Novotel Ruwi Muscat

It works! The engineer has been beavering away on our engine and at last it runs perfectly. It turns out the previous owner had barely used the boat in the past year and the whole thing needed a good clean out.


Finally we managed to get the family out and had our first adventure on the high seas. We didn’t go far, just 15 mins around the coast to a little ...

... their teens. Oman, a Sultanate, is a relatively liberal Middle Eastern country - at least compared to Saudi. It is mostly desert, it's lower portion makes up part of the 'Empty Quarter'. It has a beautiful coastline with a mountain range pierced by deep wadis and a sprinkling of green oases. Oman is striving to keep up with the likes of Dubai in terms of modernization but is not to that point (at least in terms of the excess). Tourism is being heavily developed, though seems to ...

... Her names Vijitha and she is from Sri Lanka. She works next door and in the house opposite us. She is very sweet and her English is good. She starts on Sunday (1st). One of the ladies organised a coffee morning in the club on Thursday. There were quite a few women there - it was really nice actually and just the sort of thing I saw myself doing being out here! I'm going to the Quilt Group/sewing guild tomorrow, much to ...

... Iraq, near Baghdad - see the icon of the plane on the map image to prove that I was here just like an American Diplomat. On the decent into Kuwait, I see lots of yellow-orange glowing oil/gas fields in the darkening landscape below.On the ground at the Kuwait airport. We arrive at Muscat. The customs agents are silent as they look repeatedly at me and my "official passport". Moving on the baggage claim, I wait and wait ...

... where we learnt it was a cool 34 degrees... but we've still no idea where everyone was/is). We spent last night on a quest to have a beer (or two), a quest that was to ultimately end in failure but only because we, having Indian prices still fresh in our memories, deemed the €8 asking price for 2 cans of lukewarm beer exorbitant. Then today we paid an early morning visit to the fish market to witness some big game fish having ...

We flew from Doha to Muscat on the evening of December 17th. As seems to be the norm these days our flight was delayed and as usual we were left with no information...despite a star-lit sky and the complete absence of wind we were finally told that there was a weather issue...hmmm....the flight was packed and boarding the plane was pure comic relief as the passengers literally attempted to climb over one another. We flew through customs, got our ...

... creeping into life here, which is not surprising I guess. Dubai on the surface is full of glamour and glitz, the biggest and best of everything either here or on its way, but underneath, and especially govt. red tape, it resembles third world processes and certainly makes China look super efficient. Most places in the world try hard to make things easier for diplomats, but the opposite appears to be true here and Kym is gradually compiling a list ...

... for marriage, like, to the divorced Sultan if he played his cards right. (more on this later) Along the way we were treated to soft drinks (no cocktails since the country was celebrating the birth of Muhammed) and lots and lots of canapes. These scenic vistas of Oman's history; from Portuguese architecture at the Corniche, to the modern wonders of the Al Alam Palace. The sunset, although obscured by a few clouds, was wonderful. The ...

... in this beast. Then he starts showing me how to use the 4 wheel drive. Pretty standard. Then he shows me how to use the 2nd tank of gas. We had 2 gas tanks. Insane. It was some kind of huge Toyota thing like a Land Cruiser or something. It was super nice. The drive there took us about 5 hours or so cause we kept stopping. Plus I had to go slow at first to get over my fear of driving an SUV again. This being the first time I have really driven since the accident and of ...

... in Dubai we managed to get a twin room, we wanted one for three nights but they wouldn't let us book it for the full time only one night. Probably so that they could kick us out if a full paying person needed the room. The room they gave us was initially lovely and cool, though this became freezing cold when we discovered we couldn't alter the temperature because there was no remote control for the air-conditioner. We actually had to sleep with all the sheets, blankets and a doona on!