Ramee Guestline Muscat

... in the country in The Chedi, part of the worldwide chain of luxury hotels. Decorated in a modern and very minimalist style the Chedi is the last word in chic in Oman. Spacious lawns lead down to the Arabian Gulf and the beach. A beautiful ...

... the kids are strapped, still complaining that they were in the middle of something vital, into the back seat and the adventure begins. And it turned out to be a lovely afternoon, despite the satnav taking us to the the local landfill site first (maybe I should have programmed it in conjunction with the guide book). It's a little nerve wracking taking your lovely new car off road, but following in the tracks of some canny locals we were soon slip ...

... by Goodwill and Salvation Army. I've never seen such awful colors and patterns. Our trip is being coordinated and hosted by the Environment Society of Oman (EOS) and we've been meeting with their staff and folks at an environmental consulting firm, called Five Oceans. EOS is the only non-governmental organization in Oman focused on the environment (the govt has to approve all NGOs here). They are about 2 years old and have about 500 members ...

... dans un formidable bras d'honneur aux mollahs, ont pour une bonne partie d'entre elles transformé le violent bout de tissu voué a cacher leurs cheveux en accessoire de mode aux couleurs, motifs et textures variés. Pas sùr qu'elles les abandonneraient si on leur en laissait le choix. Enfin, puisque ce voyage d'un chouilla plus de 45 jours s'est conclu, j'en viens aux enseignements tirés à mon propre propos. L'exceptionnelle mani ...

... in parking position. That might have been the reason for the early flight boarding time. Everyone was on the plane an hour before the departure and the stewardesses seemed to be very stressed shouting loudly: "Stay seated" Staying in a nice spacious flat with great friends who were not to tired to pick me up from the airport early in the morning. Will check this city out in the upcoming days. Had my first alu barata.

... to it again and traveled with it for a while - a delightful sight. I suppose there must be someone in the world who gets as excited about seeing a truckload of pigs, sheep, cows or horses. At least we managed to amuse the truck driver and cars around us with our antics, although they did seem somewhat perplexed. We also made a small diversion down a side road to get a look at the coast - unimpressive, dark grey beaches crowded with villages and rubbish, almost no ...

... when I have figured out how to download the camera software may shoot a few through to you. Glen and I had lovely sunset buffet overlooking the "Creek" as they call it. A 'river system' we call it. Boats all wooden putting up the 'creek' with patrons dining aloft. Off on desert tour now for 4 hours of....

... up there. Sunday night we had a BBQ with Jess's parents. I could eat again!!! Yay me...well a little bit anyway. After dinner Jon got the Shisha pipe going. That was super funny. He had to call Charlotte on the phone to get instructions and we were all laughing pretty hard at him trying to get the coals lit. Monday Tina had organized a city tour for us to take. It was great. We went to the Mosque, the fish market, a souq, the palace, a museum and the Al Bustan ...

... UAE. Our trip back we took the coastal road and stopped off in Sohar, which is the home of fictional Sinbad. Like much of the Gulf region Oman was short of tourist attractions, however, there was more to see than in the UAE. There were definite differences between the countries though as I found Oman to be more picturesque and more of what I expected of Arabia when I came to live here 2 years ago.