Otherwise know as, the country I fell in love with!
Chad has been telling me for a long time now that I would love Oman, and he was right on {almost} every level. The people. The smells. The culture. The most perfect sunsets and sunrises I have ever seen (yes, even more than the sunsets I adored all my years ago in New Zealand). The Juices (oh the juices) but above all, the warmth and generosity of the people is really what stole my heart (I know that is an incredibly cheesy thing to say, but it is quite literally true!
I have never experienced such genuine kindness from complete strangers. I can't imagine meeting someone in the streets of Australia, or many other countries for that matter, and taking them up on an offer to go home with them to meet their family and have lunch or to join them for tea. But in Oman, it seems quite the norm to receive such invitations.
You'll also see from the photos that camels really do roam free in the desert. We had to stop our car on more than one occasion because the road was blocked with camels. It seemed quite novel in the beginning, but we did get used to it :)
A very typical scene.......
Don't be too shocked by this next picture - apparently it was "not real" but still.......I was a bit surprised when I called this little boy and he turned around like this....
Goodbye great Sultan of Oman. We miss your birth place of Salalah and its magical juices and hope to be back again soon{ish}!