Oman trip

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My stars for when I set off on 1 December

It will be a rare Taurean who isn't planning some kind of a trip. In fact, there are many delights in store-far too many to mention. And it's no small trail you'll be blazing. Call my starline.........

Bought a SIM card for my phone - from England the number is 00 968 98205829 so texts will be happily received! Although I am useless at texting so you may not get a reply.

Sleeper train from Truro was good except that they called me when the train had already arrive at Reading which only gave me 15 mins to have a pee and get changed. At 4am it disorientating. I fell out of the train and asked 'Which way to the bus?' I had to be told that I was going by train to Gatwick.
Oman Air flight 7 hrs to Muscat was full in first and business class but virtually empty in economy class (about 30 people) where I was. The flight was pleasant but it is worrying when you do not understand the captains accent.
Arrival 9pm local time. 4 hrs ahead of England. Temperature 26c and quite humid.
40kms drive by taxi £15 along smooth road and very clean - no rubbish to be seen.
My hotel on Naseem Hotel on Mutrah Corniche £28 for a clean but old fashioned en suite room with large comfortable bed plus TV air con and fan. Perfectly comfortable and in the middle of an interesting area.
The next day I walked about 5 kms to the old city. Mostly along the Corniche of pink marble beside the sea which seems full of sardines and I even saw a huge turtle eyeing me up.
There was a man polishing the marble wall. Everything very pleasing to the eye the old buildings, forts and mosques all well cared for and a beautiful sultans palace.
That evening I visited the Mutrah souk which is amazing, everything imaginable is sold there and you are not pestered. The highlight for me was a fresh fruit drink of layered mango, custard apple and pomegranate-delicious, can't wait to go back for more.
Today I went to the business district of Ruwi. Massive commercial buildings for banks, airlines, travel agencies etc., I met up with an Austrian couple who have been having a wonderful time cycling around and are now on the way to Dubai and Abu Dabi.
She is a gynaecologist and he is an IT consultant and has given me the idea of creating a blog.
My camera has been playing up so I went to buy a spare battery which costs about £20 so the man in the shop recharged it for me for nothing. People are so friendly.
I tried to go on a snorkelling trip but there is a problem with algae in the water.
This weekend I have booked a flight south down to Salaleh and hopefully the water will be better there.
Whilst there I shall check out the Yemen situation.
Thursday 8 December.
After wandering around the fish market-mostly tuna, sardines and large prawns, I decided to visit the Natural History Museum. Had difficulty finding it with the taxi and also difficulty in find my way walking out of the complex. Luckily the driver had entered via the exit, if he had tried to go via the entrance he would have found it locked and we would have had to drive miles further along a dual carriage way. It was similar with me trying to find my way out. There was no one around to ask. Consequently decided to treat myself to a coffee at the Inter Continental Hotel at Trader Vic's Bar. Then walked along the sandy but dull beach. As mentioned, there is a problem there. The water was gray/brown colour, smelt fishy and there was loads of foam blowing about. I was heading towards the Hyatt Hotel for an orange juice when I slipped on some dark green slime and fell on my a.... So taxied back to my hotel to change. It is a good thing that I have clothes to discard-I would not have wanted to wash them.
That evening I met up with Alice a student of geography who was on her way to Bangkok but had an unexpected enforced stop in Muscat. We had a meal together and wandered around the souk and of course had another fruit drink.


When I work out how to transfer some photos, I shall. Any ideas?

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