Oman, Home of Frankincense

For 6000 years Oman has been the home of frankincense, in fact most of the frankincense found in the West is imported from Oman. The Omanis use this aromatic resin not only to burn for its exotic aroma, but also as toothpaste, perfume, deodorant and medicine, so we had to buy some from the local shops to bring home. I decided to sketch these little, exotic looking tent/shops where we then bought our frankincense. The problem with sketching in the heat is of course finding some shade what with temperatures in the thirties there is no way you can sit in the full sun for an hour to sketch! 

I sat slightly left and further away in the shade of a huge palm,  the power of my Factor 50 sunscreen just wasn’t enough and this brought me to the realisation that wearing veils and covering up reflect not only religious beliefs but are basically essential in countries with such a climate. In Oman I certainly saw woman veiled in a multitude of varieties from just a headscarf (lahaf), the black cloak (abaya) through to the traditional Omani Burqa. In Oman the Burqa is a ''beak shaped'' mask worn by the Beduin women, contrary to popular belief not for religious reasons but to protect the face from sun and sand. At the start of our trip I had my sun hat, was slathered in suntan lotion and tried to cover my arms but no amount of clothing managed to protect the front/side of my neck and my hands from the rays, wearing a large scarf was cooler and certainly did a much better job than all other cover up attempts. 

Watching the women and men in their traditional garb really was very exotic and something completely different to what I had experienced on any of my travels. Male Omanis wear a white caftan similar to those worn by other Arab nations but the ''dishdasha'' is collarless, can be coloured and sometimes has a large tassel which is often perfumed. On their heads Omani men wear a ''kumma'' which is a colourfully embroidered cap or a cashmere turban (often floral) called a massar, and for special occasions they wear ''the khanjar'', a huge curved dagger. The dagger is featured on the Omani flag and does look very intimidating. 

The wee shops sold everything from oil based, very exotic perfumes (for which Oman has been trading for thousands of years too), frankincense, traditional burners and the one thing I was desperate for ...... a pair of Arabian shoes! Aren’t they very Scheherazade? 

In the pic you can see one of the burners we bought too! Frankincense is harvested by tapping into the sap of the frankincense tree here is a photo of one, not really very fancy is it? 

Funnily enough when we booked our trip there was a warning about leaving the hotel compounds at night, not because of criminality but because of free roaming camels. In crashes with camels tourists usually come off worst; at best I've seen two camels in a zoo but on my way down to the beach one morning I looked over to the stony desert behind our hotel and was gobsmacked to see at least 30 wild camels passing.

 Now we've come full circle, the introduction of camels as beasts of burden was all down to frankincense which had to be transported to the ports to be exported all over the world and that 6000 years ago!