The smuglers cove

COAST of OMAN

drove north to the tip of Oman over the weekend. Border crossing was interesting. ermm.. Luckily I did the man thing and let my acompanying women travel under my protection. Its all in the way you wrap that tea towel around your head.

Oman is desolate, and mountainous, and dry, and desolate, and mountainous, and dry.. did I mention Hot! A thin venner of land that is not mountainous has been pasted to the coast, and that width is soley devoted to the roadway. Talk about inacessible. there is not a scap of moss, nor blade of grass, or even a tree to be seen. Just bare sedmentry rock. I am sure that a Geologist would be going ga ga... But there are goats!.. I have no idea what they find to eat, they seem to rule the land, wandering across the mountains/beaches/checkpoints/villages.

The locals are wonderfull. They smile, they joke. A rather different breed to the Emeratises. Prehaps it is because they work for a living, rather than pump it from the ground.

TWO BY DHOW

we took a Dhow (arab boat), and toured the fjords. scraps of human habitation cling to the rock faces, camoflaged against the rock. (aperently for protection). A booming smugling trade exists, and the regular wine of a small gray tinny, with a 250hp outboard on the back, can be heard around the clock. The drivers seem fearless as they bounce airborn for most of the journey. Aparently they are delivering cigerates and alcohol to iran. Each turn in the fjord reveals another nest of speedboats, or the remanant of a village, or someones stash of fishing gear. There is no colour but that of the stone mountains. Dry red, dry grey.

Wish I had more time in Oman. Aparently the turtles will be ariving on the beaches to the south, and will be laying their eggs in the sand tonight.

Sent an email to mum, told her I was talking up Islam....

she is probably freaking out right now...