Muscat it is...

Back in Muscat... It was really nice to see a few of you in London.. a real shame to miss some others, especially Clara, Martin and the children. :(
I hope you are all feeling better now.



We got back the day before yesterday. Left London early in the morning with the meter reading -1c and landed at around 10pm in 25c of glorious sea breeze. This is more my element.

Although I have to say that the weather here has somewhat changed in the last few days. We are having a few clouds around and today for the first time since I moved here I saw some "real" rain and crazy wind, yet it doesn't last too long so I guess it is just a diversion. The clouds over the mountains make a very dramatic backdrop.

The visit to London was great for a number of reasons: seeing friends was the top one. Thank you Mike and Debbie for Mike's lovely birthday bash at Bovey Castle, really something to remember!! Thanks a lot Alex and Julie for putting us up and for the lovely meals (I can't believe you still had the energy to look after us after the long days at work!). Thanks Joe and Alice for the amazing dinner on Sunday night... I almost struggled to get into my fancy gown for the Crystal Ball last night!


Thanks to all you who turned up at the May Fair bar on Saturday night. It was really, really lovely to see you all.

Many have asked how it felt being back in London and whether we miss it so I guess this must be the top burning question for most of you.

While living in London I always thought that I would miss it a lot once I left yet this trip made us realise even more how happy we are in Muscat.

It was certainly strange to be back but although familiar it didn't feel too much like home any longer. It felt busy and tiring with lots of people rushing about. I guess the cold and rainy weather didn't help.

Do we miss it? Simon and I are united on this front: apart from people there is nothing we miss from the cosmopolitan city.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great city and we both love it and have enjoyed it for a number of years while living there but Muscat is definitely ticking all the boxes for us at this point in life.

After all what should we miss? The beach is never too far, the sun shines for about 357 days of the year, natural wonders and places to explore are just a few hours away, the lifestyle is as chilled out as we wanted and now when we come to London we can enjoy it on holiday.

Mabe it's a new phase in life, maybe it's the sign of age progression but this life really suits us. And we can't wait to share it a bit with family and friends; hopefully see you again soon.

3-day weekend break

Between weekend trips, work, other chores, Yoga lessons and Arabic classes I'll try to give you an update...

The latest highlight: our recent 3-day weekend trip out of Muscat; it was awesome! It was my first trip away from the capital and although I still think Muscat is a fairly relaxing city (definitely nothing like the pace of London), coming back from the desert on Saturday afternoon it really felt like a big bustling city with all those cars and people.

We visited Ras al Hadd and watched nesting Green Turtles at Ras al Jinz, apparently the biggest Green Turtle nesting site in the world. We saw a big turtle laying eggs and small “turtle-litas”running towards the moon into the water... well there was one that looked a bit confused and kept on going round in circles!

On the way to Ras al Hadd we stopped at various places along the coastal road swimming in beautiful wadis (rivers) and stopping for a dip at the sink hole by Bamah, a deep hole in the ground filled with beautiful turquoise blue salty water.

After spending the night at the Turtle Beach Resort at Ras al Hadd we turned inland for our circular route back to Muscat, stopping at another beautiful wadi and then, icing on the cake, we headed for Wahiba Sands, the desert, where we spent the night at the Nomadic Desert Camp (www.nomadicdesertcamp.com) This is a desert camp owned and run by a Bedouin family.

On the way there (off-road desert track) we stopped for some Omani coffee and dates at the place where most of the family still lives, in the desert. We had a ride on their camels, who reluctantly took us on their backs and watched them being fed just before sunset. An interesting business animated by the young guy chasing an insistent free roaming camel (not owned by the family) who wanted to join the feast.. After witnessing the funny scene we got back into our car and followed our host's 4x4 deeper into the desert reaching the camp just after sunset.

After dinner we had coffee around the fire under the stars and the glowing full moon before going to bed. We got up just before sun rise (in reality we were woken up by a screaming baby next door but what the heck it was worth it!). We climbed the dunes and watched the sun raising: it was amazing. The colours of the orange/golden sand are so intense at that time in the morning it's hard to explain what a spectacle sunrise in the desert is!

The morning air in the desert is pleasantly cold (I was wearing my fleece for the first time since I moved here!). I even tried walking bare feet on the sand and it was painfully icy cold. It's incredible how cold it gets in the desert at night!

After breakfast we jumped on the car and went for some dune bashing with our 4x4 (following the guide in his car of course). I was the driver! My very first drive up and down steep dunes! My heart was racing, it was such and adrenaline booster. I loved every moment of it!.
We'll definitely be going back. Next time maybe we'll do the desert crossing....

Anyway, words are not enough to describe the beauty of the places we've visited. Have a look at the full set of photos and book your tickets. This is definitely a country worth visiting. I am loving it... every day a bit more... ma' as-salaama!

We have a pad!

I know, it's been a little while. I have to give credit to Simon, it does take a little effort to keep the blog updated with so much going on.

To the delight of all those who have been asking (and to ours) we finally have a pad!
A 4 bedroom – 5 bathrooms (yes you read right) villa in Azaiba (or Athaiba or whatever other spelling this area, like all the others, may have). Well, actually it is a 3-bed plus maid's quarters but since we are not going to have a live-in maid it's 4 bed for us: plenty of space for those friends waiting to come out to visit us and get some winter sun! :)

As you can imagine I am really excited about spending the next weeks and possibly months making our allowance work hard on furniture and fittings to make it homely (just think of the big grin on my face). Of course this means that you may have to wait a little bit for the pictures as at the moment the place is just a big empty marble shell where your voice bounces up and down against the walls and back to your ears.

The other good news is that, after much pestering the shipping company, we have finally found out that our stuff is on its way and is due to arrive sometime in the next couple of weeks so it sounds like our life may shape into some sort of normality towards the end of the month.
For the rest there are lots of other things that have happened or are about to happen but I don't want to overload you with information.

We have been out quite a lot recently, now that summer is over and the temperatures are much more pleasant there is always something going on in and around of town. Today we even enjoyed fireworks along the coast for bonfire night!

Amongst the most notable of the recent outings has to be mentioned the posh reception held on the grounds of the Diplomatic Club in occasion of the Italian Armed Forces Day. Being invited to such dos is one of the privileges of being part of a small community such as the 80-strong Italian resident population of Muscat. Of course it was not just for Italians as other local dignitaries and international diplomats were amongst the guests.

It felt a bit surreal at first especially arriving and being personally greeted by handshake by the Italian Ambassador, the Military Attaché' and their wives all in a line receiving the guests. I wasn't quite sure what to do so we just followed in a beeline, I could see their eyes squinting trying to work out who the hell we were (maybe I just had the same expression on my face!). It was quite funny actually. Especially as the photographers from the local papers kept snapping away at each hand shake. I'll let you know if we end up on the mundane pages of the local press with big grins on our faces.

It was nice to dress up for the occasion, mix with the high society of muscat and enjoy some nice wine and lots of Italian food. Apparently there are about 3 or 4 of these sociable events organized by the Italian Embassy to look forward to every year.

In the meantime I know there will be some more exciting non Embassy related events coming up soon. So stay tuned.

A final note to those who don't know yet (I will be sending an email soon): we will be in London town for a brief visit at the end of the month.. I hear it's cold :-

We are planning to hang out at a watering hole in town on Saturday 29th November, so if you are in London, you still have space in your diary and you don't mind us showing off our tans... keep it free. I'll be in touch via email.

First impressions

We are now over the first few days of over-excitement from the new car (just about).

Yes we really like it, even if you see lots of these in every corner and the immediate use of the unlock button on the remote at the car park is to reassure you that you are definitely walking towards your own car and not the twin sister parked next to it - I guess this may seem like a boring choice for some but after years of nonsense with the Barchetta in the UK this is the perfect car for us here. It doesn't even matter that I need a ladder to get in ;) - which reminds me that I need to have a photo taken of me at the wheel to see how small I look in it.

Alex I'm afraid you will need to get over here to get a real feel for it but I am sure Simon will bore you to death talking about it when we are over in London in late November...or maybe you will both bore Julie and me ;)

So time is flying, I can't believe it's already over a month that I have moved over (and that we don't have a permanent home yet: as usual we always follow the right priorities).

So what's the first assessement?

Well, after overcoming the initial overwhelming feeling of moving to a foreign land and forgetting the minor hickups with the house and the inevitable yet mild initial cultural shock/adjustment, things are looking good.

The fact is that I am getting a full load of the one thing that I have craved the most in the last 12 years: the SUN; and then the second one too: the SEA.
I mean, how bad can a day be when you can end it with a walk along the beach at sunset? When you can plan your BBQs and weekends without worrying about the weather? When you don't need to carry an umbrella and a warm top in case the weather changes later on?
I'm in my element!

Muscat is a beautiful city. Blue sea, white houses and a dramatic mountain backdrop. With the temperatures now down to a more bearable 30+ degrees and a light breeze on the coast the haze has almost disappeared giving way to a beautiful blue sky. As you drive around town now everything seems to be blooming, I guess this is a bit like spring, now that the harsh heat has retreated colourful flowers, green grass and trees are florishing.

Life here is comfortable; eating out means that you can splash out at a posh hotel (where expensive is more like the average price for a top meal in London) or eat so cheaply (and still decently) that it will cost you less than cooking your own dinner at home.

Going out in the evenings you could sometimes be forgiven for forgetting what country you are in after a few drinks that is ;). The drill is the same: a few cocktails in a bar, then move to the next have a few more and end up in some dubious club full of odd individuals from all walks of life.
Just no dancing with a drink in your hands or the bouncer will tell you off. (uh?)
Soon it will be 3 am, the taxi will be right there for you at the exit, the ride back home will only cost you 5 Rials and in the morning you'll be nursing your hangover.

This is just to say that life here is more “normal” than I had anticipated, just with some interesting twists every now an then :)

And the winner is....

TV

Tried endlessly to access blogger.com last night with no success. The site just won't come up.
Today I have found a workaround which I will not disclose here but I suspect that this has something to do with how all forms of communication and web browsing are monitored and heavily controlled here...

It may mean that soon I won't be able to update the blog.

Incidentally the post I was trying to publish was about censorship. Here it is...

Just finished watching a film on TV and let's say it was.. hmm an interesting experience.
Well nothing wrong with the film, in fact I really enjoyed it but now I fully appreciate the meaning of censorship.

Every single swear word in the film was wiped out from the sound and the end was cut short before the two main characters could kiss, which, thinking back, also explains why at some point during the film one of them mentioned something about kissing the other but couldn't quite follow because that scene was never shown.
Yesterday instead I experienced the visual censorship when the exposed buttock of a woman was covered with a black square.

... and I thought that British TV was a bit conservative when I moved to the UK from Italy ;)

What car?

Forget the financial crisis! We've taken out the monopoly money and order the much longed car.

As the locals say, Inshallah, our brand new spanking car should be with us in a couple of weeks' time.

So what car is it? Leave a comment if you think you can guess :-)

The photo has one small clue (click on it to open bigger size) and here are a couple more:

- it is probably the 2nd most popular model of the range here
- the model designation is used in Japan, Australia, South Africa, Middle East and Latin America but may be called differently in Europe
- paved roads ain't its limit...see if you can guess the rest.


The answer will come in a new post soon... You only have to suffer a little bit of wait, just like us ;)

Just another weekend

I started working again on Monday (from home) so time now comes as a premium again and with additional to-do tasks like viewing homes and test driving 4x4s after work not too many exciting things happening (especially considering that my working day is spent segregated in our room in the empty house with nobody to talk to apart from the maid when she comes in to clean... I think I may become even crazier soon).



However the weekend is now coming to an end so I can fill you in: FANTASTIC!



Today we spent 6 hours at sea on a lovely boat that took us on a trip to Bandar Khayran a really beautiful bay south of Muscat where we did lots of swimming, snorkelling and generally had a great time.

I was impressed by the condition of the coral (saw quite a bit of hard and soft coral) even though the visibility wasn't the best. Lots of little fish, box fish, a terrified mooray who couldn't find a suitable hole to hide in when we approached, huge pipe fish, lots and lots of huge sea cucumbers (they haven't obviously been fished out for the Asian market yet here) and lots of other stuff I can't even remember.



It was really a lovely way to chill out (well if you can call it chilling with these temperatures!) and spend a weekend afternoon. Every now and then I wondered whether I was dreaming...



The photos speak for themselves....

Anyway, how are things over there? We'd love to hear from you.

Life is a beach

While you slowly wake up to the lazy pace of the weekend, the equivalent of the Monday here is already underway.

My first weekend in Muscat was lovely. On Sat... hem Thursday we spent most of the day viewing properties with the hope to find one we can finally call home. At this stage we are still unsure although we both seem to swing towards a flat in the Oasis residence that with 3 swimming pools, gym, shops, sauna (do we really need a sauna in this country?) and all the rest of the amenities it feels more like a holiday resort than a residential block. Mainly we like the fact that the flat is spacious (yeah right). The one we saw was a 3 bed flat + small maid room (!) which will serve very well as a storage room.

While room size here is no issue (bathrooms can be as big as what in London estate agents attempt to describe as a bedroom), the quality of the homes and finish is different to what we are accustomed to and in all the properties that we've seen so far there is always some form of downside that makes the decision hard. There is the flat in the residence with the pools but you are in a block/compound with lots of other people and no private outside space, the spacious town house but finished to 70s council flat standards, the flat with a beautiful terrace and sea views but with bedrooms way too small and with a guest room with crap air con (our guests would hate us :), the huge villa in the middle of a building site (!) and so on... Here the leases last for at least 12 months and they are paid up front for the whole year so you want to be sure before you commit to anything.

After the excitement of looking for a new home, Thursday night we were invited to an Omani home for a party which was a good way to get to spend some time with the locals. After only a few days from my arrival I still felt really alien but it was good fun. Lots of carpets covered the patio outside the villa with cushions arranged around to sit on and enjoy lots of food. By the middle of the evening the edge of the carpet was covered with a mountain of shoes!

As we had a late night on Thursday, Friday morning we took it very easy. We got to the Oman Dive Centre towards 11 or 11.30 after a drive through the spectacular rocky landscape and we spent the rest of the day on the beach. The ODC is apparently the only place where you can wear a bikini, drink (soft drinks) and eat in public during the day throughout Ramadhan so it's a little oasis from the rigours of this month. There was a nice breeze and the water was pleasantly warm so we had a very relaxing day. We went back home to close the evening with a BBQ on the roof.

I haven't seen much yet, I think it will take some time to appreciate the many things this place has to offer however I can already tell that this is a country of exceptional beauty!

PS: More photos of this weekend on Flickr

Landed...

Just a quick post to say that I have finally arrived in Muscat with Simon.

The last few days have been very hectic moving from place to place. In 3 days we have travelled thousands of miles both within Italy (to travel to a family wedding in Sardinia) and away from Italy all the way here.

We landed at Muscat aiport last night around 11 pm local time. On leaving the plane I was engulfed in 33c of suffocating, humid heat and then hit again by icy cold air on entering the air conditioned terminal, then heat again to reach the car, cold, heat and then cold again entering the house. I think my body didn't quite know what to do. This is going to be interesting...

Lounging around today. As you can imagine I haven't seen anything of Muscat yet. When Simon comes back from work I will venure out ... to the supermarket with him but I think I will have to wait for the weekend (Thurs, Fri) to get a first taste of the city. I don't have a car yet.

The sun is shining...

My turn to go..

The last two days in London were a bit more stressful than anticipated however finally after a little bit of drama all fell into place.
Personal effects packed and handled by international shippers in 12 long tedious hours, house empty and clean, car dropped to dealer for sale...

I finally managed to turn up at the Porterhouse for drinks well past the originally planned time after the car left me stranded in the middle of the rush hour traffic on a hill in Stretham.

Thank you all for coming out on Friday night and really, really sorry for those I missed due to this unforseen commotion.

I flew out to Italy from T5 on Saturday and had a great time at the airport potting around the shops and taking lots of pictures.
As the plane took off leaving London and the English hills behind on a glorious sunny day I was overwhelmed by a cocktail of emotions.

2 and ½ hours later I was sweltering in 26c of humid heat as I landed in Rome at 9.45 pm (!!), better get used to that. I’ll be in even warmer Oman from 15th September.

Another beautiful day in Muscat

What more can I say. Beautiful day spent lounging around at the Hyatt with friends from the guest house. The sea and mountains are beautiful here.

Greetings from Oman

Hello blog readers or Ahlan as they say in Arabic,

I normally do quick posts from my phone but today I thought I'd log on and write a more detailed update.

Life in Oman is great, it's been only four weeks but I'm fairly confident Rossella and I will enjoy our time here. Unlike other Middle Eastern countries the community is well integrated with Europeans, Asians and Omanis working and living together without a strong feeling of class divide - it does exist of course but not to the same degree found elsewhere and is largely as a result of economic imbalance between different countries around the world.

The weather is fantastic - every day is sunny and hot although luckily it has in general stayed below 40C which is rare this time of year. I'm looking forward to the winter when the haze will clear and the temperatures will be warm (i.e. less hot).

Muscat is an interesting City and much slower paced and easy going that Dubai. It's also a far more attractive city with a beautiful coastline on one side and mountains on the other. I've not yet ventured out of town but hope to do so in next few weeks with a trip into the mountains with a 4x4.

Cost of living is varied and you can live as cheaply or costly as you wish. The usual western shops are here such as Fat Face, Mango, Banana Republic etc which charge western prices or you can shop for significantly less with reasonable local brands. The cost of petrol is incredibly cheap at about the fifth of the cost of the UK and you can buy cars tax free... I've already been to see the Porsche and Audi garages!

That's all for now....

Simon

Petrol

Just filled up my petrol tank from almost empty. Here's the receipt - it cost £6.40. Cheaper than a pack of bacon here. Amazing!!

Sunny again ;-)

Great weather once again. Spent day with some friends at the Intercontinental hotel making use of it's facilities - way too hot for the gym though.

View from terrace

Been very lucky with the weather as it's been cold by Omani standards. Highs of 36C until a few days ago but now reaching 45C. It's a bit like been in a sauna as it's also quite humid today. I've got used to it quite quickly though and it's great to see the sun every day.

Tap!

Getting used to the water now. Looks like a normal tap but two settings - hot and not quite so hot!

Beach

Stopped at the beach on the way back from work. Beautiful long beach with refreshing breeze blowing in. Great way to forget work.

Home and Car

This is my current car in front of the villa that is being used as my guest house. It's quite spacious with 5 ensuite bedrooms. I'm sharing with a Faroese man (Faroe Islander), an Englishman and a Lithuanian couple. All very pleasant people.

Corn Flakes

Whilst eating corn flakes for breakfast I spotted under the list of ingredients a notable exception. Good to know as they would taste horrible otherwise!!!

My Room

This is my room in the guest house. Small with ensuite bathroom but also have big shared lounge, kitchen and dining room. Temporary accomodation until we find new home.

Awaiting connecting flight

Arrived in Abu Dhabi and now waiting for my onward connection to Muscat. It's 1.50am and 38C outside :-0

The adventure starts here for Simon

After a couple of weeks of leaving dos, BBQs and goodbyes to friends and family Simon has left for Oman today.

He will land in Muscat at about 12am BST tomorrow morning after a change of planes in Abu Dhabi. The adventure for him starts now.

It was hard to part at the airport today. I will join him in Muscat towards the second half of September after a 2-weeks detour to Italy.

Here are a couple of photos from our recent leaving do in Hammersmith. More photos here.

Rossella