Just like my adventure to Lucerne less than a week prior, I took a day trip to the mountains of Oman. I was the closest I’ve ever been to Iran, though on this trip I seem to be re-setting that record each subsequent place I visit. After spending an evening in Dubai, my brother thought it’d be a good idea to take a road trip through the mountains of Oman. So, we hopped in his really nice Range Rover, some may call it vogue (because that’s the name of the model), and took off for the mountains. In my brother’s driving, [View Full Entry]

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18TH SEPTEMBER We spent a relaxing day swimming and catching up with a young Swiss couple, Alexia & Roman who had been on our Nile boat. We checked out around 6.30pm to go to the airport for our next adventure, 3 days in Muscat. We were taken to the airport by a driver and a transfer guide, we were met there by an airport escort who whisked us through the check-in at breakneck speed, passing the waiting crowds. We must have only taken 5 minutes to get through airport security, our bags checked in and the paperwork filled for customs, we [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Dave’s week-end was such a catalogue of mishaps (to be polite) that I may as well go through them in chronological order…….. 1 - There is now irrefutable proof that the speed cameras in Oman work !!! Driving down from Sohar towards Muscat with the sexy Swedish number Dave spends all his time lavishing attention on, Dave triggered a camera at c. 160kmh (ahem !!) 2 - After the first dive on Friday the people on the boat were treated to a glorious surround sound experience of Dave emptying the contents of his stomach into the Arabian Sea - there [View Full Entry]

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“ 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 [View Full Entry]

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Chelle had to go to Muscat for work late last week so she managed to convince her lovely boy to drive over on the weekend and come to make some bubbles with her. I flew to Muscat on Monday night and then worked there on Tuesday and Wednesday meeting clients and doing some training. Muscat runs a slightly different weekend system than Dubai. They have their weekends on Thursday and Friday.So I had booked us a couple of days diving for the Thursday and Friday at the Oman Diving centre. This is a diving centre that is a little way out [View Full Entry]

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In and out of Muscat for a week. Except for the weekend I was slogging at work. Almost all the pics are taken at night, post work hours. Omanis are really friendly and its easy to blend in the crown if ur not too flashy or touristy. Very idylic and sometimes boring. Dont go without company. Guess what?? They have booze!! [View Full Entry]

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A two hour road trip to Oman was just what I needed to remind me that I am a world away from home. We crossed the border to Oman and found ourselves haggling for antiques in stores with no air conditioning, drinking cokes out of bottles that cost about 30 cents from the local coffee shop, and eating hummus and cherries for lunch on the top of the only mountain in the entire country. [View Full Entry]

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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!!!! [View Full Entry]

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After 4 days at sea, we pulled into Salalah. We had been escorted by the Dutch Frigate, HnLms Evertsen since leaving Mombasa and were sorry to see it leave. It's main Mission was to protect Emergency Food supplies that were being delivered to Somalia but we were very happy to have her company and protection as well. Salalah is a pretty bleak looking place from the water and it did not get much better once we went ashore. We had booked a Shore Excursion to Mughsayl Beach, Frankincense Trees and The Tomb of The Prophet Job. The beach was actually beautiful [View Full Entry]

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