Tropical Vacation in the Middle East?

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The beauty of the Middle East is that everything is so close, including other Muslim countries that appear to serve as Qatar and UAE's equivalent to our Mexico or Cuba. Oman is south of UAE and is absolutely gorgeous, but also friggin' hot. A few of us from work decided to go for a long weekend and check out Muskat, Oman to see what all of the fuss was about (all other expats rave about this country). Well, we're converts now. We've jumped on the bandwagon of the ravers.

I won't really go into details about what I did over the weekend, as it will probably put most of you to sleep. My sole intention of going there for the weekend was to relax and de-stress and that I did. The days were filled with lazing by the pool and sea and reading (and, inadvertently, eating) as much as possible. Yet again, my downfall was the all-you-can-eat buffets from morning until evening. If I haven't mentioned this before, the Middle East is OBSESSED with buffets. How they're not the most overweight culture in the world, I'm not quite sure. All I know is that I can practice some restraint until I get in front of a breakfast buffet and then all bets are off. Well, Muskat was the third vacation in a row where your buffet breakfast was included (this was also the case for Turkey and Egypt), so I'm thinking the mystery of my weight gain over the past few months is not such a mystery at all!

Overall, Muskat is the perfect little escape. The Sultan of Oman has remained true to the country's Middle Eastern heritage by preserving the classic Arabian architecture; however, he is also known to be quite liberal (pork and liquor served at hotels and some restaurants), so it's a nice balance. The people are much friendlier and much less arrogant than other Arab countries. For example, when you get into a cab, an Omani is actually the one driving the cab (that would NEVER happen here).

And...now the news I promised in the last blog. The next few blog installments are going to take quite a dramatic shift...no longer will they be Middle Eastern installments; they're going to be European installments. Due to a number of factors (none of which has to do with living in the Middle East--I've very much enjoyed my time here), I left the company I was working for. What does the future hold for me? Well, I'm not quite ready to go back to Edmonton, so more traveling is definitely in the cards. I'll keep you posted!

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