I have always been interested in the Middle Eastern cultures, however, not all of the countries I would wish to visit are safe to travel in. An exception (like the UAE) is Oman - another Emirate country maybe even less influenced by the West world than the UAE.
Knowing almost nothing about this huge country south of the UAE, we decided to extend our layover on the way to India and spend one day in the capital of Oman, Muscat.
The first impression of Muscat was (obvious for the season) the dry heat; feeling like a constant hairdryer blowing in your face. Sweaty and warm we walked around and eventually found a small Indian restaurant. The food was as usually very spicy, which made us sweat even more. In this restaurant I was the only woman, which wasn't totally unexpected since we were in a country with patriarch structure. All men sat on the floor on pillows eating with their hands, some of them Arabs, some of them Indians. In general, the Indian influence in Muscat was obvious. We stumbled upon an Indian wedding, Indian students chilling in a park, Indian families on their afternoon walk...and never ending rows of Indian restaurants.
Speaking to my Indian friends about this, I've learnt that for a lot of middle class Indians the Emirate countries offer a great opportunity to raise their life standards and earn a much higher salary than they would earn back home. Thus, many young Indian families emigrate with the hope of a better life. Sadly, what you see in both Dubai and Muscat, is the huge segregation between Arabs, Western expats and the Indian minority, where most of the Indian migrants will end up cleaning, driving taxis or do some other low paid service job.
After the spicy meal we continued our walk through the city, but after a while the heat was unbearable again. I started to feel desperate to go for a swim in the sea, and managed to convince Sam to go to the beach with me. In Qatar, the UAE and other Emirate countries, getting around with public transport is tricky (or sometimes impossible), and taxi is usually extremely expensive. We decided to try to look for a bus stop and investigate the public transport options that could take us to the beach.
However, a taxi driver suddenly stopped and promised to drive us to Muscat beach for free. Hmm, that little suspiciousness inside us was making us doubt, maybe this was a trick and this guy was gonna charge us an unreasonable amount of money later on. We decided to take the risk and jumped in the car - and luckily our worst case scenario wasn't happening. The driver turned out to be extremely friendly and insisted to drive us around for free to show us more of Muscat. For a European, the Middle Eastern hospitality and generosity often tend to seem extreme. Simply because we aren't used to an approach like this, we have a hard time not to get suspicious - this was not the first or the last time I couldn't help wondering if this guy really didn't have any hidden agenda to his kindness. But I was happy to have been proven wrong, once again.
Kamil turned out to be as excited to drive us around for free as we were about meeting him and escaping the heat. We had to answer many of his curious questions (typical in cultures like these): about marriage, children, our families, our parents education, and so on. Kamil had a wife and many children, we got to know. However, his life was miserable and boring, he told us. Every day he was driving taxi to provide for his family and they still just complained. This was his chance to practice his English and learn more about our cultures, he told us. Out of this curiosity and excitement to meet us two Western tourists, Kamil ended up spending the whole day with us.
He took us around the beach, bought us food and drinks and was simply an amazing host and guide. Almost too amazing; he never wanted to let us go. He loves us more than his own family, we got to know in the end. Pretty overwhelming. This was the best day of his life, he told us, and insisted to drive us all the way to the airport in the evening. We tried to offer him at least some money for the gas, but as most men in the Middle Eastern cultures, he would not accept that we (as guests in his country) would pay for anything.
We had a great day and once again I felt mind blown by the hospitality and friendliness we'd experienced in Muscat. Locals were accommodating, always smiling at us, offering us help - and not to mention Kamil who happily acted tour guide for us the whole day. It left me with a feeling of gratefulness and happiness. It felt truly incredible that both Kamil and I could appreciate this cultural exchange and meeting as much as we did, and that we both seemed to get as much out of this day.
And, I got my refreshing swim in the extremely salty Arabian sea during a magical sunset. Could I wear a normal bathing suit in a muslim country without disrespecting anyone? Yes, according to Kamil. The contrasts between the Western influence and the muslim atmosphere with prayers from mosques, women in burqas and so on, became once again tangible.
One day in Muscat made me feel even more excited to further explore Oman, especially the south and Salalah that everyone was telling us about. Maybe renting another Chevrolet Camaro and doing another road trip through Oman will be my next trip, sometimes soon!
After Oman we continued to India. Read more about our India trip and our first impression of New Delhi here!
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