Life proceeds smoothly on the hot side of the world. I am now used to the idea that 40c is the norm and I have to say that some days I am secretly disappointed when I realise that despite feeling as comfortable as in a baking oven, it's still spring after all and we haven't reached the extraordinary temperatures that are expected over here..yet.
Humidity has arrived, so the beautiful mountains on the background of Muscat are barely visible now and the blue in the sky has been replaced by a milky haze. I think it will stay like that for a few months.
Anyway despite what you may be thinking, it is not all that bad. Air con is everywhere here so apart from the short and frequent shocks to the system rushing from an air conditioned environment to another, there is little suffering from these extremes. Certainly less than when we have extremely hot summers in Europe where we are less than equipped for it. We still enjoy the social life and try to explore somewhere new when we can.
In fact life outside work is a very intense and activity-packed business. Yesterday we went to Wadi Sahtan with some friends who are here on holiday from the UK. It is a very big area and we only drove to one of the villages. There was no water in the wadi itself but the drive was extremely scenic, if not a little audacious.
The road climbed from 800m to 1700m in only 4 km. Narrow and steep in places we really put the car to the test. We noticed an interesting smell of brakes when we stopped on the way back. Not sure S. has worked out yet exactly how to use the different settings for 4x4 driving yet. I am sure he will read the manual if anything breaks down ;)
On the way back we also took a diversion onto the rough track along the dry river bed, just to make it more challenging (!?), so now we have a twisted hinge under the car and a damaged exhaust protector after S . drove over a massive boulder when he decided to ignore me pointing and saying “there's a rock there”... Small stuff that adds to the scratch I managed to shape under the front bumper a couple of months ago while parking in town. :D
As you know the purpose of these balls is to raise some money for charity so he personally auctioned off a special watch that he used during the expedition for charity. Some of you may have already seen this on the photos on Facebook so bear with me when I write it again for the benefit of those who are not enslaved to the infamous networking site. Apparently this watch was designed by NASA for expeditions to the dark side of the moon. It was the auction item that fetched the highest amount of cash: a whopping 14,000 OR; now that's about £28,000 or if this makes more sense the amount of money you need to buy one of the top of the range 4x4 over here. Now if you are interested I have found that online this limited edition Omega watch retails for £2,975.
A solar panel system for the house sold for about 12000 Omani Rials. The locals show us how it's done.. Good job there are people who can spare lots of money for charity! For everybody else there's Mastercard. ;)
I am still talking of the same weekend when I mention a night at the Intercontinental Hotel to watch a play/comedy by Muscat Amateur Theatre over dinner. It's a group of talented actors who do a very good job at keeping us entertained in town.
Recently we went back to the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel auditorium to listen to the Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra. The concert was sponsored by the Spanish Embassy and Qatar Airways (if I remember well). The orchestra, conducted by talented Spanish conductor Jose Gomez, played beautiful Spanish/Moorish themed music and a selection of pieces from the famous Carmen. It was the best performance we've witnessed to so far, possibly encouraged by the fact that some members of the Royal Family were sitting in the royal box.
We welcomed with enthusiasm and dropped jaws the recent news from John and the happy message about a stork reaching the far kingdom of OZ; now we wonder about those who are lagging behind.. and I am sure those in question know who we are referring to. ;)
Humidity has arrived, so the beautiful mountains on the background of Muscat are barely visible now and the blue in the sky has been replaced by a milky haze. I think it will stay like that for a few months.
Anyway despite what you may be thinking, it is not all that bad. Air con is everywhere here so apart from the short and frequent shocks to the system rushing from an air conditioned environment to another, there is little suffering from these extremes. Certainly less than when we have extremely hot summers in Europe where we are less than equipped for it. We still enjoy the social life and try to explore somewhere new when we can.
This is a very diverse country and we are lucky that during the summer months we can still escape to the high mountains not far from Muscat where temperatures, are always at least 10c lower than down here.
Work for S. is going well. He is quite busy and he has long days that normally start at 8am and often don't end until 6pm. I keep on thinking that with the commute that's not far off from a normal working day in London. Anyway, he tells me that he is enjoying his job despite some frustrations and office politics; he has only a 15-minutes commute to and from work, he loves the chilled-out lifestyle outside work and the sun is always shining. So far the pros make the cons insignificant which I guess is a good recipe for sustainable happiness.
In fact life outside work is a very intense and activity-packed business. Yesterday we went to Wadi Sahtan with some friends who are here on holiday from the UK. It is a very big area and we only drove to one of the villages. There was no water in the wadi itself but the drive was extremely scenic, if not a little audacious.The road climbed from 800m to 1700m in only 4 km. Narrow and steep in places we really put the car to the test. We noticed an interesting smell of brakes when we stopped on the way back. Not sure S. has worked out yet exactly how to use the different settings for 4x4 driving yet. I am sure he will read the manual if anything breaks down ;)
On the way back we also took a diversion onto the rough track along the dry river bed, just to make it more challenging (!?), so now we have a twisted hinge under the car and a damaged exhaust protector after S . drove over a massive boulder when he decided to ignore me pointing and saying “there's a rock there”... Small stuff that adds to the scratch I managed to shape under the front bumper a couple of months ago while parking in town. :DFor what concerns city life we can be seen out and about town at the usual watering holes, always accompanied by a loud crowd. We now have our trusted taxi driver who we call whenever we are on a mission night. At times I wonder whether it would be safer to drink drive than swish home on the motorway at the speed of thunder making a 45km drive across town a swift 15 mins hallucination, but then drink driving may earn you jail and other related trouble so we ride the cab. At least this driver doesn't text or talk on his phone while speeding away and has a plush car with dvd player and all sort of other gadgets that keep us distracted from the road. Definitely a step above the rest!
This past weekend we've also been to a ball at the Grand Hyatt hosted by the Environment Society of Oman. It was great to hear about the projects they are working on. Amongst the guests was Nabs Al Busaidi who is now a celebrity over here but you may have heard of him over BBC news. He's only just come back to Oman from his recent adventurous expedition. He is the first Omani and the first Arab to have walked to North Pole and it was great to be able to meet him, shake his hand and congratulate him personally.
As you know the purpose of these balls is to raise some money for charity so he personally auctioned off a special watch that he used during the expedition for charity. Some of you may have already seen this on the photos on Facebook so bear with me when I write it again for the benefit of those who are not enslaved to the infamous networking site. Apparently this watch was designed by NASA for expeditions to the dark side of the moon. It was the auction item that fetched the highest amount of cash: a whopping 14,000 OR; now that's about £28,000 or if this makes more sense the amount of money you need to buy one of the top of the range 4x4 over here. Now if you are interested I have found that online this limited edition Omega watch retails for £2,975.A solar panel system for the house sold for about 12000 Omani Rials. The locals show us how it's done.. Good job there are people who can spare lots of money for charity! For everybody else there's Mastercard. ;)
I am still talking of the same weekend when I mention a night at the Intercontinental Hotel to watch a play/comedy by Muscat Amateur Theatre over dinner. It's a group of talented actors who do a very good job at keeping us entertained in town.
Recently we went back to the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel auditorium to listen to the Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra. The concert was sponsored by the Spanish Embassy and Qatar Airways (if I remember well). The orchestra, conducted by talented Spanish conductor Jose Gomez, played beautiful Spanish/Moorish themed music and a selection of pieces from the famous Carmen. It was the best performance we've witnessed to so far, possibly encouraged by the fact that some members of the Royal Family were sitting in the royal box.So as you can see life proceeds smoothly. We keep ourselves busy and entertained. Yet, amongst this mayhem of activities, we are always thinking about all of you back in the world we come from, so don't forget to drop us an email to let us know how you are doing every now and then.
We welcomed with enthusiasm and dropped jaws the recent news from John and the happy message about a stork reaching the far kingdom of OZ; now we wonder about those who are lagging behind.. and I am sure those in question know who we are referring to. ;)
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