Oman – Salalah

So I finally got to see the Middle East. Warm breeze from the Arabian Sea with accommodation in a five-star hotel (Crown Plaza) right on the beach. I was hired by the independent hair dresser’s organisation Big.Fam. to make a presentation on the importance of make up, styling and poses before and during a photo shoot. To explain the collaboration between photographer, models and make up artist.

— Anette, Nettan, Janina, Carina and Linda – Fabulous ladies having a blast in Oman —

This is Big.Fam’s 10 year anniversary and 42 hair dressers from different parts of Sweden gathered for this unforgettable experience in Salalah, the second biggest city after the capital Muscat.

The theme was “Sex and the City”.  Easy fun and exiting. Allowing the ladies to experiment and flirt with different styling and fashion of the world. The idea was for all the ladies to get inspiration and knowledge to get in front of the camera themselves. My good friend Jörgen Lundh from StudioMix was hired to take the photos. My job was two days of presentation and two days of practical work, helping the girls with make up and styling. Mattias Ahlberg from the salon Surebabyyes was there to show us fantastic hair work during this week. Time flew by as I was having a blast. But a shift from 7 Am until 5 pm took its toll and I was deadbeat afterwords.

— Showing class some ways of thinking when it comes to make up. Why, how, when and what? —

— Hair dresser Mattias Ahlberg was my companion during this week. Showing us fantastic ways to work on hair and the best product to use. Here is Jenny with a most “avantgard” hair styling. —

— Nathalie with make up and styling inspired from the 1920’s —

All the ladies had their photos taken on different locations. I got good feedback and kudos on the make up I did. And that was a good satisfaction, seeing them all so content. Photographer Jörgen and his wife and assistant Boel did an excellent job out on the field and photos are being edited as I write this. So for now I only have a few photos to show you from the actual work we all did there. But more will come in the next post.

— Tina, Ewa and Malin •  Beach image: Caroline, Marie B, Ulrika, Linda L, Zarah Munther, Brita Petersen —

— Jörgen & Matt working on the beach… beats the studio and office —

At 9 pm every day there was a nice buffet on the big terrace of the hotel. Except for one night when the hotel arranged a wonderful beach party for all of us. The staff put so much work to make this epic for us. They laid out a huge oriental carpet on the sand, romantic torches lit in the dark every where forming fantastic ornaments on the beach.  A tropic illuminated bar serving delicious drinks. And of course the food served was excellent as well … I just had to sit back and feel the ocean with a cosmopolitan in my hand and enjoy life from another part of the world for a moment.

— With Anette Wallin & Janina Blomquist at the beach party —

Every night the hotel had a disco going on. It was pretty much empty but that was ok … more room for our butts to wiggle. By the end of the week word got out in town that 40 girls where staying at the hotel and the disco started to get pretty crowded. At the same time, security around the hotel and in the disco toughened up to make it safe for us ladies. But the best thing about this disco was the belly dancer from Ukraine, Lina Spieko. She is one of the best belly dancers I have seen. So beautiful and so charismatic. I gave her my business card and I have contact with her now. Hopefully I will meet her and se her dance again.

— Bellydancer Lina Spieko from Ukraine – Boel and Me enjoying a night out —

On my day off we went to visit the “Quaboos Mosque”, hoping to see this fantastic building from the inside. So my friend Boel and I covered our hair and bodies and took our shoes off,  but did not get in any further than the entrance because their mass had already begun. So I just took photos from the outside. Look how magnificent these buildings are.

We also visited the “Hafa Souq”, which is a market where you can find all kinds of things. Our trip there was mainly to buy the traditional dress that all the Arabs here in Oman wear. Men had a simple white ankle length collarless gown called a “Dishasha” and the cap called “Kimah”… some wore a turban called “Mussar”. Matt and Jörgen got that outfit . While Boel and I got the women’s dress “Abaya” with the “Niqab” to cover our face.

—  Matt, Jörgen, Boel and me. Wearing the beautiful Omanis dress wear.  We made quite a success when we walked in like this to our final dinner reception.–

— The lady bosses of Big.Fam Anette Petersson & Freddi Holm with a handsome wannabe-omani —

On our last day off photographer Jörgen took photos of me and Boel on the beach. The sunset was unbelievable. I have never seen it quite as beautiful as this.

— Look at this sunset Boel and me are enjoying —

So what do we know about the this little country? The Sultanate of Oman is located on the Arabian Peninsula and borders Yemen, Saudi Arabian and the United Arab Emirates. It only has 2,7 millions of habitants and 750.000 of them are guest workers from Pakistan, India and the Philippines. Oman are working hard on getting the tourist biz rolling, knowing that their biggest income, Oil, eventually will dry out. Official language is Arabic.

— Oh,  look at this amazing feline. Just like the elegant ancient cats of Egypt.
Amazing ears and incredible eyes. —

In the 1970’s there was no electricity, running water or paved roads. Only a few schools and hospitals. A radical change was made when the Sultan of Qabbos Bin Said took over the throne after his father. Today infrastructure is good and almost everything you see is not older than 40 years old.

Like all arab countries, Arab Islāmic Culture dominates the life style of the Sultanate. So of course it was important to treat the local culture with respect and this particularly when it comes to how to dress outside the hotel area. Legs, ankles, arms, shoulders should be covered. We had no problem with this. We had no problem at all during this week. The Omanis where totally cool and gentle and polite at all times. Both in the hotel area and outside.

— Nice pool area in the hotel. Matt and Jörgen enjoying the company of beautiful girls. —

— There’s nothing like gymnastics on the beach – I can still stand on my hands … chooohoooo! —

— This is how a bill looks like in Oman. I really like the colors. The money is called Rial.
Now they also had smaller bills and they were called “Baisa”. And if you understand swedish, you are of course laughing right now. Childish as we are ; )  —

So that was a little from my trip to Oman. Pictures from all the ladies will appear soon…

Ta ta