Muttrah Hotel Muscat

... failed to re-start when we were wanted to set off home, but it was soon resolved with a bit of priming and some words of ‘encouragement’.

Ano ther minor problem on the way home was not being able to refuel at the marina - apparently they don’t take credit cards on a Friday. Go figure.

All in all a successful first family voyage. We ...

... be in its infancy. The infrastructure is very modern - the immediate Muscat coastline is traversed by 4 lane highways and good highways also head to the major towns across Oman. The airport is modern and being updated, there are 5 star hotels and large shopping malls (much to Maddie's delight). You can drink the water from the tap (yeah) and even buy alcohol (yeah!). Let me explain the alcohol rules more. Muslims are not allowed to buy alcohol, but expats are - if you are a ...

... s amusement. They meet once a month. I wasn't interested at first as I thought it would be the old women meeting place but apparently there is a broad spectrum, old, young, native and expat. Callan's swimming has come on incredibly. His confidence doubled in a week. He is now jumping in and kicking up to the surface on his own. The main thing for me is that he is actually lying on his back - he hated doing that in the pool at ...

... 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 ...

... the Arabian peninsula en route to Cairo other than "why not?" It's a strange sort of place, a hot, quiet city (it is a push calling it such but a city, we're told, is what it is) a million miles removed from the noise, dirt and general madness of India, still fresh in our memories. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and quickly settled into our Corniche Hotel room overlooking Muscat harbour. We then headed out to have a look around ...

... visas immediately, and made our way to pick up our rental car. The young man at the desk was asleep with his feet up, but after a few minutes we were able to wake him up and from then on he was extremely helpful and friendly. This would be our experience throughout our time in Oman. Our 4x4 was brand new, manual shift, and very powerful - Carlo was pleased to say the least! Our hotel was basic, but clean and well-placed for getting to the mountains.

... and a new, bigger and better one will be built somewhere else, Sport city I guess) which was nice, a real fun atmosphere and plenty of games. We didn't stay to see the finals as the prospect of thousands of drunken poms wasn't all that appealing, and that seemed to be where it was heading, helped along by a smattering of Aussies I expect. We have been for dinner on a boat on The Creek which was very pleasant, although the food was pretty awful, and we were ...

... 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!