Blogs from Muscat, Oman, Middle East - page 10

往马斯喀特的路上 从寮国回来一个星期后，我又出发了。 7月31日是回教假期，接下来的8月1号则是星期五，所以在阿联酋一共有两天的假期。和同事在假期前一天，才决定要出发到阿曼。由於才有两天的假期，当然能去的就只有阿曼的首都，马斯开特(Muscat) 而已。阿曼也是我来了阿联酋将近一年之后前往的第一个中东国家。 这次的行程没什么来得及准备，只在出发前往Lonely Planet网站找了一些资料，然后就是看看去年在KL买的UAE & Oman Insight Guide而已。之后就和两位同事约定在31号早上6点半左右驾车出发了。 早上，我们沿着前往艾茵(Al Ain)的高速公路走，其实从阿联酋到阿曼的马斯喀特有两条路可以走，除了往艾茵的方向外，另一条就是往杜拜的方向。不过若从阿布达比出发，当然直接往东的艾茵比较近。 从阿布达比到艾茵才一个小时半左右，我们来到艾茵才8点。和艾茵接壤的阿曼边城小镇是布拉米(Buraimi)，所以来到这里去阿曼一定要通过布拉米的海关。其实从艾茵进入布拉米有两个海关，一个是只允许海湾国家(GIC)人民进出的关口，而另一个关口是开放给其它国家的国民进入。可是不知怎么转的，加上路标的不清楚，所以我们来到了只允许海湾国家(GIC)人民进入的关口。这个关口可以说是一个自由进出的关口，因为没有什么海关人员看守，我们通过时也没有人截停我们的车子。由於出境一定要在护照上盖章，而且还要记录车子的出境记录。以免成为偷渡客，所以进了阿曼这一边后，立刻打了一个u转，回去阿联酋，再去寻找另一个海关口。 终於来到了Al Hili关口，尽管是假期不过车子和人潮并不多。在阿联酋这边，将车子停下来后，问了问路人，然后走到一间很小间的办公室，那是盖章印出境的地方。办公室里仅有7、8个人左右，不过却仅有一位海关人员在工作。每个人都将护照放在办公的海关人员的桌子上，海关人员慢条斯理的工作。我们在那里等了很久，后来这位海关人员站起来走了出去，我想这样的等待，会不会等到中午呢？后来换来另一个人员，也还是一样没有效率。我们等了近一个半钟，海关人员才拿起我们... read more

Oman was an amazing break from India. It was clean, sunny, mosquito free... and did I mention clean? This country is the best kept secret of the middle east, hands down. The streets were lined with amazing white mansions, that belong to ordinary middle class families, and streets with beautiful new cars. Most of the men are in white traditional wear with a small cap, and the women in long black jackets and black scarves on their head. As soon as we stepped out of the airport the heat hit us. About 35*C at 11:00 at night. Nice. Our friend Salim picked us up and we stopped for some Turkish food! Dale developed a bit of an addiction to Mediterranean food while we were there! Salim has a great apartment about 5 minutes from the airport, ... read more

“ In a departure from usual reporting procedures, this last week-end’s diving is going to be a bit of an epic split into two blogs - one will be full of marine life and eloquence unbounded, the other will detail Dave’s dive trip which bore a remarkable similarity to “Coco the Clown gets on a boat” I was in Oman again for a meeting, so Dave drove over for the second time that week so we could go diving at the Daminiyat Islands - apparently a marine reserve because of the outstanding natural beauty of the place. It was certainly very nice but whether it stands out from other places on the coast to warrant such special status is, in my humble opinion, dubious. The dive operation was absolutely superb; slick, efficient, good quality gear, nice ... read more

so got back from 27 days at sea for 2 days in Muskat, was able to catchup on a few things, spent yesterday checking out Nizwa , the fort and the souk , then headed into the mountains to visit a small village, live is very different in Oman and the history of this place is facinating, to many photo's to upload for now, but will update the blog again when I return from sea (mid june). The Taxi's just arrived to take us to the wharf, so best be off to do some more fishing!!!! ... read more

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque The Mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone. The total capacity of the mosque (interior and courtyard) is up to 20,000 worshippers. What to do with too much money? You hire indentured (modern-day slave) labor from India and flaunt the wealth by building a monument to God....ahem. And the monument happens to have a couple of record breakers (Largest Handwoven carpet and Largest chandelier in the world): The world's largest hand-woven carpet: A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700 million knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce. It is the largest single piece carpet in the world. It covers the entire floor of the main praying hall of the Sultan ... read more