Oman — The Pearl of Arabia

[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Oman The Pearl of Arabia" ids="52054,52057,52055,52056,52053,52052"] Paige Peterson   Arriving in the Sultanate of Oman you feel as if you are on a Hollywood set. Orderly. Vast. Visually breathtaking. Often visitors liken it to Disneyland. Controlled. Well-organized, meticulously maintained public grounds. Friendly. Happy. Helpful. Tolerant. No litter. No vagrancy. No graffiti. No terrorism. No violence. No radicalism. No unsafe areas. Did I mention exquisitely clean…..It is all this and more.  Oman is an Arabian dreamscape. I’ve never seen such well-planned urban development. Architectural details are carefully mandated here. Many of the buildings are 46 years young; they’re well thought out in placement and accessibility. Even the street lamps in the cities and on the highways are lyrically beautiful in their repetitive form. There is something calming and reassuring about this consistent elegance.   This tranquility is the hallmark of the capital city of Muscat. Muscat means “place of anchorage.” There you find a visual feast of stylish, controlled and unified structures that underpin the deliberately skyscraper-free skyline. Here a hyper white Arab style of architecture is juxtaposed against the rough rocky landscape of the Al Hajar Mountains and the blue Gulf of Oman. Oman is an architectural treasure in Arabia.  The average home is two stories high. The average public building is five to six stories tall. The dwellings that date from the pre-air conditioning era have outer stairways that lead to flat roofs where sleepers can catch what little cool breeze there is in the hot and humid four-to-five-month summer season. Many have lovely walled-in gardens. The gates into the gardens are often spectacular, whether they are the traditional wooden hand-carved designs from Zanzibar or newer, modern-looking metal ones. Both new and old are likely to boast understated calligraphic motifs that convey an image of modesty.    The domes and minarets on the mosques are also striking. The royal color is lavender, but pale green, royal blue, peacock blue, and vibrant gold are also used. The dome and the minarets must always be the same color.   The flowers that bloom along the roadways are breathtaking, carefully chosen for color, and calming to the eye. Hundreds of thousands of petunias – lavender, white, pink, and purple – have been tenderly planted and are weeded and nurtured to form a mass of disciplined color. They often seem to bounce off the blueness of the sky and the café au lait of the desert. Every detail has been considered and executed beautifully.   Oman is one of the cleanest countries in the world. When driving along the highway or side streets you can occasionally see a Vespa or small motorcycle with two large sacks. The driver retrieves litter --- it’s his sole purpose. Oh and by the way, if your car is dirty in Muscat you will get a ticket. Even the country’s signage is controlled; the water tanks atop many houses and buildings must be obscured from public view by the device of any of three approved, stylistically sensitive enclosures, all of which are white.  Men with khanjars (daggers) around their waists move in their dishdashas, the national dress for men, an ankle-length, collarless gown with long sleeves and a distinctive thin tassel, absent from all other Arab countries’ traditional robes, that dangles gracefully from the neckline.   The khanjar is more a symbol of male national identity than elegance although it is that, too. There are many accessories, such as the mussar (a type of turban.)  In public most women wear an abaya, a modest black dress or cloak worn over the clothes, and the hijab, the typical Muslim hair covering. At home, the Omani woman sometimes wears a long dress with ankle-length pants and a leeso, or scarf, covering her hair and neck. Multitudes of lively colored and just as loosely fitting jalabiyyas are also worn at home.  Oman overlooks the Arabian Sea, the Sea of Oman and the Arabian Gulf. It also overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Sea of Oman with the Arabian Gulf — it’s a gateway for all ships coming from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Thirty percent of the world’s oil passes through this strait. Oman’s first great asset is its insularity. It has natural boundaries that shelter it: mountains, deserts, and the sea. Yemen, to the south, has been mired in conflict for five years; across the Gulf of Oman are endlessly troubled Afghanistan and nuclear-enabled Pakistan. To the north of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf lies Iraq, entangled in endless civil war.  For a speedboat it’s a short 20 or so nautical mile stretch from the tip of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula across the strait to Iran. Its insularity is buttressed by political neutrality --- Oman’s diplomatic policy has been characterized as “friend to all, enemy to none.” Oman’s leader is Sultan Qaboos who assumed the throne in 1970 in a palace coup, replacing his father, Sultan Said bin Taymur, an isolationist so fearful of foreign influences that he even banned sunglasses. Private cars were illegal. During his reign Oman had three schools, one hospital, about 6 miles of paved roads, and no newspapers. Only royals were allowed to be educated. Needless to say, Sultan Qaboos inherited a severely underdeveloped society. The Sultan today presides over a transformed nation. When tumult gripped the region after “Arab Spring”, Sultan Qaboos responded creatively. According to Al Monitor, a Gulf newsletter, the government “increased government spending on social programs.” The Sultan “ordered the government to create 50,000 jobs and pay every job-seeker $386 each month.”  Privately educated in Salalah before attending Sandhurst, the Sultan is progressive. His exceptional taste in all things aesthetic is evident in architecture and urban development. In 46 years Sultan Qaboos has, almost singlehandedly, thoughtfully and cautiously guided his country on a path to modernity. Poll after poll show him to be the envy of many. He has the status of the most revered head of state among all of the 22 Arab countries’ leaders.  There are now more than 1,000 schools and 950 hospitals and medical centers in Oman. In this part of the world, where progress can be painfully slow and fundamentalism looks backward, Oman is one happy place. Paige Peterson is the Executive Vice President of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation in Salt Lake City, Utah and a Board member of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in Washington D.C.