Our destination today is Nizwa, a large city that still
hosts a weekly camel and goat auction. Here Bedouin men and woman wearing the
traditional black mask trade livestock every Friday.
We deviate to Al Hamra, site of a long forgotten village,
with crumbling clay and rock dwellings clinging to the sheer mountainside. We
take the opportunity to get out the petrol guzzling Nissan Patrol and walk the
3 or 4 km’s to end of the wadi. Wadi means valley and this one like the others
we have traveled so far, has sheer sided rock faces that soar skyward.
At the
end of the valley is a cool date palmed oasis were we had coffee with an Osama
bin Laden impersonator and three of his sons. The tradition is to welcome
people with dates and bitter Omani coffee.
You sit around eating dates sipping
boiling thimble size cups of coffee with a hint of cardamom. It is customary to
drink 3 cups in quick succession, but your host will continue to pour until you
return your cup and wriggle your right wrist from side to side. The sons were
weaving a narrow rug, flat on the ground, in the sand. We of course wanted to buy one, but in the end
decided that we would exceed our baggage allowance on the plane.
We passed through Bahla, this Unesco declared fort is under
renovation. However we had found something even more difficult to get home. A
pair of clay water jugs. These light beige/ochre coloured thin walled vessels
are unique to the area and a wall in Pennington.
We also visited Jabreem Fort, which is similar in design and defense strategy. 
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| A section of the ornately decorated timber ceiling, Jabreem Fort. |
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