Corner View Love U 2

And I just thought I'd share a picture of mine :)

Corner View Love

I took this photo in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires last year. You really need to click on it to see the love on the corner. Sorry, just couldn't get one like it here in Oman.

Please visit the other Corner View bloggers to spread the love:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, jodi, gillian, travelingmama , athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene, dominique, shokoofeh, cole, jenna, podane, grey-lemon, line, nihal, urbaNiche, inner toddler, puna, lucylaine, adrienne, emily, lynn, skywriting, eliane

Corner View: A Typical Souvenir of Salalah

The theme of this week's Corner View is 'a typical souvenir of your city.' Salalah is at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage designated Land of Frankincense. This area was once part of the ancient kingdom of Sheba, and it is believed that the incense the Queen of Sheba sent to King Solomon came from here. The ruins of the Queen's summer palace and the port from which her frankincense was exported can still be seen at the beautiful archaeological site of Sumhuram, just outside Salalah.

It is likely the gifts of frankincense and myrrh carried by the Magi, or Three Kings, to the baby Jesus were also from the Salalah area. Tissot's famous painting, Journey of the Magi depicts the camels taking some of the earliest 'souvenirs' of Salalah north to Bethlehem, in what probably would have been a regular camel train travelling the Frankincense Trail.

At the frankincense souq, just outside the wall's of the sultan's palace, you can buy frankincense and myrrh produced from local trees as well as handmade clay or metal incense burners in which to burn them. Omani women often waft the smoke from the burning frankincense into their clothes before they go out.

In the third picture you can see what the frankincense trees which dot the hills around Salalah look like. The frankincense is, like rubber, collected by cutting the bark and bleeding the resin from the trees.

You might be interested in the first ever Corner View, the theme of which was:

Scenes From My Daily Life

Please visit the other Corner View bloggers to see typical souvenirs of their cities:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, the girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian, athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene, dominique, shokoofe

Latvia & Lithuania

I followed up my journey around northern India, Bangladesh and Bhutan with a ten-day visit to Latvia and Lithuania, my 97th and 98th countries. After battling through monsoon rains and landslides in the Himalayas and the incredible traffic jams of Calcutta and Dhaka, it was nice, easy travelling in perfect north European summer weather. I was particularly impressed by the beautiful architecture of the capital cities, Riga and Vilnius. In fact I liked Latvia so much that I would quite like to live there one day.

A White Corner View

The theme of this week's Corner View is white. The first thing that sprung to mind when I thought about this was the Krzytov Kieslowski film Three Colors: White. But, obviously that's been done. So then I started thinking about the significance of white clothes in various parts of the world. In much of the Far East white signifies death and white clothes are worn at funerals whereas in America and Europe, where white signifies purity, it is worn at weddings. In most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, white is worn by men while women wear black. The last country I visited was Qatar so my main photo is from there. The second photo is of a Vietnamese girl in a white ao dai and the third was taken at a parade in Seoul.

Visit the other Corner View bloggers for their take on the colour white.

A Great New Museum

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Last week I visited my 99th country: Qatar. The highlight for me was a marvellous new museum which despite only being open since December 2008, , must surely rank as one of the world's great museums. It is the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. Designed by Chinese-American architect Leoh Ming Pei, it houses the biggest collection of Islamic art in the world.

Corner View: Out of the Car Window

I've been away in Qatar for the last few days, so I am a a bit late posting this week's Corner View. The theme is Out of the Car Window. I don't usually take photos when I'm driving so the last photo I took out of a car was when I was being driven around Kolkata (Calcutta) last month, and here it is: a picture of a mobile sauna.

Please visit the other Corner View bloggers for their out of car window shots:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, ritva, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, skymring, elizabeth, allison, lise, cate, crescent moon, erin, otli, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, april, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, aimee, sunnymama, jenell, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian, athena, pienduzz, latisha, clairette, kelleyn, iris, demara, mus, ninja, guusje, di, sammi, theresa, cherry b, victoria, kathryn , lisa, liza, juliette, braja, mulot, anne, lucy, leonor, elizabeth, helene,