Theatre, diving, comedy? Life's a beach

This weekend gone has been a frenzy of activities. The weather is perfect and as the temperatures hike steadily we may as well make the most of it before it is too hot to even step outside and everything slows down.

We started with a classical concert on Wednesday night at the auditorium of the Al Bustan, a colossal luxury hotel where I always end up getting lost looking for the right lift or the toilets! The Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra (AKA ROSO) composed of young Omanis and directed by a British conductor was good. We enjoyed the cultural evening: the single priced tickets at 10 Rials each (about 18 GBP nowadays) get you the best seat you can manage to find in the house (first come first served) and as usual canapés and drinks during the interval!

This was the second time we were in that auditorium since we moved to Oman a few months ago and I have to say that the experience is always interesting. If in London you need to check your friends' diaries months ahead to make sure you find an evening that everybody can make, here even without meaning to, you know you will surely meet someone you know or spot a known face amongst the “contained” crowd.

The most amusing part however is people watching. Of course everybody is watching! As you mingle around at the interval scouring the crowd for known faces you can spot the seasoned expats from afar. There will always be one or two who having completely lost the sense of measure or the will to fit in, stand out like a sore thumb in their extravagant outfits (which by the way will help you recognise them again at the next social do); you may also have a little scuffle with the grumpy misfits who have obviously spent too long in the country and have been worn down by frustration, yet they never go back to the beautiful perfect lala land their country is because they know that by going back they would break the spell (even if they refuse to accept it).

At first sight you would say that the multicultural backgrounds mesh together and yet differences are so obvious to your eyes. Even my very own background it seems, is slowly screaming itself back out (little episodes like queueing or driving in this country have unleashed my survival instinct). I am finding it all very interesting.

Enough of the Muscat expatriate society! I could write a whole post on this but I want to tell you about our weekend. I guess that if I don't write so frequently my long blurbs are excused (she thinks).

After the ROSO concert of course we could not shun some drinks with friends at the beautiful bar by the beach so we were in bed by 2am and up again at 6:30 for our next appointment in the calendar. Life is hard!

My first dive in Oman was around the Daymaniyat Islands. Beautiful pearls encrusted in the Arabian sea about 45 minutes boat ride from the Global Scuba dive centre.
We had two dives, both very nice (although I was totally annoyed that the people on the other boat encountered a leopard shark and we didn't!). We saw huge morays, coral in beautiful condition, tuna and a few sea snakes on the sea surface as we were riding back. In between the two dives we stopped for lunch on one of the islands.

The photos speak for themselves, this place is paradise!

I was the first to get off the boat (those who were with me on the expedition in Madagascar are probably very familiar with this drill of mine ;-). As I waded towards the beach schools of glass fish started jumping around in a frenzy. I stuck my hand out. It must be true what they say about fish being stupid because they kept on hitting head first into my hand! Now I understand what an easy feat it must be for big fish to feed along the sardine run in South Africa.
We were back home around 3pm and crashed full weight on the bed.

Since having a late night and an early following morning wasn't enough in the evening we were booked for a comedy do. Smartly dressed and trying to look sleek we headed to the “Intercon” at 7pm to join our friends at the table for an evening of laughter over meal and a few drinks. It was a blast, we had lots of fun and of course another late night! I also managed to get a photo with Bobby Davro (if you know who he is).

By the end of the evening it is only half way through the weekend so on Friday morning we pack our car, pick up our friend and join the others who had been camping the night on Assifah beach. We spend another glorious day on the beach under the warm sun, swimming in the blue sea. We also “played” a bit of chase the goat when the uninvited guests turned up lured by the smell of lunch. A classic on this side of the world.

Before moving to Muscat I thought that we would have to give up a lot of things living out here (like classical concerts, comedy dos and stuff like that) but now it feels we are doing more with our time than we did back in London. Maybe because it is less of an effort or maybe because we make more of an effort (seen that the opportunities are limited)... either way we could have not crammed more into our humble weekend!

And this week we are even going paint balling! (FYI it's only just got to Oman).

Maybe you can guess what the next post is going to be about...