All language subtitles for Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown S09E06 Oman (1080p x265 10bit Joy)

♪

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain
on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain
getting colder ♪

♪ La, la

♪ She la, la, la, la

♪ She la, la, la, la

♪ She la, la, la

♪ She la, la, la, la

♪ She la, la, la, la, la

♪

It's morning
in the Arabian desert,

the place explorer
Bertram Thomas called

"the abode of death."

But it's a beautiful place.

The kind of place I look for
more and more these days.

Stark, empty, clean sand

that stretches out
seemingly forever.

♪

Oman defies expectations.

It shouldn't... according to

the cruel logic
of the world... exist.

But it does,
and it's incredible.

The sultanate of Oman
is an absolute monarchy,

a predominantly Islamic state

and a vital strategic
choke point

in the world's oil supply.

It is surrounded by some of
the trickiest

and most contentious powers
in the region.

And yet, here it is,
relatively small,

tolerant,
welcoming to outsiders,

peaceful,
and stunningly beautiful.

But Oman is facing uncertainty
with succession issues

and declining oil reserves.

The question of what's next
is a big,

if often unspoken one.

So, pre-1970,
this was a very different,

very different place to live.

Very different country.

Quite simply, there was nothing.

We had only three schools
all over Oman.

And only for boys.

We had only two hospitals.

- For the whole country.
- Yes, for the whole country.

And nine miles of paved road
in Muscat.

And what happened outside of
Muscat was really of no concern

to leadership.
Absolutely, yes.

Sheikh Zayed bin
Sulaiman al-Ghafri

is a businessman
and the son of a tribal leader.

He's the kind of guy who will
likely be prominent

in the future of the country.

The current Sultan
replaced his father

and took the country, really,
from the 19th century

into the 20th century
very, very quickly.

Absolutely.
His Majesty took over

and he changed the whole scene.

This is not a democracy.

But everybody, everybody,
it seems,

has genuine affection
and respect for the Sultan.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said
al Said is the much-admired

and enigmatic absolute ruler
and monarch.

He's presided over everything
Omani for the last 47 years.

In that time, he's raised
a nation... literally...

From a dusty,
primitive backwater

to a modern, functioning,
largely secular society.

His vision was to deliver
the surfaces first.

Electricity, water,
heath care, education.

It was like a one man show.

And usually, one man shows
are not a good thing.

- That's right.
- I mean, historically,

seldom does that work out.

But, you know, you look around
and see how

the county's doing now,
it's pretty impressive.

It's a tremendous job
that His Majesty has done.

People just felt like
he's the man

that they were waiting for
to enlight their life.

And to open doors for them.

♪

Oman, it should be understood,

sits at the top
of the Indian Ocean rim.

The empire once stretched
from Pakistan to East Africa,

with important trade routes
that reached

from southern Africa all
the way to the China Straits,

Indonesia and deep into
East Asia.

Modern Oman is a fraction
of that size now.

But its DNA, its culture,
cuisine... and to some extent...

Attitude toward
the outside world

is a reflection of that history.

Muttrah is a port town
in the capital of Muscat.

For centuries, a central hub
of commerce and trade.

One of the first things
I noticed about the city

is it's very low slung.
Yeah.

It seems like a calculated,
aesthetic decision.

If you're someone who wants
to build your house,

you first submit your plans
to municipality.

And if you're going above
a certain height,

it's generally frowned upon.

'Cause the idea is to keep

a sort of traditional
Omani vernacular.

Aisha Stoby is a curator
and PhD student

focused on Middle Eastern
art history.

She is,
like many young people here,

patriotic to the point of being
nerdy, as she puts it.

We have such an old history.

And I think Muttrah is a really
great example of that, you know?

This is something that
functions in our daily life.

It functions very similarly to,
say, how it would've functioned

if you were coming into Muttrah
and going into the Souq,

say, 200 years ago.

And now we're coming
to the Corniche, which is...

Oh, I just love that word.
I love any city with a Corniche.

It's such a beautiful word.

The food of Oman
is a mix of flavors

and ingredients and tastes
from Arabia

and from all over
Oman's former empire.

Bait Al Luban
is an old boarding house

turned restaurant, where you can

try dishes like pakora
and kachori...

Which both
came back from India...

Chapati, from East Africa,

and shuwa, Oman's classic
special event dish.

They do one version or another
of this all over the world.

But shuwa is special.

They slather a goat
with a spicy paste

consisting of cumin,
coriander, red pepper,

cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.

Then wrap the meat in palm
or banana leaves,

dig a hole,

throw in some meat,

cover it up,

and leave underground
for a day or two

over hot coals.

Oman has changed
in a way that's unique

to anywhere I've been.

I mean, I haven't seen any place

that has sort of maintained

the architecture
and the character

that this country has.

And that's
a really unusual thing.

That's Omani...
The only country, I think

of the Gulf region that kept
their tradition.

And if you travel
outside Muscat,

you see the flavor of
the old life still there.

♪

Hassan Meer is one of Oman's
preeminent fine artists,

who works in painting
and photography.

Muzna Almusafer is a filmmaker,
artist, and provocateur,

representing the increasingly
vocal point of view

of young Omani women in
the Middle Eastern art scene.

I think in Arabia, we have
a tradition of storytelling

and saying things
without saying them directly.

They took this from poetry.

They have a certain language
with a lot of tact,

with a lot of...
Subtext.

- Yeah.
- There's an unusual mix here.

Very graceful, very proud mix
of cultures and languages.

I mean, the mix was existent
from the beginning.

There is a beauty
in being different

and understanding the other.

Such a difficult time
to make that argument.

The whole world seems
to be going

in exactly the opposite
direction.

I mean, my country,
the last thing anyone

seems to wanna do
is highlight the other.

I think people discuss, like,
fears of multiculturalism.

But within Oman, because of
our seafaring history,

it's a traditional reality.

It's our background.
It's who we are.

♪

♪

♪

You know about the Vietnam War.

What you might not know is that
while that conflict raged on,

Oman, along with an elite force
of British special operators

and military advisors,
was engaged in a war

in the country's southern
Dhofar region

that was in every way
far more vital

to American security interests

and of far more importance

to global strategic
and economic concerns.

Where we operated
were the frankincense trees.

The frankincense that the Wise
men brought to Christ.

All the sudden,
they came through mountains

where we were fighting.

And you're sitting
behind a machine gun

on a track, which had been used
for 3,00 years.

One felt like an intruder
in history.

And if the trees were cut,

you could smell
the frankincense.

The smell of explosives.

The smell of blood.

The smell of the food.
Cardamom, the smell of the tea.

I loved it.

This was a civil war.

Civil wars, typically,
are the worst wars of all.

I mean, you know that
well enough in your country.

But most people
have not heard of it.

No, they haven't.
But you'd have heard about it

if we'd lost it, I can tell you.
Right.

The war began
as a local rebellion

by the Dhofari people
against the autocratic

and outdated rule of then
Sultan, Said bin Taimur,

who had kept his nation
isolated and stunted

out of his concern
for his hold on power.

What started as a local uprising

quickly became a serious,
full-blown,

communist-backed insurgency,

as Soviet and Chinese influence
poured in through Yemen.

Ian Gardner remembers
the conflict well.

He fought in it,
alongside Omani infantry

as a British Royal Marine.

And later wrote about
the experience

in his memoir,
"In the Service of the Sultan,"

a rare chronicle of the brutal,
incredibly difficult

and almost entirely unknown war,

fought in the rugged
southern mountains.

The old Sultan was not
an inhuman man.

But he was an old man.
He was deeply reactionary.

So he wanted to keep his country
in a medieval time warp.

The thing that changed it
was the advent of

the Japanese transistor radio.

And the first time,
his people could hear

what the other Arab countries
were doing with their oil.

And they wanted some of that.

By the 1920s, Winston
Churchill had switched

the British Royal Navy's
mode of power

from coal to oil.

And suddenly,
everything changed.

They needed oil and lots of it.

Which made Oman vital.

Not for its limited
oil resources,

but for where it is.

The Strait of Hormuz,
the Persian Gulf's

femoral artery.

20% of the world's oil
flows through here,

making it one of... if not the...

Most strategically important
waterways on the planet.

♪

By 1970, Sultan Taimur's

counterinsurgency
was not going well.

He was deposed by his son,
Qaboos bin Said al Said,

in a relatively bloodless coup.

Immediately,
the young Sultan set out

on a different tact
for winning the war.

Longs before
the shooting had stopped,

we would institute
a civil aid program.

Build roads, build a school,
build a mosque,

build some shops, a clinic.

But was in this way
the Sultan was able

to demonstrate
that he was the one

who had his people's best
interests at heart,

not the communists.

Things seldom work out so well

post-insurgency
or counterinsurgency.

This tactic failed spectacularly
in Vietnam, of course.

What made the difference here?

In every war in history,

you end up living
with the other side.

And if you can open
a respectable door successfully,

then the less likely
the aftermath

is gonna be beset with rancor,

with hatred
and a thirst for revenge.

The Sultan took this very brave,

highly intelligent
political risk,

which I think was the
difference.

And I think has been
the foundation

of the unambiguous and enduring
peace in this country.

In 1976, the Omanis
laid down their weapons.

And never picked them up again.

The resulting peace
has lasted for 40 years.

And while Oman ain't your
system, and it ain't my system,

and it's far, far from being
either perfect

or a Western-style democracy,

there is a palpable pride here

in the collective identity
of being Omani.

♪

Notably, as well, the Sultan
has placed emphasis

on the role of women,

decreeing... at least,
as a matter of policy...

Equal access to education,

to work, to political office.

♪

Zahara al-Oufi,

daughters Asilah and Aisha

and friend Samia Alharthy...

Four extraordinary women.

What started as a way for
Zahara to fund her charity work

spawned a lucrative
cottage industry

of catering for events.

Now, rather than using
her family money,

her business is able
to fully finance her work

to educate children in the
nearby mountain villages.

- "The Simpsons."
- Yeah!

I was asking myself,
had I seen "The Simpsons"?

- I was on "The Simpsons."
- Oh yeah?

- Yes.
- Really?

Yes. This is the first time

I've been recognized
from "The Simpsons."

That's really nice.

So, some of the money
that she's making

is going to open schools
in rural villages.

Is that correct?
Not only a part of the money;

it goes all of it for them.

To build, for them, the schools

and to provide them
the education.

Why is this important to you?

Kabuli Laham is slow-cooked goat

in a rich, rice pilaf,
scented with star anise.

Musanif djaj...
A local specialty...

Are pan-seared dumplings,
stuffed with chicken, pepper,

ginger, turmeric, and onions.

And of course,
there's Omani bread with honey.

That's a chili.
Are you okay with that?

Yes. I like spicy.

- Oh! Okay.
- Good. Mmm.

Very good.

Everyone here says
that the economy

is going to have to shift
away from oil

towards other industries.
Yeah.

How would you like to
prepare your daughters

for the future?

What do the young ladies,
when they reach adulthood,

what are your hopes and dreams?

And the other...
The young lady?

Ah, strong women in this family.

Yeah.

Very strong ones.

♪

As one moves away from the
coast and into the interior,

everything changes.

This is the country's
more conservative core;

its spiritual center.

Uniquely, Oman's majority
is neither Sunni or Shia,

but rather, Ibadi,

a very old
and particularly tolerant

non-sectarian form of Islam.

This is a distinction we in the
West would be wise to notice.

Islam is not a monolith.

It comes in many forms.

Ibadi theology arguable forms
the backbone

of many of Oman's
codes of conduct.

It places value on concepts
like politeness,

acceptance,
unity, and understanding.

Perhaps as
a consequence of that,

the sultanate embraces
grace and tact

as a matter of foreign policy.

Internally, too,
Oman has avoided radicalism

and sectarian violence.

It is considered shameful,
by Ibadi teachings,

to draw blood
over religious conflicts,

unless attacked.

The terror and bloodshed
in neighboring Yemen

feel very far away up here.

Jabal Al Akhdar,
the Green Mountain.

This area... oh, my God, it's...

Look at this, it's so beautiful.
Yeah.

There are 64 villages
at Jebel Al Akhdar.

- 64?
- 64.

And this place is going;
they are dying.

How many generations
has your family lived here?

- 200 years, maybe. Maybe more.
- 200 years.

- Yeah.
- More than.

More than 200 years.

Can you see
all the small famers?

- Yeah.
- All of our grandfathers

built that.

And they built all these things

with only their hands.

They didn't have any machines.

Can you imagine that?

♪

Hamdan Al Saqri, his father Ali

and his uncle Hilal
come from a very long line

of hard-working farmers.

They all grew up here,
generation after generation.

A tribal area of ancient
villages

and terraced farm land,
which have produced

pomegranate, nuts, and dates...

The premier cash crops of Oman...

For many centuries.

But like so many places I go...

So many traditional
agricultural communities...

The young men... and increasingly
the young women...

Are looking elsewhere,
beyond the farm

to seek higher education
and opportunity in the city.

This is a common story.
I mean, the young men,

they go to university,
you know...

I have to study there
because, you know, the future

and I want to get a good job.

Many young Omanis,
they study abroad,

they study
in America or England.

But most of them
seem to come back.

Mm. You are only going outside

to study and get something.

That thing, you want to return
back to your country.

I grown up in this village.

It's something simple
and I really miss it.

- Muscat, you don't like it?
- Sometimes.

- It's not a life for you?
- Sometimes?

Sometimes you go there
for big shop... malls.

You go to the malls.

Yeah, I like to sometimes.

- So what do we have here?
- We have food.

It's delicious.

- Delicious. All right.
- Yeah.

Oh, man. That looks good.

What's in the biryani?
This is rice and potato.

- Potato?
- Yeah.

We often eat this meat
at celebrations.

We call it
[speaks native language].

- Lamb?
- Yeah.

Mmm. Oh, that's fantastic.

- You like?
- Wow.

Never had this.
Really?

This is the harees.
Very famous dish.

- Yeah, yeah.
- How do you say "delicious"

in Arabic?
Ladhidh.

- Ladhidh?
- Ladhidh, yeah.

- Ooh.
- Ladhidh.

That's what it is.

How did you learn
to cook this well?

In Muscat,
I lived with my friends.

- Mm-hmm.
- I'm not trained from it.

So I have to learn how to cook

because no one
is taking care about you.

You should care about yourself.

So if you'd rather be here,
why not just continue

as your parents
and your grandparents?

Mm, I want to really improve
my country economy.

I want to invent something.
You're planning

for a post-oil Oman.
Yeah.

Like, after the oil

I think the whole country
feels this way.

I mean, the government
feels this way as well.

As you say,
the country is changing.

You have a luxury resort
right over there.

- Yeah.
- The future will

look much like this.

Resort opens up.
The have a big golf course,

they have jobs for people
to carry golf bags for tourists.

- Yeah.
- For more money than he could

make farming.

Is this good or is this bad?

You have to deal with your
traditional way and your life.

So you want to keep
all things safe.

It's more the
government responsibility.

To make balance
between advantages

and disadvantages of tourism.

But it's a very delicate
balance here

These are old and complicated
systems that have been

working for a very long time.

It's really difficult because
there is many sides here.

Life is keep changing.

We cannot keep everything

as it is before.

Do you know this cat
or just a...

- No.
- Just a village cat?

Yeah.

- It's the guard for us.
- It's the guard?

Yeah.

♪

Oman's history and future

both are linked inexorably
to the sea.

The sultanate began with trade.

And it is likely that a new,
multi-billion dollar port...

At Duqm, on the coast...
Intended as a center

for international shipping,

will play a significant role
in the coming years.

♪

♪

Omar Abdullah al-Gilani
and Mohammad Shaban

spend every free moment at sea,

free diving and spear fishing...
Without oxygen...

For grouper, king fish,
cuttlefish, and tuna.

Said al-Naamani is the captain
and owner of this boat.

Saleh Said Al Jabri
is a former Navy officer

who famously sailed a hand-made

ninth century-style dhow
3,000 miles to Singapore.

The fist Omani boats

that went out to sea
around how far back?

How many years?

I would say more than
3,000 years.

- So B.C.?
- B.C., yeah.

Now, in the beginning
it was fishermen.

- Yeah.
- But then, start to trade

all up and down East Africa,
Iran, Pakistan,

up the China Straits to China.
Yeah.

And the evidence about it,
even in their China language,

there's some Arabic.
Interesting.

- It's very interesting.
- What did the Chinese

have to trade
that the Omanis wanted?

They exchange it
with the silk fabric

and all the kind of things.

And of course, coming back
was spices.

Not only Arabs went,
the Indians comes as well.

So if you look at
the eastern coast,

they like the spices and all
this kind of food.

Well, the people also.
I mean, you know,

it's a real mix of Arab,
southern Indian, African.

I mean, maybe that's why
the food's so delicious.

This food is so delicious

because we like the taste.

♪

Lunch is fresh sardines
grilled over charcoal...

some incredible prawns...

And mishkak,
an Omani cookout staple.

Cubed beef on skewers,
rubbed with cumin,

garlic, and cardamom,
then grilled.

And local slipper lobsters,
of course.

♪

And do not forget
the cuttlefish masala.

♪

Delicious. Wow,
that cuttlefish is incredible.

♪

We cannot live without the sea.

Our relationship with the sea
is too strong.

So you go in the water
every day?

Myself, I like
being in the water.

Even 24 hours I don't mind.

♪

This is what's great
about Oman itself.

People cannot go away
from the sea itself.

From the sand itself.

What we like is, like, nature.

We want to make it
as natural as it looks

and it appears
and how it was before.

We born in
this beautiful country

and we try to look after it.

It have to stay good,
inside the heart, here.

It's like the flower.

If we keep it and look after it,

give them the right water,
it will grow.

♪

♪

♪

130 miles south of Muscat,

the pavement ends
and you hit this.

♪

Sharqiya Sands,
on the edge of Rub' al Khali,

the largest sand desert
in the world.

♪

Once you get up in a soft sand,
things change.

Everything changes.

You change.

♪

This is the traditional
domain of the Bedouin.

Who, for thousands of years,

have moved across
this harsh, dry,

seemingly endless landscape,
making it their home.

Amir Al Wahabi and his family
continue the tradition.

Ahmed Al-Naroudi
is a hardcore ambassador

for the empty places
of the desert.

He's spent more time there,
much of it alone,

than just about anyone.

The Bedouin have been crossing
the Empty Quarter

hundreds of years?

Thousands of years?
Thousand of years.

Thousand of years.

The Bedouin are the kings
of the desert.

It's their place.
It's their area.

And they know how to live
and they know how to survive.

Mark Evans... a polar
and desert expedition leader...

Knows firsthand how difficult
the Empty Quarter can be.

Guided by Amir, and accompanied

by Khalid Mohammad Al-Zadjali,

he recently made the crossing,

walking over 600 miles
with camels in tow.

The first 12 days
of our journey,

crossing the Empty quarter,
we didn't touch

our own food at all.

And it became a competition
to become more generous

than the previous...
So you need people out there,

all along the way.
You would.

Even though nobody lived there,

people would find you
and travel.

♪

♪

Usually, the guy who come,
he have to open the head.

Okay. Oh, I know just
what I'm going for.

I got it.
Pull it.

Yeah, that is all.
Cheek.

Yeah.
Remove the eyes.

Here.
Ooh, ooh.

It's too hot.

This is the part.
Mmm. Good.

It's good if have got whiskey,
or brandy or...

You know, the Empty Quarter
is emptier than it's ever been.

It's almost impossible to do
what the old explorers did

because they relied upon
local people being in sit...

The Bedouin have migrated
to the edge of the deserts,

where life is easier, really.

But they don't want to
let go completely.

Amir sends his children
to school in Bidiya.

But yet, he wants them to live
in the sand,

where they have the freedom
and that connection

to their roots.

♪

♪

♪

Does someone cross
the Empty Quarter alone?

Absolutely alone?
No, you need people with you.

You need people.

In my earlier years, I was
taking lots of young people

on expeditions up to the Arctic,

which is very different to here.

But the Inuit and the Bedouin

have a lot of similarities.

They both live on the edge
of human tolerance.

They're much more open
and friendly people.

♪

♪

♪

It's like coming home
when you come out here.

It's very incredibly powerful

and enables you to put
everything in perspective.

Fridtjof Nansen,
a Norwegian explorer

said that salvation
will not come from

the rushing centers
of civilization.

Deliverance will come
from the lonely places.

In other words,
we all need places to think

and calm down and...

♪