The last day of our trip in Salalah we just spent some time around town exploring the last few sites before our flight to Muscat. We went to the Souq (outdoor market) and checked out what they were selling. The man below, from Yemen, was selling frankincense, so I went ahead and bought some.
Frankincense is, after all, the reason this region of the world was so popular for thousands of years. Below are huge bags of frankincense which is again, the dried sap of the frankincense tree.
This region of the world also has bees that make wild honey. I've heard, but haven't confirmed, that either Oman or Yemen has some of the best honey in the world. The man below was selling honey on the street. The section of honey on the far right is from Yemen and the other four are from Oman. We tried a few of them and I have to say the honey from Yemen is the best I've ever tasted. We bought some of this as well.
Another thing in Salalah that Chris and I loved were the fruit venders that you could find just about anywhere. In the four days we spent in Salalah we probably ate about 60 of these little bananas. They were kind of bitter sweet but incredibly good. You could also get a coconut, they would chop off the top, stick a straw in it, and drink the coconut milk. Good stuff. 20 little bananas and four coconuts cost us about 1 US dollar.
Drinking from a coconut.
Here is a picture again of the Sultan Qaboos mosque. Not to be confused with the Grand Mosque in Muscat by the same name.
The most significant religious site in the area was the tomb of the prophet Job. Muslims also believe in the prophet Job, but in Arabic, his name is Ayub (pronounced Ai - oob). To get here Chris and I took a little drive into the mountains.
Its kind of hard to see but at the top of this mountain there are two little yellow domed buildings. The biggest one is the mosque and the small one is Job's Tomb, or Nabi Ayub. Is this really the area where Job lived and died? I have no idea. We did a google search about it and apparently there are two other sites that claim to be the tomb of the prophet Job.
Above is the mosque at Nabi Ayub.
Here is the spot where Job is buried.
Afterwards we went back to Salalah and checked out the last major site, an ancient city named Al Baleed. This city is very old, perhaps as old as 2000BC if I remember correctly.
Here are some of the ruins of Al Baleed. Just like the other old cities of Oman this city was big into sea voyage and trade.
More ruins. In the picture above I'm wearing the traditional Omani....head...thing. In Palestine it has a different name, in Saudi it has a different name. I don't know what the Omanis call it. I'm wearing it because our adventures of the past few days gave me quite the sunburn and you can't really buy sunscreen anywhere. This was the next best thing.
An old toppled pillar at Al-Baleed.
The city is from 2000BC if I remember correctly, but the city continued to exist and has many old mosques from the period after the prophet Muhammad. The picture of above shows the ruins of the city's grand mosque.
More of the city.
It was about time to catch our flight to Muscat so we paid one more visit to the fruit stands before we went.
Enjoying one last coconut.
Above is Mrs. Kumar, our hotel owner. She was one of the best parts of staying at the hotel we did. She helped us with many things like finding the sites we wanted to see, getting our car, and even mailing stuff for us. So if you're ever in Salalah and you want a cheaper but nice hotel, try the Salalah beach villas. We caught our flight, and I'll write the rest later.
Frankincense is, after all, the reason this region of the world was so popular for thousands of years. Below are huge bags of frankincense which is again, the dried sap of the frankincense tree.
This region of the world also has bees that make wild honey. I've heard, but haven't confirmed, that either Oman or Yemen has some of the best honey in the world. The man below was selling honey on the street. The section of honey on the far right is from Yemen and the other four are from Oman. We tried a few of them and I have to say the honey from Yemen is the best I've ever tasted. We bought some of this as well.
Another thing in Salalah that Chris and I loved were the fruit venders that you could find just about anywhere. In the four days we spent in Salalah we probably ate about 60 of these little bananas. They were kind of bitter sweet but incredibly good. You could also get a coconut, they would chop off the top, stick a straw in it, and drink the coconut milk. Good stuff. 20 little bananas and four coconuts cost us about 1 US dollar.
Drinking from a coconut.
Here is a picture again of the Sultan Qaboos mosque. Not to be confused with the Grand Mosque in Muscat by the same name.
The most significant religious site in the area was the tomb of the prophet Job. Muslims also believe in the prophet Job, but in Arabic, his name is Ayub (pronounced Ai - oob). To get here Chris and I took a little drive into the mountains.
Its kind of hard to see but at the top of this mountain there are two little yellow domed buildings. The biggest one is the mosque and the small one is Job's Tomb, or Nabi Ayub. Is this really the area where Job lived and died? I have no idea. We did a google search about it and apparently there are two other sites that claim to be the tomb of the prophet Job.
Above is the mosque at Nabi Ayub.
Here is the spot where Job is buried.
Afterwards we went back to Salalah and checked out the last major site, an ancient city named Al Baleed. This city is very old, perhaps as old as 2000BC if I remember correctly.
Here are some of the ruins of Al Baleed. Just like the other old cities of Oman this city was big into sea voyage and trade.
More ruins. In the picture above I'm wearing the traditional Omani....head...thing. In Palestine it has a different name, in Saudi it has a different name. I don't know what the Omanis call it. I'm wearing it because our adventures of the past few days gave me quite the sunburn and you can't really buy sunscreen anywhere. This was the next best thing.
An old toppled pillar at Al-Baleed.
The city is from 2000BC if I remember correctly, but the city continued to exist and has many old mosques from the period after the prophet Muhammad. The picture of above shows the ruins of the city's grand mosque.
More of the city.
It was about time to catch our flight to Muscat so we paid one more visit to the fruit stands before we went.
Enjoying one last coconut.
Above is Mrs. Kumar, our hotel owner. She was one of the best parts of staying at the hotel we did. She helped us with many things like finding the sites we wanted to see, getting our car, and even mailing stuff for us. So if you're ever in Salalah and you want a cheaper but nice hotel, try the Salalah beach villas. We caught our flight, and I'll write the rest later.
Great pictures. Looks like a wonderful adventure. Very cool.
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