Salalah, Oman

Tuesday was the national holiday, Sports Day.  It is field day in elementary school, but better.  Instead of playing the game where you eat saltine crackers and then try to whistle, you get paid to perform sports outside in the lovely sunshine.  We are basically professional athletes; getting paid for our amazing athletic coordination.  Add that to the resume. 

Since most of the Sports Day activities involve ten thousand screaming children, we opted to stay in our comfort zone and try to keep up with Uncle Keith.

After satisfying our athletic requirement, we hopped on a plane and headed to Salalah, Oman to really stretch our holiday hours. 

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Salalah is on the coast where the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet.  It was a major trading post for Frankincense.  Without a current demand for Frankincense, Salalah has adapted into a tourist destination.  It rains everyday during the summer, so visitors come from the Middle East region to cool off during the heat.  During the winter, visitors come from Europe to lay on the beach in the sunshine.  Most of the other hotel guests we met were from Germany and Sweden.

We did our fair share of pool side lounging and beach strolling, but we also enjoyed a day tour of the region including:

Coconuts, bananas, and papaya which grow in the tropical climate

Beautiful sea lines

Wadi Darbat complete with wildlife (Wadi is the area around the rivers flowing from the mountains to the ocean.)

Old judicial buildings to keep peace between tribes

Archaeological sites of the old Frankincense ports

Who has seen the movie Captain Phillips?  Below I’m posing in front of the port where the container ship departed before being raided by pirates.

Toned down Arabic drink name alert.  Anybody know the more daring name of this beverage?

Happy birthday Jonna!  We are sad not to be celebrating together, but we hope your birthday is as wonderful as you.  Lots of love from us.