THIS IS AN ADDITION TO THE EMAIL I SENT AFTER LEAVING OMAN. THE ORIGINAL EMAIL IS POSTED BELOW AFTER THE SERIES OF ******

My tour guide in Oman spoke briefly about marriage customs in his country but I wasn't prepared to take notes and the sound system in the bus was poor so I googled "Marriage in Oman" and confirmed what he said.

Mostly he talked about his desire to get married and have a family and that he would need to provide a dowry of about 10,000 USD to find a wife. He seemed to be in his early 30s. He said he didn't have a girl friend and he still had to do plenty of savings to reach his goal.

He also talked about the law allowing Omanis to marry foreigners. After a three-decade ban, Sultan Haitham bin Tarik changed the legislation allowing both men and women to marry free to marry foreigners.

Polygamy was the final topic. Oman is one of the few remaining countries where it is legal. Men may have as many as four wives. But there are many restrictions, most of them being economic. A man with more than one wife must support each one and any offspring equally or face harsh punishment. Given the high cost of living in Oman, this happens rarely and there are few examples of men with more than two wives.

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Just spent two days in Oman, a sultanate on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

I had separate excursions on each day and learned some interesting things, especially about marriage in this part of the world, but I need a little time to do some research and get you the facts, not the rumors.

But I had a first impression of Oman as we drove and sailed around its capitol, Muscat.

The country reminded me of Brunei, the country in southeast Asia we visited in the winter.

Both are sultanates, ruled by ultra-rich benevolent dictators that call themselves

Sultans. Both are rich because of oil and only oil. Both are clean as a whistle everywhere. Not a trash bin or piece of trash to be seen. Both have mostly white structures.

Both have no poverty or illiteracy because the rich benefactor provides for all. Both have citizens with little freedom who don't really care about not having freedom because they have all the essentials including education and medical protection.

Both have armies, navies, plenty of police and very good roads. Both countries take 2-3 hour breaks every weekday for prayer. Both are largely Muslim.

I visited the Grand Mosque, the Royal Opera House, the National Museum and outside the Sultan Castle, which is surrounded by gates and sidewalks made of shiny polished marble. They are gloriously huge with fine artwork, state-of-the-art everything with some gold inlay and other valuable materials. Wonderful to look at (photos coming soon) while feeling sterile and cold to me.