It was nice to visit to Bidiya over Eid, its one of my favourite parts of Oman.
Just on the edge of the Wahiba Sands, a scattering of small Date Oasis make use of the subsurface water and oven like summer temperatures to grow some of Oman’s wonderful dates. This Eid however my visit to Bidiya was made doubly special as I enjoyed lunch as a guest of the current proprietor of the historic Al Salmi Library, Dr Abdulrahman Al Salmi.
I was the only English person at an extended family lunch, that included a senior government Minister. Unfortunately, this drew conspicuous attention to my looking as if I had been dragged through a sand-dune backwards (I almost had been) in comparison to the immaculate white Eid dishdashas of the other guests; kindly nobody said a thing. After lunch, I was shown the Library whose core was established by Sheikh Nur al-Din Salmi, Dr Abdulrahman’s great-grandfather, in the early 20thc. The books are a superb resource for Islamic scholars and those interested in Oman.
You must be logged in to post a comment.