Birdwatching in Dhofar - Where are the Shipmans?





Wheatear mirror attack



The birds of southern Oman are more African in nature and you also get the migratory birds.  We tried to capture a few pictures of the birds we saw but never an easy task.

Flycatcher species




Male Sunbird



Unknown mountain bird



February 24, 2011 Sinaw Beduoin souq and back to Muscat

We were up early and in the souk before 7:30. We were both looking forward to this weekly Thursday market for different reasons. In our quick scouting mission yesterday David had seen a gun shop and was hoping it would be open. Last night he had dreamed he had found a double barreled Holland and Holland elephant gun that he got a real bargain on. We had both seen so many men dressed in their khunjars, beduoin ladies, sheep and camels that we knew the picture opportunity should be very interesting. Leslie was interested to see the ladies souk, supporting their handicrafts and interacting with the people at the market.



Palm seeds being sold




Camel market customer



Dressed for market day!

 



Men's khungars, sticks, knives and guns for sale






Goat and sheep auction




Buying and smelling the incesne

The camel auction market seemed to start first, with potential buyers inspecting the camels. Leslie was so busy taking pictures that she stood too close to a camel and he leaned down to munch on her hair! This incident caused some interaction with the locals and discussion on the cost of camels, which were expensive at 600 OR, ir $1500 each. Other markets were taking place, each in their own designated area of the market. We had never seen the seeds of palm trees before and these were on sale. Many bees buzzing around and in the white seed fronds. Local honey was for sale along with local tabacco and small wooden tobacco pipes. The date area was filled with date palm frond bags and big bowls of dates. There appeared to be several varieties available. The fish market was going strong with all the fisherman with their ice trucks there unloading fish, which included small sharks, large baracuda, tuna and mackeral. No shrimp or lobster to tempt us. Also very large supply of dried fish which the beduoin use for protein and flavoring.



Buying Dates



The poultry souk was in a very small enclosed area and was mainly women, whereas the camel market was all men. The active goat and sheep market had both men and women potential buyers who sat on benches as the animals were lead through the auction maze. A handsome big goat with horns sold for 65 omr, other younger goats with babies were sold as a unit for the same price. The women were actively inspecting and buying the goats and sheep as well as the men.

David studying the guns available

There was another area, next to the animal market, that was just for the men. There we saw camel sticks and canes of various quality, khunjars and their belts, knives, and guns for sale. They had .22 caliber Walther rifles, used at about $1500, but no Holland and Holland double rifles for David! We walked through the vegetable souk and then over to the women's souk. This is in a less enclosed space than the Ibra women's souk and men are also selling wares, so it was easier of David to move around. Leslie had to try several pairs of the handworked pant cuffs in order to find some that fit her. This of course caused lots of advice and discussion. After finding a pair that fit, we had to choose the cloth for the actual pants leg. This again involved many ladies taking part in the selection process and the education regarding which cloth materials are approriate for the surrwals versus which is correct for the dress. Even had a young woman advising me not to take a certain selection as it was for "old ladies". In the end Leslie found some fabric for her pants and was advised to buy 1 1/2 meters for 6 riyals ($15). Saeed al Muslim is the notions seller from Ibra that I have a picture of,  as I had been given permission to take his picture when Liza was there with me and we had spent some time talking to him, and so I recognized him. Saeed's wife is going to make my surwals, which will be ready in 2 weeks, and the price is 5 omr for the sewing and 1/2 omr for the silver thread. Saeed is usually on Tuesday at the Samad As Shan souk, Wednesday he is at the Ibra souk and then on Thursday he is at the Sinaw market, where we found him today. So I can pick the finished pants up at any of those locations or at his home in Rawdah. He gave us his GSM phone number to call him and directions to his house.



Surwal pant cuffs - finding some that fit!



With these arrangements made, we continued perusing the women's souk and saw there were black tennis ball size of dough, but it seemed to be for the hair, and we believe it was to color the grey. Neither of us could confirm this as the dialogue was in Arabic. Fig shells for weaning a baby from breast feeding are still being sold there in the market. Perhaps because we were so early in the morning, we were the only western faces to be seen. By 10:00 we headed to Izki and then hit the main road to Muscat. We made a quck detour to pick up some Iranian food from a place we had heard of. At 12:30pm we were sitting down for lunch with the family in Haramel.

The rest of the day was spent getting Leslie organized for her trip to California, laundry, emails and our evening AWG charitable dinner.

Marked in blue is the route we traveled from February 15 - 24th





February 23, 2011 Ras Al Hadd to Sinaw



Ras Al Jinz after 1 week of excavation



Up and out of Turtle Beach Resort by 8am. We continued our archaeological tour under Alex and climbed the escarpment to see the Um Nar tombs at the top, as well as a few previously excavated buildings from the later Wadi Suq period. This site is extremely rich in terms of Bronze Age Archaeology, and at one point it is estimated 1,000 people lived here. There was extensive copper smelting going on at that time, and small pieces of copper could be seen on the ground today. We saw a piece of copper ring, a nail and Alex yesterday had found a small copper seal. Other interesting material from Ras al Jinz that show the trade routes include an ivory comb from India and an Anadara shell with Kohl in it. The same shell and Kohl had been found in Ur, showing that it had been exported from OMAN where the shell is native. Our beady eyes noted that still on the ground today are many pieces of worked shells, both conus and olives, which they used for rings and necklaces.

Conus ring under manufacture

The copper was coming from Maysar, near Samad as Shan, where we will go to next. We had lunch at a Tourist Restaurant at Ibra which had a nice buffet for 4 omr per person. We continued on to Samad taking a cross road from Ibra. Hard as we looked, we could not find the site that in the guide book had one description, but the GPS coordinates had anothe location too far away to make sense. So after a couple of hours of driving around and asking people we have given up and headed to Sinaw. Sinaw has 3 hotels, perhaps to accomodate the influx of people for the Thursday market. We got a room in the newest hotel, which is a few kilometers out of the town, for 15 omr. We then drove into town to check things out and confirm where to go tomorrow. We saw many Omani men all dressed up with Khunjars, camels sticks and the formal mussar head gear. Many bedouin ladies are here in their bright clothes with the black net cover.

February 22, 2011 Ad Duqm to Ras Al Hadd

We were up, breakfasted and on the road by 8 am yesterday after checking in to our guest house we had a call and heard that Eloise's purse had been stolen from her while she was sitting in the Diwan car outside of the Kmiji store in Ruwi. Thankfully she was not hurt only shocked as we all would have been. We have been sending emails with lists of action items while we are driving along trying to determine if we need to abandon our plans of driving the last bit of Oman's coast that we have not yet explored.

In the Wusta province we have noticed at all the small villages clusters of the same type of homes and now have concluded that there is a program in Oman for providing housing. We will have to check into what this is. The ladies that were making the baskets all lived in those model homes which are of a substantial 2 story size.

By 10 am we were at the road junction to Maiserah. We filled up the gas and confirmed with the Omanis that there was now a road up the coast through the sand dunes that would take us up to Ras al Jinz. This is the last segment of the coast that we had never seen. We stopped at Ras Ruways to check the beaches and talk to the fisherman. There were large dhows off the coast at this point but they were not being operated by them. No shells to speak of. We continued on to Qurun where we had lunch of fish, chicken, cabbage and tomatoe salad (hope we won't be sorry about the salad). We also checked the beaches at Ras Jibsh, Ras as Saqlah and Ras al Jifan. Somehow we came up a graded road in a wadi that was amazinlgly green. A young omani directed is on how to get to Ras al Jinz on some unmarked minor track. Needless to say the GPS was on so that we could track back if necessary! He was spot on though and we found our way. We had given a call to Alexander, a member of the French/Italian team excavating at Ras al Jinz, and arranged to meet him for a tour of the site at 4pm. He pointed out the various time periods of the site starting at 2,000 to 3,000 BC and forward with some iron age and Islamic sites. You could see on the ground the previous walls that had been revealed in earlier exvacations. Apparantly the winds the Tyhon Phet were so strong they blew off the sand that the walls had been protected with. We were able to get a barasti hut on the beach at the Turtle Beach Resort for 45 omr including dinner and breakfast. We upscaled to the barasti huts with with an ensuite bathroom and thus also have AC which is not needed as their is a lovely coastal breeze. We were able to invite guests to the dinner buffet so on learning this we called to have Alex and Valentina join us for dinner and drinks. Wine by the glass was at the unbelievalbe price of 1 omr per glass! As it turned out we had the entire team as our guests.

We have been reading 3 books on this journey: Randolph Fiennes' Search for Atlantis of the Sands, David Smiley's Arabian Assignment, and the archelogical report on Sumrahan. All fun reading as these travelers were in the areas we are driving at different time periods ranging from 1950 to the 1970s.

Tomorrow we will be up early as we have mad an arrangement to see the rest of the Jinz archelogical site that we did not make it to this afternoon and then we will do the piece of the coast that we missed!

February 21, 2011 Jinawat to Ad Duqm

We were up and on the road back to Ash Shuwaymiyah by 7:30am. The restaurant by the gas station was open so we had the traditional breakfast of omelette with onion and tomatoes, and parotha along with tea. The local omelettes are not fat and fluffy but flat and thin usually as big as the plate. Where ever you have expatriate workers there are restaurants. With all the road works going on in the country and the fact that there are many expats from the Indian subcontinent in the fishing industry we are hoping to not have to eat our tinned food too often. After breakfast we found the illusive "route 41" heading east and south to the coast at Sawrqah. We took a side trip down to Sharbthat to see what the beach was like. Very disappointed in the beach as there were literally no shells.
As we were walking back to the car an old Toyota landcruiser goes whizzing by and the omani lady passenger waves so we wave back. Three minutes later the car is beside us we see the driver is another woman. They ask if we wanted to see their "Jrab" for sale. Always supporting local Handicrafts we followed them off to their home to see what they were talking about.

They brought out the beduin baskets with leather and we learned that a jrab is a basket for storage. There are other specific names for the baskets eg for dates it is qufer. We asked them how they were made and she demonstrated happily. Amazingly the younger one took out her cell phone and showed David pictures of her trip to Washington DC and then on to Santa Fe where she had sold her baskets. Leslie bought 2 larger bowl baskets for 7 omr each from the ladies that brought us to their home. While we were there 4 other ladies showed up with their baskets.

Further along the coast the town of Al Lakbi has a well protected marina with large dhows harbored in it. Not much shell life on the beach though. We found a gas station there and filled up. Also had lunch at the local restaurant which consisted of the local chicken. We had hoped to get fish but none was available. (Lunch cost was 1.8 omr).
We continued on checking various beaches but focusing mainly on the Rases (Ras means headland in Arabic). We walked on the beaches at Ras Khashayim, Ras Madrakah and Ras Markaz.
At Ras Markaz we walked out to talk to three Omani ladies that were collecting shells from the rocks. I approached well ahead of David to greet them so they would understand I was female. It was interesting to see that 2 of the ladies had tattoos on their faces around the corners of their mouths. I had also noted tatoos on a couple of the ladies wearing "burka" (face mask) who were selling their baskets. These ladies on the rocks were not collecting murex for incense as we thought but 3 other very common shells easy to collect at any reasonalbe tide. Leslie was shown how to collect the three specimens. One lady also used her metal harpoon to open an oyster shell. She invited us to eat but we refrained so she promptly ate it.
These last three Rases were all near the village of Madrakah which has 2 ice plants and many fishing boats. Other signs of the fishing industry were the Toyota's with big white freeze containers on the back to take the day's catch to other markets including the Emirates.
By 6:00 pm we were checking into the Ad Duqm Tourist Guest house which in its previous life had been a contractor camp, based on the rooms being in porta-cabins. Showers and rooms to be had for 35 omr including breakfast and a shower that puts water all over the bathroom floor- they have provided a squeeje so they are aware of the problem. Very expensive for what you are getting but the driver was begging not to camp. We had dinner at the restaurant to further upscale the experience and had grilled hamour and greek salad ( 15 omr) which was very good.

February 20, 2011 Mirbat to Jinawat and a hunt Wadi Andhur

We left the hotel at 8 am after a large breakfast and pilfering a few items for lunch. That Bosch "last meal syndrome" kicking in as usual. We are carrying tins of tuna, protein powder, some of "Kay's muesali" and some containers of milk plus a flask which we just bought in Thumrayt for David's hot tea. I picked up a supply of diet Pepsi, processed cheese triangles, youhurt, water and a lighter for our expected desert overnight.

Gazelle in Wadi Andhur

We looked everywhere for the enterance to Wadi Andhur as UNESCO archelogical site there that was linked to the frankincense and had a temple to the goddess Sin . we got off the road at a sign post that said Andhur. We ended up looking at the Harweel oil processing plant with flares. There was no town of Andhur as noted on the 4 tourist maps nor duly sign posted on the paved road and later on the graded road. So we turned around and drove back to Route 39 going to Marmul. Never ones to give up quickly we went back to the area we thought was Wadi Andhur and found a track to drive on. We put on the GPS and set the "man overboard" so that we could navigate back to the road if we became directionally challanged. We were hoping to find someone to give is directions. We came upon no one to ask, but were delighted to see gazelle at 3 different times. There was no obvious well traveled track going south so we gave up on finding Wadi Andhur. We traveled on into Marmul and got gas and then tried to find "route 41" to take us to the coast. Amazingly we wandered all over the oil fields with their xmas trees and the big digging arm wells and no one stopped us. Gas and oil pipelines everywhere. We asked directions twice and then decided we were not going to take any short cuts through the PDO oil fields.

We finally drove into the coastal town of Ash Shuwaymiyyah and found a Maha station. We filled up again with gas at their very delapitated pumps. David asked if there was a restaurant and the service man happily reported they ran a hotel and restaurant. Leslie chose to sleep in the car rather than in the accomodation offered. We drove another 25 km till the end of the road again. We are only about 30 km from Husin and the road is under construction over the mountain and then back down again on the other side. We had tuna fish for dinner from the can, and apples spread with the processed cheese. We made a campfire and took our Excedein PM so we can sleep. Lovely sound of the surf and the stars are amazing.

February 19,2011 Tawi Attair, Jebal Samhan and the hunt for the Baobab forest

Most of our laundry was dry so we hid what was still damp and then took off up to Jebal Samhan. We had to ask directions because the road we thought we should go on did not have a sign, and the hotel told us it could not be used. The road is under reconstruction in a major way such that more of the mountain has been removed. However, a local guy told David that our Pajero could easily make it through, and we did, climbing about 2,000 feet in the initial ascent. We easily found our way to the 211 meter deep sink hole called Tawi Attair (Well of the birds). The sink hole is about 150 meters in diameter. The guide book mentioned climbing down into it to hear the "bird song" from which the place gets its name. We did not see a clear path to do that safely so decided to continue on to Jebal Samhan. We saw it signposted so kept going straight on a paved road that became a well-graded road. There we're some lovely vantage points off the mountains into the valley and out to the sea. Our end point of the gravel road was a minute military camp base.

The Jebal was made a nature reserve in 1997. There are, nevertheless, herds of camels and cows wandering everywhere including the road just like we had yesterday. We passed four jebali villages with their stone circular enclosures for keeping the herd at night and their basic dwellings some of which have been upgraded to concrete block single story homes. The traditional stone circular houses (stones as the base up till about 1 meter high with bent wooden branches forming a dome above. Last time we were here the roofs were thatched but now this thatch seems to replaced by plastic sheeting weighed down by old tires.





Jebali herdsmen - notice long hair and gun



We had thought we would reach the Baobab forest at the 1,450 meters elevation on the jebal but all we reached was a dead end at the military camp, so we back tracked to the main road and started to ask directions in Arabic. A little difficult when you don't know the Arabic word for the tree species nor can describe it other than they are very tall with very fat trunks. We wandered up anothe road under construction again looking for these trees in the higher elevation. This road dead-ended right in front of a beautiful new 3 story home of an Omani who not only knew of the trees which we were looking for but had some small ones he had planted near his home so he could show them to David. True to traditional hospitality he invited us for lunch or tea letting David know "hareem hina" (ladies are here) so it would be acceptable for me to join. We politely declined as we had to travel. We did manage to find the small group of trees just on the side of the road under heavy reconstruction. Once that road is complete you will not be able to get to those trees without a long difficult hike.



Baobab Trees

We picked up a chicken for lunch in Mirbat and ate it at our hotel room. We sat out by the pool reading and typing the blog on the blackberry. Around 4pm when it was low tide we walked out on the Marriott beach to see what there was. Between the islands is not a very healthy area and there is a considerable amount of green sludge. If you keep walking to the left of these islands the sea life is healthier but nothing like just around the corner on the othe side. We did pick up one crabbed Turbo Jonathani which was of interest. We had dinner at the hotel and did another small laundry as we expect we will be camping tomorrow night.







February 18, 2011 from Mirbat till the track ends along the sea coast

 First we headed to Al Hisn souk to see what had changed there. On a Friday morning the place was not exactly jumping but the Dhofari ladies were still selling the frankincense. I bought a bag of the higher quality white for 5omr for 1/2 kilo and then just a few pieces of the highest quality which is greenish in color and when you break the lumps you can still see the soft stringy resin inside. The fragrance was wonderful and so was the price basically 12 omr for 1/2 kilo. Both frankincense and myrhh are used medicinally. You would put a few pieces of the resin in water and stir it up and then drink it. I also bought the woven palm frond "fan". We picked up 2 camel sticks for 1 omr each as we use these for picking things up when we shell.

Beautiful rock formations

With our goal to see some of Oman's coast that we have not seen, we headed east along the coast. We drove through Taqa to see some of the older Dhofari houses. We then stopped at the Marriott to check in for the next 2 nights. We then drove another 60 km to Sadah which is a small fishing village that was also a trading port for the trade of frankincense. We arrived at prayer time so there was no hope of lunch there. The drive had taken us inland on a good paved road that had been built to take advantage of the small wadi ridges. From Sadah the road goes along the sea. We stopped at Hadbin for a take out chicken and continued driving east to Hasek and a little beyond until the track petered out in a precipitous coast. We looked for signs of the ancient trading port city but did not sight it. There is now a ferry that goes from Hasek to the Halaniyat islands. We had been to the islands with the kids on a SOAF flight organized by Don for us to check out the sea life.

Engraved headstones

On the way back we stopped at a ruined Islamic villiage with a lovely bay and water source from the wadi behind it. In exploring the area we saw a graveyard with head stones with Arabic script. It is not common in Islam to have engraved headstones, so we were very surprized.

We made a couple of stops to check out the shells on the beaches. We actually saw very few shells on the shoreline on these stops. We arrived back at the resort by 7pm, showered and did laundry in the bath tub. We have packed light like on the Camino but if you look in the car it is full with foam mattresses, cooler, snorkling/shelling gear, navigation stuff and electronics of cameras and lap top, cell phones and BB.
Mirbat is 6 km from here and only has very local restaurants so once at the Marriott you need to have your dinner here.

The coast road between Sadah and Hasik

February 17, 2011 Sumhuram at Khor Rori, Mirbat, Turbo Jonathani

Beautiful location for trading port




We were up, enjoyed delicious buffet breakfast, and off to Khor Rori (known as Sumharum in ancient times)by 9 am. Driving up to the site we could see the changes in the 20 something years since we had last been there. All we recall was the well and the huge tell on the beautiful location! Today there is so much more to see on the site. Alexia Pavan from University of Pisa gave us a tour. She has been working here since 2005. Michaele, working at Bisyah/ Salut, had let her know we were coming. In both Al Bilad and Sumharam at Khor Rohri it is very impessive to see what has been excavated, what is currently being excavated, as both are still under excavation and restoration. Also, the attractive manner the sites are displayed for tourists, and what is on exhibit at the museum and gallery.

The site was in legend established by the Queen of Sheba to control the trade of frankincense, but archaeologists believe it was established somewhat later, in about 300 BC, and operated until its abandonment in about 300 AD.  It was mentioned in many old texts, and contains a temple to the Goddess Sin, who was well-known and widely worshiped in the ancient world. There are many mysteries about the site, including why it was so heavilly fortified (who were the potential enemies?), why they left a few thousand coins lying around, and why they did not find a single piece of frankincense if this was the primary location for sending it by sea.



South Arabia script at entrance with name of city Sumharum



Wonderful place to dig!



We continued down the road to Mirbat, and drove a few kilometers north to a bay that we thought might be the place where in years past we had found some Turbo Jonathani. In looking at the new develoment plans that are shown in the Marriott, that bay is going to be the marina! We believe we found some Jonathani along with many of other turbo specimens. The tide was not really low so we were collecting crabbed shells. In that bay we saw money cowries, grayana, carneola, turdus, felina and many conus taeneatus just sitting out in the open. We were delighted to see the bio diversity of that area is still excellent. With many live corals, sponges, sea urchins of different varieties and unfortunately a high number of morray eels. The eels made Leslie a more timid hunter than usual!

While we were in Mirbat we made a reservation to stay 2 nights at the Mirbat Marriott which is the only hotel in this area.  This is a new resort that just opened last March and has been struggling with service issues judging from the reports on trip advisor.  We took the 50 omr ($130) per night regular room and were very kindly upgraded to the delux room by the marketing manager so we will overlook the sea and the pool (thank's to Leslie's AWG 1st VP position).  We then headed back the 60 km to Salalah and drove up to Wadi Darbat, which is just behind Khor Rori, and has a water fall in the summer monsoon season and is considered one of the lushest wadis.  The water in summer would then flow down to the wadi and into the sea. 

We then drove higher up into the Dhofar mountains till we reached Tawi Attair.  As it was getting close to sunset and our goal was to be back at Sumhuram to take pictures at that time, we decided to come back another day to finish our visit of Tawi Attair.  Sumhuram at sunset was lovely and we re-explored the place again.  The setting is just so lovely and peaceful - what a wonderful place to dig in the dirt! We used our wine Privelege Club certificate and had a light salad.  Lunch had been a roasted chicken we had picked up at a restraunt in Mirbat. 

Alexia giving the history of the site

January 16, 2011 Ubar and Salalah

Up, breakfasted and out the door by 7:45am. The motel keeper had advised a different route to Ubar than we had planned, so we took his suggested route because the road would be "better". This was questionable as we began going in a south east direction along the dirt track instead of west. With the tracks giving out, we were fortunate to find a farmer we could ask directions to Shisr. In this desert area there was water underground that the people totday are able to utilize in some small farmed areas. It was strange to see camels fenced into an agricultural area.

The town of Shisr is possibly the site of Ubar, and its ancient nature was discovered in 1992 by the explorer/adventurer Sir Ranulph Fienes. Historical references to a city in the sands of great wealth, wickedness and idolatry begin in 200 AD and note its location as at the crossroads of the lucrative frankincense trade at the edge of the Empty Quarter. Many had searched for Ubar including Bertram Thomas, H St J B Philby, Wilfred Thesiger, and Ranulph Fiennes. Fiennes togethe with Nicholas Clapp used NASA satellite images to spot the ancient tracks merging at Shisr, with buried ruins under the sand. The archeologist on the expedition was an American from South West Missouri State University, Dr. Juris Zarins. Several accounts have been written on the discovery of Ubar and Rollins published a novel called "Sands" that features Ubar.

The sink hole is below and behind Leslie

The site had obviously eroded over the past 20 years and there had been no attempt at reconstruction. In fact there were workmen taking down the modern eyesores of newly built concrete buildings and water tanks. The small museum noted in the guide book had been closed for several years. There were sign boards with photographs and drawing layouts of the site for you to mentally reconstruct what it had looked like. Overall only someone with a real curiosity about Oman's frankenscense routes should make any special trip to the site. One wonders if this UNESCO site has lost its standing or is on the endangered list like the Oryx sanctuary we will visit later.

It took about 2 hours to drive from Shisr to Salalah on roads that were under maintenance or construction the whole route. We arrived at the Crown Plaza Salalah, where we used our Priviledge card to secure a room upgrade to sea view and our 2 nights for the price of 1 for a cheap deal, about $130 per night with breakfast.

Al Balid (Old Salalah)

We then went to the Al Balid Archaeological park, the site of ancient Salalah known as Zufar. The extant ruins are from the 10th to 15th century, when the city was active as a  rich port for exporting frankincense and Arab horses, although some archeological finds date the site to much earlier than that.

Beautiful columns at Al Balid

February 15, 2011 Indigo, Bisyah and the road to Salalah

We were up at 5:30 am for breakfast and quick stop at Haramel to get a lap top and drop off food from our refrigerator. We had been out at the Gills house for a very interesting wine tasting party that Janette had won as a raffle prize at the TAISM ball. OUA, one of the liqour suppliers had donated the wines and lead the tasting of 22 persons divided into 2 teams with the wines costing a total of over $1,400. It was hard to get up this morning as we did not get back with the driver till well after 11 pm.

Salut near Bisyah

We took the inland highway to Nizwa and then continued on to Bahlah in order to make a quick stop at the souk in order to find the indigo dyer by the name of Amer. His shop was in the alley to the right just where the road became one way. I left with him the 2 scarves I had tried to indigo dye but which had not come out the strong blue color I wanted. It sounded like Amer left his cloth in the dye for days and not the 40 minutes I had done. We will see in a few weeks when I get it back.

We proceeded down the road towards Bisyah where we were going to have a tour by Michaele of his archeological site at Salut. It was very impressive in terms of size, age and contained both bronze age and iron age artifacts as well as pottery from India and Iraq, again showing trade taking place even in 4,000 years ago. Michele graciously offered the name and GSM phone number for another archeologist working at the Khor Rorhi (Sumharum) site near Salalah.

We had forgotten what a sand storm was like!

We drove for 6 hours through a sand storm part of the time, and on roads that were under repair, so bad they needed repair, or were beautiful as they had just been repaired! The road is 2 lane, flat with not much of interest. There are only a few rest houses along the 1,000 kilometer road, so we called ahead and reserved a room at Qitbit. For $60 we had the best room available.. Mini frig, AC and TV with CNN, but no hot water in the room and water on the floor being soaked up by a towel. The rest house is not on a power grid and uses a generator. They served us a dinner of rice, chicken breast, hummos and Arab bread around 7:30. We had carried mosquito spray and sprayed the room twice in hopes we would not have a sleepless night. We confirmed our route to Shisr where the archaelogical site of Ubar is reputed to be located. Made arrangements for breakfast at 7 am.