Keeping quiet in Oman

The dolphin tour in Muscat. [Photo by Yu Yao/China Daily]

Muscat was once a trading hub between China and Arab states.

Before I flew to Muscat, capital city of Oman, it had been most commonly described to me as "quiet". Upon arriving at Muscat airport at midnight I immediately understood why.

The airport had a long line of people, mostly Arabs, waiting in line at the arrival desks. The only voice was that of a custom official, stamping visitors passports.

The local Arabs I met in shopping centers the next day were all in clean and tidy white robes and wearing either white turbans or white square hat. They walked slowly and quietly, speaking in low voices in coffee bars with their friends.

Although I felt their curiosity about my Asian face, they never spoke to me or said hello like the passionate people I met in European and African cities did. They just stood at a distance and looked at me for several seconds before averting their eyes and quietly walking away.

A key port city on the Silk Road by the Sea, Muscat was once a trading hub between China and Arab states. Muscat is by the Arabian Sea and white buildings dot the city and the people dress in white. Few cars run on its wide streets and seagulls fly over the ocean and circle the city.

My driver was an Omani in his 60s. He had retired from his job as a driver for the local government officials and had three wives (in Oman a man can have up to four wives), big houses and several Mercedes-Benz. I was shocked by his wealth, and wondered why he continued to work as a tourist driver after retirement. "I just want to find something to do to prove I have value," was his explanation.

Another shock was my Chinese guide Danny Zhou. The 25-year-old was born to a Chinese family who own dozens of supermarkets and restaurants in Oman. Zhou is their only child. He grew up in China with his grandparents and came to live with his parents in Muscat three years ago. The reason he wanted to work as a guide was to make some friends and have someone to talk to because the Chinese community in Oman is small, about 250 people in total.

"It's really a happy Arab nation. People have time and money to do whatever they want," I joked. The Sultanate of Oman is one of the seven Arab States of the Persian Gulf that are mainly dependent on oil exports.

I went to visit the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, a magnificent mosque with the world's second largest hand-woven carpet and chandelier. The King of Oman Qaboos bin Said Al Said ordered the mosque to be built in 1992. It was the most magnificent mosque in the region when it was completed in 2001, but it was overtaken in splendor in 2007, when the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was completed.