We just got back from Muscat!! It was SO NICE!! The first stop...Starbucks! We met our friends, Ali and Myah, at the City Center. We talked about their flee from Beirut (another story) and let the kids play in a toy store across the way. The City Center is a mall with a lot of nice clothing stores to shop in, but none of that for me!!! What did I do? Spent my time in the grocery store (also in the mall). Loading up on TORTILLAS... of all things! There was also a nice play area for kids with rides (sort of like a fair) and the girls LOVED IT! Joel did too. Especially the bumper cars.
We did do some shopping at the Mutra Souk. Joel bought me an Amouge knock-off for 8 rial. Amouge is supposedly the most expensive perfume in the world and it is made here in Oman. When Joel's parents were here, we toured the factory in Muscat. The perfume itself is expensive, but the bottles are made with pure gold!
All the store owners yell things out to you when you walk past, trying to get you to buy their goods. One vender showed me a pashmina and said, "For you..$25 rial ($60)" I said, "Yeah right! I can get this in Salalah for 2 rial ($5)" Being the pashmina expert that I am! He said, "No..No..you get this one for 2 rial!" And he pulls out the kind that I have been buying here in Salalah for $5. They both said they were 100% and I asked what the difference was. From what I gathered (language barrier) the ones I get are machine made (still 100%) and the more expensive ones are hand made. Then he says" I show you real pashmina". Pulls out a box wrapped up in paper, unwraps it and opens it. "This one is 100 100%. 150 rial ($350)". TOTALLY hand made. That's what he said. I guess the person cut the goat hair and weaved it together right there. I don't know...
The girls were "mobbed" by vendors trying to dress them in different types of clothes. I have some pictures, but for some reason blogger isn't letting me upload them. Anyway, Katheryn and Claire decided on the burka. They wanted to dress like an Omani lady.
We bought two rugs while we were in Muscat. A 6x9 Persian type rug made in Cashmere, and a 5x7 Chechnian rug.
That was our trip in a nutshell. It was a very nice change for us. VERY HOT change but very nice!