Blogs from Muttrah, Muscat, Oman, Middle East - page 2

The Middle East provides cities that straight away evoke thoughts of mystique, labyrinth esque alleys and exotic markets. Cairo, Damascus, and for me Muscat are such cities and I couldn't wait to contrast a modern city of the region like Dubai with the more traditional. Arriving on the flight from Khasab, what immediately struck me was how flat and desert like the region had become again, although this changed completely by the time we got to Muttrah, about 25kms from the airport. On arrival we drove through the new part of Muscat on a modern highway dotted with shopping malls and McDonalds. Almost completely flat until we arrived at the old port for the city of Muscat, Muttrah which is hemmed in by mountains which many years gone by would have made the city easier to ... read more

After all the glitz of the United Arab Emirates it is such a contrast to arrive in the sleepy Sultanate of Oman. This fairytale kingdom is ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said who has done a good job of preserving the unique essence of the country while slowly moving it into the 21stCentury. Oman was a closed country until the mid-1990s. Now education is encouraged and Oman has one of the few Arabian female ministers in its government. The Sultan maintains good relations with both the United States and Great Britain. Omanis are in a dither though because their 72 year old monarch has no heirs to the throne. So it is uncertain who will carry on the Said dynasty. We arrived on Friday which is a holy day for Moslems so we had to make ... read more

What a lot you can do in 4 days here in Oman. And many thanks to Tamsin and her family I have been most warmly welcomed here from a pickup at the airport to a comfy bed in their lovely villa, swimming in their pool and delicious food. They've been my tour guides and even gave me a car to drive. What it is to have such generous warmhearted friends. In between lazing around in the garden and swimming in my first 2 days there has been a visit to the Souq, Muttrah old town and harbour , lunch at the Marina overlooked by the British Ambassador's residence and then a visit to one of Oman's many forts. The souq is fabulous with such a range of goodies-from giant pans (imagine them full of rice and ... read more

Is it 6 o clock already? Cometh the happy hour, cometh Simon! Marvellous, all the G&T I can drink! Plus canapies as well, who could wish for more as the great bard once said (well if he didn't, he should've done. So suitably refreshed we made our way to the Bait Al Abar that well known seafood restaurant (ok, well known here!) We had a superb meal culminating in a seafood grill with lobster, king prawns, mussels, king fish and other seafood! all washed down with a New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon, wonderful. The next morning should've seen me diving again but I decided to spend the day doing nothing but sitting in the sun reading my book, too much exercise is not good and I was determined to enjoy our last full day in an appropriate ... read more

Arrived at the airport on time left the car with the valet parking boys (yes this is different to my NZ trip,but I am travelling with Sue don't forget !). Check in took 5 minutes and straight through security. A quick shop for essentials (books etc) then straight to the lounge. A couple of large G&T's and before you know it it's time to board. We're flying with Oman Air for the first time and they live up to their promise. The service was excellent and their flat beds allowed us to get some sleep (although the champagne helped as well!) Landed ahead of schedule and after purchasing a visa (bit of a surprise that, dont remember doing that the first time we were here) we were through customs and in a taxi to the hotel. ... read more