Took a comfortable bus from across the street from our hotel and mentally prepared for the 10 hour bus trip across the gravel desert. It was the day of our 31st wedding anniverasary! 
Once again I was the only female on the bus and no sooner had the male passengers boarded then they were all asleep. They draw the curtains, take their shoes off and sleep the journey away. Mind you, there is nothing to see along the way. There were a few signs warning of sand dunes and that was probably important if it was windy as the sand is so fine. There were also the odd signs warning of camels. Our guide book says that if you hit one it will be a pregnant female and a top racing camel; therefore it would be very very expensive.
We were finally dropped off by the side of the road and one of the passengers walked us to where we needed to catch a shared taxi to our hotel. Without his help we would have taken a while to find our way about.
The hotel was actually a 'residency' and it had several workers boarding there. It was licensed as a one-star place but it was pretty expensive and quite grotty. It's a long time since we have been in a place with bugs and cockroaches but it was the cheapest place in town.
Not far down the road was a fast food place called 'Hungry Bunny' and there were crowds of people as it was the first day of business for them. It looked a lot like a Mc Donald's restaurant and sold pretty much the same stuff. We ate there one night and met the Egyptian manager who was in a flap as hordes of locals turned up to try out the latest place in town.
We visited the old city which lies in a fertile oasis with plantings of date palms and vegetables. The Ministry of Tourism has spent money renovating the old fort from the 17th century. There were chutes where they would pour boiling date syrup over invaders and they had wooden planks over the steps just inside the doors which they removed as the enemy came up. The enemy would then fall through to a pit below and at the same time a guard would fire on them through a slot above. The stairs were deliberately circular so battering rams could not be used to knock down doors as they wouldn't fit. The wooden doors also had steel spikes to make battering difficult.
There were displays of the use of indigo dyes as well as an exhibit of the traditional facemasks that the local tribeswomen wear. We only ever saw one lady with a mask but each tribe has its own pattern.
The old souk has been incorporated into the fort complex but now it is a clean, cobbled, and tiled modern space which still continues to serve the locals as it did centuries ago. They were heaping up their vegetables into attractive piles and walking their goats and sheep around the stock yard for prospective buyers. All of this happens between 7am and 11am and then it is deserted as they go home for prayers, a meal and a sleep.
There are several old irrigation channels in the valley. In the olden days there was a solar clock or sand clock to measure each farmer's usage and at night they used the moon and candles so everyone had a share of the water. The Sultan took taxes from the farmers who brought their produce to the souk.
One day we flagged a shared taxi down and headed for Bahla, another old city with a fort. Unfortunatelty there are no tourist offices anywhere so we didn't know that the fort was not open for visitors as they were renovating it. Nevertheless we wandered about and chatted to the locals near the fish market. We looked in on an old man in his blacksmith's workshop. He had a small electric leafblower that he had turned upsidedown and cemented into the floor. This was his modern version of bellows. He had hoes and plough blades that he was repairing.
On Friday we were in town when all the locals came from all parts, parked in tthe streets blocking traffic and headed for the mosque and their Friday prayers. When the mosque is full they pray on the footpath outside the mosque that has a cover to protect from the sun and rain.
