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.
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| Palm seeds being sold |
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| Camel market customer |
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| Dressed for market day! |
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| Men's khungars, sticks, knives and guns for sale |
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| Goat and sheep auction |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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