This weekend was supposed to be spent under a canopy of stars, with sand in between the toes (and in the hair, the ears and everywhere else for that matter), driving up and down dunes and chasing the dung beetles away from the camp fire.
But we personally had to scrap the plan. Yes, because amongst the things that are a little different here, there are public holidays. Or better the fact of never knowing until the last minute whether they are going to be public (as in “just for the public sector”) or a true “public holidays” (as in “for the general public”).
Take this last occasion for the example, the Prophet’s birthday. A birthday: you may be tempted to think that it should always be on the same date. Think again.
Well yes a date is a date but the calendar the date is based on is not the one we are accustomed to and in this case it can be all a bit lunar.
Here is how it works:
everybody knew the rough date (some, thanks to modern technology or basic knowledge of moon cycles, can also guess the date with precision) but as with every religious occurrence here, the exact date will only be announced two or three days before the actual event after a committee of elders have had the opportunity to glance at the moon and officially confer on the exact date.
Once this happens the Ministry of Manpower (I think) decides whether everybody is worthy of a day off or whether only the public sector is entitled.
Just to make things more interesting there is also to take into consideration that the weekend here can fall over a variety of days depending on who you work for: if you churn numbers in a bank for example you may have Friday and Saturday off, ministries and other public bodies are closed on Thursdays and Fridays, if you work for a company in the private sector you are at the mercy of some obscure algorithm I have not managed to crack: you may have Thursday & Friday or Friday & Saturday. If you are in construction you may just have 1 day off but some maybe 1 and ½ at random between Thursday, Friday or perhaps even Saturday.
After almost 2 and ½ years I find it just as mysterious as black magic.
So up until a few days before the weekend we were foolishly counting on a 3-day break to join the usual suspects on an insane challenge in the Wahiba desert until this announcement at S.’s company came out on Sunday:
“For your information ministries, public authorities and other government departments will remain closed on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday, according to a decision issued here yesterday by Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud al Busaidy, Minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court and Chairman of the Civil Service Council.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Abdullah bin Nassir al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, issued a ministerial decision to stop work at private sector companies and establishments on the same occasion on Thursday, February 17, 2011. Work will resume in private sector establishments on Saturday, February 19.
Have a nice holiday!”
Now while this doesn't mean anything to you. For us it meant just another “normal” weekend as opposed to a long one. Not enough to cover hundreds of kilometers for a desert challenge anyway.
So no desert for us; we had to come up with something else to do with the weekend.
That is how we ended up exploring a completely new part of town on a trek through the mountains at the back between Ryam and Muttrah. Now for those who do not know Muscat, these are basically mountains the city cuts right through, which meant that for about 1.5hrs we ended up on a snake infested trail (lots of fun) feeling as if we were in the middle of nowhere, while being just a stone throw from the hustle and bustle of the old town with souq, tourists and cruise ships!
Once off the trail we refilled at a local restaurant, jumped on our boat for a cruise along the coast and ended the day walking for what felt like the equivalent of the desert challenge to, through and from the Muscat Festival (the to and from just to avoid the gridlock of cars).
Today we took it easy brunching for hours at one of the usual joints at a top end hotel in town.
This is the end of a random weekend without a plan. Goodnight!
But we personally had to scrap the plan. Yes, because amongst the things that are a little different here, there are public holidays. Or better the fact of never knowing until the last minute whether they are going to be public (as in “just for the public sector”) or a true “public holidays” (as in “for the general public”).
Take this last occasion for the example, the Prophet’s birthday. A birthday: you may be tempted to think that it should always be on the same date. Think again.
Well yes a date is a date but the calendar the date is based on is not the one we are accustomed to and in this case it can be all a bit lunar.
Here is how it works:
everybody knew the rough date (some, thanks to modern technology or basic knowledge of moon cycles, can also guess the date with precision) but as with every religious occurrence here, the exact date will only be announced two or three days before the actual event after a committee of elders have had the opportunity to glance at the moon and officially confer on the exact date.
Once this happens the Ministry of Manpower (I think) decides whether everybody is worthy of a day off or whether only the public sector is entitled.
Just to make things more interesting there is also to take into consideration that the weekend here can fall over a variety of days depending on who you work for: if you churn numbers in a bank for example you may have Friday and Saturday off, ministries and other public bodies are closed on Thursdays and Fridays, if you work for a company in the private sector you are at the mercy of some obscure algorithm I have not managed to crack: you may have Thursday & Friday or Friday & Saturday. If you are in construction you may just have 1 day off but some maybe 1 and ½ at random between Thursday, Friday or perhaps even Saturday.
After almost 2 and ½ years I find it just as mysterious as black magic.
So up until a few days before the weekend we were foolishly counting on a 3-day break to join the usual suspects on an insane challenge in the Wahiba desert until this announcement at S.’s company came out on Sunday:
“For your information ministries, public authorities and other government departments will remain closed on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday, according to a decision issued here yesterday by Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud al Busaidy, Minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court and Chairman of the Civil Service Council.
Meanwhile, Shaikh Abdullah bin Nassir al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, issued a ministerial decision to stop work at private sector companies and establishments on the same occasion on Thursday, February 17, 2011. Work will resume in private sector establishments on Saturday, February 19.
Have a nice holiday!”
Now while this doesn't mean anything to you. For us it meant just another “normal” weekend as opposed to a long one. Not enough to cover hundreds of kilometers for a desert challenge anyway.
So no desert for us; we had to come up with something else to do with the weekend.
That is how we ended up exploring a completely new part of town on a trek through the mountains at the back between Ryam and Muttrah. Now for those who do not know Muscat, these are basically mountains the city cuts right through, which meant that for about 1.5hrs we ended up on a snake infested trail (lots of fun) feeling as if we were in the middle of nowhere, while being just a stone throw from the hustle and bustle of the old town with souq, tourists and cruise ships!
Once off the trail we refilled at a local restaurant, jumped on our boat for a cruise along the coast and ended the day walking for what felt like the equivalent of the desert challenge to, through and from the Muscat Festival (the to and from just to avoid the gridlock of cars).
Today we took it easy brunching for hours at one of the usual joints at a top end hotel in town.
This is the end of a random weekend without a plan. Goodnight!
2 comments:
Un sacco di commenti:
Le vacanze per i "governativi" le decide il Diwan, per noi privati le decide il Manpower.
Ti sei persa un weekend surreale a Ras Al Hadd/Wadi Bani Khalid...
Devi dirmi dove inizia il percorso da Riyam Park, e' una vita che mi riprometto di farlo.
PS. Adoro la descrizione delle vacanze :)
hehe
Si aspetto l'aggiornamento del tuo blog per leggere delle vostre avventure a RAH.
Il percorso e' sull'Oman trekking guide. Faccio uno scan e te lo mando :)
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