Keeping quiet in Oman

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. [Photo by Yu Yao/China Daily]

The Opera House and the King's palace were not far from the mosque. As with the city, these two attractions are gorgeous, and clean and tidy. A visit to the National Museum of Oman helped me better understand the history of the country.

What I was more interested in, were the women in robes and wearing hijab. Some covered themselves totally, with only a small gap for their eyes, while others left their faces exposed. It was my first time that I saw women with their head covered. I was overwhelmed with curiosity about what they wore inside.

My Chinese guide laughed, "they just wear the same things you do underneath, perhaps they are more fashionable than you".

Zhou said he was once invited to visit one of his Omanis friends at home. The female hostess had a fashionable outfit and changed her clothes several times to show off in front of her husband's friends.

I was invited by my Omani driver to try the local food for dinner. It was my first time sitting on the ground and eating chicken and rice with my hand.

What travelers coming to Muscat can't miss is the dolphin tour. I traveled on a yacht to go looking for dolphins and I saw pods of dolphins jumping out from the sea. Marvelous!

Apart from dolphin watching, quiet beaches with white sand were everywhere for visitors to relax on. And a four to five hour drive into the desert gives you an excellent vantage point to go stargazing.

Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to experience this, and instead had to watch the stars from the city of Muscat when I was on my way to the airport.

When I stopped at a gas station, I saw a man driving a fancy car stop and go to find a toilet, leaving the car door wide open. "Doesn't he worry about a thief stealing something?" I asked my driver.

"Hey Miss, thieves are rare in my country. We don't close the door of our houses at night because it's very safe here, " my driver told me.