le weekend

Well there is a lot of stuff going on this weekend...

Tonight

Electro party at Zouk

House music night tonight at Zouk from 10 till 3.


Thursday

The Soapbox Race

There is of course the first ever Red Bull Soapbox race that takes place over in Bowsher, it starts at 2pm and runs until 6pm.

The Art of Living Carnival

Starting at 10am and running until 10pm at the Fun Zone in Qurum is the day-long event with activities for all the family, in the name of charity. There's a facebook event page here with more information.

Treasure Hunt in Muttrah - THURSDAY 25th APRIL (NOT THIS WEEKEND!)

The Centre for Omani Dress (preserving traditional Omani cultural dress) is hosting a scavenger/treasure hunt fund-raiser between 9am and 1pm. Pre-registration is required to participate, and the price is 25OMR to register per team of 2-4 people (age 12+) and at least one team member is required to have a camera or phone with a built-in camera to participate. Prizes will be awarded to the top three based on most correct answers and best time. Maps of Mutrah souq will be provided and gift bags for all participants.



Wig party at the Hyatt

It's been quietly rumbling along and this will be the big party of the night, with numbers of expected guests to be in the mid hundreds - go get a wig, dress to impress, and go get your drink on (if you're into that sort of thing) at the Hyatt's outdoor venue, Marjan, by the pool. I'll give a free pat on the back to the first drunk person to jump in the pool. Here's the Facebook event page for more information. It kicks off at 7pm and runs till 10pm, before moving up to the John Barry bar for the after party which will run till midnight.

Friday

Beverly Hills Brunch

For those who enjoy the finer things in life, genuine Moet et Chandon bubbles will be served, free-flowing, at the newly launched brunch at the Hyatt. RO 49 for the free flowing bubbles, RO 22 for soft drinks or RO 35 for freeflowing dB wines and selected spirits and cocktails. Here's the Facebook event page for more information, starts at 12:30 and runs until 3:30.

Jazz night

British Jazz singer Matthew vanKan is coming to the rebranded for one night only Copacabana "Jazz Club". VIP tickets are already sold out, and the show starts at 8pm. Here's the Facebook event page for more information, to book tickets you can call 2464 1234 or email muscat.dining@hyatt.com

That's quite a full weekend!

Have a good one everyone....

le fin.

The essence of Indonesia at Marjan

From tonight until the 1st of March, you can try out some true Indonesian foods prepared by Chef Bowo and Chef Gatot who have flown in from the Grand Hyatt Jakarta for the event. Prices are A La Carte, so you can sample as much or as little as you wish, a nice little culinary treat for a week or so for those into different types of foods!

Have a great weekend everyone!

le fin.

Friday Brunch at The Chedi

This Friday, and every one from now on, from 12:30 until 4:30pm sees the launch of The Chedi's brunch at The Restaurant.

RO 24 ++ including non-alcoholic drinks
RO 32 ++ including prosecco, wine and non-alcoholic drinks
RO 46 ++ including Louise Roederer Champagne, wine and non-alcoholic drinks

It's always fun to go to Planet Chedi, it's like another world there :)

Have a great weekend everyone.

le fin.

The Jumeirah Zabeel Saray resort, Dubai

Following on from my previous post about the Dubai Summer Surprises, I thought I'd write a review on the hotel that I stayed in while up in Dubai on the weekend. I stayed in the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray resort which is effectively a Turkish palace themed resort, tucked away on the outer-most frond of the Palm in Dubai. The hotel is pretty big - over 400 rooms and also 38 4 and 5 bedrooms villas available for rent as well.

The hotel takes quite a long time to get to - about 35 minutes from the airport, and 20 minutes from Dubai Mall / Mall of the Emirates. A taxi costs around 70 Dhs from the Dubai Mall (or to for that matter). Most of the reason for the delay is that the roads on the Palm have speed bumps very frequently, presumably to stop people from speeding on the island, which makes sense really.

The hotel is, however, a resort first, and a hotel in it's purest sense of the word, second. So really it's quite nice that the hotel is a little bit out of Dubai - it's only a $15-20 cab ride back to the main city if you want to go, but the peaceful atmosphere you get for being tucked away right at the end of the Palm is fabulous.

Amusing irony... married couple staying in a twin room with the bed made up like that!

The view as you enter the room

The tub was big.... really big.

The room I stayed in was a twin, with twin queen sized beds, a balcony, then the wash room, separate shower, and the biggest bath tub I've ever seen in a hotel room.The picture we took could not even fit the entire thing in. It fits two people more than easily :) They have all their bath products produced by the rather exclusive and fancy Asprey of London's Purple Water product line. Very swish! A 75ml bottle of this stuff costs $17 from Asprey, to give an idea of it's fanciness :)

Now, this is a resort, and not just a hotel, and there are a lot of extra things here, including a fully fledged dinner theatre for 370 people, called the Mehteran Theatre & Event Centre (pretty neat I think). I understand that dinner shows will be starting very shortly, so if you are into cabaret and similar things, you might want to check this out. 

Dinner theatre....

However, the biggest draw for people to this hotel is the spa. Billed as the biggest spa of it's kind in the UAE, it is simply huge. The Talise Ottoman Spa is spread over 2 floors, covering 8,000m2 and is split into 2 - Males and Females, along with 42 separate treatment rooms and 3 Turkish Hammams, you know, because 1 or 2 just isn't enough.

The entrance to the spa

The spa was remarkably busy, with it being quite tough to even get an appointment for a particular treatment there, but general access to the main facilities is included with your room - there's the Hammams, indoor pool, ice room, steam room, "adventure shower" and a bunch of other stuff too.

The hotel, also, obviously, has a nice and extensive offering of beach and swimming pools. The view below is from the main lobby of the hotel.

The pool is patrolled by 3 life guards to ensure the safety of those using it. Coming from Oman where its all too common that there are no life guards at all, it was refreshing to see. The pool staff also provide ice buckets with bottles of water so you can cool off on one of the many sun loungers dotted around the pool and the beach.

Also at the resort, are 8 separate restaurants, a vodka bar, and a Cigar lounge. I only tried out the signature restaurant, Lalezar, and the main buffet restaurant, Imperium. Lalezar is a traditional Turkish restaurant and was very very good. It was fairly pricey, but not outlandishly expensive for this part of the world. A mixed mezzeh starter, 2 soups and 2 mains with some drinks brought the bill to around Dhs 700. The atmosphere, and the food were really enjoyable, I would definitely go again.

Lalezar

 

This was the French-Vietnamese restaurant, Voi, aesthetically, my favourite restaurant in the resort.

The vodka bar, named Voda Bar, had me smiling because I was trying to figure out if the designers were having a laugh or not. The bar was very nice to look at for sure, but look at the chairs.... could you imagine a patron of the bar, smashed up on Vodka, trying to negotiate those chairs gracefully? haha. It looked very smart though!

These are the seats at the Vodka bar...

Random weird chairs

The hotel has a Facebook page here, and bookings can be made via it's website here. Rooms start at Dhs 900.

le fin.

Liverpool FC Fan Club @ the Habana Sports Bar

Those of you who like over-paid actors soccer, and in particular Liverpool, may be excited to discover that tonight the new Anfield Road lounge is launching in partnership with the Grand Hyatt and Standard Chartered. At 7pm, Liverpool kick off against Wigan, and you can win some cool Liverpool bits and pieces, signed by 80's super-icon Ian Rush (owner of an impressive 'tash as well).

But wait, there is more - to get a free drink, all you have to do is "like" the Standard Chartered Oman facebook page et voila, the very kind people at the Habana will furnish you with a free drink. Not too shabby, free is, after all, my favorite price!

Have a good week everyone!

le fin.

Millennium Resort, Mussanah. A review.

A few weeks ago, I went to the Millennium Resort in Mussanah (where they had the Asian Beach Games) for a night and some R&R with Mrs Sythe. We drove up on a Thursday morning from Muscat to Mussanah, and it took about an hour to drive up there. The resort is well sign-posted from the main Sultan Qaboos highway that travels the length of the Batinah coast, so there's no missing the turn off these days!

The first thing that struck me when I turned off the SQ highway was that there was a brand new dual carriageway to take us out to the coast, and a brand new roundabout to turn onto what will be the new Batinah Expressway, which has already been built by the approach to the resort. Getting there could not be simpler anymore.

The resort, on approach, is essentially split into 2. On the left as you approach, is the hotel, and on the right is the apartment building. Rooms in the hotel, and apartments are available for rent, so if you have a family and want to relax by the sea for a few days, it may be worth looking into the apartments.

For my trip though, I was treated to a suite in the hotel for a 1 night stay. And it was a real treat.


The rooms were very spacious, we were in a suite with a separate lounge area, and 2 TV's one in the lounge and the other in the bedroom. The technology in the rooms is excellent, with caller ID on the phone system so you are addressed by name when you call for something, you can use the IN-TV menus and actually do stuff with them, unlike many hotels here that have it but it's not setup properly (or at all).

 

The view from our balcony was pretty spectacular, and when we arrived it seemed the Oman Sail Womens Sailing Program was in full swing. We entertained ourselves watching the little boats sail into each other for a while. The balconies were great - nice comfortable wicker chairs and walled in from the sides to maintain privacy from other rooms.

Seeing as we were visiting this hotel as a freebie, we felt duty bound to check out as much of the place as possible. After the drive up, and intensive boat-watching, we decided we were hungry and thought we'd check out the room service menu. After selecting a chef's salad and steak sandwich, I picked up the phone and hit the button for room service. 1 ring later it was answered in clear English: Hello Mr Sythe, how can I help you? To compare that to the Al Bustan (admittedly when it was still run by IHG, not Ritz Carlton) I had to actually call twice to room service, because the first time it rang off the hook, and when it was finally answered, it was done so gruffly: 'allo? with no idea of who was calling or what room we were in.

So we placed our order and set about figuring out how to work the TV, and tucked into the complimentary fruit bowl we suspected was put there specially for us. All the channels on the TV came in clearly, and the menu was split up in a way we could select English TV, Movies, Sports, and so on. Another nice surprise. How many of you have checked into hotels, turned the TV on to catch the news, and then ended up watching Sky news through a snow-storm of static? It happens to me a lot. Perhaps I should stop watching the news on TV. A nice touch with the telly, was that there 2 of them, 1 in the lounge and 1 in the bedroom, and they syndicated, showing the same thing if we chose, meaning we could walk between rooms and it'd be the same program on.

After we'd figured out the TV and eaten some grapes, the door bell rang. Less than 20 minutes and the room service was here. We opened the door and in wheeled a trolly with our food, which was set on our table, and places set as well with nice cloth napkins, and then the bell hop was gone again. I tipped him, but I had to actually stop him from leaving to do so as he clearly wasn't expecting it or hanging around looking for one either.

The food was amazing, the chef salad was more of a meat extravaganza, and none of it was processed meat, the beef and chicken were roasted and hand carved. The same went for my steak sandwich - it was delicious.

The rest of the suite contained 2 toilets (1 in the lounge the other off the ensuite bathroom), a dedicated rain shower, and a separate extra deep bath tub. The usual free stuff was there, but a nice touch was also bath salts for the tub.


We thought we'd go for a walk along the beach and check out the outside of the hotel, so we headed downstairs to the lobby. It was on our journey downstairs that we found a maid's cart with loads more of the fruit bowls, so it seemed they were standard to each room - they are great, and not just your usual apples, orange and banana either.

The beach is of course man-made with the break-water surrounding the floating jetty. There are also nicely manicured gardens running the length of each of the buildings which adds a nice touch of colour. We never ventured over to the apartment building side, because the pool and beach (that wasn't protected by the break-water for the jetty) was on the hotel side.

Moving on from the main hotel building, we headed over to the Pool. The pool is now open, and the the spa building I'm told will be opening shortly, and will contain a gym and spa. I have a thing for infinity pools, I love them. I am still going to say my favorite one in Oman is at the Bustan palace, but this one is really, really nice too.

I would note that there was a shortage of sun-bathers, but then again, no one was using them anyway when we went to visit the pool, so perhaps the number of sun bathers is not really an issue.

After an hour or so there, we headed back to our room, and stopped by the dining area to see how it looked...

We thought it looked pretty nice and comfortable. It was at this point that we bumped into our friend who had brought us along with him to visit the hotel, he'd just gotten off his bike and seemed fairly excited about the fact he'd kick some idiot driver's car door on his way up because they cut him off - but I digress. He said to us, "see you at the BBQ tonight then" which left us with more questions than answers - we thought we were just up visiting the hotel for a free night to check it out, and now there is a mysterious BBQ being discussed.

It turned out that the resort was running a BBQ weekend - a room for 2, BBQ dinner buffet on the beach & breakfast in the morning, including all taxes, for the small sum of RO85. It also turned out that the hotel was fully booked.

Armed with the knowledge that we had a BBQ to look forward to, we went back to our room and tucked into the mini-bar. I should point out at this point that everything I had heard about this hotel up until this point from other people was negative: They don't have a liquor license, nothings finished, the food sucks - and so on. I want to clear this up: The only thing that was not open when we visited was the amenity building which will hold a spa once it's finished. The hotel has alcohol and as I already wrote, the food is really good. Don't just take my word for it, Andy in Oman wrote about it too (the food, that is).

We went to the BBQ, and it was really nice: white table-cloths on round tables to seat 10 right on the beach, mere meters from the sea with fresh BBQ'd food and salads laid on. I didn't take any pictures as I was with friends and enjoying the evening, so sorry about that.

As it happens, the Millennium Resort in Mussanah is running another BBQ weekend, for RO 85 for a couple, dinner and breakfast included at the end of March (29th to be exact). You can book with them by calling +968 2687 1518 and asking for the BBQ weekend special rate. I highly recommend it, returning to Muscat on Friday afternoon we felt fully refreshed and relaxed, and laughed when we thought the only thing we did was visit Mussanah Fort (pictured below).

Mussanah Fort. Not very fort-like.

Before leaving I spoke with Will from the hotel and he coined a catchphrase which I think sums up the experience:

Come to the Millennium in Mussanah, and do nothing.

Just what the doctor ordered!

For more information about the Millennium Resort, Mussanah, you can check out their facebook page here, and their website here.

I hope you enjoyed my review. This blog is hosted in the USA and as so I follow the laws there: This was not a paid advertisement for the hotel, but they did give me a free nights stay there, and I have chosen to write a review about my experience.

le fin.

The Sheraton

Some of you may remember the old Chinese takeaway hotel in downtown Ruwi that is the tallest building in Oman: The Sheraton Hotel.

The hotel closed it's doors for a 6 month, 8 million rial refurbishment 5 years ago. Today, at a rumored project budget in excess of RO 40 million (this is just industry rumor, no hard evidence to support this), the hotel remains closed. Rather amusingly, National Hotels (the company that owns the hotel, part of the Al Hashar group of companies) held a press conference on Wednesday evening at 6:00pm last week. Here's the best bit: they held the press conference in the Al Bustan Palace! hahaha! A Hotel holding a press conference about it's opening.... in another (unrelated) hotel. #fail

It appears that the managing company, National Hotels, must have decided that they were incapable of running the hotel that made sense in an economic way, and so have sub-contracted this out to UAE outfit, Tawasel International Trading Company.

So, apart from having a press conference at 6pm in another hotel to announce your own hotel is about to open, here's a selection of questions asked of National Hotels, and the answers given. I thought it was quite funny, yet somewhat concerning....

1. When will the hotel open?
A: We are going to be "opening shortly" (as happily reported in the ToO on Thursday)

2. When exactly will the hotel open?
A: "Shortly"

3. How much has the refurbishment cost?
A: No comment

4. Why has there been such a long delay?
A: No comment

5. When will the spa be ready, and what will attract monthly rate-payers to come to Ruwi to use it, as opposed to other spa's in the 5* resorts between Qurum and Ghubra?
A: No comment

6. Why have you signed an MoU with an Abu Dhabi operating company?
A: No comment

Amusing.

The refurbishment was originally managed by a company called Bovis Lend Lease (BLL), which has since ceased to operate in this country. Something to note: the sponsor of that company was none other than the Al Hashar group.

BLL had a problem with the ever-increasing scope of works coming from both the owner (Al Hashar) and also the operator (Starwood Hotels - owner of the Sheraton brands). The defacto chief engineer was based in the UK and very infrequently visited the site, and when he did, usually there were a number of changes made. And so, eventually, BLL were removed from the project and replaced by Coffey Project Management, who did their best to try and get things back on track, but eventually quit (so the rumor goes) the project as well through rumored non-payment of their fees.

Non-payment of fees on this project is a very common gripe many trades in town have with this project. Which, when the project budget has grown as much as it is rumored to have, then you could understand that the Client may have not have been prepared for such an increase. Who, after-all, keeps that much cash on hand?

Enough of the negative. The refurbished hotel is indeed very nearly complete, and I have seen pictures from inside the hotel (sorry I can't share them here). The lobby is actually beautiful - the marble is incredible, with veins in the marble staying as tile to tile change - as if it was how it was originally quarried from the earth. The ball room is huge - it must be the largest ball room in the country, and it is fully wired for sound light and data - I'd imagine it may become a popular spot for business purposes too.

The rooms have all been completely and utterly gutted and totally overhauled. Entire new bathrooms, air conditioning and finishes are amongst the upgrades - yes, for those wondering, they fixed the smell problem that the rooms used to have as well. Flat panel screens, data-ready rooms and all the usual things you'd expect from a 5* hotel are all standard of course. There are even Playstation 3's for the rooms as well, a nice touch I thought.

The nightclub in the basement was dumped, and a new spa with indoor pool is in it's place - no word on when that will be ready though. Outside, the tennis courts have been replaced, along with the pool being completely re-built along with ancillary buildings too. All the parking spots have shades - something even The Chedi can not boast. 

And finally... industry rumor puts the hotel "soft" opening in early April.

Stay tuned for more soon.

Last chance to enter for free tickets to Snow Patrol.... click here for more.

le fin.

Valentines Day

Well, just in case you forgot, tomorrow is Valentines Day.

Did you get a V-day card yet? Remembered to get the flowers? Planned for dinner?

Well, here's my brief list of suggestions for you to consider:

Flowers: I have recently been referred to The Flower Shop in the Sabco centre (next to that awful pet store). The staff are knowledgeable, and they have a climate controlled room to keep the flowers as fresh as possible for as long as possible. You can call them on 2456 0043 to place an order. There's lots of other flower shops in town, but I've not used them, so I'm only going to recommend these people today!

Now, seeing as the flowers issue is dealt with, I'm going to assume you can handle the card on your own, but if you happened to go to Sabco centre for flowers, there is a decent card shop there too, just sayin' ;)

As for dinner, here's a selection of things going on around the city, and a little further afield too.

Starting with the Grand Hyatt:





















You can get a set menu 5 course meal for RO 39 ++ at Tuscany, or RO 25 ++ at Marjan, along with free sparkling wine for women between 10 and midnight at the Safari bar. Also, the Mokha Cafe are also serving a special Oyster bar & various other treats for RO 29 ++. For those trying to avoid Cupid's bow, you can go for an Anti-Valentines dinner up at the Safari Rooftop grill - unlimited selected drinks for RO 35 ++

 The Radisson Blu have a few events on too:

For RO 14 ++ you can have a buffet dinner in the Olivio's restaurant, or the a la carte menu in the Al Tajin Steakhouse. Also, outside in the Lazy Lizard, the movie "Once" at 8pm as well.

The Park Inn are offering "a free bottle of drink" with every dinner at the RBG restaurant. I'm not sure if that is a bottle of wine or a bottle of beer!

Nuts & Bolts, down at the Al Falaj hotel in Ruwi are also doing a special Valentines day (and weekend) event:

 A little further afield, in the Millennium Resort at Mussanah, there is a pretty attractive weekend getaway offer worth mentioning: When choosing the Valentines dinner package (RO 17 ++ for food and soft drinks or RO 28 ++ for Wine too) you can book a room with breakfast and taxes for RO 50.000. The offer is valid over the weekend, from 14th to 18th of February and I really can't recommend going up and checking out this hotel enough. It's very new, the technology in the rooms is amazing, and the pool is now open - it's a great spot to just go and do nothing for a day or two, I was there recently and found it to be a lot better than I expected - I'll write about it next week!

Here's a candid snap of the pool too:

Moving a little further up the coast to Sohar, at the Africa Coffeehouse and Restaurant there is a special Valentines menu with live music on offer too. So if you live in Sohar, it might be worth checking out!

And finally, the InterCon are hosting James Blunt this Wednesday night (15th) from 7pm. Expect James Blunt to start his performance around 9pm. Tickets are still available for purchase for RO 25 or RO 50 for fan pit access. You can buy them from the Bose store in Qurum.

More soon.

le fin.