I hadn’t planned on going to Salalah. I was going to spend a relaxing day aboard the ship shortening my new gown, sunbathing, reading and catching up on my blog, but that wasn’t to be the case and here is the reason why:
Some of the dance hosts had purchased long white Arabian gowns to wear for the Arabian night to be held on one of the formal nights. James was moaning and groaning that his was too long, so I offered to shorten the hem and the sleeves for him. This being done, I went to the laundry room to iron it. We have an “el cheapo” iron and it is difficult to set it properly. I added water to have steam. It was already hot because someone else had just used it. Unfortunately I didn’t follow the golden rule of testing the heat of an iron by trying it on an inside seam. A blast of hot steam came out of the iron and yes you know what happened. I burned a hole in the sleeve. I was devastated ! ! ! What do I do now? I rushed to the tour booking office to try to book a tour to Salalah so that I could go to a souk, at our next stop, to buy another one, but there was no more space on the tours. We had been warned that getting a cab to the town a half hour away might be a hit and miss affair, so I wasn’t certain about that. A friend of mine, (Maria, a Mexican lady) was going on a tour and I asked her to buy me one in case I didn’t find a way to go myself, thinking, “If I go and find one the right size and Maria also gets one, I’ll have a spare one for a costume when I get home, and that way at least I’m sure of getting a replacement.” I wasn’t taking any chances.
When I got back to my cabin, there was a message on my phone from Jan, one of my former dinner table mates, asking if I’d be interested in sharing a cab to go to town the next day, so of course I said, “Yes.”
Off we went, 4 ladies, and we had no trouble getting a cab. First we went to a very modern 3 story department store where Jan had made purchases on another trip. They had no white gowns, but I bought a couple of memory sticks for my computer, some cough drops, some white thread and some beautiful scarves.
Next the cab driver took us to the souk and he led me to the stalls where the white gowns were sold. I had taken the original one with me so that I could make certain that the size was correct. No luck at the first 2, but at the 3rd we hit the jackpot. The gown was the perfect size, needed no alterations and had a bit of fancy work around the neck. It was even a better quality than the other one and cost me $17. What a relief ! ! ! I walked out of the stall crossed the street to go to see the sultan’s palace to take a few pictures when I spotted Maria in a shop over there and she was calling me to tell me that she was in the process of purchasing the gown I had requested. I quickly ran over and told her not to buy it, that I already had one. Phew ! ! ! ! My guardian angel was working overtime that day.
That afternoon after the first dancing session, which finished at 5:30, James, Paul and I went to the Canelletto Restaurant -- the Italian restaurant aboard the ship-- for dinner , as a celebration for all the work I had done on James’ gown and a button I had sewed on Paul’s shirt. I still hadn’t told them the story, but let them believe he was getting the original one back. After dinner, I presented James with the new one and explained the situation. Of course he said that I needn’t have bothered, but he was just being polite. He was very pleased with the new one—and guess what—that material was perm press and didn’t need any ironing ! ! ! !
And that was my big adventure in Salalah.
And finally I am all caught up with writing my blog. More to come after I return from Egypt and the “Valley of Kings”.
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