Muscat 3 of 6

Many people live in the city today but out in the desert permanent homes have replaced the carpeted-tents around wades where once camel traders gathered.

Whilst the desert and surrounding mountain ranges are dry and 'treeless' we often passed small oasis-type settlements where small irrigation channels carrying water from underwater streams deep beneath the parched, rocky and sandy desert floor, provide the much needed water for the small market gardens of these settlements. These settlements flourish with banana, date palm and home vegetables. Each tree or plant has a rubber hose drip-line attached to it and the once barren soil is now productive and small goat herds can be seen resting under the shade of the tress.

In a few of the larger towns that we passed through we were surprise to see the "golden arches" resplendent on the hot haze desert horizon. (we now know how to spell McDonalds in Arabic)

The further we drove towards the high distant mountain ranges the more we noticed the varying colours of the dry rocky hillsides and mountain passes. The colours of the rocks ranging from golden browns to greenish blues and shades of black indicated the presence of rich ore deposits, laid down thousands of years ago when these mountains were formed. We passed several side road leading up to mining areas and at one point we were amazed at the raw deposits of a mining area alongside our highway. The colours of the mined ore deposits were astonishingly bright as they glistened in the heavy glare and heat of the mid-morning sun. Our driver said it was 39⁰C and it was only 10.am. Some of the ore mined in Muscat include copper asbestos, marble, diamonds, gold and limestone. These are exported all over the world along with the rich supplies of oil which make up 95% of Oman's export market.

Many workers from third-world countries work long hours in the mining of minerals and the building and maintenance of the expanding residential towns and highways.

We passed workers returning to their shanty towns on foot around about 11 am. Many had worked through the night and were returning for a siesta in their air-conditioned cabins which are located as near to their worksites as possible. Our driver assured us that conditions have improved for these non-nationals in that whilst their wages are low, their accommodation is free and they have medical insurance and are able to provide for their families back home.

Our driver, Mohammed was about 32 years of age with a swollen jaw due to a severely infected tooth. Throughout the day he kept patting his jaw to relieve the pain as he said it was forbidden to swallow water during Ramadan and so he had not taken his antibiotics. Ken reminded him that the Koran states that there are provisions for the sick and elderly who may partake of water in times of need but Mohammed said he didn't want to risk it.

We felt sorry for him and he said he was counting the hours to sunset so that he could get some relief. At one point during the drive he handed us bottles of water and we felt for him. As he handed out the water bottles, Mohammed also instructed us that we were not to be seen drinking by passengers in passing cars and especially when we driving through towns.

We waited until we were out on the open highway before raising the bottles to our lips but we could not persuade Mohammed to take his antibiotics with even a sip of water.

Later in the drive, Mohammed produced a cardboard lunchbox for each of us. We had to eat it surreptitiously within the car so that others didn't see us eating. The ship had warned passengers not to be seen eating in public as Muscat has strict laws at this time of the year. Last year we'd had a leisurely lunch at a seaside restaurant as it was not Ramadan so we were a little disappointed at a rather dry butter-less goat cheese sandwich, a moist-less slice of cake and dry croissant. However a banana and an apple and a small bottle of guava juice added the much needed moisture our bodies craved in the ever increasing temperatures of this day.