What a lot you can accomplish in a short time! Sunday was a religious holiday but for some reason our school didn't confirm it with the staff until the last minute, then I decided to book a trip to Oman.
I arrived at school at 8am on Thursday and by 8.30am I had flights with British Airways leaving at 8.30pm that same night and hotel bookings at the Intercontinental Muscat. I raced home from work and rang my friend to say we we're off and she'd better get in her car and start driving into Abu Dhabi. She lives about 2 hours out in the Western Regions. I told my son to pack and we all met at the airport in plenty of time for the flight. It was such short notice that I hadn't even received the e-ticket via email to print and had to phone India to get it sorted.
You are never sure what you are getting when booking online and so take a giant leap of faith giving out our credit card details to a firm we know nothing about. Let the buyer beware they always say but, luckily, I didn't strike any problems using "Make my Trip".
So with one of my new gold credit cards loaded up with airfares I jump on the plane. Less than an hour later we touch down in Muscat, Oman. A bus meets us on the tarmac as we disembark from our plane and slowly crawls the distance to the Muscat International Airport. It's probably on par with Hamilton in terms of size and had three counters open to deal with at least two flights. We jump in the queue then realise that everyone else is lining up at another counter and paying for an entry visa. Now, we know that Oman has a special deal with Kiwis and we don't have to pay so we dither between one queue and the other and try to find someone to help. Lochie eventually finds a man in an office and after the regulatory greeting, handshake and warm welcome we get in the correct line without paying a cent. Or rial (currency of Oman).
We are warmly welcomed by native Omani men at Immigration and even stop to buy a bottle of wine each. As we exit the terminal the heat envelopes us although it isn't as suffocating as Abu Dhabi. I pre-pay for a taxi to the hotel which is about 20 minutes away and off we go. Another first! Our taxi is driven by an Omani man. They are the only ones allowed to drive taxis there. What a change to find the locals working and enjoying it. 'Same, same' at the hotel where we are greeted by several Omani men in traditional dress who check us in. The warmth of the welcome and friendliness of the men there surprised us all and continued to do so for the length of our stay.
The contrast between where I live in Abu Dhabi and Oman was startling.
First, the landscape. Even though Muscat is a port city spread along an inviting waterfront (Gulf of Oman) there were hills. Okay, they were brown and dusty - reminiscent of the Wither Hills in Marlborough. The ground was very rocky and buildings and forts appear hewn out of the landscape.
Second, the buildings. Whereas in Abu Dhabi the building is non-stop and seemingly random, in Oman it appeared to be planned and measured. Skyscrapers adorn our skyline but in Oman the building are only several stories high and of a traditional square style. There was a feel of history as if the buildings have stood the test of time and I'm sure many of them had. Oman has an interesting history which I want to find out more about before a return visit.
Thirdly, the people. The warmth and friendliness was amazing. In Abu Dhabi an Emirate man wouldn't normally speak to you but there they smiled and spoke and even stranger, served you in shops and restaurants. Here the workforce is imported, there the locals are valued workers. We saw many Indians arriving so presumably they do have an immigrant workforce but not obvious like ours. The woman didn't have their faces covered as they do here even though they wore abaya and shala (head covering). The men carried the babies while we were shopping at the Souk and the children were under control at all times. NOT LIKE HERE!!! In Abu Dhabi the nannies or maids look after the children while the parents shop and there are no boundaries or discipline as the nannies don't have any authority.
Each afternoon the beach filled with literally hundreds of young men running in teams and playing soccer. Whereas in Abu Dhabi cricket is the game, here it was soccer. These were young, black Omani's wearing labelled clothing in the form of soccer shirts, basketball singlets and upmarket shorts. A few pervy workers would amble along and sit alongside our towels on the beach awaiting our exit from the water. Probably the only flesh they see!
Fourthly, the water. During my many swims in the Gulf of Oman I was constantly amazed at the temperature of the water. Here it is warm, too warm in the summer. In Oman it was much cooler. When I was the lone swimmer at 7am the temperature was lovely. I stayed in for about an hour each time, just drifting on top of the water, often with my feet up and using my arms to tread water every now and then. It made me think of the Dead Sea and how you can float there but every now and then I'd try to just stay on top but eventually I'd have to use my arms again to keep afloat. By the time I returned for my afternoon swim around 5pm the water was many degrees warmer. The top 18 inches (can't convert that quickly) was as warm as bathwater but underneath it was cooler. Every now and then you'd hit a 'hot spot' where it was warm down to your toes, or a cooler section as the current dragged in cooler water from the Indian Ocean. The water was clear and as I entered it each day I strode through schools of fish ranging in size from minature to about 8 inches long. My favourite activity was to walk out far enough that I could just touch the bottom with my toes then just float above the bottom with the barest of movement required to keep me there. The smallest of swells helped keep me afloat.
As I gazed out towards the horizon a couple of oil tankers appeared suspended as they barely moved towards the Strait of Hormez, the vital entrance to the Arabian Gulf (the one that America vows to keep open and Iraq keeps threatening to close). I felt as if I could swim to India and imagined the darker smudge on the horizon was India itself. The sea merged into the sky in a blue haze although the water around my was green and clear. No bright blue sky there or anywhere in the Arab Nations.
The hotel was 5 star! Wow, who'd have imagined I'd be doing this when I left Riverlands School for my big OE? Check it out online - http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/mscha
I'd booked two rooms, one twin which my friend and I shared and one double that my son had. They upgraded to a king for him which was great but even though we got the cheap rooms it was still very expensive. Once in a lifetime, well maybe not as I plan to return. We managed to keep the cost down by asking the nice service men to give us extra water. One 500ml bottle each was no way near enough as we all found it very dry there. We ended up with about 8 bottles each stashed in our wee fridge.
Our days were spent lazing around the fabulous pool area which included a family friendly pool and a very deep lap pool. Then the beach was just beyond the landscaped grounds. 4 squash courts, six tennis courts, a basketball court, a fitness centre, lovely boutique shops, a cafe, a bar, a nightclub, and several restaurants completed the picture. Nearby was a buzzing shopping centre which appeared to be the hangout for the local lads, especially on the Thursday night we arrived. Boy racers even. The nightclub had groups of scantily clad women in short black dresses with the obligatory high heels while an Omani wedding reception took place in the ballroom with the obligatory red-carpet dresses dripping with blink.
We splurged on the Friday brunch which was amazing. I'm not sure how many lobster halves made it to our table, along with crab, salmon, lightly seared tuna slices and every dish you could imagine. Only thing missing was oysters. There was even roast pork, although you had to slice your own. Another favourite at our table. As the brunch lasted 3 hours I think we got our monies worth.
I'd thoroughly recommend the hotel as a chill-out place and feel sure I'll return again. Next time I'll be hiring a car and taking in the turtle sanctuary to watch the egg laying and hatching. Plus there is an amazing goat market in an inland town that is a must see and I'd love to visit one of the many wadi that look like the Pelorus River. A visit when it isn't summer would be ideal to do these things.
I met up with my sister's friend who lives there and had coffee. She gave us great information about what to do but it is a destination that requires a vehicle to get around.
The Arab world was sent into mourning while we were there with the death of the Saudi Prince. We travelled back on the plane with several Saudi's returning home. I'm not sure how the politics, loyalties work here but Jordan had a public day of mourning. We didn't.
Speaking of Jordan, that was my first choice for the weekend's trip. I'm very keen to get to Petra especially with the situation in Syria spilling over into Jordan, travelling there may become a thing of the past. Even the travel agent said that. They have great deals at the moment but it's too hot to be out on a donkey in 50 degrees.
So after 3 days and nights of luxury we head back out to the airport for a midnight flight. 40 minutes later we touch down in Abu Dhabi. After a bit of excitement upon disembarking with some Saudi passengers and additional security we enter the terminal to find it packed with people! This is 1am on a work day. What are they all doing there and where are they going? Obviously 2am flights are normal here. It's hard to believe you can be in another country that is so different in such a short space of time. This traveller will certainly return. But normality crept in at 5.50am when the alarm sounded and another day of work dawned. Thankfully there are no students now until we finish on July 12th. So a restful day of entering student scores into the database for producing reports. Our school day finished at 1pm so I was home early enough to update my blog and relax.
An afterthought if you are thinking about travelling to Oman. We found it very expensive compared to Abu Dhabi. The prices appear low but the currency is worth 1/10 of ours here. Food and clothing was expensive. Having said that I did manage to splurge on a pashmina. We had a lesson on how to tell the real thing and now consider ourselves 'expert' enough to tell a real from a fake. Who knows what we've bought but we were happy with our purchases and prices paid. A wooden camel with attachments now sports pride of place in our lounge while I await cooler weather to wrap up in my pashmina. An evening at the Muttrah Souk was an experience not for the faint hearted, especially as it is off season 'too hot' with not many tourists so we were swamped by vendors touting their wares. My new favourite saying after 'same, same' is 'special price for you, first customer of the day!' Put that on a Tui add. Yeah right!
Photos of the trip.
Arabian tent within the hotel.
The beach to myself each morning.
Night view from our hotel room. We had the 'hill' view for cheaper rooms. The ring of lights is a fort.
Day view from our hotel room. Notice the flat, square buildings and the hills behind.
Looking back at the hotel from the pool area.
Iced tea at the hotel cafe. Our cooked breakfast at a nearby cafe cost the same as one drink here. 2.400 rials or 23 AED or $7.88 NZD. (Love the XE app on my phone to convert the currency. And you thought I was doing the math!)
Poised and posing. Note the short skirts and sleeveless tops. Much more relaxed dress code there.
I arrived at school at 8am on Thursday and by 8.30am I had flights with British Airways leaving at 8.30pm that same night and hotel bookings at the Intercontinental Muscat. I raced home from work and rang my friend to say we we're off and she'd better get in her car and start driving into Abu Dhabi. She lives about 2 hours out in the Western Regions. I told my son to pack and we all met at the airport in plenty of time for the flight. It was such short notice that I hadn't even received the e-ticket via email to print and had to phone India to get it sorted.
You are never sure what you are getting when booking online and so take a giant leap of faith giving out our credit card details to a firm we know nothing about. Let the buyer beware they always say but, luckily, I didn't strike any problems using "Make my Trip".
So with one of my new gold credit cards loaded up with airfares I jump on the plane. Less than an hour later we touch down in Muscat, Oman. A bus meets us on the tarmac as we disembark from our plane and slowly crawls the distance to the Muscat International Airport. It's probably on par with Hamilton in terms of size and had three counters open to deal with at least two flights. We jump in the queue then realise that everyone else is lining up at another counter and paying for an entry visa. Now, we know that Oman has a special deal with Kiwis and we don't have to pay so we dither between one queue and the other and try to find someone to help. Lochie eventually finds a man in an office and after the regulatory greeting, handshake and warm welcome we get in the correct line without paying a cent. Or rial (currency of Oman).
We are warmly welcomed by native Omani men at Immigration and even stop to buy a bottle of wine each. As we exit the terminal the heat envelopes us although it isn't as suffocating as Abu Dhabi. I pre-pay for a taxi to the hotel which is about 20 minutes away and off we go. Another first! Our taxi is driven by an Omani man. They are the only ones allowed to drive taxis there. What a change to find the locals working and enjoying it. 'Same, same' at the hotel where we are greeted by several Omani men in traditional dress who check us in. The warmth of the welcome and friendliness of the men there surprised us all and continued to do so for the length of our stay.
The contrast between where I live in Abu Dhabi and Oman was startling.
First, the landscape. Even though Muscat is a port city spread along an inviting waterfront (Gulf of Oman) there were hills. Okay, they were brown and dusty - reminiscent of the Wither Hills in Marlborough. The ground was very rocky and buildings and forts appear hewn out of the landscape.
Second, the buildings. Whereas in Abu Dhabi the building is non-stop and seemingly random, in Oman it appeared to be planned and measured. Skyscrapers adorn our skyline but in Oman the building are only several stories high and of a traditional square style. There was a feel of history as if the buildings have stood the test of time and I'm sure many of them had. Oman has an interesting history which I want to find out more about before a return visit.
Thirdly, the people. The warmth and friendliness was amazing. In Abu Dhabi an Emirate man wouldn't normally speak to you but there they smiled and spoke and even stranger, served you in shops and restaurants. Here the workforce is imported, there the locals are valued workers. We saw many Indians arriving so presumably they do have an immigrant workforce but not obvious like ours. The woman didn't have their faces covered as they do here even though they wore abaya and shala (head covering). The men carried the babies while we were shopping at the Souk and the children were under control at all times. NOT LIKE HERE!!! In Abu Dhabi the nannies or maids look after the children while the parents shop and there are no boundaries or discipline as the nannies don't have any authority.
Each afternoon the beach filled with literally hundreds of young men running in teams and playing soccer. Whereas in Abu Dhabi cricket is the game, here it was soccer. These were young, black Omani's wearing labelled clothing in the form of soccer shirts, basketball singlets and upmarket shorts. A few pervy workers would amble along and sit alongside our towels on the beach awaiting our exit from the water. Probably the only flesh they see!
Fourthly, the water. During my many swims in the Gulf of Oman I was constantly amazed at the temperature of the water. Here it is warm, too warm in the summer. In Oman it was much cooler. When I was the lone swimmer at 7am the temperature was lovely. I stayed in for about an hour each time, just drifting on top of the water, often with my feet up and using my arms to tread water every now and then. It made me think of the Dead Sea and how you can float there but every now and then I'd try to just stay on top but eventually I'd have to use my arms again to keep afloat. By the time I returned for my afternoon swim around 5pm the water was many degrees warmer. The top 18 inches (can't convert that quickly) was as warm as bathwater but underneath it was cooler. Every now and then you'd hit a 'hot spot' where it was warm down to your toes, or a cooler section as the current dragged in cooler water from the Indian Ocean. The water was clear and as I entered it each day I strode through schools of fish ranging in size from minature to about 8 inches long. My favourite activity was to walk out far enough that I could just touch the bottom with my toes then just float above the bottom with the barest of movement required to keep me there. The smallest of swells helped keep me afloat.
As I gazed out towards the horizon a couple of oil tankers appeared suspended as they barely moved towards the Strait of Hormez, the vital entrance to the Arabian Gulf (the one that America vows to keep open and Iraq keeps threatening to close). I felt as if I could swim to India and imagined the darker smudge on the horizon was India itself. The sea merged into the sky in a blue haze although the water around my was green and clear. No bright blue sky there or anywhere in the Arab Nations.
The hotel was 5 star! Wow, who'd have imagined I'd be doing this when I left Riverlands School for my big OE? Check it out online - http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/mscha
I'd booked two rooms, one twin which my friend and I shared and one double that my son had. They upgraded to a king for him which was great but even though we got the cheap rooms it was still very expensive. Once in a lifetime, well maybe not as I plan to return. We managed to keep the cost down by asking the nice service men to give us extra water. One 500ml bottle each was no way near enough as we all found it very dry there. We ended up with about 8 bottles each stashed in our wee fridge.
Our days were spent lazing around the fabulous pool area which included a family friendly pool and a very deep lap pool. Then the beach was just beyond the landscaped grounds. 4 squash courts, six tennis courts, a basketball court, a fitness centre, lovely boutique shops, a cafe, a bar, a nightclub, and several restaurants completed the picture. Nearby was a buzzing shopping centre which appeared to be the hangout for the local lads, especially on the Thursday night we arrived. Boy racers even. The nightclub had groups of scantily clad women in short black dresses with the obligatory high heels while an Omani wedding reception took place in the ballroom with the obligatory red-carpet dresses dripping with blink.
We splurged on the Friday brunch which was amazing. I'm not sure how many lobster halves made it to our table, along with crab, salmon, lightly seared tuna slices and every dish you could imagine. Only thing missing was oysters. There was even roast pork, although you had to slice your own. Another favourite at our table. As the brunch lasted 3 hours I think we got our monies worth.
I'd thoroughly recommend the hotel as a chill-out place and feel sure I'll return again. Next time I'll be hiring a car and taking in the turtle sanctuary to watch the egg laying and hatching. Plus there is an amazing goat market in an inland town that is a must see and I'd love to visit one of the many wadi that look like the Pelorus River. A visit when it isn't summer would be ideal to do these things.
I met up with my sister's friend who lives there and had coffee. She gave us great information about what to do but it is a destination that requires a vehicle to get around.
The Arab world was sent into mourning while we were there with the death of the Saudi Prince. We travelled back on the plane with several Saudi's returning home. I'm not sure how the politics, loyalties work here but Jordan had a public day of mourning. We didn't.
Speaking of Jordan, that was my first choice for the weekend's trip. I'm very keen to get to Petra especially with the situation in Syria spilling over into Jordan, travelling there may become a thing of the past. Even the travel agent said that. They have great deals at the moment but it's too hot to be out on a donkey in 50 degrees.
So after 3 days and nights of luxury we head back out to the airport for a midnight flight. 40 minutes later we touch down in Abu Dhabi. After a bit of excitement upon disembarking with some Saudi passengers and additional security we enter the terminal to find it packed with people! This is 1am on a work day. What are they all doing there and where are they going? Obviously 2am flights are normal here. It's hard to believe you can be in another country that is so different in such a short space of time. This traveller will certainly return. But normality crept in at 5.50am when the alarm sounded and another day of work dawned. Thankfully there are no students now until we finish on July 12th. So a restful day of entering student scores into the database for producing reports. Our school day finished at 1pm so I was home early enough to update my blog and relax.
An afterthought if you are thinking about travelling to Oman. We found it very expensive compared to Abu Dhabi. The prices appear low but the currency is worth 1/10 of ours here. Food and clothing was expensive. Having said that I did manage to splurge on a pashmina. We had a lesson on how to tell the real thing and now consider ourselves 'expert' enough to tell a real from a fake. Who knows what we've bought but we were happy with our purchases and prices paid. A wooden camel with attachments now sports pride of place in our lounge while I await cooler weather to wrap up in my pashmina. An evening at the Muttrah Souk was an experience not for the faint hearted, especially as it is off season 'too hot' with not many tourists so we were swamped by vendors touting their wares. My new favourite saying after 'same, same' is 'special price for you, first customer of the day!' Put that on a Tui add. Yeah right!
Photos of the trip.
Looking down to the cafe seating from our hotel floor. Each floor had an internal balcony with the rooms set back from the corridor. The lights hanging down are just that, hanging lights.
Night view from our hotel room. We had the 'hill' view for cheaper rooms. The ring of lights is a fort.
Poised and posing. Note the short skirts and sleeveless tops. Much more relaxed dress code there.
Wow! I am so impressed with you! You really are grabbing life by the horns and 'just doing it!'. Awesome job. Sounds like a great place for a visit. Very jealous about that beautiful weather!
ReplyDeleteTracy
PS. Your room had the fairies in last night and has a ... wait for it... just in time for Term 3... projector! Look what you are missing! Hee Hee