Monday Night

Greetings from rainy wet muddy delightfully cheerful Salalah. 

First of all, thank you for those of you who commented on my previous post and for the many readers who emailed me privately to express their support/their own beliefs. It means the world to me.

Now, for news updates from our end of the country:

1) Salalah is officially invaded. Review my post from 2012. Nothing has changed. I avoid leaving the house at all times. Last weekend I went grocery shopping at 8:30  a.m to avoid the tourists, and the supermarket was still packed. Oh well.

(road from Ittin to mountains - avoid at all costs)

2) Very sad news today about the bodies of two missing young men from the UAE who drowned in Mirbat after attempting to swim in the ocean. Despite the signs up everyone saying "DON'T SWIM FROM MAY TO OCTOBER", people continue to risk their lives every year. Then every year we hear sad news about tourists who drown. 

3) I was VERY pleased to hear that Big Bus Tours is running tours in Salalah this khareef. It's 7 rials per person for 24 hours. The tour is 1 1/2 hours long and takes off from Salalah Gardens Mall main parking lot. You can get brochures with the route at the tourist kiosk in the mall near Carrefour (opposite Red Tag). 

4) Rumor has it that a mother-daughter duo (from Italy!) have opened up an authentic lasagna restaurant (take-out) in Salalah. It's on airport road (near Dhofar Hotel). The food is incredibly good. I'm heading there ASAP. 

5) The Festival: started officially on July 23rd but some of the exhibitions and attractions aren't open yet, so I'm waiting a few more days before I go to visit. For more details on the festival and news in Salalah, listen to Oman English FM (90.4) from 7-8 pm every evening. Informative program with interesting interviews. They have a new correspondent (Hani Al Baraka). He and Talal are doing Salalah proud. 

6) Dahariz Beach: has gone through a complete makeover. There is a lovely new walkway, barbecue areas, little gazebo thingies, and lots of seating area for about a kilometer. They're also about to open up a huge Al Makan Cafe (popular in Muscat). I've been walking there. It's a great place to be outdoors while avoiding the crowds. Tourists tend to head more towards the mountains during the monsoon with very few people congregating on beaches (the waves are rough because of the monsoon)

7) Oman lover and author Maria Dekeersmaeker has published yet another book on Oman. The new book is called Whispers of Oman and it is essentially stories about women. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Her book "The DNA of Dhofar" is also in my possession. Despite its unique structure, it's very informative. If you see any hard copies of the new book let me know.

8) RAFO roundabout is NO MORE. Salalah's infamous fountain roundabout that changes colors is gone. There is a story about that roundabout. Apparently back when it was first build, people had never seen color-changing fountains before. An old woman thought His Majesty had built a juice fountain to quench the thirst of all Dhofaris.  Well, it's gone now. In its place is an efficient set of traffic lights that have made our lives much much easier this week. They were inaugurated on Saturday. 

9) Most importantly, Lulu is selling caffeine-free coke. You have no idea what this means to me. Occasionally (like once every week or two weeks) I crave a coke. Problem is, I'm becoming increasingly caffeine intolerant. I have my coffee at 7 am. Anything after about 11 a.m will have me doing an Irish jig at midnight.

That's all for now folks. Back to snorting at Tom Hanks in Carly Rae Jepsen's video "I really like you". I finally got around to watching it.

Nadia 

PS (will the new Mall of Oman have Ikea? That's all that matters to me)

Onken is Back ...

... at Salalah Lulu Hyhpermarket. Go grab your stock before it disappears for another month or so!

Onken is BACK

..... at Lulu's in Salalah. With new flavors. Forgive my obsession with yoghurts. 'Nuff said.

Tim Hortons

So according to today's Times of Oman article here, Tim Hortons is opening an outlet in Muscat in early 2012. You heard me right. Muscat Mutterings is going to be a very happy man. They also said an outlet or several in Salalah would be a possiblity. If that's true, then the future of coffee at this end of the country just got brighter. At the moment there are no cafes here that serve real brewed coffee. Brewed beans. Not paper packages you tear open and add to a cup of boiling water. I'm talkin about real coffee. Tim Hortons are also famous for their wide variety of doughnuts *drool*. They hope to open thirteen outlets in Oman by 2013. THIRTEEN. Surely one or two of them will be in Salalah, right? Happy Saturday!

Siam Kitchen!!

Referring to my notes in the previous post about Salalah's first Thai restaurant, the owners posted a comment with directions and a website! I'm so excited! It looks like a very homey place. Pad Thai here I come!
Siam Kitchen: Authentic Thai Cuisine
Location: Dahariz (map available on website)- Al Montazah Road
Website: Siam Kitchen
Delivery: they deliver to the three Salalah colleges (SCT, Applied Sciences & Dhofar University) five days a week for lunch.
Menu: available on website.
Contact: 9331 4736

Happy Holidays Everyone! (and Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers & those of you at the US embassy who read this every morning :-P)

Tuesday Clippings 22/11/11

(Darbat Waterfalls in Dhofar during a good monsoon)

Good Morning! It looks like Tuesday may end up being 'clippings day' for the moment.

1. Abalone season ended two days ago. Production this year stood at 135,000 tons. Yup, that's a lot of abalone. Someone sent me an email asking me to point out that many of the abalone divers in Dhofar are women. Yes, it may sound strange coming from a conservative society like ours, but our women are excellent divers. (and now that the season is over, not only are they excellent divers but very rich divers as well! Most of the abalone is exported to East Asia (usually China & Japan), and is usually sold at around 80 Rials per kilo, but it can go up to 100 Rial or more depending on the type).

2. If you're planning on visiting Salalah for the upcoming very long weekend (Thursday 24th - Monday 28th), the weather is pleasant but dry. No cyclones or winds or dust storms. But you'd better book your tickets/hotels now because there are tons of European tourists here at the moment.

3. In addition to making it to Lonely Planet's top 10 places to visit in 2012, National Geographic has named Oman among the top 20 destinations in 2012. Wow. Read the full list here. This makes me very happy.

4. There was an event two nights ago in Salalah honoring "100 Women from Dhofar" for their achievements. The Minister of State cum. Governer of Dhofar was the guest of honor according to this crappy article from Oman Observer, (who writes these articles? A computer? Or do they use Google Translate?). Who were the 100 women? Details, anyone?

5. Camel Burgers: never thought I'd see the day, but apparently there's a restaurant in Salalah that has become rather famous for its camel hamburgers. Camel actually tastes good but I can't quite imagine what a burger would taste like. The directions someone gave me earlier were actually wrong. So, if you have any idea where this restaurant is, let me know please and we'll spread the love :)

6. Speaking of restaurants, apparently Salalah has welcomed its very first Thai restaurant as well. It's a tiny restaurant called the 'Siam Kitchen' and it's located in Dahariz (I was told on the beach, but I'm not sure). It's run by the Thai wife of an instructor at one of the local colleges, and rumor has it that she's bringing her aunt over from Thailand to cook. Thai food cooked by Thai people? YES PLEASE! (if you have directions, let me know and I'll post them here).

7. I've posted this before, but I'm reposting again because I think it's hilarious. "15 Signs You Might Have Been in Oman Too Long".

Subway in Salalah

That's right, folks. Subway is finally coming to Salalah. They've been preparing the location for MONTHS and MONTHS at Istqerar Hypermarket on the 3rd floor in the food court, but rumor has it that we should be expecting the grand opening sometime this month.

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You'll be happy to know that Salalah isn't obsessed with fast food chains. We've had one Pizza Hut for about 10-15 years, and one KFC. That's it. In a town of 150,000 people, that's pretty good.

Chai Salalah

No afternoon get-together in Salalah is complete without a thermos of spicy tea or plain red tea. I'm sitting in the mountains now with my laptop and a thermos of spicy Chai Salalah. Yes, the wireless internet modem works here. Thank you Nawras.

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Chai Salalah Ingedients:

- Milk

- Ground cardamom

- Fresh or powdered ginger

- sugar

- lipton red tea bags

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Directions:

Put four cups of milk in a pot on the stove with four spoons of ground cardamom, about a third of a cup of sugar (depending on how you like it) and a spoon of ginger. Wait for it to come to a boil then throw in five teabags and let it come to a boil again. Stir until the milk is golden coloured. Turn the heat off and put the tea through a strainer before putting it in a thermos. Serve in small little tea glasses.

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I love Chai Salalah.

Weekend!!!!

I'm deliriously happy that it's Wednesday. In three hours I'll be completing the world's LONGEST working week. It felt like forever. Just a quick note because I have no time to blog. The government wasted so much money setting up the traffic lights at Salalah's busiest roundabout (near the Royal Air Force base?) and they F.A.I.L.E.D miserably. They've switched them off now because they were causing so many traffic jams. Why wasn't it better planned? How are they going to solve the traffic problems in Salalah? Build bridges? What a mess.

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Meanwhile, a reader wrote to me asking for a photo of the famous Omani/Dhofari sandwich (described in my profile) and I felt obliged to post it on Dhofari Gucci. This is what most Dhofari families take on picnics and eat at home as a snack when there's nothing else in the kitchen. It may look plain disgusting but it's actually quite good. I haven't had one for a few years but I'm inspired to go out and find some Chips Oman if they still sell it.
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Have a great weekend!

Dhofari Ramadan Menu - Do you really need 300 bottles of Vimto?

Ok, here it is; Dhofaris exposed at last.

What is it about Ramadan anyway that makes people obsessed with food? Why is it that you spend more on groceries during Ramadan yet you're fasting and you only eat one meal a day? Why is it that every house in Salalah eats the same damn thing every single night of the holy month? They eat the same thing every day for a month, but never during the rest of the year. When am I ever going to figure it out?

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Yesterday I walked into the Lulu Centre (our major supermarket) to buy two miserable items; tomatoes and milk. Ok? I should have been out of there in about three minutes, right? Wrong. I swear to you I was in there for 50 minutes, in a lineup of 18 people (note: there are five counters). Every shopper had one or two shopping carts filled with the exact same products. I almost gave up but I really really needed those tomatoes for my Iftar cooking. To kill time, I got out my camera and starting taking photos of the Ramadan displays (see photo)

Yup, what you are looking at my dear friends is the Leaning Tower of Crème Caramel. Believe me, Dhofaris only eat creme caramel in Ramadan. Same with oatmeal, dumplings, vimto, samboosas, jelly, etc. So, what exactly is the Ramadan menu? Let me explain; every afternoon during Ramadan every kitchen in Salalah is busy producing the same dishes. Call to prayer comes at sunset, and everyone gathers around the mat/table to eat the same dishes. I'm telling you, it's true! I've asked all my friends and they all eat the same thing. They have an eating marathon from the moment the call to prayer comes and for about ten minutes until it's time to pray. During those ten minutes, every person will stuff as much food into their face as possible, and in no particular order. It's a free for all. You want to eat jello with your samboosa? Go ahead! How about watermelon and beef soup? Be my guest.

Dhofari Iftar Menu: The Everyday Basics:

Samboosas سمبوس (usually filled with spicy vegetables and ground beef)

Luqaymat لقيمات: (sweet dumplings dipped in sugar syrup)

Soup شوربة: ( Ramadan soup made with beef, vegatables and oats. Quite delicious with lemon)

Vimto فيمتو: (red poison)

Coffee & Dates

Thareed ثريد : (a traditional Omani dry bread soaked in a beef sauce. Tasty)

Sandwiches: (usually most families will have an assortment of small sandwiches)

Creme Caramel!

Custard مهلبية

Jello!

Usually a dish of spicy macaroni

Watermelon (to ensure you have the worst case of Digestive Volcanos in the history of mankind)

Kindly note that all of this is eaten at the same time. Some families are brave enough to introduce new dishes to this menu. Lots of families have a variety of cold desserts (usually a mix of creme caramel, custard, jello, swiss rolls and dream whip. Lots and lots of dream whip). Also note, dear friends, that most families will have a heavy meal of rice and meat/chicken later on in the night (anytime between 10 p.m and 1 a.m). I can only imagine what their sleep/dreams must be like after such a heavy meal. Oh, well. This is our culture. We developed these odd eating habits (our ancestors certainly didn't eat like that) somewhere over the past 20 years I suppose. What do you eat in Ramadan? Give me proof that there are people out there that eat normally!

Peace.

Who needs Hogwarts?

Dear Muggle (fellow blogger),
I could not believe it when you said you had never been to the South of Oman before (and you’re Omani!). I’ve been thinking about it all morning. Dhofar is such an amazing place. So, I decided to pretend I’ve joined a debate club, and my job is to convince someone that they MUST visit Salalah. How do I start? First of all, it is an obligation if you’re Omani, and no, the monsoon is not the only reason we’re famous, although it is quite attractive.

(1) First of all, Dhofar is the Land of Frankincense! Do a little research on the subject and you’ll realize how special this title is. The history of frankincense is amazing.

(2) Dhofar is a province of antiquity, boasting both the ruins of the fortified town Sumharam, an important port from 100 BC – AD 400 (supposedly used by the Queen of Sheba), and the buried cities of Al Baleed (yes, one city buried on top of the other). Both these sights are on the ocean. The new Land of Frankincense museum in Al Baleed is quite interesting.

(3) Mormons! To those of you who have never heard of the subject, look up Salalah and the Mormon Church online. In Mormon culture, Dhofar is the most popular traditional location of the Land of Bountiful, in the Book of Mormon. This theory has been discussed for many years; however, back in 2001, a Dhofari researcher who studies cave writings in Dhofar was in Colorado attending a conference and discovered that the 20 out of the 22 letters of the cave writing alphabet matched. (yup, the same language in Dhofar and in the USA), and this brought up the Land of Bountiful discussion again. Look up Dhofar, Mormons on YouTube and watch a couple of the documentaries made on the subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwV-61mZKtk

(4) Dhofar is also the alleged resting place of the Prophet Job (the tomb can be found in the mountains), and the Prophet Imran, father of the Virgin Mary (in the middle of Salalah).

(5) We got witches baby! Many people in Dhofar still practice witchcraft, black magic, and many forms of paganism. It’s a little unsettling but quite fascinating. Read my post on April 27, 2009. The Valley of Khorori is said to be a portal to another world/universe. Witches from all over the world (including Brazil and Egypt) claim to have visited Khor Rori while they were in a trance. The stories are fascinating. Who needs Hogwarts when we have Taqah?

(6)Basic Tourism: What do we have in Salalah that you don’t in Muscat? Miles and miles of white sandy beaches, thousands of palm trees, camels, coconuts, bananas, papayas, etc. In fact, the coconut stalls are so cute these days that they have their own little freezers and you can order a chilled coconut. It doesn’t get better than that We also have good weather.

(7) Another interesting topic: Ice Age. I’m serious here. About a year ago, a crew of scientists working for the BBC were supposed to come to Salalah to take cheek swabs from 50 older members of a mountain tribe in Dhofar. The Reason? DNA testing. Why? Because they believe that during the Ice Age, humans did exist and were living in the Dhofar caves!!!!! The BBC documentary on the subject is called ‘The Incredible Human Journey' or 'Human Traces', not quite sure. If they are able to prove this theory, humanity will be forever changed.

(8) Salalah is one of the most tribal cultures in the Gulf. We live in a very tight society. Yes, it has disadvantages, but I believe the advantages outweigh them.

(9) Have you ever heard Jebbali poetry, the local mountain dialect?

(10) It’s interesting to read about the Dhofar Rebellion.

Life in Salalah is more 'real'. I love going to Muscat, but can never stay longer than a couple of weeks. It overwhelms me. The higways, shopping malls, crowds, etc. Life in Salalah is quiet. We are proud of our one and only Pizza Hut and KFC. We don't have any shopping malls, and hope it stays that way. We have one tiny highway. I could write pages and pages, but then my post will become too long (like your last one, Muggle) and I don’t need readers to become cross-eyed halfway through.

Tell me what you think. These are just ‘some’ thoughts.

PS (the picture was taken at the entrance to Darbat Valley during the monsoon)