Nizwa Friday market

I drove to Nizwa Friday morning. Nizwa is about 150 km inland and was the capital when Portugal occupied the coastal areas. Fridays there is a livestock market, goats and cows, where the owners lead the animals around a small ring and if you want to buy you throw a small rock at the animal and then haggle, haggle, and haggle some more. Otherwise it is like a farmer's market, with a produce souk, meat souk, and craft souk. I would have bought something, but all the non-perishables were just made in China crap. It was an interesting market to see though. There is a wadi (big dry riverbed that fills up during flash floods) just next to the market where most everyone parks, though I stuck to street parking and am glad for it, what a mess of traffic. I drove around a neighborhood that was like a labyrinth, at one point passing under an arch from an old fort that was only a foot or so wider than my car.

The Wadi

There were also 2 or 3 goats in the back of that pickup.

As usual, old is mixed with new.

The market dies down around 9 a.m. because it's so damn hot. I think the Arabs have it right covering up, which the men do also, with white robes down to the ankles and wrists and hats called dishdash I think, because I have not had even a bit of sunburn and have not had to use hardly any sunscreen.

So I was back in Muscat by 11, stopped by the BIG mall, found a few Arabic cookbooks at Border's, and went back to the house I am staying at. I must admit I am a bit bored. I cooked a goat & fava bean stew last night that turned out fairly well, and finished the first sleeve for the cardigan I am working on.