Travels in Oman: What Modernity... Part II-Nizwa, Balla and Jabrin

Nizwa, Balla and Jabrin are a cluster of towns just a few hours from Muscat that have retained more of their traditional charm. Each is defined by the mighty castle/fort that has withstood many sieges and now towers over the mountainous surroundings, in their restored glory. But wait: one fort, in Balla, is still closed despite undergoing repairs for twenty years. They say it is because the whole town is cursed by djinns, and the evil spirits are forever working their black magic. Our young guide, seen in these pictures, claimed to have seen a djinn himself.

From the outside, the Persian influenced-castles look like a Lego toy set but from the inside they are surprisingly comfortable, light, and airy, not encumbered with much furniture (since it was customary to sleep and eat on the floor), with just some touches of beautifully decorated ceilings, dishware, and chests here and there. The kitchen, comprised of a firewood stove, some brass cookware and animal skins for storing yogurt, was outside. Speaking of food, while the Omanis love their meat, the date was queen in their castles. Literally tons of it were held in storages inside the castles to feed the hungry besieged. Under the great weight of themselves, dates produced juice which was then heated and lovingly poured onto the heads of attackers through specially designed slits.

Everywhere we went, we saw spacious public housing provided by the government in the last twenty years that would be the envy of any New Yorker, like the one another driver is standing in front of in the picture below. Yet, right next to these modern habitations were the old buildings, now standing abandoned, that showed how the Omani population lived just a few decades before. These are adobe, or mud-brick houses, reinforced with straw and whitewashed, a look seemingly straight out of the Thousand and One Nights. The historic buildings are now standing abandoned and unkempt, entire quarters of them quite and possessed by a haunted look. No one goes there save for some squatters from India and Bangladesh. Incidentally, these immigrants make up as much as a quarter of the Omani population and have influenced the culture quite a bit.