Thursday 30th January 2014: GMT + 4hrs ­ Meet the Muscats!

So an interesting if rather slow progress around Muscat with the Big Red Bus brought me back to the Al-Mutrah Souk and I’m a succour for souks!!

Like all souks people abound and every stallholder greets you like some long lost brother but all of course are hell bent on getting you to buy from them, so its eyes down for the most part and ignoring their entreaties whilst also trying to spot a bargain before they leap on you!!

Well I was looking for the inevitable hand crafted fridge magnets of which there were thousands on offer but all bling and Chinese plastic!! In a 30-minute search I only found one stall offering porcelain tile type magnets and there I also spotted the Muscat Family featured in the photo.  I have three sets of these nested dolls that I bought in Russia in 1989; two of the sets were cartoon versions of former presidents of Russia – strictly illegal to sell at the time but widely available for dollars from Arbat Street (The Street of Traders) in Moscow.  I have a very attractive picture in pastels of this street that adorns one wall of my dining room and that reminds me of the rather dark and drab pre-Perestroika Russia of the late 1990s.  I feel rather privileged to have witnessed Russia just before this change took place.

The Mutrah Souk was full of Omanis families enjoying the first day of their weekend and it was interesting to get away from the main arcades full of trinkets designed for the tourists and visit some of the narrower alleys at the edge of the souk where colourful silks and fabrics were to be found.  One couldn’t miss the bright-eyed children of the stallholders who played happily amongst the throng of people.

By early afternoon the temperature had reached 28C and having purchased the Muscat Family and my magnets I made my way back to the ship for lunch, a well earned nap and to await our late afternoon departure for Mumbai where we arrive early on Sunday 2^nd February.  I leave you with a final panorama photo looking out over the Corniche Bay towards the Incense Burner.