The Treasurebox Hotel Muscat

... overllooking a large bay with a sandy beach. Nearer to the centre of Muscat and ideal for holidaymakers and business trips alike are the Grand Hyatt and Intercontinental.<br><br>There is plenty to see and enjoy from this charming destination.

... an hour or two. It was just like one of the wonderful days out I remember from growing up in Scotland. Except we didn't have to wear raincoats while paddling, we didn't need hot pea and ham soup to warm us afterwards, and we didn't eat our sandwiches staring through the steamed up windows of the car. But very reminiscent all the same. Although I did miss the thickly buttered doorsteps of home made fruit loaf (spiced please, Mum). 23°34'7.71"N 58° 6'56.27"E

... in both marine and terrestrial habitats. A lot of our time has been spent meeting at their offices. Yesterday we met with some key government officials at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism. Our meeting with the Environment officials was very interesting and somewhat a formal affair. We met in this very large conference room and sat at a table that must have been at least 100-150 feet long. It was also ...

... pas tout a fait dans ce constat. Mais mon arrêt dans la cite nabathéenne semble voué a contre-balancer le bonheur que j'eus a parcourir ces distances si longues, ces si magnifiques deserts auxquelles ont tellement bien repondues les montagnes iraniennes. Un voyage d'une beauté finalement fabuleuse et dont chacune des rencontres effectuées l'aida à gagner en puissance. Mais j'avais dit que je ne m'interdisais rien et que même, avec ...

... made it easier to understand him. Before the Sultan took over, Muscat (maybe even Oman) had two schools, no roads connecting towns. The sultan has connected the country, blasting roads through the mountains and building highways. He's built plenty of schools and hospitals and really brought the country out of the third world. Enjoy the photos and be sure to read the stories with them.

Oh, man. What a weekend. Oman is one of those places that you never thought you would visit, and I coudn't be happier that I did. Despite some issues with our visas at the boarder - nothing more complicated than a long weekend wait - it was a truly memorable trip. We spent two nights in Muscat and enjoyed some hiking, caught up with some locals and their expat pals for a game of beach soccer, and enjoyed strolling around Old ...

... when our admin fellow went to collect our residence permits he was told that we couldn't have them as we weren't in the country.........at first they wanted us to drive back to the border crossing and persuade the border guards to stamp more than their blotters, but Afaq managed to convince them they should sort it out and he arrived back eventually with the permits - so we are in the country after all. Relief all round I'm sure. We chose to drive back from ...

... mysterious-until the present ruler of the country, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, took the throne in 1970. He transformed this once-feudal nation into the progressive country it is today. Oman has been more guarded in its rush towards modernity, preserving the language, customs, and architecture of its ancestors. In a twenty year period, virtually all of Muscat has been built in modern though ancestral style. Its port is not tourist ...

... be Italy. All of those luxuries were in the men's section of the Mosque. The women's section was no where near as elaborate. By the time the tour was done so were we. It was ridiculously hot and we were beat. So we went back to the house and started planning the next lag of our journey. Tuesday Jon had organized a dolphin watching trip for us. We got up around 6am so Jon could drop us off at the marina on his way to work. The boat tour had a few other people on it ...

Right across the road from our hotel is the Mutrah Fish Market. It starts at 4am when the fishing boats return with their catch and closes basically when the catch is all sold. For sale were some massive fish and various other edible sea creatures. If you like there was a section where men, for a fee, will gut, scale and fillet the fish right on the spot. They must have been popular because there were buckets and buckets of gruesome fish remains, worthy of a horror film blood and ...