Leaving the ship
After a quick breakfast we went back to our cabin and picked up our bags for our day in Salalah.
When we returned to the Atrium from our cabin there was already quite a queue waiting to leave the ship.
Taxis at the port
After a longer than usual wait we left the ship and walked across an opening dock area to where coaches large and small were all waiting. The large coaches were all for the P&O tours and we joined a queue waiting for the return of the smaller shuttle buses. We passed a handful of minibuses and taxes that were offering tours around the area.
Once the small coach was full we left the almost empty car park and joined one of the internal port roads. Our coach was soon in a queue of construction traffic in a stop-go parade as we passed stacks of containers.
On the coaches left was a skeleton of concrete structures being built. On our right with large-scale building and excavation works. The trucks in front of us were full of excavated material. All of this activity combined to film the air with lots of dust.
The port road had lots of ruts and bumps and in places it was unpaved. The dust generated by the trucks and coaches was at times so dense that it was difficult seeing past the truck in front. Our coach turned left of the road and went under one of this skeletal arches and went down another unmade road.
Chaos and lots of hassle
On our left we could see a large open area that looked for of parked cars and coaches. At one end was a single story building with a covered area to one side. Under the cover and in front of the building a lot of people were milling around. Our coach turn left again and entered the car park. There was a narrow path past all the parked cars and after about 100 yards we came to a stop. The coach was immediately surrounded by a group of taxi drivers. They pressed around the coach four or five deep. Their mobile phones were pressed against the windows and with the door open we could hear lots of shouting.
One by one we left the coach into the melee. All around me I had taxi drivers shouting and telling me how much to get into the city. The ones behind me tugged my clothes and everyone jostled me. I was soon separated from Linda and her sister. Eventually we pushed and shoved our way through the crowd, past the parked taxes and onto a small mound of earth about 10 yards away.
After catching our breath, we managed to walk down the mound fending off even more taxi drivers as we walked towards the buildings. We were being offered taxi rides to the city at about $50 each one way. The constant shouting and hustling on top of this ridiculous cost convinced us to return to the ship. The problem was how to get back . . .
By now several other shuttle coaches had unloaded their passengers into the melee and left. When the next one arrived we dashed across the car park to wait as close as we could get to the doors. Suddenly a solitary policeman arrived and tried to keep the doorway clear.
Despite his best efforts the doorway remained blocked. Passengers were pushing their way off the coach. Others went back to their seats. We shouted to an older lady and her daughter to stay on the coach for their safety. We did manage eventually to get back onto the coach. It was quite a relief when the door was closed
Leaving the car park
The driver of the coach was now trying to move forward. The door opened as yet another taxi driver stood inside and shouted his offers out. All around us phones were being pressed against the windows with open calculator apps displaying a price. The windows and sides of the coach were now a cacophony of banging and shouting as the drivers tried to attract attention.
We briefly considered catching the local bus that went into the city. It was parked a few yards away. We then remembered that it didn’t run to a set timetable but only moved when it had sufficient passengers.
Our driver eventually cleared a path and he carefully negotiated our way out of the car park and joined yet another long line of trucks going back into the port.
This episode was one of the most uncomfortable hours I’ve spent and the ladies on the coach all confessed to being terrified.