Three videos of Oman
I went to the Muscat Festival at Al Khuwair one rainy January evening, after storms had been raging over the mountains. There weren't so many people there as a result.
I suspect that nationals would flinch at my emphasis on traditional crafts and dancing, but as a Western tourist, it's the kind of thing that I'm interested in. More photos of the Muscat Festival...
I was able to tour the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Al Ghubrah, at the second time of trying, because I was considered to be 'undressed' when I went the first time. Not that it will make much impact on readers, but this kind of reaction from over-zealous doormen is a real affront to female tourists. I suspect that, as a lone female visiting, I was judged more harshly. Even one stray lock of hair led to admonishment.
However, the gardens and the birdsong were a delight. More photos of the Grand Mosque...
Finally, here is a glimpse of the Al Kasfah Spring at Rustaq. The constantly upwelling water has a temperature of around 46 degrees centigrade. Many people visit the spring to bathe in its waters which are believed to have therapeutic properties. Above the spring is a mosque. This is the start of a falaj system within this area of Rustaq. Water flows through the bath house into a bathing area for women, and is then used downstream progressively for washing clothes, domestic use and finally for irrigating agriculture. Photos of Nakhl and Rustaq...
Comments
Oum Abdul-Aziz wrote:
newsbriefs wrote:
Hello Khadija
Women are expected to cover their heads in deeply Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches, and are warned that they should have their shoulders covered and wear skirts below the knee or trousers. But they're not necessarily treated as if they are second rate citizens.
Officers on cruise ships coming into port in Muscat advise women passengers to dress suitably. Somewhere in my portfolio of news, I have a reference to a blog written by a lady tourist from such a cruise who was very angered by her treatment at the Grand Mosque. She had been made to feel very inferior by the excessive expectations of modesty.
When I visited the mosque, I was on my own, not in a party. I noted that ladies who had come with a tour agency were not asked to cover every last lock of hair, nor to cover their ankles, whereas I received a stern admonition for just one trace of hair showing beneath the hijab.
Frankly, the only sure safe item of clothing that could be provided for unaware lady tourists would be a burqa.
Sue, I don't want to underestimate the importance of tourism to the Omani economy; however, the Grand Mosque is a place of worship. It was build for that purpose, and as such, anyone who wants to visit it should respect those who worship there. Yes, that means that female visitors should be very modestly dressed. Maybe we could suggest that the mosque administration keep some veils/coverings on hand for female visitors to borrow, if they don't arrive properly dressed to enter the mosque.