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.

Omani weekend to change to Friday-Saturday from May 1st 2013

Well it appears that while I was in a meeting this afternoon, His Majesty has announced that effective from May 1st (thats a Wednesday by the way) the Omani weekend will no longer be Thursday and Friday, but Friday and Saturday.

As if that wasn't enough, interestingly in the Arabic announcement, it was also stated that all future holidays will be announced jointly, meaning that the Public and Private sectors will get the same holidays.

No word yet if Thursday 2nd May will be given as a holiday or not.

Well, thats a pretty big announcement, now excuse me while I go and change my Eid vacation flights!

le fin.

Earth Hour 2013

Today is the 23rd March, and that means, other than its Saturday and the first day of the working week, that it is that one day a year that people all over the world show their support for the environment.

Thats Earth Hour.

Last year, the Environmental Society of Oman joined the rest of the world for the second time in the Earth Hour. It's an initiative where people turn off their electrical appliances, lights and whatever else uses electricity for an hour between 8:30 and 9:30 pm on a designated date, this year the date is today: March 23rd. Last year here in the Sultanate, an estimated 53,000KWh of electricity was saved (up from 20,000 KWh in 2011). This year the ESO are trying a new tack: The board members of the ESO will join hands with Muscat Municipality if over 2000 people pledge to lend their support to the Environmental Society of Oman by signing up over here:

http://www.omanearthhour.org

At the time of publishing, the count was at 1,385 - so a little way to go to get to the magic 2,000, but it's doable!


Here's a few tips to help save some electricity during the hour, and in general:

1. Turn lights off in rooms you are not in. If you have outside lights, turn them off too.
2. When you are done charging your mobile device, camera or whatever, turn the power off at the wall - chargers suck electricity whether you have a phone plugged into them or not.
3. Turn your TV/DVD/Sound off at the wall, even in "Standby" mode, they are still using a surprising amount of power. Check out this graph and this table showing just how much various appliances use around the home when in standby mode, it's quite interesting to see.
4. Believe it or not, the amount of energy expended in rearing livestock is actually significant, by eating vegetarian even just one day a week, you are reducing your carbon footprint.

As for things to do during the Earth Hour, here's my suggestions:

1. Dinner by candle light
2. Going for a walk
3. Talking with friends
4. Take a nap!
5. Play hide in the dark!

Here's an example of my favourite City, Toronto, during Earth hour 5 years ago:

Lets see if we can do better here in Oman!

le fin.

Tour of Oman starts today

From today until the 16th of February, the 2013 instalment of the Tour of Oman is running around Muscat and surrounding areas. Its grown pretty big and now has 144 cyclists participating in the race from elite teams from all over the world. Most notably for Brits is that Wiggo (Sir Bradley Wiggins) is participating with his Sky Procycling team.

It all kicks off at noon today with Stage 1.

DAY : Monday February 11th
START : 12:00 hrs at Al Musannah
FINISH : between 15:51 and 16:14 hrs at Sultan Qaboos University
KM : 162km

Stage 2

DAY : Tuesday February 12th
START : Fanja in Bidbid at 12:20 hrs
FINISH : between 15:47 and 16:07 hrs at Al Bustan
KM : 146km

Stage 3

DAY : Wednesday February 13th
START : Nakhal Fort at 11:10 hrs
FINISH : between 15:48 and 16:17 hrs at Wadi Dayqah Dam
KM : 190km

Stage 4

DAY : Thursday February 14th
START : Al Saltiyah in Samail at 12:00 hrs
FINISH : between 15:43 and 16:06 hrs half way up Jabal Al Akhdhar
KM : 152.5km

Stage 5

DAY : Friday February 15th
START : at Al Alam Palace at 10:00 hrs
FINISH : between 13:26 and 13:47 at the Ministry of Housing in Boshar
KM : 144km

Stage 6

DAY : Saturday February 16th
START : Hawit Nagam Park at 11:40 hrs
FINISH : between 14:58 and 15:17 on the Matrah Corniche
KM : 144km


The Tour of Oman has become a pretty high profile and seriously taken "pre season" event, as evidenced by the worlds best cyclists coming and racing each other here. I'm not sure if any of it will be televised but I hope so.

So now you know the routes, and the times, so try and avoid those areas unless you want to go and cheer them on!

le fin.

Muscat Youth Summit starts today

The 2012 Muscat Youth Summit starts tonight up in the Millennium resort in Mussanah.

The highlights of this 4 day long summit are:

· Opening Ceremony – December 8th 2012 at 7:00 pm

· The Muscat Youth Summit Exhibition which will be visited by key members of the government along with partners and supporters – December 9th 2012 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

· The Omani Night which will include traditional activities and dances – December 10th 2012 from 5:30 pm onwards.

· The Muscat Youth Summit Exhibition which will be visited by key members of the government along with partners and supporters – December 11th 2012 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

· The Muscat Youth Summit Community Service Project along with the Al Rahma Group – December 12th 2012 from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Essentially the summit is geared towards engaging the next generation of young and creative entrepreneurs in Oman to play a role in Oman's ongoing economic evolution.

le fin.

Happy national day

Today it's November 18th, and there are flags and lights everywhere in the capital. We all had a day off yesterday but that dayoff was for the new year apparently, and so everyone is waiting with bated breath to see if we'll get some more time off soon. People are saying a day or 2 at the end of the month.

Happy national day people!

le fin.

Bloggers get in trouble

This month has been a pretty bad one for bloggers here in the Sultanate. It all kicked off with a statement on the 4th of June from the Public Prosecution office stating:

“The Public Prosecution recently noticed the growing of offensive writings and inciting calls by some individuals under the pretext of free expression of opinion. This is a blatant violation of the sanctity of the personal life of individuals. It is also a libel against them either in their individual or job capacity. It has been noticed that rumours and provoking others to carry out negative acts that may eventually harm the homeland, individuals and national interests are growing.

These statements or acts are contrary to our elite religious teachings, rich traditions and noble morals that are deeply integrated in the Omani society and contrary to the values on which its sons are being raised upon.

They are also creating a reality that is against public law and order and morals. Moreover, they are legally criminalised regardless of the audio, print, visual, telecommunications and IT means used in this. These means include e-forums and social networking websites.

Henceforth, the Public Prosecution advises all citizens and residents that it will take the necessary legal actions against perpetrators of such statements or acts, as well as those who promote or provoke or assist them through any means.” 

This was shortly followed a couple of days later with the announcement that a number of Omani bloggers and writers had been arrested. From various news reports, it seems as many as 22 people were arrested. It seems that all of these 22 people were members of the Arabic online Omani community - not all necessarily Omani, but Arab of some description, living, and more importantly, writing/commenting/tweeting/blogging in Oman.

I have to admit that this development did get me a little concerned, as I have been brutally honest in my experiences with HSBC here in the Sultanate, as well as Horizon Gym amongst others. But I guess what's done is done, and Horizon Gym to be fair to them turned it around into a positive and made a better effort at removing peoples numbers from their contact list. HSBC just chose to ignore me, which is totally fine by me, but I understand that my rant was read by the senior management of the bank here. I do still use them as my bank, but thats simply because I don't want to go through the nonsense of setting everything up with another bank here. I never did get my Al Fair vouchers!

So, back to the topic at hand, the bloggers plight in the Sultanate. As best put by a comment I read over on the Dragon's blog yesterday, some handy rules for writing about Oman on the internet, when you live, or are present in, Oman:

- Don't make unsubstantiated claims that may offend the pride of a powerful individual or entity, nor anything controversial which may invoke strong negative reactions from a group of people.
- Don't question the competence, decisions or rulings of the authorities.
- If you were to decide to raise an issue, make your points vague enough so your intended subject could not be construed as a direct criticism.

E.G., apply a bit of common sense. We are living in an absolute monarchy here in Oman, with a benign Dictator at the helm. I say benign, because look at how bad things can go.... look at what that lunatic Gaddafi got up to in Libya. Life here, in general, is pretty damn good, and HM is primarily to thank for that. There are hospitals, highways, schools, growing business outside of the oil & gas sector and various elements of democratic reform ongoing and a whole bunch more developments taking place. There are even 2 new Universities (that I'm aware of at least) rolling out (Universities of Buraimi and Ibra) as a result of the demonstrations held across the Sultanate last year. And women's rights in Oman are a hell of a lot better than those in other GCC countries. We are living in the worlds most charming police state.

I don't read Arabic but what I understand these arrested people did was directly criticize the top man himself for a number of reasons. As I wrote above... we are in the Sultanate of Oman, where the Sultan rules absolutely - whether that's "right" or "wrong" it is how things are here, and is the rule of law. So one can obviously understand why there has been a crack down - if someone was saying openly that your head of state was "something not very nice" and calling people to protest and strike, well would you not want to act?

Now of course a bunch of the free speech brigade have condemned these recent arrests, with the most notable being the Human Rights Watch, which called this flood of arrests 'A campaign of intimidation', and Amnesty International who referred to it as a 'blatant attempt to stamp out freedom of speech'. Strong words indeed, and perhaps true. To me it looks like a way to try and ensure we dont get a repeat of the 2011 "spring". Obviously heavy-handed actions do not always work too well, we've Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and of course Syria as all-too uncomfortable reminders of what can happen. I remain confident that no one in the Sultanate wants what has happened in these countries to happen here. I still believe that the root of the problem lies within the rising cost of living and the difference between the number of new jobs created each year and new of-age Omani's who are looking for these jobs. An age-old problem effecting countries in every corner of the world. Oman has become a victim of it's own success with a population larger than it can potentially sustain at this time, and there is no quick fix for this. Business must be stimulated to create jobs, but constant strikes and protests by elements of the national workforce does not instil confidence in foreign investors to stimulate business and thus jobs. Round and round we go.

It seems to me that this recent crack down and news releases are mainly tied to 2 issues: 1 don't incite hate towards the State (eg insult the Sultan / call people to protest / etc.) and, 2, be warned that libel / defamation of businesses will be enforced.

Part 1 I don't have an issue with, I'm a guest here and ultimately if I really don't like it, I'll leave - I'm free to do so beyond my Contractual obligations with my employer. As for the plight of Omani nationals living here... that's not something I am going to get into. It's Part 2 that really gets me a little unsure of things:

Libel is defined as a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation. Defamation is defined as a false accusation of an offence or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions.

Now I am always careful about what I actually blog about, but in nearly 3 years of writing, I've of course ruffled a few feathers of businesses here, but the real issue is comments. The legal question is, the comments are hosted on a blog which is hosted outside of Oman, and there is no way to guarantee that the poster of any such comment is even in Oman when they comment, and so how can a prosecuting company claim libel (per the laws of Oman) on something that may have been written by a Frenchman, living in Spain, hosted on a sever in the USA? I suspect that this wont be even considered and it'll be me, the blog owner that gets it in the neck. Heavy handed, but perhaps effective.

This has been the reason why I generally do not moderate comments on this blog to date - being that I follow the rules of the USA (where the blog is physically hosted - and also why I state if I received a payment or benefit for a blog article) and true freedom of speech and expression is allowed there. And as the libel laws in the Sultanate have not changed in years - I shall continue to carry on as I have, not moderating comments. There is a spam-filter that automatically moderates blog posts it considers is spam, and I will, in very, very rare occasions remove a comment if it directly insults a specific person by name - this isn't a business and I don't want legal fees if at all I can avoid them.



le fin.

The Sultanate of Oman's Royal Cavalry

I came across this story on the British newspaper website, The Telegraph. Oman have sent 112 horses and 200 soldiers to Windsor to partake and perform in the Royal Diamond Jubilee which takes place between May 10th and 13th - ie there's only 2 days left - and tomorrow's Sunday performance will be the last one. Not sure if it's available on OSN or OmanTV for us to view but if it is I'll update here. Anyway it's certainly a proud moment for Oman, not even a commonwealth country, that is sending what I understand is the single largest troop of cavalry to the Diamond Jubilee.

Here's the story copied in case the link stops working:

If they weren’t wearing such colourful costumes, they would be a terrifying sight. Soldiers thunder across the Omani desert on horseback, hooves tearing up the dust as they bear down on our position. For a moment one has an idea of what it must have been like to face the full force of a cavalry charge in an era before tanks, machine guns and drones. 

And yet this particular cavalry aren’t brandishing so much as a penknife. The men ride barefoot in pairs, grinning broadly, their arms across each other’s shoulders, their horses’ tassels gleaming in the evening sunlight. The women, decked in glorious pinks and greens, are just as courageous. One, Zinab, even stands upright on the saddle, holding on to her galloping neighbour’s hand for scant support, as they tear past. 

This week, these strikingly attractive men and women of the Royal Cavalry of Oman will be performing in front of the Queen. To celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, the Royal Windsor Horse Show is featuring 800 performers from around the world, ranging from the Canadian Mounted Police to the Chilean Huasos, the Masai to the Pakistani Presidential Bodyguards, the Kremlin Mounted Cossacks to the Aborigines. The Omanis alone are sending 200 soldiers and 112 horses, transported on two specially adapted flights. 

It won’t be the first time that the Queen, who is, of course, a keen rider, has seen the unique skills of Omani horsemanship in action. Her second visit, in 2010, to the Gulf state coincided with its 40th birthday as a modern country, and was marked by an equestrian show featuring 840 horses and almost 2,000 riders. One incredible picture showed four horses being ridden by 10 men, standing on each other’s shoulders to form a pyramid. 

“It was a very nice show,” says Brigadier Abdul Razak, the cavalry’s commander. “I had the honour to meet Her Majesty – a proud moment for all of us here.” 

For a non-Commonwealth country, the ties between Britain and Oman are unusually close. A treaty in 1800 stated: “The friendship of the two states may remain unshook til the end of time; til the sun and moon have finished their revolving careers.” Today, 7,000 Britons, including 90 members of the Armed Forces, live and work in Oman. Its stated policy might be determinedly neutral – it speaks regularly to Iran, its problematic neighbour across the straits, while remaining a close ally to the West – but some friends are clearly closer than others. “It is an extremely warm relationship,” says Jamie Bowden, our man in Muscat. 

This warmth emanates directly from Sultan Qaboos who, even by the standards of Gulf rulers, is markedly Anglophile. In addition to the obligatory stint at Sandhurst, he served with the now defunct Cameronian regiment (they helped his father when he had a spot of local bother in 1957) and spent six months in the unlikely setting of Suffolk County Council, where he developed a passion for organ music and learnt about local government. 

Although he hasn’t imported the vibrant democracy of Ipswich wholesale to Muscat – Qaboos deposed his father in a coup in 1970 and remains a dominant, if benign, ruler – Oman is certainly more enlightened than other Gulf states. Protests last year resulted in more oversight for Parliament. And while many problems remain – notably a youthful population overly reliant on public sector jobs – a recent UN human development study put the country in first place in terms of improvement over the past 40 years in health and education. 

Even a brief visit reveals a people with the friendliness – but not the dissatisfaction – of the Levant and north Africa, and the wealth – if not its gaudy extremes – of its immediate neighbours. Qaboos is the longest-serving leader in the Arab world. 

The history of the Royal Cavalry closely mirrors the burgeoning confidence of Oman. Founded in 1974 by the sultan, it originally consisted of just 20 horses. Today, it operates as the Omani equivalent of the British Jockey Club, overseeing racing, show-jumping, polo and breeding programmes, as well as performing a ceremonial role for visiting dignitaries. 

The Firqah (ceremonial) squadron was created in 1993 and now consists of 140 soldiers under the command of Brigadier Razak and Major Mohammed Al Balushi, who also employs a former warrant officer from the British Household Cavalry as an adviser. 

Most of the squadron’s soldiers are in their twenties, having finished basic training with the army first. Their lives appear surprisingly unrestrained, a rare chance to pursue a portfolio career in the military. Raida al Bahry, a tiny 24‑year-old who looks half her age, races in the morning, practises the flute in the afternoon and is also a part-time actress. 

For now, though, her focus – and that of the 200 people travelling with her – is on rehearsing for the Windsor show. “Going to England will be my first time abroad,” says Raida, who also welcomed the Queen in 2010. “I’m very excited.” 

They have been practising every day for the last two months. Meanwhile, the al Obaidani factory in the capital, Muscat, is working eight hours a day churning out 10 uniforms (two for each performance) for each soldier. “When you design a new show, you have to be perfect,” says Brigadier Razak. 

The brigadier is anxious not to spoil the surprise, but we do know that the display will include the rakd al arda, the awe-inspiring galloping in pairs (no mean feat when you have no stirrups and are riding a solid, broad Arab saddle), as well as poems, chanting and the hairoob (which involves the riders having to persuade the pretty, but recalcitrant, Arabian horses to lie down). It will also feature the Royal Cavalry Mounted Band – Oman is almost certainly the only country in the world to boast a camel-mounted bagpipe band. 

If I were the Chileans, the Pakistanis, the Kremlin or the Canadian Mounties I’d be practising like a mad man, for I have an inkling the Omanis are going to trot all over the lot of them. If the effect is half as good as what I saw in the Omani desert, Windsor is in for a treat.

More soon.

le fin.

Oman V Australia, and Swiss week @ the Hyatt

Three things today!

Oman are playing Australia next month at the Sultan Qaboos stadium - June 8th. Tickets are reportedly on sale now at the Shell gas station in Sarooj, starting at just 2 RO. General seating: 2 RO and VIP: 10, 15, 25 & 35 RO.

I imagine the game will be well-attended. The last time Oman and the Socceroos met, Oman snuck a goal in and won 1-0, so I'm sure the aussies will be keen to get even this time. The game is a qualifier for the World Cup in Brazil

Check out the Oman National Football Team's facebook page for more information in the coming days.

On Sunday I went with Mrs Sythe to check out the Swiss week thing being held at the Mokha Cafe in the Hyatt all week until this Sunday (May 13th). It costs RO 17 and you get to try out a whole host of Swiss dishes. I honestly thought there was only holy cheese and toblerones, but I was surprised to see there were a bunch of other things on the menu too, but I do have to say the Tobelerone chocolate fountain and mousses were pretty awesome.

I enjoyed the Tobelerone chocolate fountain a great deal!

There was some live music and entertainment at the venue as well, with all manner of musical instruments: Alphorns, accordions, spoons, saws(!), cow bells and earthenware bowls with coins rolling around in them. All in all we had a great time and if you're looking for something different to do for dinner (or brunch on the weekend for that matter) - it was fun.

Finally, a nice spot by local twitter person, @terencephoto spied a new marketing initiative by Nawras, which apparently promotes online piracy:

heh

Well I guess Oman better watch out or it will join Canada (those naughty Canadians) and make it onto the USA's online-naughty list that they publish every year: The Special 301 Watchlist prepared by the Office of the US Trade Representative. I'd like to point out that my Omantel ADSL is RO 35 a month for a 12MB line (which lets me download at around 1400 KB/sec) and is unlimited in data traffic. Just saying.

le fin.

Omani artist Alia Al Farsi shows work in Japan

 

Local Omani artist Alia Al Farsi is unveiling (well probably has by now) her latest collection at the Embassy of Oman in Tokyo, Japan today. It's even being attended by HH Princess Takamado so it's a pretty big deal for Alia, and some good positive press for Oman too by extension.

Alia has been a recognized artist for quite a few years now and this is the latest in her long line of exhibitions - her website details that she's been to more than a few Oman Week exhibitions around the world to showcase her work - good for her.

I've no idea if her works are for sale, but I'd imagine so?

More soon.

le fin

Oman V Senegal tonight

As we approach the 2012 Olympic games in the UK, Oman has one final hurdle too pass to make it to the Olympic finals for soccer football. The Oman national football U23 team are currently in the UK getting ready to face Senegal U23 team tonight.

At 10:45pm tonight, Oman time, in the City of Coventry stadium the game starts, and it's being shown on Oman TV2.

More tomorrow, a new Radio Wars post :)

le fin.

Ford's 2012 race around the GCC

In an effort to help out local adventurer, Nabil El Busaidy (aka Nabs), I thought I'd share in his latest endeavor, which is representing Oman in the first ever Ford 2012 GCC race around the place. It is a 7 city dash, running from Riyadh on Wednesday 25th April - Kuwait - Manama - Doha - Abu Dhabi - Muscat - Dubai finishing on Thursday May 3rd. They are in Muscat on Wednesday 2nd May.

Focus Rabaa (which apparently means 'a gang of friends') sets the ground for a fun challenge and a test for driving skills, endurance, and the use of the all-new 2012 Ford Focus technologies, as participants drive across all of the Gulf countries to complete a series of tasks and challenges. Teams will be rated on their skills and performances rather than speed, as well as the level of participation and support of their fans.

The competition calls for six teams – one each from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – to represent their country. Each team will be headed by their respective national captains, who are a group of celebrities from the entertainment and sports world in the GCC, and manned by three drivers who will show their skills in driving, road handling and sheer mental power as they compete against each other in a series of challenges along the way. 

Nabs was the selected celebrity for Oman and is looking for a team of 3 drivers to complete the rally - the winners all get a brand new Ford Focus 2012 model car free, which isn't too shabby. Anyway, to have a shot at being the driving team, you and 2 friends (that's 3 in total..... no more and no less) basically take a 2 minute video of yourselves and send it up to Youtube and fill in the online application form. I did look for this application form but haven't found it, applications may be closed now anyway. Oh and you have to be able to swim.

Due to the fact that the route takes you through the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and their visa restrictions there, you gotta be a GCC citizen to enter, and more specifically for the Oman team, you obviously have to be Oman to represent. But anyone can be a part of the Pit Crew (and the best pit crew member for the winning team gets to win a car as well) - more on that when information is made available.

There are some things we can all do to show support though, firstly which is getting the Oman page a respectable number of "likes" on the book of faces. Oman's 2012 Raba'a page can be reached by clicking here. For those of you that like to do the twitter thing, there is this hashtag: #FocusRabaa

Currently there are a paltry 52 Facebook likes for the Oman page, lets see if we can get that number up a bit, at least in front of the UAE page, which has 58 likes right now! However, the runaway leader at the moment is the KSA page with 136 likes.

More updates on this as it happens.

le fin.

Oman cuts tourist visa fees by 75%

Well this has been talked about for months, but finally the tourist visa fees have been amended.

There are three types of tourist visa now -

24 hour Cruise - free
10 day tourist - RO 5
30 day tourist - unchanged at RO 20

Which I think is something that will genuinely help promote tourism for people. For example, if I was flying to Thailand from Europe (Oman Air flies to... UK, France & Germany (and probably others, I dont know) a very affordable (right now) way to get there is to fly with Oman Air via Muscat. With the fee now only being RO 5, suddenly Muscat becomes a lot more attractive for a day or two stop-over on the way to or from a far eastern vacation - as an example.

There's a big difference between $52 and $13!

More soon.

le fin.

RIP Whitney & Sailing Arabia the tour

Well, driving to work this morning I was flicking radio stations and landed on Merge 104.8 and heard Chris Fisher saying he saw Sky News and just learned that Whitney Houston died in her room at the Beverly Hilton hotel. No word yet on how she died, but does it really matter - she's dead. RIP.

Moving on, and back to a somewhat local news interest - the Burj Khalifa last night was rumored to be on fire, but it was just surrounded in mist instead, and definitely not on fire. The story appeared to break on Twitter and spread very quickly.... but fortunately it was not true.

Now, the Sailing Arabia The Tour (SATT for short, heh) was due to start today in Bahrain, but the start has been delayed by 24 hours and so will start tomorrow (13th). There are 9 teams participating in the tour, 4 from Oman, and one from each of these countries: France, KSA, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. The tour is due to have 3 stops in Oman, Musandam, Mussanah and Muscat (well, The Wave), with the race due to finish on February 29th (I just realized we must be in a leap year), or perhaps due to the 24 hour start delay it will culminate on Thursday the 1st of March instead. Anyway - good luck to the Oman teams participating!

And finally, a black Labrador was found in PDO camp yesterday - very clean and not hungry at all - here's a picture, if you recognize the dog please get in touch with the person on the phone number listed.

More soon!

le fin.

Oman take on the Democratic Republic of Congo tonight

An Omani footballer :)

Tonight, Oman FC take on the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Sultan Qaboos stadium in Bowsher / Ghubra - whatever they call that area. The game kicks off at 6:30pm, so I imagine you should expect lots of traffic this afternoon, and later on tonight, around the stadium.

Muscat Daily's Divesh Bhal reports today that Paul Le Guen (Oman's head coach) has had to field a weakened side against Congo as a first choice Striker (Hassan Rabee'a) and Defender (Mohammed al Musalmi) have both been ruled out due to injuries. So perhaps there will be lots of disappointed fans tonight,  I hope al Plod will be prepared for any disgruntled fans should the local lads be defeated. Best of luck to them though!

In similar news, Arsenal have handed a trial to Oman international Saad al-Mukhaini. The 24-year-old left-back, who plays for Omani top-flight side Fanja SC and has earned 23 caps for his country since making his debut in 2009, is expected to arrive in North London later this week ahead of a two-day trial.

More soon.

le fin.

ROP announces 2011 stats for road deaths

As covered yesterday by Gulf News (and today it's in the Muscat Daily), the ROP announced it's 2011 total count for accidents on the roads last Saturday (December 31st, 2011). The facts are out, and I'm not even surprised by the stark reality that, even with the bizarre way the ROP calculates its figures, deaths on the roads in 2011 had risen by 22% since 2010 with 1,051 deaths recorded. In 2010 the ROP reported 820 deaths (and 2009 reported 953 dead).

As for injuries, they were up too: 11,322 injuries on the roads last year, compared to 7,571 injuries in 2010, thats an increase of 33%. Now, the population of Oman is 2,773,479 (as found by the Census in 2010) - so, if we pretend that every one of the 2.77 million people are driving (which they obviously are not) you have a 0.04% chance of dying on the roads (4 in 10,000), a 0.41% chance of being injured on the road (41 in 10,000) for a combined total 0.45% chance of something bad happening to you on the roads (before just regular injury-free accidents), or put another way 45 out of 10,000 of us, statistically met with an injury or fatality on the roads in 2011. When you factor in that of the 2.77 million of us living here in the Sultanate, there are obviously a large number of those that are not even drivers, so, in reality the % chance of something happening to the drivers amongst us is higher. And, it gets worse than that; the ROP does not include in their figures, those people that succumb to their injuries in hospital and die later - they are recorded as injuries and not fatalities. Additionally, I understand that children that die in car accidents are not registered either - I'm not 100% sure of that claim but it's certainly one that I've heard said more than a few times before. So even with the figures massaged, the facts are incredibly alarming.

So what is going on? Obviously, Oman is currently going through a population boom, and every day more and more people are born, more are driving, more are having accidents - so as the population increases, the total number of accidents is expected to naturally, but this increase in road deaths is outstanding. It's my opinion that as more adolescent Omani's start driving, more of them are recklessly driving with no care whatsoever what they are doing. Perhaps this is due to a simple case of ignorance, driving fast, overtaking on blind corners, not changing tyres before they burst at high speed etc - perhaps people do not know that they need to think when driving. The annual maintenance check could be made stricter, so those running on bald tyres are made to change them before renewal. It's a daily occurrence I see trucks and even taxi mini-buses running with bald tyres, yet in my entire time here, I've never heard of an ROP officer fining someone for having bald tyres.

I do not have access to the raw data so I'm going to make an assumption here: I'd say the largest cause of accidents is speeding. Let's face it - most of us have had speeding fines here - I've been living here for 4.5 years, and I have had 2 speeding fines - 1 in Qurum on the flyover and 1 up near Shinas at 1am on my way back from the UAE one weekend. If this was a country like Canada or the UK, my insurance premiums would have been jacked up, and I would have had points put on my license - too many points on your license and you lose your privilege to drive. But here, in Oman, I just paid the RO 10 fine both times, and went about my day. I know people that get speeding tickets all the time, they just dont care because it's only a tenner. Speed limits are for those people without wasta. You know I'm telling the truth.

The only way that is going to get people to reign in their need for speed in this country is to use the rule of the big stick - which is used so frequently elsewhere in this part of the world for a number of things. People are inherently lazy, so will cut corners, park on hard shoulders of highways instead of getting off the highway, speed because they're late, and so on. The ROP have been fairly vocal (for them) in the press over the last year asking people to slow down and buckle up, there's been the displays around the country and a number of ad campaigns - people just dont care - because what's going to happen? A 10 rial fine, if that.

The ROP have started deploying portable speed cameras, but everyone knows where they are (18 November Street, Al Mouj Street, Muscat Expressway and the road from the Expressway to Bank Muscat r/a) and so it's not really working. RO 10 for speeding is not a deterrent that is working. But the ROP are presumably issuing more speeding tickets as a result of this. Oman used to have a points license system, back in the day. For some reason unknown to me, this system seems to have been abandoned, yet in the Oman Traffic Law multiple references to a point system are made (see page 137 of 149 on the link for a table of fines).

Take a look at what has happened up in the UAE - there driving has been brought under control by use of a very large stick : drive like an ass and you'll pay for it, ultimately (if you are an expatriate) you could even lose your residence visa for driving like an idiot. The fines are much larger there, and the point system is in effect. I might argue that the fines there, or the penalty of losing your visa is a touch on the extreme side, but it seems to have worked.

So if the ROP are serious about starting to control this situation here, which by all accounts they appear to be serious, then we should expect to see a similar methodology deployed here: an increase to speeding fines, more spot-checks on road-worthiness of peoples vehicles, and more undercover cars with speed measuring devices. An increase in the speeding fine is essential - and for all those who say RO 10 is a lot to some people, for sure - no doubt it's a lot for some people - so surely they should bear that in mind and not drive over the posted speed limits then.

I hear it so regularly from people from all walks of life: I don't know how I got these speeding fines - I wasn't driving that fast. People seem to think it's funny and cool, when in reality I want to remind them that people are dying or getting injured at the rate of 1.4 an hour in 2011.

Here are my top 5 action items that I'd like to see improvements on in 2012 for traffic safety here in Oman:

1. Increase speeding fines
2. Bring back the points system
3. Totally over-haul the driving instructor / licensing system to include a road theory test & qualified instructors who have passed a stringent exam and are qualified to instruct people to learn to drive (currently you just need to have driven for 10 years to qualify). (I'm not even joking).
4. Make the annual maintenance check stricter, including actually inspecting cars less than 3 years old.
5. Carry out spot-checks on road-worthiness

What do you think of my list? Any other suggestions?

le fin.

Royal Opera House Muscat announces new events & prices

Today the Royal Opera House Muscat has announced the new dates for it's second season commencing from January 16th, 2012. The new dates amount to 26 performances of 20 different types - a few performances run more than once. It has also been announced that there will be an additional encore month, April, which performances have not yet been finalized but will be announced once they have been. Tickets will go on sale on January 1st for group bookings (between 10 and 24 tickets) and January 4th for individual tickets. If you buy your tickets in a group, you can get a 15% discount. Now, for those concerned that large companies will just block-buy all the seats and prevent people from buying seats in smaller groups, well this has been accounted for and blocks of seating reserved for individual purchasers have been set aside.

Here is the program of events for January, February & March:

Interestingly, it seems that this second season has a stronger focus on education and accessibility - on the 28th January, there is the Carnival of the Animals, which has the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, a large projection screen with live animation and is to be narrated in Arabic (with English subtitles). This is followed on the 29th January with the Tsar Saltan, in the same format. Tickets to these two events start at RO 3.000 per event, eg RO 3 per person per night. Both of these events are family and children orientated, and are being priced in a way that will hopefully allow access to more families that might otherwise have skipped going. There is also an initiative to start guided tours and back stage tours for school groups, and there is a planned open house on the first Thursday of each month starting in February, which I understand anyone can apply to go on. I can't help but wonder if this is in response to the Grand Mufti's outburst in November that Muslims should not go to the Opera House? heh.

I overheard a comment that tickets to other events (other than the two family ones noted above) will start at RO 5.000 but I've not had that confirmed yet. Pricing will be released on the website in January, and yes I did ask a few times but they were all tight lipped. I imagine the premium seats will become more expensive, and the cheaper seats will become... cheaper? I guess it'll depend on the shows themselves.

The Mall is touted to be opened in April, but we shall see.

So there you go! What do you think about the new line up?

le fin.

Oman's 2012 Public Holidays schedule

Now, as we all know, Public Holidays in Oman is never something that one can completely count on being announced until usually a few days before, so the dates I've put below are strictly guide dates for you to work with when planning your vacations for 2012.

Dont get mad at me if the dates are wrong!

1 Jan New Year’s Day
4 Feb Mouloud (Birth of the Prophet)
17 Jun Leilat al-Meiraj (Ascension of the Prophet)
23 Jul Renaissance Day
19 Aug Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan)
25 Oct Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice)
15 Nov Islamic New Year
18 Nov National Day and birthday of HM Sultan Qaboos

Enjoy!

le fin.

I'm back... and the drama about the Royal Opera House

Hello everyone,

Just a little post to say that I'm back from my month long vacation, and so will get back to blogging shortly!

I'm sure those of you that are regular readers of Oman based blogs will have already heard about the on-going drama caused by His Eminence the Grand Mufti of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalili's comments regarding the new Opera House in Qurum.

For those that don't know, I've copied the transcript so helpfully provided by Nadia on her blog Dhofari Gucci :

Question: My Mother, may God grant her health and long life, wants to visit the newly opened Royal Opera House to admire the architecture and beautiful designs. Is this acceptable, given the fact that such venues host musical events known to the world as 'opera'. This is the main purpose of the venue.

Mufti: since the dedicated purpose of this venue is music and dance, then visiting it is not acceptable. As for the architecture and designs, they're not exclusive to this location only and can be found at other locations, and Allah knows best.

Now, Dhofari Gucci, Lino and Balqis have all blogged about this topic so I wont spend too much time discussing it, but I will say that it's worth reading all three of these bloggers comments about this. As a non-Muslim I'm not really too involved in these discussions but it does appear evident that music is not allowed in Islam, which I find rather amusing seeing as most calls to prayer I hear the person is usually singing, but lets not get into that.

I think the Opera House is a timeless classic that will outlast every single one of you that is reading this. It's beautiful and is something I think people should be proud of. I think that saying that people can not go to the ROH because it "hosts musical events" is totally ridiculous and narrow minded. One could extend this concept further and say people should not have mobile phones because they are capable of playing music, or watch TV because there might be some music played on it, or drive cars because they have stereo's in them. I'm being pedantic but hopefully you get what I'm saying, and to be fair, Dhofari Gucci said the same thing, to quote her, "if you want to instill sound Islamic beliefs in the new (and coming) generations of Omanis, religious leaders must make their teachings relevant".

And before the haters weigh in: No I'm not anti-Islam, I'm just bemused amazed by this particular situation.

More posts coming soon!

le fin.

Tomorrow / Bokra

On Friday the 11th (Rememberance day) a charity music single was released globally via CNN and MBC. The track is called Tomorrow / Bokra and is a re-release of Quincy Jone's original track, Tomorrow (a better you, better me).

The reason for blogging it is the local spin, local Omani artist, Salah Al Zadjali features in the track along with 23 other "leading Arab music artists from 16 nations across the Middle East and North Africa".

Anyway, here's the track for you to have a listen to. It's fairly long!

Have a nice day!

le fin.