KHASAB - First port in OMAN - March 27th

The Portuguese built Khasab in the beginning of the 17th century at the height of their naval presence in the region.  It has a natural harbor and believe me the smugglers make good use of this port.  It has an interesting trading position which hinges on its proximity to Iran.  Iranians export sheep and goats into the local port from where the animals are dispatched to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in trucks.  On their return trip to Iran, the sailors load their boats up with electronic goods and American cigarettes.  They arrive in Khasab after sunrise and leave before sunset to conform to Omani immigration laws.  Since the trading is also illegal under Iranian law, they must avoid the Islamic Republic's Coastguard on their return trip to Iran.  The 1st picture shows a truck loaded with goods to be smuggled into Iran, and the following pictures show the smugglers, in broad daylight, loading up their boats to bring the goods into Iran.  Unfortunately we just missed taking a picture of the animals being unloaded from a ship and into trucks.

These guys are waiting for their ship to come in!

Here they are loading a boat

All of this was done at the side of our ship and we watched these guys loading up the small boats for a few hours.

The city of Khasab is quite small and we did not plan any tours but took the shuttle bus for a short ride into town.  While Len went into a money exchange I sat outside with his camera a took these photos. (I asked first.)  In the second photo the only reason he did not smile was because he said his teeth were bad.
It seems that most of these Arab men had bad teeth.  Though all were nice and just about everyone smiled, nodded and waved there were few women on the streets. Some of the older men walked with small reed canes.  These canes were not to help them walk they use them to whack whatever they need to whack.

The man on the left was so happy to see his friend that they hugged, kissed, and the man on the right caressed the other man's cheek affectionately.

There is a commeraderie among Arab men that is never seen in our own country.  Their sincere display 

of affection is unique and if you look at the picture below you will see it clearly.

This was the only woman we saw in town. 

After wandering for about an hour, buying a suitcase to hold our souvenirs, we went back to the ship and watched the smugglers.