When I first moved to Muscat......

Muscat in the 70's - stolen from OPNO

When I first moved to Muscat.....

.... there was a round about by the airport that was terrifying
.... there was no Muscat Expressway, nor that road between MQ and Bowsher
.... Death valley road was a winding twisting single lane road that people still drove at 100KM/H+ on
.... there was only 1 mall in town (Muscat City Centre) (No Sabco and Markez al Bhaja don't count!)
.... there was no Burger King (but there used to be, apparently)
.... the CCC area where Nandos is was underwater
.... there were black-outs every summer
.... the Airport didn't have that extra building with the extra gates and the Subway joint upstairs
.... you didn't have to pay for parking at the airport
.... traffic jams were rare, and were never actually that bad, it never took long to get anywhere
.... a loaf of bread at Al Fair was 200bz (its now 850bz)
.... a 6 pack of Coke was 400bz (its now 850bz)
.... the coastal road to sur was a track and it took all day to get there, it was paved to Quriyat, but not a dual carriageway like it is now
.... the road from Qantab to Yiti was not built
.... there was only Muscat Private Hospital for expats (badr al samma doesnt count)
.... a pint of beer at the Blue Marlin in Bandar al Rowha was RO 1.3
.... there were no green golf courses in Oman, really only the PDO course and Ghala Wentworth
.... the road from Sohar to Buraimi was not built
.... the road from Seeb to Nizwa was not what it is now (added a lane)
.... no one had heard of Duqm
.... there was no port in Sohar
.... there were no restaurants on love lane by the sea
.... ADSL was capped at 512 kb/s (a max speed of about 60KB/s) and cost about RO 39 a month
.... there were 2 mobile phone companies, and wireless data was SLOOOW and EXPENSIVE
.... the Al Said Royal yacht was a different one to what it is now
.... there wasn't a Lulu's in Wadi Kabir, nor a TSC or Al Fair in Azaiba
.... Azaiba was called Atheibah, and now it's called Udhaiba
.... The Wave had just opened it's first street of houses
.... Left Bank beneath Mumtaz Mahal was not there, it was an empty space
.... all the banks were based in Ruwi
.... there was no working sewage network, you saw yellow poo trucks everywhere
.... there were no Majlis a Shura elections
.... there was only 1 English radio station, 90.4
.... 18th November street was a single lane road with roundabouts
.... the shining Shatti apartments and mall didn't exist
.... the Royal Opera House didn't exist
.... Oman didn't grow cherry tomato's for sale in supermarkets
.... Muscat Daily didn't exist
.... the Radisson Blu was called the Radisson SAS


Its amazing to think how much change Muscat has seen in the last 6 years that I've been living here, I wonder for those that have been longer how much change they can remember, and I wonder what new changes we will see in the next 6 years?

What big changes can you remember?

le fin.