"More surprises in store at this year's Muscat Festival 2008!"

... so say the Omani newspapers ... :)

Qurum national park at sunset

The Muscat Festival is truly a photographer's paradise ... I had volunteered to photograph various examples of traditional clothing from all the Sultanate's regions, so what better place to do that the Omani Heritage Village at the Qurum festival site (which is the biggest and most popular festival venue, as evidenced by the amount of traffic that Hanan and I have to squeeze through to get out of a parking lot ... ) The Heritage Village obviously showcases Omani heritage. IT IS SO COOL. Various artisans and merchants from all over the Sultanate come and set up shop at the Village, showing how things were done back in the day (showing how they use every part of the date palm, demonstrating getting water from deep underground, making clothes, making juice, making baskets, etc) and how they are still done in parts of the Sultanate. It's great for tourists because you really don't have to ask permission to take photographs; the Omanis "on display" know that they are there for that purpose. I like to talk to them, not only to practice my Arabic, but to figure out the importance of whatever they're creating or carving or doing. I also try to catch their names, but with me and my memory, it goes in one ear and out the other ... alas. But it's the effort that counts, yeah?

Women from Quriyat (about an hour east of Muscat) sewing clothing, weaving baskets, and crushing grain for bread

Sweetest girls from Diba (in Musandam, the north of Oman, which you have to cross the border with the UAE to get to) waiting for their 15 minutes of fame on Omani TV.

Cute old men from Bahla (in the Dakhiliyah (interior)). The one on the left was weaving baskets that usually hold dates (it was cute to see him demonstrate holding it like a purse), as well as contraptions that protect food from flies, and the mats that you eat on. The one on the right was making goat skin water containers.

[digression: I've also found that it's such a great advantage to be a foreign woman interacting with Omanis especially in this festival setting ... I can chat with the female artisans as well as the male ones. I suppose it's more awkward and pushing social boundaries for a foreign man to chat with an Omani woman about her craft ... Hanan was telling me that many of these woman (who hail from outside the capital area) may be quite reluctant to even talk to the male tourists.]

The festival ends on the 15th (how is it that we're in February already?!), so expect lots more photos. They'll more than likely be posted on كتاب الوجه ... a.k.a facebook. :)

And my project is starting! Al-hamdulillah. Just have to obtain that 3 month visa extension and the official ministry letter that tells the Women's Associations that I'm totally legit. Apparently my speaking Arabic isn't enough. SIGH.