dinner.
In the background you can see an old Portuguese watch tower and a modern tower of some sort.
Joe Begue and our rep for Oman told me over and over that there was something strange about the men that wore the pastel colored robes. I was never sure if they were telling me the truth or not. There sure seemed to be a lot of guys wearing yellow, pink and light blues and greens!
On the Rial is a picture of the curved Khanjar dagger that is also seen on the flag. This is a national symbol of Oman. I wanted to buy one in the souk but I was afraid that airport security would freak out and I would not be coming home on time. The Khanjar dagger is unusual in that it has a very big curve, almost 90 degrees. Plenty of Omanis wear these around on the streets.
Second Trip to Oman in June, 1997
In July 1997, I made went to Oman for the second time with Joe Begue. We were in Athens and we met up with a fat guy named Jim Kramer to travel on towards Oman. We flew on a Gulf Air jet again and stopped in Dubai. Jim asked Joe to carry his Andrew Kintec videotape and Joe was searched at gunpoint and we had to wait in the airport while they watched the entire tape.
In Muscat, we stayed at the Hotel Intercontinental, visited the gold Souq again drove a long way down the coast south of Muscat. Again, I was impressed by the many Portuguese towers on the coast and how far the Portuguese had come, sailing all of the way around Africa to the Middle East.
