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...