Docked in Aqaba where most of the passengers were bussed for a visit to Petra. Since I went there last year, I chose to take a 4x4 ride into the vast desert known as Wadi Rum. So I boarded a Bedouin vehicle with five others for an exciting trip into a landscape containing huge abrupt mountainous masses arising from the valley floor. These were geologic formations of granite topped with sandstone, all of which had been part of an ocean floor eons ago. We were serv...

Arrived this morning berthing at the cargo pier near one of the Aida cruise ships. This is the port where one boards buses for Luxor, Egypt and the Valley of the Kings. I had visited both places and seen the Temple of Karnak and the Temple of Luxor last year on the World Cruise on an overnight excursion. This year vast numbers from the ship are visiting those historic sites. I have stayed aboard the ship and am enjoying the pool and a bit of sunbathing.

After a day at sea we docked next at Salalah where I took a tour I had taken last year and had enjoyed. We drove to Al Balid, a UNESCO Site with archaeological excavations. Then to Taqa fishing village on the way to the ruined World Heritage city of Samhuram illustrating the heyday of Arabia's frankincense trade with the Far East and Greece. At the Al Husn Souq I shopped for muryh and sandlewood for my burner.

Today, after the ship docked in Muscat I took the shuttle bus to the town bordering the waterfront of the harbor. I visited the Corniche and the Muttrah Souq just looking at all the merchandise. Many stalls were selling pashmina scarves and frankincense. I bought some charcoal pellets for the burners I bought last year before returning to the ship. I was impressed by the overall cleanliness of the shopping area which is characteristic of Oman.

Arrived in port this morning docking at the cruise terminal. Interestingly, the Seabourn Odyssey came right behind us and anchored in the harbor. My tour this morning was a boat ride into one of the very impressive fiords on the Musandam Peninsula. We boarded a traditional dhow boat and motored slowly past striking rock formations formed 200 million years ago by the gradual uplifting if sea bottom. The cliffs showed the layering of limestone and shale in what w...