Muscat, Oman

Muscat appears a compact little city as it's built amidst the valleys of the barren hills that line the coast.  From the port all you can see are rows of neat, little, white boxes, above which are centuries-old remains of Portuguese forts and watchtowers.  There are few boats in the harbour, mainly Arab dhows.  We were only here for the morning, and as I'd been here before and seen the main sights,  I spent my time at the Muttrah Souk.  The souk is made up of many passageways, through many buildings, meandering in no sensible direction.  The shops at the entrance sell frankinsense and myrhh (sp?), which release their musky scent when burning.  Therefore, the souk smells like a church.  A rather pleasant smell I think.  It beats old piss anyway, which is the underlying aroma.  My main aim was to buy some "Aladdin" slippers.  You know, the ones that curl up at the end?  I had success, but not without trying every colour and design available.  I left that poor shop seller scratching his head, wondering if the sale was worth the disarray I'd created.  And still I left without a perfectly matching pair.  Last time I was at the souk I bought several items of Omani silver.  Silver here is sold by weight, and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay more than $100 for all my bits.   Now the prices seem to have sky-rocketed, and all I left with was a small baby's rattle (don't read anything into that).  There is something for everybody in the souk: old telescopes and compasses, gold, incense, pashminas, genie lamps, wonderful necklaces made from amber and turquoise, traditional daggers, snake skins, and furniture inlaid with shell and camel bone, to name a few.  In the end, I didn't spend much, but then we have two days in Dubai so it's good to have some money left over.
I took a lovely photo of a group of young men in their white Arab robes.  They were as fascinated by us as we were by them.