Hawana Salalah

We're staying in a western-style resort complex, the only one in Oman apparently. Here we feel OK wearing shorts, T shirt, short skirt whereas elsewhere we've been careful to honour the formal dress code (no knees or shoulders showing etc) Around the marina are shops, restaurants and bars frequented mainly by visiting Omanis from Salalah while the European tourists spend their time by the pool or on the beach. 
The term 'bar' has to be qualified: as we watch from our balcony the only drinks we've seen served are Starbucks frappuccinos and the waiters are kept busy lighting hubble-bubble pipes for the men. While the men are drinking and smoking the women chat to one another and the children zoom around on electric cars. On Thursday night the seats were all occupied by couples - men in their white dishdashas and women in black gowns, mostly with full face covering. Such formality seems a little incongruous here, especially when Europeans in swimming trunks and bikinis are nearby.