Cultural Feast in the Middle East: Serene Salalah

Salalah is the capital and seat of the governor or Wali of the southern Omani province of Dhofar. The population of Salalah was 197,169 in 2009.Salalah is the second largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city in the Dhofar Province. Salalah is the birthplace of the Sultan, Qaboos bin Said. Salalah attracts lots of people from other parts of Oman and GCC during the Khareef season, which starts from July to September. The climate of the region and the monsoon allows the city to grow some vegetables and fruits like coconut.

Camels are everywhere, they wonder around at will. Most of the camels here are used as milk camels. We were offered milk twice but declined. Other camel facts from our guide: they cost $3-4000 each, a racing camel is $100 K, they have to be trained to be pack animals, they can carry 500 lbs.

They grow a lot of fruit in Salalah and there are road-side stands selling all sorts of bananas, coconuts, pomegranates and a variety of vegetables.

In downtown Salalah you can see the grand mosque. this place holds 3000 people at a time. Oman is a progressive country, with enshrined human rights, ruled by an enlightened, British-educated Sultan, His Majesty Qaboos. Qaboos has been responsible for transforming one of the poorest countries in the region into one with a high standard of living, without sacrificing authenticity, since his rule began in 1970.

Our guide Ali, took us around to all the highlights. Here we are in the local souk with a demo of how to use Frankincense.

And here's where it comes from. A lone Frankincense tree in the dessert.

For lunch, we stopped at Ali's favorite restaurant for some Camel and rice. The fresh camel meat is seen here drying in the sun...yum yum.

Unlike beef, camel meat is rarely aged. Partly because there is no tradition of ageing meat in the Middle East and also because the meat would become too dry. It's a fairly tough animal, so camel meat benefits from slow-cooking.

Camel meat comes from the local meat market.

Here's an interesting bird. Not sure what it is, some kind of humming bird.

Job's tomb is probably the most important religious site in southern Oman. It is the mausoleum of Job of the Old Testament, known as the Prophet Ayub in the Koran. He is probably best known for the misquote "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

Both the Bible and the Koran say that he was an enormously rich man whose wealth was taken from him, and who was afflicted with a terrible skin disease, but he never despaired, remained loyal to God and was eventually rewarded by being made even richer and restored to full health. Hence the idiomatic expression, to be as patient as Job.

Taqah Castle is worth visiting if you are coming to Dhofar, it is nice and compact, and showcases a lot of exhibits illustrating the old Omani way of life. It is also worth noting that the late mother of Sultan Qaboos is also buried in the graveyard right next to the castle making this a significant site in terms of recent history.

Ahhhh, who doesn't like baby camels?

The fish market is a popular place for locals. Here's a guy who loves his job.

Here's a shot from high above the beach town of Taqah. The darker areas of the water near the shore are schools of sardines. The locals dry these fish and feed them to the camels.

At the end of the day, we had some time to visit the beach.