After breakfast, we drove into Salalah to check out the Frankincense Souq.
Some of the stalls and shops weren’t open yet, but there’s a lot of duplication in the products offered, so we were still able to browse properly and sample many types of incense.
I noticed that the souq was mainly run by women here. In other cities, it’s been the men that ran the show. It’s important to note, however, that those souqs were primarily run by Indians, whereas the Frankincense Souq in Salalah seems to be mostly run by Omanis; and many of those Omani women are Dhofaris, i.e. from the region of Dhofar, of which Salalah is the capital.
Many of the people look quite different here, more African than Arabian. Given the geographical positioning, that’s not surprising.
Getting pictures of people in Oman can be quite tricky. One must always ask before taking a snap and the answer is frequently a firm ‘no’, especially in the case of women.
For that reason, I’ve yet to capture the image of a Dhofari woman, with characteristic nose-ring. One woman allowed me to photograph her henna-tattooed hand today, but that’s about as far as I’ve got.
Speaking of souqs, one of Eloïse’s latest words is, in fact, souq. It took her papa several decades to chance upon that word, but it’s already made it into her vocabulary and she’s not even two yet. What a learner!
Leaving the Frankincense Souq behind us, we headed west along the motorway in the direction of Mughsail. As we reached the far end of the beach there, a lush oasis between the road and the sea came into view and we witnessed the glorious sight of tens of camels drinking and bathing in the water.
Further up, we stopped to enjoy a blowhole, which was noisily spouting water into the air to our amusement and that of some tour bus passengers who had joined us.
From there, we continued along the road, which now zig-zagged its way up the cliff, down into a wadi full of frankincense trees, and onwards, getting ever close to the border with Yemen. The views back towards Mughsail as we climbed the limestone cliff were excellent.
About 100 km from the Yemeni border, we had to cross a military checkpoint. The soldier wanted to see our passports, but we had left them at the hotel, not expecting to need them as we weren’t planning on crossing any national boundaries.
In the end, my driving licence and a photocopy of the car registration paperwork were enough to placate him and he let us pass, warning us not to go down certain side roads further along, as these would also have military checkpoints and we would have to explain how we had managed to get so far without passports.
We drove for about another forty or fifty kilometres, during much of which the scenery was beautiful. Innumerable camels dotted the landscape. We’ve seen more camels today than in the rest of our lives put together.
Eventually, though, the road turned away from the coast and became less appealing. We, ourselves, became less certain that we were actually on the stretch of road that we should be and neither of us wanted to deal with irritated soldiers demanding paperwork we didn’t have, in the event we were inadvertently heading towards one of the other checkpoints we had been warned about.
We therefore turned around and headed back to Salalah, as we still wanted to visit the tomb of the biblical figure of Job this afternoon.
On the way back, I spotted what looked like a giant turtle in the distance on the beach. We stopped the car and I slid down the rock embankment to the beach below, before walking towards the turtle. As I feared, he or she was dead, but I couldn’t tell what had caused the death. It was very sad to see such a magnificent animal in this state.
Back in Salalah, we headed out of town again to the north and eventually arrived at our destination after approximately 30 km.
The grounds of Job’s Tomb are quite lovely, with lots of pretty flowers, a mosque, and the building of the tomb itself.
The tomb’s guardian beckoned to us as we approached on the path, and we followed him to the entrance to the tomb, where we removed our shoes. Sarah additionally had to put on a green headscarf before entering.
Inside the tomb, the casket (or whatever it is) is shrouded in colourful sheets. At the far end of the mound, large amounts of frankincense are smoldering in an incense burner. The scent is strong and quite lovely.
A small tray next to the incense burner contains banknotes that some people have seen fit to leave behind. You can tell that Americans have been here, as no other country’s people travel to the other side of the world and still try to pay and tip in their own currency.
After visiting the tomb, we drove back to Salalah and tried to find something to eat near the Frankincense Souq. There were only a couple of shops selling juice, however.
We saw a person we purchased some perfumes from this morning and asked his advice. He called someone on his mobile phone and then handed the phone to me. The voice at the other end gave me directions to his restaurant, which we then drove to.
The restaurant in question was the Taj Al Arab, which was just a few streets away in the direction of our hotel. The food turned out to be good, but better yet, the fruit smoothies they make are incredible; and for just 600 baizas for their largest, fruitiest drinks.
The Taj Al Arab isn’t mentioned in either of our guidebooks, but it’s an absolute must if you come to Salalah. You have been told.
It was now just before sunset, so we headed back to the hotel, got changed and took Eloïse to the children’s paddling pool. As always, she had a great time in the water, climbing out of the pool and jumping back in, with Papa’s arms waiting to catch her, of course.
Today, we explored the surroundings west (and for Job’s Tomb, north) of Salalah. Tomorrow, it’s the turn of the east.