Holiday Inn Al Madinah Muscat

... for an hour or so in the blazing midday sun (I<br>didn&#8217;t have any mad dogs with me though), I hailed a taxi and headed back to Muttrah, to<br>find the souq (shopping alleys) also closed up and deserted. So after a falafel sandwich<br>and lemon soda, I went in search of further excitement, to.............................Carrefou r!<br>Apparently the only place open during the daytime on Fridays. It&#8217;s much like any other<br ...

... hotel, which had everything you could ask for: A/C, a fan, satellite TV, and even a refrigerator. Everything except a clean bathroom. **sigh** Muscat is an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman as it attracts foreign tradesmen and settlers. Since the self-appointment of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid infrastructural development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy and a multi-ethnic society. It ...

... what happens during the daily prayer rituals. The man explaining everything spoke perfect English with very little accent and did an excellent job. As part of his explanations, he also sung out a number of verses you hear during the daily call to prayer that are broadcast over the load speakers of every mosque. He had a beautiful voice. The main prayer room was immense in size as you can kind of see from the photos. I've read that the Persian wool and cotton ...

... well apart from just bumming around a few productive things have been accomplished. One day we got out to Oman Dive Center where we went out for some snorkeling. After seeing a few giant sea turtles, fish, something looking like a sea cucumber and more fish we were really pleased with our underwater excavations. On our way back the captain (or actually the person steering the boat) found a ...

... une petite nation, la traitant elle et ses habitants comme on le fait avec un jeune enfant ou un petit chien. L'Iran c'est si charmant!, et puis ces habitants, quelle gentillesse (alors que dans le fond ils ont peu d'argent et un regime préhistorique). J'ai moi même reproduit ce schema intellectuel les premiers jours, m'attendant à me faire inviter à la maison à tous les coins de rue et m'émerveillant de fait devant les similitudes ...

... we had missed the crowds. Continuing along to Tiwi we stopped at Wadi Tiwi for lunch. We perched on the rocks along the cool waters while Talal served us a traditional Omani lunch, which his business partner's wife so kindly cooked for us, after I had mentioned the day before on the dolphin tour, that I really wanted to try omani cuisine. She had cooked a large pot of chicken biryani and a simple salad with olives and feta. It ...

... cake etc. I'm not sure who they thought we were, or if this was normal Omani hospitality, but bring on the fawning and boot-licking I say. The room was very pleasant with a balcony looking out over the hotel pool, beach and north along the coast. We met up with Kym's business contact for a drink then had a nice meal in the Italian restaurant, finishing with a cleansing ale in the English-style pub downstairs - we were very surprised to walk in there and see Omani ...

... in Baghdad! I said, Pull over. I got out of the car and threw a fit--how am I supposed to trust two drunk guys driving a car at 100 miles an hour, who are above the law? I plunked myself right down by the side of the road and refused to move, and told them to go away. Heck, I do dumb things sometimes (like taking a ride from them in the first place!), but I'm not suicidal, nor do I even wish to have physical or emotional harm inflicted ...

... to convince me to accept he said: "Take it as a gift from Oman to Canada." The man was so genuine that I couldn't refuse. What a great guy. He explained that he was the owner and introduced me to his son, adding: "If you need anything in the next days come see him and he'll get it for you." Of course, after such a good gesture I was embarrassed to ask for more so I did not. But I'm sure there would have been nothing they wouldn't have done for me. This is Oman !!! Andre.

... on the south there are mountains with fresh water. So some hundreds of years ago the water pressure from sea towards mountains, and water pressure from mountains to sea caused a big crater, say 50 m, looked like some meteor fall. That was a good thing to venture. Then we followed another rough patch of stones and dust to reach a place called Wadi Shab. On the way we also saw beautiful blue sea, and a nice white sand beach. Wadi Shab is a beautiful place between a narrow valley ...