Oman - Here we come...

February 18, 2009 - we decided to purchase plane tickets travel to Oman.

March 3, 2009 - we boarded a Boing 747 to start the journey to Muscat, Oman. Carey, Chad, Fallon and Cameron anxiously awaited our arrival.

Our air flights were uneventful - all went smoothly, just a long time in a plane. Heathrow in London is a huge airport. It was a nice place to walk around after sitting so long on the plane - Gordon Ramsay (the famous cranky chef from tv show, Hell's Kitchen) opened a restaurant at Heathrow - we did not eat there, but chose to take a picture of the sign instead.

Once we arrived in Muscat, we were the last ones in line to purchase our visas, last ones to get to baggage claim - last ones to come out of the door from our flight - needless to say, Carey looked relieved to see us.

We loaded our 9 pieces of luggage into the back of Carey' and Chad's car and started on the journey to their home. I was told pretty much right away to "keep my yap shut" regarding the drivers on the road. It is ongoing, never-ending, honking and swerving in and out - so I will keep my eyes closed and just enjoy the ride. (Just joking) We've noticed there are also a lot of pedestrians who play "Frogger" in their attempts to cross the street.

Carey and Chad were excited to unload the baggage to find 12# of dried black beans, 15# jelly beans and Easter candy, Annie's Mac and Cheese, homemade dill pickles and salsa, marshmallows, malto meal, steel cut oats and red Twizzlers. We got to bed about 12:30 AM

This morning was all smiles and giggles and excitment for Fallon and Cameron to have visitors from the west. Obviously, it was very exciting for us to see them also.

After breakfast, we went to visit Muttrah, the major port and trading center on the Gulf of Oman, part of the Indian Ocean, the original old section of Muscat -

On the walk through, we went to the 'the souk" shops along narrow walkway like alleys that wind and twist through many blocks of the city with proprieters confident you want to buy what they have to offer. The walkway is only about 4 or 5 feet wide, incense smoldering all around, reminded me of some of the places visited on "The Amazing Race".

On our way to purchase fresh fish, we walked on the walkway along the coast - the Sultan of Oman's private yacht was in port...

We went to the 'fish souk' (fresh fish market) on the water front in the old part of Muscat. We watched as they pulled boats of fish from the shore up to the tent where they were sorting fish out of the nets. The ones we saw in the boats were mere minnows compared to the fish we saw in the souk.

Huge fish were laid out for all to see from many different sellers. You could get the fish fileted, chunked up or whole, there were also many other varieties of seafood available - shrimp, squid, blue crab, prawns, eel, flounder-type (flat with eyes on top) and others - we got chunks of kingfish, tuna, shrimp and prawns to barbeque for supper - can't wait...

This man was cutting up our tuna... he wanted money for getting his picture taken!!

Stay tuned!