This evening, bv, jb, h, and I decided to do a "Souk and Schawarma" outing. It was a Wednesday night, the work week was over, and we were four ladies on a mission to not get stuck in the post-Iftar (evening breaking of the daily fast) Ramadan madness along the Mutrah corniche.
Despite slight driving disorientation due to construction, we made it to available parking near the Al Samak (fish) round about so as not to get parked in by a Land Cruiser like our other colleague the night before. The sun had not yet set, which made for a beautiful sunset/dusk walk along the cement walkway that leads to the main entrance of the souq. I'm not sure what my colleagues' spending motivations were for the evening, but I was intent on getting some Grade 1 frankincense from Oman.
After winding through the market and fending off Subcontinent pashmina hagglers and perfume sellers trying to slip samples of Jasmine on our wrists, we made it to a small frankincense stall that I had visited last November. I like this stall purely for the fact that the prices are decent and the stall is run by an Omani. It was a different gentleman than my previous visit. At first, he directed our attention to the small 1-Omani Rial frankincense containers, but I directly asked him if he had any top grade frankincense. He confirmed that he did, and I followed him up the few steps to the interior of the stall to get a better look at the 1 kilo bags of incense. Between the seller and me, we were able to explain to my companions which frankincense was better and where it came from. The lower grade incense is a lot older and comes from Somalia. However, the "fresh" stuff in the shop comes from Sallalah (the oasis in the southern area of Oman)and produces a really nice pine resin-like scent when burned over charcoal.
Because I was giving so much information about the incense to my colleagues and throwing out a few Arabic phrases to the seller, he asked me, "Are you from around here?" I laughed at him and, in Arabic, explained that I had lived in Saudi for 2 years. Turns out that he had lived in Taif for 4 years. By making a good relationship with the seller, he sold us a 1-kilo bag for 10 Rials (about $30 USD) with 12 free plastic containers to help divide the bag between my three colleagues and me. A quarter kilo will last me at least 6 months, so I'm pretty happy about the exchange and a new friend.
After the incense success, we moved on to the money exchange so that h could exchange her USD money that Bank Muscat wouldn't exchange for her. FYI - Banks in Oman are reluctant to exchange money that was printed before 2006? Crazy!
Because we were melting in the not-so-breezy walking area and stalls, we found our way out of the market and settled in at a sidewalk coffee shop and grill for the Iftar meal. The shwarma wasn't very good and the lemon mint drinks were bitter and heavy on the mint. Regardless, it was food, we were hungry, and we got to sit along the sea and both smell and feel the sea breeze in our noses and on our skin.
After the Magrib prayer was called and we were allowed to order food, jb stepped away to smoke a cigarette. In doing so, she befriended another American breaking his smoking fast for the day and who turns out to be traveling with an Ohio State alumnus. Jb used to work for the university and just moved to the ME from Columbus, so she was thrilled and, to the odd amusement of the locals, demanded to get her picture taken with the alumnus with them both holding their arms in "O" positions. Go Bucks!, I guess, in this ever-shrinking world.
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