2010 already?!
Time flies eh?
le fin.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Happy New Year
Just a quick note to wish you all a very happy and prosperous year in 2010.
2010 already?!
Time flies eh?
le fin.
2010 already?!
Time flies eh?
le fin.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
The Safari Bar
Recently, an Oman Forum member, Samsquatch, had convinced some of us to go and see his band, Earth Beat, play at the Grand Hyatt's Safari Bar.
I had stopped attending this bar a year or so ago because of the number of ladies of the night (or whatever you want to call them) that work the venue.
On a Monday night, myself and a group of friends decided to go and watch the band - and had a thoroughly great time! The band members know how to play their instruments, and were able to fulfil a bunch of our requests, some of them being a touch obscure. Perhaps next time I'll hit them with a request to play the Cure's Close to Me track, and see how they fare with that one!
What was entertaining about the night (other than the band and the company) was my rather weird interaction with a man in a mustard dishdasha. I was standing at the bar doing my best to attract the attention of one of the barmen, when I caught two eyes staring at me from across the bar. Admittedly I was feeling the effects of enjoying a few drinks and probably did a squint so that I could focus on who this person was that was staring at me so intently. I then realised it was a man staring at me. I just shifted my view, and thankfully a barman had finally decided to serve me.
Two minutes later, as I'm putting my change back in my wallet, and getting ready to take the drinks over to where my group of friends were sitting, I became aware of a man standing *very* close to me. It's the mustard man again. "Hello" he says, grabbing my hand (I thought he was going for my wallet) "how are you"? And so went the polite conversation I find myself having with various people all too frequently here. Finally, when I thought the conversation was over, after he had told me he works in the interior on rigs for PDO and only gets to spend half his time in Muscat, he drops this clanger on me: "Do you like Arab pussy"? Excuse me?! "Arab girls - you like? You like Arab pussy?" At which point this guy whips out his phone and promptly starts showing me pictures of women he's claiming to have bedded in various states of undress. I must admit the sheer shock of where the conversation went did take me by surprise but after 30 seconds or so I remembered why I was standing there in the first place, and wanted to go and return to my friends, so I politely said bye, and left.
Mustard man follows me to the table where my friends were (who had rather inconveniently decided to go dancing) and kept asking me for my number. I'd already given the guy a false name (par for the course for me I'm afraid, I never usually give my real name to weird people in bars), and was now struggling to remember the same fake number I had just given him. Finally he left me alone and went back to the bar.
And now for the real clanger. Half an hour later, I was in the toilets and thinking about going home, when again, I feel someone next to me. Mustard man, again. This time he's standing next to me at the next urinal, except he's not using it. He's staring at me, more specifically, my groin. I got out of there straight away, grabbed the wife and friend still left and legged it out of the bar.
So, just watch out for men in Mustard Dishdashas!
Have a nice weekend everyone, and have a great New Year's celebration.
le fin.
I had stopped attending this bar a year or so ago because of the number of ladies of the night (or whatever you want to call them) that work the venue.
On a Monday night, myself and a group of friends decided to go and watch the band - and had a thoroughly great time! The band members know how to play their instruments, and were able to fulfil a bunch of our requests, some of them being a touch obscure. Perhaps next time I'll hit them with a request to play the Cure's Close to Me track, and see how they fare with that one!
What was entertaining about the night (other than the band and the company) was my rather weird interaction with a man in a mustard dishdasha. I was standing at the bar doing my best to attract the attention of one of the barmen, when I caught two eyes staring at me from across the bar. Admittedly I was feeling the effects of enjoying a few drinks and probably did a squint so that I could focus on who this person was that was staring at me so intently. I then realised it was a man staring at me. I just shifted my view, and thankfully a barman had finally decided to serve me.
Two minutes later, as I'm putting my change back in my wallet, and getting ready to take the drinks over to where my group of friends were sitting, I became aware of a man standing *very* close to me. It's the mustard man again. "Hello" he says, grabbing my hand (I thought he was going for my wallet) "how are you"? And so went the polite conversation I find myself having with various people all too frequently here. Finally, when I thought the conversation was over, after he had told me he works in the interior on rigs for PDO and only gets to spend half his time in Muscat, he drops this clanger on me: "Do you like Arab pussy"? Excuse me?! "Arab girls - you like? You like Arab pussy?" At which point this guy whips out his phone and promptly starts showing me pictures of women he's claiming to have bedded in various states of undress. I must admit the sheer shock of where the conversation went did take me by surprise but after 30 seconds or so I remembered why I was standing there in the first place, and wanted to go and return to my friends, so I politely said bye, and left.
Mustard man follows me to the table where my friends were (who had rather inconveniently decided to go dancing) and kept asking me for my number. I'd already given the guy a false name (par for the course for me I'm afraid, I never usually give my real name to weird people in bars), and was now struggling to remember the same fake number I had just given him. Finally he left me alone and went back to the bar.
And now for the real clanger. Half an hour later, I was in the toilets and thinking about going home, when again, I feel someone next to me. Mustard man, again. This time he's standing next to me at the next urinal, except he's not using it. He's staring at me, more specifically, my groin. I got out of there straight away, grabbed the wife and friend still left and legged it out of the bar.
So, just watch out for men in Mustard Dishdashas!
Have a nice weekend everyone, and have a great New Year's celebration.
le fin.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Galfar (Brunei) facing bankruptcy, Muscat Daily review.
Seasons greetings everyone, it's been a nice and relaxing past few days with the Christmas celebrations and people starting to get ready for New Years Eve. However, I expect that the chaps at Galfar were not having a particularly good Christmas.
Once again, a huge story impacting a local company here, and not a peep of it in any of the papers here. I've done my review of the new local paper, Muscat Daily, and I will have to get around to that later on in this post. But it must be said - Why did none of the local papers run this story? Are the journalists even aware of it?
Galfar's Brunei operation, Galfar Pembinaan & Perusahaan (B) Sdn Bhd, are being sued by 13 companies for a total of US$ 25,000,000. That's a lot of cheese!
The news release is posted below, and here is the source.
Now I wonder if any of this will effect the local company here? The Muscat express way is still not finished, their tender for the MC3 package at the airport (That's the Passenger Terminal Building, Arrivals and Departures area, aka, "The Airport" as most regular folks would know it) was no where near competitive, and so the smart money would be on them not winning the Contract for the airport.
I just read the Undercover Dragon's blog, and he just posted the story on Galfar too. Beaten to it by a matter of minutes!
Now, Muscat Daily, the new English language paper here, has been circulating for a few months (since Oct 10 2009 I think).
Here is my brief review of the paper to date:
Registering for a subscription. This proved to be quite challenging. The first person I spoke to on the hotline seemed incapable of understanding me, and it was quite apparent that the poor girl did not speak English as a first language, and evidentially struggled with the language quite considerably. Not the best first impression I had, considering that the paper is targeted at an English speaking audience. Eventually, after calling again, and for a third time - I got my details taken. Then, about 2 weeks after that, someone turned up at the address to collect the money for the subscription, and then, about a week after the subscription dues were taken, I finally got my first paper, on 6th December, nearly 2 months after the launch. The registration process could certainly be improved!
Layout & aesthetics. I quite like the layout of the paper, it's very standard and regular. I know that the first 6 pages every day will be the National news, followed by Regional and World news (which I dont really read all that much). And then my favourite bit of the paper (after of course the national news) - the Op-Ed section. I presume this is a clipping of articles posted to the Associated Press that are republished with permissions. But it is enjoyable to read some real journalism in the paper, and interesting articles too. I find the National news is quite an entertaining read, but something that slightly piqued my interest was a column that has started in the Local news section entitled: Muttrah Mutterings. Cheeky bugger, can't even come up with his own unique column title!
I find that the World news section seems to contain a lot of India-related news, but then again, I guess the lions share of the English readers are probably of Indian decent. However, it's been said of the Times of Oman, that it should be renamed the Times of India, and I'm going to say the same applies to the World section of Muscat Daily. I doubt this will not change though. Advertising is what makes the printing press go round. To highlight this: Page 16 of Muscat Daily today (Monday December 28): All 7 stories on the page are related to India. My point here is that there is also not a single advertisement on the page, or the one next to it, the start of the Sports section. Just a comment.
The sports section is brilliant. I like to see what's going on in the NBA and the NHL, and no other paper here is covering this stuff - so thumbs up for that, but lets have some coverage on the Toronto Maple Leafs some time soon please! :) The soccer coverage is also right up to date. For example today carried the write-up of the Manchester United - Hull game last night (Man U won it 3-1) - the game ended about 9pm? 9:30? last night, and yet, it made the press for today. Good effort there. It must be hard to carry a lot of news on local sports, yet somehow they do manage to do it, and I'm following the OCCI basketball cup with some interest.
The business section is also a good read, and I find it somewhat amusing that the horoscopes and time wasters (those games) are contained within this business section. What does the editor, Mr Saleh Zakwani, think that all the people that are interested in the business section do? Want to do crosswords?! Another obvious question is why are the Government Tenders contained within the Local news, and not the Business section? Seems a bit odd to have it in the main paper. Perhaps that's just me that thinks that.
And that's about it. I'd say its the best English Language paper of the 4 currently available here in Muscat, and it's very handy getting a copy of The Week on Wednesday as well, it saves me having to actually hunt for a copy.
le fin.
Once again, a huge story impacting a local company here, and not a peep of it in any of the papers here. I've done my review of the new local paper, Muscat Daily, and I will have to get around to that later on in this post. But it must be said - Why did none of the local papers run this story? Are the journalists even aware of it?
Galfar's Brunei operation, Galfar Pembinaan & Perusahaan (B) Sdn Bhd, are being sued by 13 companies for a total of US$ 25,000,000. That's a lot of cheese!
The news release is posted below, and here is the source.
Court Records Show Company Owes $25M In Total
Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's biggest bankruptcy since Amedeo Corporation went on the block has been put in motion yesterday with a court action against Galfar Pembinaan & Perusahaan (B) Sdn Bhd, one of Sultanate's largest construction companies.
The first to throw the stone against the troubled company, according to an advertisement in the Borneo Bulletin yesterday, is Freme Travel Agency Sdn Bhd, which has sued Galfar for $97,344.53. According to Brunei Supreme Court documents, there are 12 other companies given notice to be present at a winding up proceedings against Galfar. They are owed $25 million in total by the once star performer, court records show.
The largest creditor is Bank Islam Brunei Berhad (as is cited in court documents) to which Galfar is indebted to the tune of $15 million. Others besides the second largest, Baiduri Bank Berhad ($7 million), are mainly building material suppliers and other service providers. A firm called BK Global International Bhd is owed $1.8 million and the rest are smaller figures.
The advertisement of Galfar's bankruptcy petition posted in the Borneo Bulletin yesterday by solicitors, Messrs Sankaran Halim, says that Freme Travel's petition against Galfar is directed to be heard on January 30 next year before the Brunei Supreme Court.
Galfar, a leading construction company in the country involved in various large government projects, is basically a joint venture between local and Oman interests.
A search of the official records reveals the local partner is Haji Roney bin Haji Roslee @ Haji Roni bin Haji Rosli who holds 900,000 shares in the company. The rest, 3,000,000, is held by Sheikh Salim Saeed Hamed Al Fannah Al Araimi and the late Mohamed Rashid Al Araimi. They hold 699,999 shares each, records show.
An Indian national who has business interests in Oman, Dr Haji P Mohammed Ali controls 700,002 shares. The company came to Brunei from Oman well over a decade ago and soon established a name for itself but got into difficulties in recent times until it faced its current problems.
Now the survival of the company is in the courts and in the next move its multiple creditors will make.
The sad state of the company comes in the year that brought with it its full share of calamities both financial and otherwise.
Now I wonder if any of this will effect the local company here? The Muscat express way is still not finished, their tender for the MC3 package at the airport (That's the Passenger Terminal Building, Arrivals and Departures area, aka, "The Airport" as most regular folks would know it) was no where near competitive, and so the smart money would be on them not winning the Contract for the airport.
I just read the Undercover Dragon's blog, and he just posted the story on Galfar too. Beaten to it by a matter of minutes!
Now, Muscat Daily, the new English language paper here, has been circulating for a few months (since Oct 10 2009 I think).
Here is my brief review of the paper to date:Registering for a subscription. This proved to be quite challenging. The first person I spoke to on the hotline seemed incapable of understanding me, and it was quite apparent that the poor girl did not speak English as a first language, and evidentially struggled with the language quite considerably. Not the best first impression I had, considering that the paper is targeted at an English speaking audience. Eventually, after calling again, and for a third time - I got my details taken. Then, about 2 weeks after that, someone turned up at the address to collect the money for the subscription, and then, about a week after the subscription dues were taken, I finally got my first paper, on 6th December, nearly 2 months after the launch. The registration process could certainly be improved!
Layout & aesthetics. I quite like the layout of the paper, it's very standard and regular. I know that the first 6 pages every day will be the National news, followed by Regional and World news (which I dont really read all that much). And then my favourite bit of the paper (after of course the national news) - the Op-Ed section. I presume this is a clipping of articles posted to the Associated Press that are republished with permissions. But it is enjoyable to read some real journalism in the paper, and interesting articles too. I find the National news is quite an entertaining read, but something that slightly piqued my interest was a column that has started in the Local news section entitled: Muttrah Mutterings. Cheeky bugger, can't even come up with his own unique column title!
I find that the World news section seems to contain a lot of India-related news, but then again, I guess the lions share of the English readers are probably of Indian decent. However, it's been said of the Times of Oman, that it should be renamed the Times of India, and I'm going to say the same applies to the World section of Muscat Daily. I doubt this will not change though. Advertising is what makes the printing press go round. To highlight this: Page 16 of Muscat Daily today (Monday December 28): All 7 stories on the page are related to India. My point here is that there is also not a single advertisement on the page, or the one next to it, the start of the Sports section. Just a comment.
The sports section is brilliant. I like to see what's going on in the NBA and the NHL, and no other paper here is covering this stuff - so thumbs up for that, but lets have some coverage on the Toronto Maple Leafs some time soon please! :) The soccer coverage is also right up to date. For example today carried the write-up of the Manchester United - Hull game last night (Man U won it 3-1) - the game ended about 9pm? 9:30? last night, and yet, it made the press for today. Good effort there. It must be hard to carry a lot of news on local sports, yet somehow they do manage to do it, and I'm following the OCCI basketball cup with some interest.
The business section is also a good read, and I find it somewhat amusing that the horoscopes and time wasters (those games) are contained within this business section. What does the editor, Mr Saleh Zakwani, think that all the people that are interested in the business section do? Want to do crosswords?! Another obvious question is why are the Government Tenders contained within the Local news, and not the Business section? Seems a bit odd to have it in the main paper. Perhaps that's just me that thinks that.
And that's about it. I'd say its the best English Language paper of the 4 currently available here in Muscat, and it's very handy getting a copy of The Week on Wednesday as well, it saves me having to actually hunt for a copy.
le fin.
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Christmas and NYE
Well, the season is upon us. Yet, somehow, it never really feels like Christmas when it's so warm and sunny out, does it?
Having said that, I was quite impressed when talking to a friend of mine recently. His little daughter had asked Santa for a rocket and an air plane. And, rather incredibly, Amazon has water rockets and remote controlled planes. I suspect that there will be one very happy girl come Friday morning! So perhaps it does feel a bit like Christmas. I'm sure some mulled wine and mince pies will help. I wonder if brandy butter is available here? More importantly, I wonder what this water rocket is going to be like?!
Something that always helps to get into the seasonal swing of things are parties! The rugby club have two events this year, one on the 23rd, the other on the 31st. The Christmas party, on the 23rd, is free for members, and only RO 5 for non-members.
On the 31st, for NYE, the prices are RO 20 for members, and RO 30 for non-members, and that includes an open bar for the entire night, along with food as well. Not bad when comparing to the hotels tickets, which are in the region of RO 60-65 a ticket. The Skratch band will be playing at the club for NYE as well.
Seasons greetings everyone.
le fin
Having said that, I was quite impressed when talking to a friend of mine recently. His little daughter had asked Santa for a rocket and an air plane. And, rather incredibly, Amazon has water rockets and remote controlled planes. I suspect that there will be one very happy girl come Friday morning! So perhaps it does feel a bit like Christmas. I'm sure some mulled wine and mince pies will help. I wonder if brandy butter is available here? More importantly, I wonder what this water rocket is going to be like?!
Something that always helps to get into the seasonal swing of things are parties! The rugby club have two events this year, one on the 23rd, the other on the 31st. The Christmas party, on the 23rd, is free for members, and only RO 5 for non-members.
On the 31st, for NYE, the prices are RO 20 for members, and RO 30 for non-members, and that includes an open bar for the entire night, along with food as well. Not bad when comparing to the hotels tickets, which are in the region of RO 60-65 a ticket. The Skratch band will be playing at the club for NYE as well.
Seasons greetings everyone.le fin
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
A little bit more on the Emergency at the Airport/Wave
Recently, a lot of us left Muscat for the Eid vacation. A lot of us decided to jump on a plane and go somewhere. Whilst having a drink with a friend recently, he repeated to me a story so colourful I might as well share it here.
Is it true? Who knows? Have I confirmed it? Hell no.
So take it with a pinch of salt, but perhaps there are elements of truth in it.
The Emergency Response test that was conducted recently at the end of The Wave development and had tons of people scared that there had indeed been a plane crash (rather unfortunately timed with the broken news story of the entire Oman Air Traffic Control system going wrong due to a rather unfortunate "rookie error" of a junior IT technician installing an update incorrectly).
Apparently, according to an overheard conversation on a plane journey during Eid, the entire event was secretly filmed and screened for HM live. The first ROP officer on scene, rather amusingly, got out of his car, took a look at the fire, and then promptly got in his car and drove off! HAHA! A comment was made about that particular officer breaking rocks before the end of the day.
It appeared that the people having the discussion on the plane worked for, or were linked to in some way, a consultancy firm assessing the abilities of the Sultanates emergency services. In direct contradiction to the press reports, it was noted in this overheard conversation that the tests were, in fact, a complete failure, and that "more tests will be carried out in the next 12 months".
A wild and crazy number of up to 20 'tests' are supposed to be carried out here in the next 12-24 months. I think that's a bit over the top, but perhaps we'll see more emergency response tests in the coming months. The next test is rumoured to be a bomb (not a real bomb) being let off somewhere in the region. I'd say a good spot to do a test would be somewhere in the Ministries area in Wizarat.
I guess if it happens, then the rumour will turn out to be true!
le fin.
Is it true? Who knows? Have I confirmed it? Hell no.
So take it with a pinch of salt, but perhaps there are elements of truth in it.
The Emergency Response test that was conducted recently at the end of The Wave development and had tons of people scared that there had indeed been a plane crash (rather unfortunately timed with the broken news story of the entire Oman Air Traffic Control system going wrong due to a rather unfortunate "rookie error" of a junior IT technician installing an update incorrectly).
Apparently, according to an overheard conversation on a plane journey during Eid, the entire event was secretly filmed and screened for HM live. The first ROP officer on scene, rather amusingly, got out of his car, took a look at the fire, and then promptly got in his car and drove off! HAHA! A comment was made about that particular officer breaking rocks before the end of the day.
It appeared that the people having the discussion on the plane worked for, or were linked to in some way, a consultancy firm assessing the abilities of the Sultanates emergency services. In direct contradiction to the press reports, it was noted in this overheard conversation that the tests were, in fact, a complete failure, and that "more tests will be carried out in the next 12 months".
A wild and crazy number of up to 20 'tests' are supposed to be carried out here in the next 12-24 months. I think that's a bit over the top, but perhaps we'll see more emergency response tests in the coming months. The next test is rumoured to be a bomb (not a real bomb) being let off somewhere in the region. I'd say a good spot to do a test would be somewhere in the Ministries area in Wizarat.
I guess if it happens, then the rumour will turn out to be true!
le fin.
Monday, 14 December 2009
The rain.
Well it's been raining the last few days as I'm sure we all know now. And I've finally found time to write a blog post, sorry about the month off!
The NCCD (National Committee for Civil Defence) even went to the lengths of sending out text messages warning people not to go into wadi's. The Ministry of Education decided to close all the schools on Sunday, and the Muscat Daily paper even ran a heart-wrenching story about a 16 year old boy that lost his dad and two of his dads colleagues in Al Amerat.
A panoramic shot of the Amerat road
A larger picture showing the destruction on the Amerat road
Official figures quoted in some of the papers have been hovering around the 10-20 deaths mark, however, I can reveal today that Contracting company NCC (National Construction Company) working on an access road to a housing development near Quriyat (in a bizarre twist of fate, the development was to replace houses lost in Gonu) have reported 30 men missing. They were working on the access road as a night shift on Saturday night. No trace of them can be found, which presumably means that they are either dead, or decided to do a runner from the Contractor. I believe at this moment in time they are presumed dead.
So, please everyone, make sure you're careful out there - but I think the worst of the rain has been and gone now!
I wonder if we'll get Saturday off as a holiday in light of the Islamic new year?
le fin.
Update:
Saturday is a holiday for both Public and Private Sectors :)
New Hijri Year – Holiday
The NCCD (National Committee for Civil Defence) even went to the lengths of sending out text messages warning people not to go into wadi's. The Ministry of Education decided to close all the schools on Sunday, and the Muscat Daily paper even ran a heart-wrenching story about a 16 year old boy that lost his dad and two of his dads colleagues in Al Amerat.
A panoramic shot of the Amerat road
A larger picture showing the destruction on the Amerat roadSo, please everyone, make sure you're careful out there - but I think the worst of the rain has been and gone now!
I wonder if we'll get Saturday off as a holiday in light of the Islamic new year?
le fin.
Update:
Saturday is a holiday for both Public and Private Sectors :)
New Hijri Year – Holiday
The decision allowed employers and employees to agree on work arrangements if necessity arises. Muscat, Dec 14 (ONA)--- Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser al Bakri, Manpower Minister today issued a ministerial decision ceasing work at private sector companies and establishments on Saturday December 19th 2009, on the occasion of the Holy Prophet's Hijra Anniversary and the new Hijri year 1431 A.H. All employees of the private sector extended their heartfelt greetings to His Majesty and wished him good health, happiness and a long life and the Omani people welfare and prosperity.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Australia 2 - Oman 1
Commiserations to the Oman team.
However, to play on the world stage, I believe that accurate feedback is the only way to improve. I've already seen and heard people saying, oh, it was a great effort, only lost by a goal.
Except that doesn't really quite paint the whole story, does it?
To say that Oman had a 1 man advantage for 75 minutes of the game, yet failed to capitalize on that advantage speaks volumes. The only goal Oman scored was a result of that 15th minute penalty which netted them the advantage and a goal from a penalty kick.
Oman's strikers clearly need some practice, they must of had a dozen shots at goal, mostly in the second half, yet failed to score - mind you, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer pulled off some incredible saves. Whereas Australia, with 1 man down, not only replied to Oman's opening goal, but clinched it with a goal in the 82nd minute.
There was also the incident with some local supporter who clearly threw (thanks anon!) his toys out of the pram and resorted to throwing a firework onto the pitch in a presumed attempt to wound/injure some of the Australian players. The question must be asked - how, exactly, did the firework get into the stadium? Seeing as the stadium security will not even let you bring cigarettes (and quite rightly so) or even water (wtf?). Not only do they not allow you to bring water in, they also do not have water for sale in the stadium. Immensely stupid, especially given the heat here. I remember at the Gulf Cup hearing of people collapsing from dehydration in the stands.
All in all, a bit of an embaressment for Oman really - the strikers should all be reprimanded for their terrible accuracy. I wonder how the local press is going to spin this? :)
Well done Australia!
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Emergency at the Airport...
This morning a drill was held in The Wave site area for what to do if there's a plane crash. The Army ran the drill. Tyres were burned to simulate a crashed airplane and then the support services practiced what they'd do if there was an emergency. So Fire, Ambulance and the regular police all carried out roles in the exercise.
Update: Oman Air's website has published this exercise on their website, presumably as a part of the test.
In other news, the Australian football team arrived today ahead of tomorrow's match against Oman. They landed this morning and presumably saw the drill... heh.
The Muscat Magpies, the Aussie Rules football team here in Muscat, face down the Dubai Heat today at the Muscat Rugby Club's field at 3pm.
Thats all for now :)
le fin
Update: Oman Air's website has published this exercise on their website, presumably as a part of the test.
In other news, the Australian football team arrived today ahead of tomorrow's match against Oman. They landed this morning and presumably saw the drill... heh.
The Muscat Magpies, the Aussie Rules football team here in Muscat, face down the Dubai Heat today at the Muscat Rugby Club's field at 3pm.
Thats all for now :)
le fin
Monday, 9 November 2009
The Three Amigo's band are back again
This Wednesday (11th November) night, back by popular demand (seeing as last time it was a sell-out) are the Three Amigos band from Dubai.
Members are RO 5, and guests are RO 8. It's a good night out - so why not come on down?
:)
le fin
Monday, 2 November 2009
Re Blog: Muscat Cofidential
In an effort to build more bridges within the Omani Bloggosphere, I'm going to be slightly lazy today and reblog another local bloggers post. The reason why? Well.... partly busy with work.... but I think that the Dragon's latest post deserves more exposure, if the story is true.
Some rather interesting comments there!
I do, however, remain confident that the authorities will be making every step appropriate in order to ensure that nothing similar happens again.
le fin
Saturday, 31 October 2009
WTF is going on with traffic in Gala?
Just a quick one today.
I just sat in traffic for ages in Gala - it took me 75 minutes to travel a distance that normally takes 15 minutes during the day. Why? The Sultan Qaboos Mosque round about (not the highway exit one, but the next one in from there) was completely snarled by idiot drivers that don't understand the concept of not going into a junction (in this case a round about) until it is clear to exit it. Total grid lock. When are they going to put lights in there?!
In other news, lots of Halloween parties went on over the weekend. The wife and I went in disguise (a vampire and a witch!) to the VICE house music event (hosted by BMB Events) that the Dragon featured on his blog recently. The music was good, really good (that is, if you like that sort of thing), but attendance was a little low. It wasn't helped by the fact that there were no signs at all outside Rock Bottoms pointing to the event being held upstairs, we very nearly just gave in and went to the Halloween party at Rock Bottoms, even though I don't like that club, because we were in costume and happened to be right there. I'm sure that some people did end up going to Rocks purely because there was absolutely no indication at all that there was a party being held upstairs. Things to remember for next time I guess. Thanks for the tickets Dragon, and BMB Events!
le fin
I just sat in traffic for ages in Gala - it took me 75 minutes to travel a distance that normally takes 15 minutes during the day. Why? The Sultan Qaboos Mosque round about (not the highway exit one, but the next one in from there) was completely snarled by idiot drivers that don't understand the concept of not going into a junction (in this case a round about) until it is clear to exit it. Total grid lock. When are they going to put lights in there?!
In other news, lots of Halloween parties went on over the weekend. The wife and I went in disguise (a vampire and a witch!) to the VICE house music event (hosted by BMB Events) that the Dragon featured on his blog recently. The music was good, really good (that is, if you like that sort of thing), but attendance was a little low. It wasn't helped by the fact that there were no signs at all outside Rock Bottoms pointing to the event being held upstairs, we very nearly just gave in and went to the Halloween party at Rock Bottoms, even though I don't like that club, because we were in costume and happened to be right there. I'm sure that some people did end up going to Rocks purely because there was absolutely no indication at all that there was a party being held upstairs. Things to remember for next time I guess. Thanks for the tickets Dragon, and BMB Events!
le fin
Monday, 26 October 2009
News roundup.
Well it's been a pretty busy few days, with lots of things going on both in the office and on the personal front. I have to say though that the weather lately has been great :)
So, yesterday, finally, MC3 (that's the Passenger Terminal Building at Muscat International Airport) was tendered. J&P came in the lowest price, with CCC following as second lowest. I guess the technical evaluation will now have started and assuming that J&P tick all the boxes that need to be ticked, they will be awarded the job, they're certainly a very competent Contractor. If you're thinking about a move to a new place in Azaiba or al Hail, do it now because I suspect that with the influx of people working on MC3, demand for housing in these areas is going to increase. Well done to The Sultan Center for seeing a market, and opening a supermarket right in Azaiba. I'm sure their money-printing press is working over-time at the moment.
It also has not really been publicised, but I'm blogging it anyway, Galfar some how managed to get awarded the Ras Al Hadd Airport Contract. I'm literally blown away, how can a Contractor who has consistently failed to meet a single deadline on any of their infrastructure projects continue to be awarded work? Incredible, really.
So these ROP fines... officially it's still not true, unofficially, its pretty obvious something big is going on: New ROP cars, new cameras, red-light camers, and presumably the ROP themselves are undergoing more training in how to police traffic - but who knows? So increased fines are actually a good idea, it's a stronger deterrant. RO 10 is not a significant deterrent, if you're driving a nice car and speeding, a flash for 10 is a minor annoyance, nothing more, and so it doesnt deter people as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. 10 fines costing RO 100, versus 10 fines costing RO 350, suddenly thats in the range of an annual insurance premium, and people will take more notice of their speed.
People are starting to talk about Eid 2 holidays. From what I've been told so far, it looks like we'll get saturday - tuesday off (including a day for the National Day). Flights back to Europe are being booked already, with many people opting to take leave on the Wednesday and get 9 days vacation. I guess time will tell. I plan to spend Eid 2 camping here in Oman.
Finally, on Oman Forum, user Supermacs posted a rather amusing flowchart, copied below for your entertainment.
The flowchart came from this website.
So, yesterday, finally, MC3 (that's the Passenger Terminal Building at Muscat International Airport) was tendered. J&P came in the lowest price, with CCC following as second lowest. I guess the technical evaluation will now have started and assuming that J&P tick all the boxes that need to be ticked, they will be awarded the job, they're certainly a very competent Contractor. If you're thinking about a move to a new place in Azaiba or al Hail, do it now because I suspect that with the influx of people working on MC3, demand for housing in these areas is going to increase. Well done to The Sultan Center for seeing a market, and opening a supermarket right in Azaiba. I'm sure their money-printing press is working over-time at the moment.
It also has not really been publicised, but I'm blogging it anyway, Galfar some how managed to get awarded the Ras Al Hadd Airport Contract. I'm literally blown away, how can a Contractor who has consistently failed to meet a single deadline on any of their infrastructure projects continue to be awarded work? Incredible, really.
So these ROP fines... officially it's still not true, unofficially, its pretty obvious something big is going on: New ROP cars, new cameras, red-light camers, and presumably the ROP themselves are undergoing more training in how to police traffic - but who knows? So increased fines are actually a good idea, it's a stronger deterrant. RO 10 is not a significant deterrent, if you're driving a nice car and speeding, a flash for 10 is a minor annoyance, nothing more, and so it doesnt deter people as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. 10 fines costing RO 100, versus 10 fines costing RO 350, suddenly thats in the range of an annual insurance premium, and people will take more notice of their speed.
People are starting to talk about Eid 2 holidays. From what I've been told so far, it looks like we'll get saturday - tuesday off (including a day for the National Day). Flights back to Europe are being booked already, with many people opting to take leave on the Wednesday and get 9 days vacation. I guess time will tell. I plan to spend Eid 2 camping here in Oman.
Finally, on Oman Forum, user Supermacs posted a rather amusing flowchart, copied below for your entertainment.
The flowchart came from this website.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Welcome back....
Hello everyone,
Just back to work today after a lovely 2 week vacation in a far away land. Some speculation is going round that I am secretly the Dragon from Muscat Confidential, and that the Dragon is Angry's wife/male partner, depending on who you talk to.
Nonsense!
Not a lot to share with you all except that I've heard some talk that the speeding fine is being increased from RO 10 to RO 35, and that the new increased fines came into effect on the 24th of October.
Muscat also beat Doha at the rugby on the weekend, well done guys :)
le fin
Just back to work today after a lovely 2 week vacation in a far away land. Some speculation is going round that I am secretly the Dragon from Muscat Confidential, and that the Dragon is Angry's wife/male partner, depending on who you talk to.
Nonsense!
Not a lot to share with you all except that I've heard some talk that the speeding fine is being increased from RO 10 to RO 35, and that the new increased fines came into effect on the 24th of October.
Muscat also beat Doha at the rugby on the weekend, well done guys :)
le fin
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Hectic times
Well, nearly time for me to head to the airport for an early morning flight.
The blog's been neglected the last few weeks because I've been snowed with work, which, I guess, is a good thing!
I'll be back in a couple of weeks and will start blogging again!
Did everyone notice that Burger King finally put their signage up at the Oman Oil with a View on Qurum Heights Road?
Driving along the Muttrah Corniche tonight, at 2.30am, I was pleased to see that the ROP had setup a road block and appeared to be stopping every car and checking to see if they were drunk. Some real policing - great job!
Back soon!
le fin
The blog's been neglected the last few weeks because I've been snowed with work, which, I guess, is a good thing!
I'll be back in a couple of weeks and will start blogging again!
Did everyone notice that Burger King finally put their signage up at the Oman Oil with a View on Qurum Heights Road?
Driving along the Muttrah Corniche tonight, at 2.30am, I was pleased to see that the ROP had setup a road block and appeared to be stopping every car and checking to see if they were drunk. Some real policing - great job!
Back soon!
le fin
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Al Fair, Beach Party, and other things
First up, something I'm following up on when I first blogged about it here. Al Fair, and the pork products in their pork rooms. Recently I was visiting the CCC branch of Al Fair - and I was at first pleased to see a clear policy regarding fresh pork products stuck onto the wall in the little room for non-muslims.
Here's three pictures covering it all (it was a pretty comprehensive policy I must say).
Great, right? Wrong. Take a look at this piece of meat, it's blue. Why is it so hard for these people to understand that selling rotten meat is not going to do them any favours. I can think of more than a few countries around the world where there would be pretty stiff fines levied against the owners of this shop. Having a policy is all well and great, but you've got to actually follow it, just sticking it on the wall is not good enough!
Moving on now. During Eid, and as I had mentioned in a previous post, the wife and I went for a stroll on Qantab Beach, and just because it's such a nice place, I thought I'd share a picture of it with you all:
And to continue the picture theme, here's one overlooking the fantastic Bandar Kiran links area between Yiti and Seifa.
It's times like these when I'm happy that I live here - people pay big bucks to vacation in places like this, and for us, it's just a short drive on the weekend!
This Thursday, there is a Red Bull hosted party called Sunset Chill Vol. 2 at the Oman Dive Center just down the road from the Shang. It starts at 1 PM and runs until 1 AM Friday morning. For more Info & Reservation Please Call: 95119499, 24824240 - Tickets are RO 10.000 per person and include a free drink.
Muscat RFC are playing the Royal Navy's HMS Kent at the MRFC grounds tomorrow night at 18:30 - so come on down for an evening of rugby and drinking with the Navy lads.
le fin
Here's three pictures covering it all (it was a pretty comprehensive policy I must say).
Great, right? Wrong. Take a look at this piece of meat, it's blue. Why is it so hard for these people to understand that selling rotten meat is not going to do them any favours. I can think of more than a few countries around the world where there would be pretty stiff fines levied against the owners of this shop. Having a policy is all well and great, but you've got to actually follow it, just sticking it on the wall is not good enough!
Moving on now. During Eid, and as I had mentioned in a previous post, the wife and I went for a stroll on Qantab Beach, and just because it's such a nice place, I thought I'd share a picture of it with you all:
And to continue the picture theme, here's one overlooking the fantastic Bandar Kiran links area between Yiti and Seifa.
It's times like these when I'm happy that I live here - people pay big bucks to vacation in places like this, and for us, it's just a short drive on the weekend!
This Thursday, there is a Red Bull hosted party called Sunset Chill Vol. 2 at the Oman Dive Center just down the road from the Shang. It starts at 1 PM and runs until 1 AM Friday morning. For more Info & Reservation Please Call: 95119499, 24824240 - Tickets are RO 10.000 per person and include a free drink.
Muscat RFC are playing the Royal Navy's HMS Kent at the MRFC grounds tomorrow night at 18:30 - so come on down for an evening of rugby and drinking with the Navy lads.
le fin
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Education Ministry studying impact of short school term
Is it just me, or does the title of this blog post just strike you as.... incredibly stupid? You mean the Education Ministry is studying the impact of a shortened school term? Really? They have to study it?
Is this a case of a vast wedge of kids not knowing their ABC's and how that's going to affect them? I can see it now in 13 years time, when these kids graduate - "Oh yeah man, I was part of the class of '09-10, we never learned the alphabet because we were at home because of the swine flu".
Really. Come on guys. You need to study the impact of a shortened term? Is it not painfully obvious? Modules don't get taught, key core learning areas are not achieved, kids remain uneducated. It's not rocket science, and takes about, oh, I don't know, maybe a 2 hour meeting to hash out all the possible outcomes of not teaching kids various items in their syllabus?
Another 3 people have "officially" died from H1N1 in Oman in the last 10 days, I guess that brings the official count to 21. The World Health Organization issued its latest weekly bulletin on Friday, wherein it said the disease had killed at least 3,917 people in 191 countries since it emerged in April. 3,917 people have lost their lives - which is terrible - but I think more people died in that same time frame from a whole raft of causes - starvation, aids, cancer, traffic and so on. Is it really sensible to keep the schools closed? I have said it before and I'll say it again - if you are going to cancel the Muscat Festival, and keep the schools closed, then you should also ban gatherings at Mosques, close the Malls and cancel all football matches. Hypocrisy.
Speaking of footie, the HM cup started on Friday, and Muscat won their first game against Jalaan in Nizwa 3-0. Good for them :)
Hopefully everyone had a nice time during Eid, and in response to some comments in previous blog posts... no, I had a "Staycation" this Eid. The highlight of my Eid is a toss-up between:
1. A friends misfortune as he totally wrecked his front axle on his Hummer H3 trying to get up the hill from Bandar Kiran. 5 hours of towing finally got him up the hill.... and onto a flat-bed truck. The poor bugger, I hope the repair bill isn't too bad. I suspect it will be though :(
2. Visiting Bahrain. Those crazy Saudi's really do drive like maniacs. It was cooler there than it was here in Muscat.
3. Managing to sleep until 2pm on one day. It reminded me of days at university when I used to feel a sense of achievement at having gotten out of bed in time to watch Neighbours at 1:30 in the afternoon :)
Thats all for today.
le fin
Is this a case of a vast wedge of kids not knowing their ABC's and how that's going to affect them? I can see it now in 13 years time, when these kids graduate - "Oh yeah man, I was part of the class of '09-10, we never learned the alphabet because we were at home because of the swine flu".
Really. Come on guys. You need to study the impact of a shortened term? Is it not painfully obvious? Modules don't get taught, key core learning areas are not achieved, kids remain uneducated. It's not rocket science, and takes about, oh, I don't know, maybe a 2 hour meeting to hash out all the possible outcomes of not teaching kids various items in their syllabus?
Another 3 people have "officially" died from H1N1 in Oman in the last 10 days, I guess that brings the official count to 21. The World Health Organization issued its latest weekly bulletin on Friday, wherein it said the disease had killed at least 3,917 people in 191 countries since it emerged in April. 3,917 people have lost their lives - which is terrible - but I think more people died in that same time frame from a whole raft of causes - starvation, aids, cancer, traffic and so on. Is it really sensible to keep the schools closed? I have said it before and I'll say it again - if you are going to cancel the Muscat Festival, and keep the schools closed, then you should also ban gatherings at Mosques, close the Malls and cancel all football matches. Hypocrisy.
Speaking of footie, the HM cup started on Friday, and Muscat won their first game against Jalaan in Nizwa 3-0. Good for them :)
Hopefully everyone had a nice time during Eid, and in response to some comments in previous blog posts... no, I had a "Staycation" this Eid. The highlight of my Eid is a toss-up between:
1. A friends misfortune as he totally wrecked his front axle on his Hummer H3 trying to get up the hill from Bandar Kiran. 5 hours of towing finally got him up the hill.... and onto a flat-bed truck. The poor bugger, I hope the repair bill isn't too bad. I suspect it will be though :(
2. Visiting Bahrain. Those crazy Saudi's really do drive like maniacs. It was cooler there than it was here in Muscat.
3. Managing to sleep until 2pm on one day. It reminded me of days at university when I used to feel a sense of achievement at having gotten out of bed in time to watch Neighbours at 1:30 in the afternoon :)
Thats all for today.
le fin
Monday, 21 September 2009
Eid Mubarak
1 day later than everyone else!
I was a bit surprised to note the lack of a Doodle on Google to celebrate Eid. Google.com had nothing, google.ca has something to do with HG Well's War of the Worlds, Google.co.uk had nothing, as did google.ae and google.com.om
Have a great day everyone!
le fin
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Moon not sighted, Eid to be on Monday.
So Eid wont start until Monday.
Conveniently, the MRFC bar will be open on Monday evening at 6pm :)
I guess that the water will be turned off between Thursday and Saturday this week.
le fin
Conveniently, the MRFC bar will be open on Monday evening at 6pm :)
I guess that the water will be turned off between Thursday and Saturday this week.
le fin
Eid manoeuvres.
So what's going on during Eid?
Firstly, reading the Oman Observer today, apparently the boys that look at the moon reckon they are not going to sight the new moon tonight, which means that if they sight it tomorrow, then Eid will start on Tuesday, not Monday. But time will tell I guess.
So now that we are sufficiently confused about when Eid will be, everyone have a great week off.
Additionally -
City Cinema - Ruwi to re-open on first day of Eid. (source)
The much-awaited and Oman’s most preferred City Cinema, Ruwi, will reopen on the first day of Eid, adorning a grand new look in a brand new style!
The City Cinema, Ruwi, part of Oman Arab Cinema, is truly a grand feast for all the senses packed with loads of excitement ahead.
Oman’s favourite Bollywood haunt in Muscat, now in an exclusive new décor, fully refurbished and renovated that boasts some of the plushest of features. Complete, from corner-to-corner, the City Cinema, Ruwi now puts some of the most exclusive features in place that make a perfect entertainment statement.
With brand new interiors, exclusive new platinum class area, separate utility for platinum class, appetising variety in beverages and snacks and multiple ticketing counters and more, City Cinema, Ruwi, is all poised to make a super hit.
Come Eid and the people of Muscat can actually be there to feel the difference! City Cinema, Ruwi, introduces a new and revised price structure over three different ticket categories, viz. Silver Class for RO1.200, Gold Class for RO2.000 and Platinum for RO2.500, which would be effective from the day the City Cinema, Ruwi reopens. The brand new ergonomic seating coupled with enough leg room, will enhance the viewing pleasure.
So the cinema will be open again on Monday or Tuesday... :)
le fin
Firstly, reading the Oman Observer today, apparently the boys that look at the moon reckon they are not going to sight the new moon tonight, which means that if they sight it tomorrow, then Eid will start on Tuesday, not Monday. But time will tell I guess.
So now that we are sufficiently confused about when Eid will be, everyone have a great week off.
Additionally -
City Cinema - Ruwi to re-open on first day of Eid. (source)
The much-awaited and Oman’s most preferred City Cinema, Ruwi, will reopen on the first day of Eid, adorning a grand new look in a brand new style!
The City Cinema, Ruwi, part of Oman Arab Cinema, is truly a grand feast for all the senses packed with loads of excitement ahead.
Oman’s favourite Bollywood haunt in Muscat, now in an exclusive new décor, fully refurbished and renovated that boasts some of the plushest of features. Complete, from corner-to-corner, the City Cinema, Ruwi now puts some of the most exclusive features in place that make a perfect entertainment statement.
With brand new interiors, exclusive new platinum class area, separate utility for platinum class, appetising variety in beverages and snacks and multiple ticketing counters and more, City Cinema, Ruwi, is all poised to make a super hit.
Come Eid and the people of Muscat can actually be there to feel the difference! City Cinema, Ruwi, introduces a new and revised price structure over three different ticket categories, viz. Silver Class for RO1.200, Gold Class for RO2.000 and Platinum for RO2.500, which would be effective from the day the City Cinema, Ruwi reopens. The brand new ergonomic seating coupled with enough leg room, will enhance the viewing pleasure.
So the cinema will be open again on Monday or Tuesday... :)
le fin
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Muscat RFC v Dubai Dragons
Friday, at 15:30 hours down at the Muscat Rugby Club, the local lads take on the Dubai Dragons in the second game of the season, first home game.
If you have 90 minutes or so to spare tomorrow afternoon, then please come on down and watch our guys sweat it out with guys from Dubai.
Here is a link to the location of the Rugby Club grounds.
Also, when the bar opens up again after Ramadan, it will be open 7 days a week.
If you have 90 minutes or so to spare tomorrow afternoon, then please come on down and watch our guys sweat it out with guys from Dubai.
Here is a link to the location of the Rugby Club grounds.
Also, when the bar opens up again after Ramadan, it will be open 7 days a week.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Local news roundup
A few nuggets of news for you all today:
1. Eid holidays have been announced. They are Saturday - Wednesday for the Government sector, and Sunday - Thursday for the Private sector. Both groups of workers returning to work on Saturday 26th September.
2. Mains water will be turned off on the 3rd and 4th days of Eid. If Eid is called on Sunday, then I guess the water will be turned off Tuesday and Wednesday, or maybe Wednesday and Thursday. the effected areas are: Muscat, Muttrah, Al Ameraat, Al Khyuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Al Shatti, Baushar from 9am on the 3rd day of Eid to 9pm on the 4th day of Eid. The reason given was to fix a pump at the Al Gubra station.
3. Oman public schools have delayed the start of school AGAIN. Here is the official notice (in Arabic) from the Ministry of Education. Perhaps they should be renamed the Ministry of not Educating. The new dates are now as follows:
Class 1-4 open date 7/11
Class 5-7 31/10
Class 8-10 17/10
Class 11-12 open date 3/10
The reason? H1N1.
4. The plans for the new Al-Amerat - Wadi Adai road have been floating around the Internet for a few days. The new road looks like it'll be a lot better. Also, the back road from Al Amerat to Al Khuwair is progressing as well. Expect land values in Al Amerat to increase once the two roads are open.
5. Oman Air took delivery of their first A330-200 recently, and it landed in Seeb yesterday. The plane is setup for Business Class and Economy Class,with a total passenger capacity of 216 (20 Business class, 196 cattle class).
6. 2 more people died in Oman from H1N1 - bringing the official toll to 18. No guessing what the unofficial toll is, but compared to the infection rate, its really nothing to get too worried about. The massive over-reaction from the Government to cancel Muscat Festival, and continue delaying the start of School is a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. In the same vein - they should cancel all football matches, gatherings at large mosques, close down all the malls. Where do you draw the line? I'm sorry but this is just nonsense.
7. Oman have joined the International Atomic Energy Agency with a view to obtaining Nuclear Power Generation technology for the Sultanate. The No. 2 chap from the Foreign Ministry, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidy was in Vienna yesterday to give a speech to the IAEA's 53rd general conference session.
8. In a final nod towards the Ramadan driving bonanza - I counted 24 seperate accidents that occured between the ministries road and the 18th November St in the last few weeks. On top of that, there have been 7 major accidents that I've counted on the SQ highway between Azaiba and Al Khuwair. It'll be interesting to see The Week's reported figures on traffic accidents in the sultanate during Ramadan.
Thats all for today. Have a great week off everyone :)
le fin
1. Eid holidays have been announced. They are Saturday - Wednesday for the Government sector, and Sunday - Thursday for the Private sector. Both groups of workers returning to work on Saturday 26th September.
2. Mains water will be turned off on the 3rd and 4th days of Eid. If Eid is called on Sunday, then I guess the water will be turned off Tuesday and Wednesday, or maybe Wednesday and Thursday. the effected areas are: Muscat, Muttrah, Al Ameraat, Al Khyuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Al Shatti, Baushar from 9am on the 3rd day of Eid to 9pm on the 4th day of Eid. The reason given was to fix a pump at the Al Gubra station.
3. Oman public schools have delayed the start of school AGAIN. Here is the official notice (in Arabic) from the Ministry of Education. Perhaps they should be renamed the Ministry of not Educating. The new dates are now as follows:
Class 1-4 open date 7/11
Class 5-7 31/10
Class 8-10 17/10
Class 11-12 open date 3/10
The reason? H1N1.
4. The plans for the new Al-Amerat - Wadi Adai road have been floating around the Internet for a few days. The new road looks like it'll be a lot better. Also, the back road from Al Amerat to Al Khuwair is progressing as well. Expect land values in Al Amerat to increase once the two roads are open.
5. Oman Air took delivery of their first A330-200 recently, and it landed in Seeb yesterday. The plane is setup for Business Class and Economy Class,with a total passenger capacity of 216 (20 Business class, 196 cattle class).
6. 2 more people died in Oman from H1N1 - bringing the official toll to 18. No guessing what the unofficial toll is, but compared to the infection rate, its really nothing to get too worried about. The massive over-reaction from the Government to cancel Muscat Festival, and continue delaying the start of School is a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. In the same vein - they should cancel all football matches, gatherings at large mosques, close down all the malls. Where do you draw the line? I'm sorry but this is just nonsense.
7. Oman have joined the International Atomic Energy Agency with a view to obtaining Nuclear Power Generation technology for the Sultanate. The No. 2 chap from the Foreign Ministry, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidy was in Vienna yesterday to give a speech to the IAEA's 53rd general conference session.
8. In a final nod towards the Ramadan driving bonanza - I counted 24 seperate accidents that occured between the ministries road and the 18th November St in the last few weeks. On top of that, there have been 7 major accidents that I've counted on the SQ highway between Azaiba and Al Khuwair. It'll be interesting to see The Week's reported figures on traffic accidents in the sultanate during Ramadan.
Thats all for today. Have a great week off everyone :)
le fin
Monday, 14 September 2009
Just a quickie: Muscat Festival 2010 cancelled
Just a quick story here for local fans of the Muscat Festival (of parking really really badly).
Whatever will they cancel next?
"Sultan bin Hamdoun al Harthy, Chairman of Muscat Municipality and head of the Muscat Festival's organising committee, has announced the cancellation of Muscat Festival 2010. In a statement to Oman News Agency, Al Harthy attributed the cancellation to a government decision to limit instances of public gatherings as a preventive measure to combat the spread of H1N1 virus. Al Harthy noted that Muscat Festival, which is growing into a grand annual event, attracts thousands of visitors from different countries. Hence its cancellation in 2010 would ensure the protection of public health and safety".
Whatever will they cancel next?
Graffiti in Salalah
Just a brief blog for today. Recently I popped down to Salalah for a bit of R&R. Whilst walking around in a village down there I came across some derelict houses, and was amused to find some graffiti inside the old buildings. I even had my camera with me, so I snapped off a few pictures to share:
It appears that only black and red spray paint was available to these fans of hip hop. 2 Pac died.... how long ago? I don't know. Perhaps the graffiti is older than it looks. Either way, I thought it was quite funny to see down in Salalah, and am sharing it with you all now!
In the first picture, under "Deathrow" there is some Arabic... can anyone tell me what it says?
le fin
It appears that only black and red spray paint was available to these fans of hip hop. 2 Pac died.... how long ago? I don't know. Perhaps the graffiti is older than it looks. Either way, I thought it was quite funny to see down in Salalah, and am sharing it with you all now!
In the first picture, under "Deathrow" there is some Arabic... can anyone tell me what it says?
le fin
How does MBC make money?
I've been watching MBC 4 and MBC 2 lately. For those of you that don't know what MBC is, its a free TV station which is available here in the Middle East. They have MBC 1, 2, 3, 4, Action, MAX, MBC + Drama, MBC Persia and Al Arabiya. The English-language channels are:
MBC 2 (movies)
MBC 3 (sometimes english, but its a kids tv chanel)
MBC 4 (Seems to be entirely devoted to women's programs)
MBC Action (Action tv shows, some movies)
MBC Max (movies)
MBC Persia (Usually older tv shows from the 90's and some movies)
The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) is a Saudi-run company broadcasting a mix of free-to-air news and entertainment channels via satellite. It was launched on September 18, 1991 as the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, initially broadcasting from London in the United Kingdom. Since 2002, its headquarters have been in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates.
So now you all know what MBC is. So now I raise the question - How do they make money? There is rarely any adverts on the channels - they just advertise their own programming in the commercial breaks. Occasionally Coca Cola will run an advert, but not very frequently, and I've been watching closely lately during prime time in the evenings and have failed to see a single commercial. Not one. How does a broadcasting company continue to operate with no advertising income?
The network is rumoured to be owned by the Saudi Royal family, but again, why burn money on something that just isn't generating any cash, and broadcasts in English? I reckon it's a big money laundering operation for some shady gun-runners! Or something. But seriously, running a TV network with 9 24 hour channels (ok MBC + Drama is a subscription channel available via Showtime) costs some serious cash - why would that much cash be burned up?
Just as an off-shoot to this blog, I thought I'd just talk briefly about what is going on with English Language TV here in the middle east.
There were, until very recently, 2 major English-language pay-tv subscription services - Orbit, and Showtime. Showtime have recently bought-out Orbit, and thus now have a monopoly on English-Language subscription services in the Middle East.
But, there are actually quite a few decent English language stations available for free:
But, coming back to MBC. How exactly are they making any money on this network? Do they even have a marketing team in place?
le fin
MBC 2 (movies)
MBC 3 (sometimes english, but its a kids tv chanel)
MBC 4 (Seems to be entirely devoted to women's programs)
MBC Action (Action tv shows, some movies)
MBC Max (movies)
MBC Persia (Usually older tv shows from the 90's and some movies)
The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) is a Saudi-run company broadcasting a mix of free-to-air news and entertainment channels via satellite. It was launched on September 18, 1991 as the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, initially broadcasting from London in the United Kingdom. Since 2002, its headquarters have been in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates.
So now you all know what MBC is. So now I raise the question - How do they make money? There is rarely any adverts on the channels - they just advertise their own programming in the commercial breaks. Occasionally Coca Cola will run an advert, but not very frequently, and I've been watching closely lately during prime time in the evenings and have failed to see a single commercial. Not one. How does a broadcasting company continue to operate with no advertising income?
The network is rumoured to be owned by the Saudi Royal family, but again, why burn money on something that just isn't generating any cash, and broadcasts in English? I reckon it's a big money laundering operation for some shady gun-runners! Or something. But seriously, running a TV network with 9 24 hour channels (ok MBC + Drama is a subscription channel available via Showtime) costs some serious cash - why would that much cash be burned up?
Just as an off-shoot to this blog, I thought I'd just talk briefly about what is going on with English Language TV here in the middle east.
There were, until very recently, 2 major English-language pay-tv subscription services - Orbit, and Showtime. Showtime have recently bought-out Orbit, and thus now have a monopoly on English-Language subscription services in the Middle East.
But, there are actually quite a few decent English language stations available for free:
- BBC News 24
- Al Jazeera International
- CNN
- Press TV
- MBC 2
- MBC 4
- MBC Action
- MBC Max
- MBC Persia
- Fox Series
- Fox Movies
- MTV Arabia
- Dubai One
- Dubai Sports
- KTV 2
- Infinity
- Al Jazeera Sports 1-3
- Boomerang Channel
- City 7
- CCTV 9
But, coming back to MBC. How exactly are they making any money on this network? Do they even have a marketing team in place?
le fin
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
La Senza & Oman
Now one of my favourite things about my wife being a member of the Womens Guild of Oman is that you get this little discount card that gets you (usually 10%) a nice discount at tons of restaurants. Actually, its my only favourite thing about my wife being a member of the WGO. Last night we decided to go out for dinner and ended up going to the delicious Noodle House at Muscat City Centre. And that's when I saw it, the one thing that I've been wondering why it wasn't already at the MCC.
"Opening soon" - I don't know how soon, but I'm sure it cant be too long before it opens. I just hope that the prices are no more expensive than the already super-inflated prices in the UAE branches of the store, as my wife is a big fan.
le fin
"Opening soon" - I don't know how soon, but I'm sure it cant be too long before it opens. I just hope that the prices are no more expensive than the already super-inflated prices in the UAE branches of the store, as my wife is a big fan.
le fin
Monday, 7 September 2009
Oman gearing up for a Census, Oman Air on growth and some H1N1 vaccines.
Oman's gearing up for a census in 2010. Apparently some people will have test questions being asked in the next few days.
MUSCAT -- Field works for the 2010 Census of Population, Residences and Establishments are under way. The week-long stage, which conclude on September 10, is significant for the census and it aims at crafting a comprehensive list of all residential and other buildings and to locate them precisely on a comprehensive map, besides enumerating the families that live in the residences.
The Census Administration at the Ministry of National Economy hereby requests all Omani and expatriate families to co-operate with the enumerators who will visit the families in their residences. The families are required to give accurate data in reply to questions to be asked by the enumerators, who will take only a few minutes to note down the data.
Oman Air, who have been enjoying some pretty significant expansion lately, have been busy again in the last few weeks.
First up, Oman Air have signed on SITA to create and manage their voice and data networks between their offices world wide. This will help streamline things at the airline behind closed doors, for us customers, it shouldn't really make much of a difference, but its a sound business move. Oman Air then cleverly decided to target the German market by hiring a German PR firm, C.O.M.B.O. Starting in this month, 4 flights a week will run between Frankfurt and Muscat, then in October, 3 flights a week will run between Munich and Muscat. Ze Germanz do love to come to Oman, its a wonder direct flights were never done before. Or do Lufthansa fly direct? I know they fly cargo planes direct from Frankfurt to here, but not sure on passenger flights. Additionally in October, Oman Air will be operating 4 flights a week between Paris (CDG) and Musat, and also 4 times a week between Muscat and the Maldives. And if thats not enough new destinations for 2 months, they will also be launching a daily service to Colombo. I predict a long weekend in Colombo looking at elephants and stuff in the near future...
Oman Air's fleet should be 7 A330s and 15 737s over the next 15 months. Thats a lot of wonga to be spending on planes, good job they're starting to actually fly to places I want to go to! Can we have a direct service to Hong Kong? Cape Town? LA? Cork? Ibiza? Athens? Manilla?
The best bit about Oman Air to blog about today is this: they announced that in July 2009, fourteen young Omani Pilot Trainees successfully completed the 15 month comprehensive and intensive Pilot Training Program with RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia). These Omani Trainees now possess an approved Commercial Pilot License - Multi Engine and Instrument Rating category as their initial qualification.
Thats pretty good going, obviously the Jet Driver is doing his job well :)
And finally, H1N1.
Novartis have pledged 100,000 doses of its H1N1 vaccine, and GSK have pledged 20,000 doses of it's equivalent vaccine. Which I guess is a pretty good start. There are still rumours of distortion of actual fatality figures and published figures, but in the general scheme of things, it's pretty low. I'm sure more people die every day from IDS (thats Idiot Driver Syndrome) here in Oman.
MUSCAT -- Field works for the 2010 Census of Population, Residences and Establishments are under way. The week-long stage, which conclude on September 10, is significant for the census and it aims at crafting a comprehensive list of all residential and other buildings and to locate them precisely on a comprehensive map, besides enumerating the families that live in the residences.
The Census Administration at the Ministry of National Economy hereby requests all Omani and expatriate families to co-operate with the enumerators who will visit the families in their residences. The families are required to give accurate data in reply to questions to be asked by the enumerators, who will take only a few minutes to note down the data.
Oman Air, who have been enjoying some pretty significant expansion lately, have been busy again in the last few weeks.
First up, Oman Air have signed on SITA to create and manage their voice and data networks between their offices world wide. This will help streamline things at the airline behind closed doors, for us customers, it shouldn't really make much of a difference, but its a sound business move. Oman Air then cleverly decided to target the German market by hiring a German PR firm, C.O.M.B.O. Starting in this month, 4 flights a week will run between Frankfurt and Muscat, then in October, 3 flights a week will run between Munich and Muscat. Ze Germanz do love to come to Oman, its a wonder direct flights were never done before. Or do Lufthansa fly direct? I know they fly cargo planes direct from Frankfurt to here, but not sure on passenger flights. Additionally in October, Oman Air will be operating 4 flights a week between Paris (CDG) and Musat, and also 4 times a week between Muscat and the Maldives. And if thats not enough new destinations for 2 months, they will also be launching a daily service to Colombo. I predict a long weekend in Colombo looking at elephants and stuff in the near future...
Oman Air's fleet should be 7 A330s and 15 737s over the next 15 months. Thats a lot of wonga to be spending on planes, good job they're starting to actually fly to places I want to go to! Can we have a direct service to Hong Kong? Cape Town? LA? Cork? Ibiza? Athens? Manilla?
The best bit about Oman Air to blog about today is this: they announced that in July 2009, fourteen young Omani Pilot Trainees successfully completed the 15 month comprehensive and intensive Pilot Training Program with RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia). These Omani Trainees now possess an approved Commercial Pilot License - Multi Engine and Instrument Rating category as their initial qualification.
Thats pretty good going, obviously the Jet Driver is doing his job well :)
And finally, H1N1.
Novartis have pledged 100,000 doses of its H1N1 vaccine, and GSK have pledged 20,000 doses of it's equivalent vaccine. Which I guess is a pretty good start. There are still rumours of distortion of actual fatality figures and published figures, but in the general scheme of things, it's pretty low. I'm sure more people die every day from IDS (thats Idiot Driver Syndrome) here in Oman.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Saturday again, and fresh gossip on The Wave
Well what another great Ramadan weekend. It's a shame the bars are closed, but the house parties can be fun too :)
Now, at one of these house parties I head the following latest twist on the Nick Smith - Ex-CEO of The Wave rumour. I'm positive it's a rumour, but its fun anyway so here we go:
There was a senior Omani employed by The Wave (no names, of course!) who was pushed out by the board. This ex-employee has a court case against The Wave for unfair dismissal. Now that Nick Smith has resigned, people have speculated that this ex-employee of The Wave had some "dirt" on Nick Smith and threatened to expose him unless he resigned. And so Mr Smith resigned.
Classic Muscat Muttering, that one, I think :)
No clue if it's true, but a pretty big bomb-shell if it was, cos it would mean that Mr Nick Smith was bent and doing who-knows-what on the side.
In other news, Apex Publishing - the people behind The Week, are launching a new Daily newspaper. In October apparently, it'll certainly be an interesting read, with what is rumoured to be 10 pages every day devoted to local news. Certainly sounds interesting, and if they deliver on this rumour, it'll blow every other local rag out of the water.
A final note: Angry in Oman, Dhofari Gucci, and myself were the test guinea pigs for OmanForum's latest venture - publishing local bloggers work to the forum. A good idea, but tainted. Angry In Oman certainly didnt like this one bit, with a somewhat fiery blog on the subject in her blog today. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci hasnt made any comments on this yet, so perhaps she didnt know. The latest development to this (quite frankly pretty decent idea in it's rawest form) is that the forum head-honcho Neo has closed it down for further discussion. So any other fellow bloggers out there, watch out!
Now, at one of these house parties I head the following latest twist on the Nick Smith - Ex-CEO of The Wave rumour. I'm positive it's a rumour, but its fun anyway so here we go:
There was a senior Omani employed by The Wave (no names, of course!) who was pushed out by the board. This ex-employee has a court case against The Wave for unfair dismissal. Now that Nick Smith has resigned, people have speculated that this ex-employee of The Wave had some "dirt" on Nick Smith and threatened to expose him unless he resigned. And so Mr Smith resigned.
Classic Muscat Muttering, that one, I think :)
No clue if it's true, but a pretty big bomb-shell if it was, cos it would mean that Mr Nick Smith was bent and doing who-knows-what on the side.
In other news, Apex Publishing - the people behind The Week, are launching a new Daily newspaper. In October apparently, it'll certainly be an interesting read, with what is rumoured to be 10 pages every day devoted to local news. Certainly sounds interesting, and if they deliver on this rumour, it'll blow every other local rag out of the water.
A final note: Angry in Oman, Dhofari Gucci, and myself were the test guinea pigs for OmanForum's latest venture - publishing local bloggers work to the forum. A good idea, but tainted. Angry In Oman certainly didnt like this one bit, with a somewhat fiery blog on the subject in her blog today. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci hasnt made any comments on this yet, so perhaps she didnt know. The latest development to this (quite frankly pretty decent idea in it's rawest form) is that the forum head-honcho Neo has closed it down for further discussion. So any other fellow bloggers out there, watch out!
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Local news roundup
A few nuggets of news today:
Number 1:
Omani inflation slowed to a four year low of 1.8 percent in July, the economy ministry said yesterday, without giving a breakdown of the consumer price index. The inflation rate fell from 2.9 percent in June, the ministry said on its Web site. Inflation in the Sultanate was last below 1.8 percent in August 2005, according to data compiled from the ministry. (Source)
It's odd how inflation is going down, yet somehow grocery costs are still going up here. Hmmmm.
Well at least rents are not getting any worse, and, as some readers of this blog may of read recently - my landlord decided not to increase my rent this year - phew!
And, item number 2:
Number 1:
Omani inflation slowed to a four year low of 1.8 percent in July, the economy ministry said yesterday, without giving a breakdown of the consumer price index. The inflation rate fell from 2.9 percent in June, the ministry said on its Web site. Inflation in the Sultanate was last below 1.8 percent in August 2005, according to data compiled from the ministry. (Source)
It's odd how inflation is going down, yet somehow grocery costs are still going up here. Hmmmm.
Well at least rents are not getting any worse, and, as some readers of this blog may of read recently - my landlord decided not to increase my rent this year - phew!
And, item number 2:
Oman is renewing efforts to privatise its electricity sector, after the world financial crisis and lower oil prices delayed the programme and pushed the country’s budget into deficit. Muscat, which 15 years ago became the first Gulf Arab state to allow private investors to develop power plants, in 2006 set a target of selling off all government stakes in electricity projects by this year. But buyers did not step forward as quickly as expected. Now, facing an expected 15 per cent annual increase in its power requirements until 2020, the sultanate plans to increase its electrical generating capacity and strengthen its power grid with 3 billion rials (US$7.8bn) of new projects to be built over the next six years. It hopes private-sector investors will help it foot the bill. (Source)
So I guess all those GE turbines are going to be paid for by some non-Omani companies. Well, I should hazard a guess that unless it's the suppliers (GE in this case) or another Gulf Arab State company, I cant really see the financial benefit of anyone investing into this market. And at the same time it's a constantly rising bill that the Government has to foot each year, so no wonder they want to get shot of it!
The only real method for adequate power generation here in the desert is Nuclear. License it from the French, they're pretty handy with their nuclear power generation. The Americans might even go along with it too, although I'm sure our good friends accross the pond, Iran, might not be too pleased about such a development. Burning hydro-carbons to fuel the nations soaring power requirements is like shooting itself in the foot. Much better to convice Jean-Paul and his chums to come on down and build a nuclear power station or two, and of course operate it and so on and so forth. And Oman are currently in the early stages of building coal fired power stations, to come on stream in 2015. Where's the coal going to come from?
Number 3:
According to the Times of Oman, 9 people have now died as a result of H1N1 here in Oman. (Source) Funny, that. Fellow Omani blogger (with a slight obsession with cows) Dhofari Gucci has been mentioning here and there of poor people who have died down in Salalah. It seem evident that the official numbers do not seem to tally with the unofficial numbers. Hmmm.
Number 4:
Blue City. Well I guess I should share the news here with you all. Blue City's bonds were successfully purchased by Essdar Capital. It is unclear exactly how many of the bonds were purchased, but the news release does not say they purchased all the bonds, just those that were tendered prior to the Expiration Time. I guess time will tell if the money taps are turned back on, but from what I can tell, there is a lot of work under way on site, so good news - I think. More on that soon.
On a final note, the roads are now busier. School started. I think I can hear a collective sigh of relief from parents around town. Unfortunately it now means my 5 minute commute has become a rather unsavoury 8 minute commute. Life can be so hard sometimes ;)
le fin
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Bootleg DVD Rentals & Oman Blood Test
Weekend one of Ramadan now completed, I feel like I need another break!
Wednesday evening consisted of a spot of physical exercise for a few hours, and then I went to a friends house for a social gathering. This friend of mine had decided to buy one of those huge inflatable water slides from Toys R Us and subsequently decided to throw a party for the kids, and parents. By the time the wife and I rocked up at 10pm the kids were a bit thin on the ground, but apparently the water slide was a big hit :)
On Thursday I saw a big car accident. Nothing new there. The 18th November St - Wizarat Road car crash count stands at 9 separate accidents that I've counted so far.
Thursday evening saw a nice bbq near the beach in Azaibah with some friends. A local fishermen sold us a Kingfish and it was fantastic :) It's a shame all the best catches go to Dubai. Doesn't anyone realise that there is no one left in Dubai?! Also we had some great beer-can chicken!
Beer can chicken is pretty much what it looks like: Get a chicken, stuff a half-full beer can into the hole and then whack it on the bbq for a few hours. I was of the opinion that the Diet Seven-up chicken was actually better than the beer ones, but diet-seven-up chicken just doesnt have quite the same ring to it, does it?
One night last week, the wife and I went to go and see a friend of ours and hang out, have dinner and watch a movie. Our friend had joined a DVD rental place next to the VKool store in Al Khuwair / MQ boundary. She paid RO 35 one time fee and could rent 25 movies before needing to re-charge her rental card. Not bad she said, until I saw the DVD - it was a fake! RO 35 (thats US$ 91) to rent 25 movies ($3.64/movie) is not too bad when comparing to Blockbuster or similar. But these movies are bootlegged, and skipped a bit towards the end. So, if you're going to rent movies, maybe give the Video Club near V Kool a miss - those movies they are renting out cost all of 100bz to produce, they're just raking the cash in.
In other news, it's that time for me, 2 years gone already, I had to go to give blood today at the Infectious Diseases Examination Section in Darsait. It's situated here and it looks like this:
So I turned up this morning at a little after 8:30 to be presented with the usual chaos that ensues when there's lots of people all trying to get the same thing done. The Omani ringmasters did a great job and I emerged 3 hours later clutching my stamped bit of paper and a bit of cotton wool stuck against my arm. I'll go for my labour card later this week I guess. To anyone interested to know what they test for, they test for: TB, VD and HIV. So all you naughty people who are fans of THC will be just fine.
le fin
Wednesday evening consisted of a spot of physical exercise for a few hours, and then I went to a friends house for a social gathering. This friend of mine had decided to buy one of those huge inflatable water slides from Toys R Us and subsequently decided to throw a party for the kids, and parents. By the time the wife and I rocked up at 10pm the kids were a bit thin on the ground, but apparently the water slide was a big hit :)
On Thursday I saw a big car accident. Nothing new there. The 18th November St - Wizarat Road car crash count stands at 9 separate accidents that I've counted so far.
Thursday evening saw a nice bbq near the beach in Azaibah with some friends. A local fishermen sold us a Kingfish and it was fantastic :) It's a shame all the best catches go to Dubai. Doesn't anyone realise that there is no one left in Dubai?! Also we had some great beer-can chicken!
One night last week, the wife and I went to go and see a friend of ours and hang out, have dinner and watch a movie. Our friend had joined a DVD rental place next to the VKool store in Al Khuwair / MQ boundary. She paid RO 35 one time fee and could rent 25 movies before needing to re-charge her rental card. Not bad she said, until I saw the DVD - it was a fake! RO 35 (thats US$ 91) to rent 25 movies ($3.64/movie) is not too bad when comparing to Blockbuster or similar. But these movies are bootlegged, and skipped a bit towards the end. So, if you're going to rent movies, maybe give the Video Club near V Kool a miss - those movies they are renting out cost all of 100bz to produce, they're just raking the cash in.
In other news, it's that time for me, 2 years gone already, I had to go to give blood today at the Infectious Diseases Examination Section in Darsait. It's situated here and it looks like this:
So I turned up this morning at a little after 8:30 to be presented with the usual chaos that ensues when there's lots of people all trying to get the same thing done. The Omani ringmasters did a great job and I emerged 3 hours later clutching my stamped bit of paper and a bit of cotton wool stuck against my arm. I'll go for my labour card later this week I guess. To anyone interested to know what they test for, they test for: TB, VD and HIV. So all you naughty people who are fans of THC will be just fine.
le fin
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The Ghubra Car windscreen smashing thing
So, a few months ago, a user on the Oman Forum started this thread. It was about a bunch of car's windscreens being smashed in and around Ghubra. It also happened in Ruwi as well, reportedly 27 cars there got smashed recently as well.
Enter the ROP, and some investigative police-work.
It has come to my attention that an Omani PRO / driver for a large engineering consultancy firm has been fingered for the crime of smashing up all the cars in Ghubra. Rather more disturbingly, is the evidence rumoured to be cited by the ROP. I have had 2 independent confirmations on this, but as always, I'm sure there is another side to the story.
The unfortunate PRO / driver has been fingered because his finger prints were on a letter inside one of the cars. It has apparently escaped the ROP's attention that the reason why this chaps finger print is on that letter in that car is probably because he gave the driver of that car the letter after having picked it up from the company PO box. And the owner of that particular smashed up car being an employee of the same firm. Apparently that does not matter to the prosecuting authorities, and now the case is going to court.
One does wonder whether the ROP have found this persons finger prints somewhere else, but this has not been verified, only that his prints were on a letter that he handed to the owner of that particular car that day. Very strange.
But at least they are dusting for prints!
Obviously it was a bunch of kids that were bored and decided to break some windscreens. One wonders whether these are the same bunch of kids suspected of taking part in gang rapes in Azaibah as the Undercover Dragon reported on the Muscat Confidential blog.
le fin
Enter the ROP, and some investigative police-work.
It has come to my attention that an Omani PRO / driver for a large engineering consultancy firm has been fingered for the crime of smashing up all the cars in Ghubra. Rather more disturbingly, is the evidence rumoured to be cited by the ROP. I have had 2 independent confirmations on this, but as always, I'm sure there is another side to the story.
The unfortunate PRO / driver has been fingered because his finger prints were on a letter inside one of the cars. It has apparently escaped the ROP's attention that the reason why this chaps finger print is on that letter in that car is probably because he gave the driver of that car the letter after having picked it up from the company PO box. And the owner of that particular smashed up car being an employee of the same firm. Apparently that does not matter to the prosecuting authorities, and now the case is going to court.
One does wonder whether the ROP have found this persons finger prints somewhere else, but this has not been verified, only that his prints were on a letter that he handed to the owner of that particular car that day. Very strange.
But at least they are dusting for prints!
Obviously it was a bunch of kids that were bored and decided to break some windscreens. One wonders whether these are the same bunch of kids suspected of taking part in gang rapes in Azaibah as the Undercover Dragon reported on the Muscat Confidential blog.
le fin
Monday, 24 August 2009
Speshal parking & a nice mosque
So again, these shorter hours make blogging some what harder to do, what with the same amount of work needing to get done in less time. But here are two nuggets for you.
First up is a lovely example of what happens when you go too fast in a residential neighbourhood:
Spectacular job I must say. Well at least the car's parked in some shade!
On Friday, the wife and I took a trip down to Muttrah and to the souq in order to find a nice battery powered knock-off watch. Got a lovely thin one for 8 rials, very pleased with it - something nice and basic for every-day use. However, the souq was heaving, more so even for a normal Friday night. We ended up in some back streets a bit lost, but then happend upon this rather nice looking mosque:
It's almost oriental, right? Anyway, we thought it looked great so wanted to share it with you.
First up is a lovely example of what happens when you go too fast in a residential neighbourhood:
Spectacular job I must say. Well at least the car's parked in some shade!
On Friday, the wife and I took a trip down to Muttrah and to the souq in order to find a nice battery powered knock-off watch. Got a lovely thin one for 8 rials, very pleased with it - something nice and basic for every-day use. However, the souq was heaving, more so even for a normal Friday night. We ended up in some back streets a bit lost, but then happend upon this rather nice looking mosque:
It's almost oriental, right? Anyway, we thought it looked great so wanted to share it with you.
Friday, 21 August 2009
Ramadhan Kareem
It's been called, and Oman is in sync(!) with the rest of the Muslim world for once!
Three other news items of note:
1. Oman school term is to start on September 26th.
2. The Rembrandt art work display, the first of its kind in the Middle East, opened at the Grand Hyat's Afrah Ballroom last Wednesday. It's on until the 19th of September. 100 pieces of art are on display. Well worth a look, I'd say. NOTE: It is only Etchings works, no paintings, that are on display. Still, well worth a look.
3. H1N1 - The MoH reports two deaths in Oman as a result of the virus to date. There has been one death in Salalah and one in Muscat. Both were patients with other chronic diseases. One was 39 years old and had a weak heart. The other was 60 years and a diabetic with high blood pressure and chronic liver infection. This does not correllate with what Dohfari Gucci blogged about last Monday August 17th, where she reported at least one woman had died in Salalah from the Virus.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
New speed cameras by the airport
OK so it seems the ROP are suffering from Gordon Brown's misplaced belief that Speed Cameras are the answer to slowing people down on the roads. They appear to be testing 3 new speed camera's at the moment, two completely new models, and one is the blue Dubai-style lollipop one. It is understood that all of these devices will still continue to capture from the rear, but the two new style camera's appear to have devices that measure your speed over a certain area, and will still flash if it decides you were going too fast. I'd like to see that one in practice, as evidence needs to be given - I'd imagine only image or video can suffice, yet the camera only points one way (so it cant record you coming).
I was out with a friend to try and capture images of these new cameras, but the new "bird house" one we were unable to get a picture of, thankfully the kind people at omania2.net were.
So here are the pics:
1. The original Style:
2. The Dubai Lollipop style:
3. The new floor-mounted style:
4. The new birdhouse style (credit to Omania2):
And then, as if to proove a point that these speed radar's are not the fool-proof solution that so many people think them to be, we saw this:
There's a foot-bridge going over the highway, and what is that, right there, under the foot bridge? Oh thats just someone too lazy to use the bridge, so decides to cross the highway by jay-walking. People like that need to be fined and arrested, because they cause a lot of accidents to.
So it looks like the ROP are taking a step in the right direction with these trials of new speed traps. I'd imagine the older ones will be re-allocated to other roads within the Sultanate. Perhaps the road from Nizwa to Thumrait? Or perhaps on a few roads here in town? 18th November could be a lucrative prospect for the ROP!
Ramadahn looks like it's going to be called this Friday or Saturday, and so the carnage will begin. I will be keeping a week-daily tally on the accidents I see on the stretch of road between Wizarat round about and the start of 18th November street. I'm predicting over 40 vehicles will be damaged in accidents in that one area alone.
Have a nice weekend everyone.
le fin
I was out with a friend to try and capture images of these new cameras, but the new "bird house" one we were unable to get a picture of, thankfully the kind people at omania2.net were.
So here are the pics:
1. The original Style:
2. The Dubai Lollipop style:
3. The new floor-mounted style:
4. The new birdhouse style (credit to Omania2):
And then, as if to proove a point that these speed radar's are not the fool-proof solution that so many people think them to be, we saw this:
There's a foot-bridge going over the highway, and what is that, right there, under the foot bridge? Oh thats just someone too lazy to use the bridge, so decides to cross the highway by jay-walking. People like that need to be fined and arrested, because they cause a lot of accidents to.
So it looks like the ROP are taking a step in the right direction with these trials of new speed traps. I'd imagine the older ones will be re-allocated to other roads within the Sultanate. Perhaps the road from Nizwa to Thumrait? Or perhaps on a few roads here in town? 18th November could be a lucrative prospect for the ROP!
Ramadahn looks like it's going to be called this Friday or Saturday, and so the carnage will begin. I will be keeping a week-daily tally on the accidents I see on the stretch of road between Wizarat round about and the start of 18th November street. I'm predicting over 40 vehicles will be damaged in accidents in that one area alone.
Have a nice weekend everyone.
le fin
Monday, 17 August 2009
Just a few thoughts
Not a lot to talk about today, so a few thoughts to share:
1. Oman Air
So when do these new planes actually arrive? Currently the "new" planes being operated to Heathrow and back are on wet lease from Jet Airways (for reportedly about $2 million per plane per month). Apparently Jet Airways are in talks with Oman Air to make these "dry" lease deals, which should drop the monthly cost to about $1 million, but then Oman Air have to provide more stuff, like staff. Presumably.
There's been discussion of new destinations, and I believe that Oman Air will be flying to: Paris, Franfurt, Colombo and The Maldives. Nice, flying to Paris will mean it'll be much easier to get to the villa in the South for France.
2. The Wave
As no doubt other bloggers will discuss in the coming days, apparently there are some whole-sale changes underway at the management of The Wave. Officially, Nick Smith (former CEO) has "retired".
3. H1N1
So it seems more and more people are getting this. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci has blogged that there have been some deaths down in Salalah, and many more in intensive care. Scary business. Make sure you keep washing your hands through out your day! I do have to wonder about the seriousness of the situation in Saudi this year with people on Hajj.
Busy day again today... be sure to add any information via a comment to my Cost of Living post!
le fin
1. Oman Air
So when do these new planes actually arrive? Currently the "new" planes being operated to Heathrow and back are on wet lease from Jet Airways (for reportedly about $2 million per plane per month). Apparently Jet Airways are in talks with Oman Air to make these "dry" lease deals, which should drop the monthly cost to about $1 million, but then Oman Air have to provide more stuff, like staff. Presumably.
There's been discussion of new destinations, and I believe that Oman Air will be flying to: Paris, Franfurt, Colombo and The Maldives. Nice, flying to Paris will mean it'll be much easier to get to the villa in the South for France.
2. The Wave
As no doubt other bloggers will discuss in the coming days, apparently there are some whole-sale changes underway at the management of The Wave. Officially, Nick Smith (former CEO) has "retired".
3. H1N1
So it seems more and more people are getting this. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci has blogged that there have been some deaths down in Salalah, and many more in intensive care. Scary business. Make sure you keep washing your hands through out your day! I do have to wonder about the seriousness of the situation in Saudi this year with people on Hajj.
Busy day again today... be sure to add any information via a comment to my Cost of Living post!
le fin
Cost of living in Muscat
Much like my Pork Shop post recently, I've decided to blog some information on the cost of living here in Muscat, Oman. It'd be really helpful if anyone can contribute their costs as well.I live in a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment with a fairly sizeable terrace (great in the winter!). I own 2 cars and a land rover - the landy was bought for RO 925 cash, and one of the two cars is financed with HSBC loans which I chose to do over 12 months. I borrowed RO 4400 for a part-payment of the vehicle and my monthly repayments are RO 400 a month for that.
Now, to specifics:
- My rent is RO 600 a month.
- My Water bill each month (based on 2 people and lots of plant watering) is approximately RO 8 a month.
- Electricity is about RO 10 a month (including summer months with higher AC usage). Note that the Government heavily subsidises power here, and even more so in the Summer.
- I have an Omantel land-line (which I do not use to make any calls) and it costs me RO 4.900 a month.
- I have Omantel ADSL 512 Kbps connection and it costs me RO 12 a month + usage up to a maximum monthly amount of RO 42 a month.
- My loan payments total RO 700 a month (400 for one of the cars, 300 for a furniture loan).
We shop for groceries at a few different stores, but our average monthly spend is approximately RO 250 for the two of us. We're from the Western world and have what I'd imagine is a "Western" diet. We eat a lot of chicken and beef - but don't eat rice and daal very frequently. Fresh fruit and vegetables are high on our diet lists as well. We shop at the following stores: Carrefour, The Sultan Center, Al Fair (Unfair), LuLu's and Al Hamadi Fisheries (the fabulous pork place).
Car insurance is based upon (usually) 5% of the value of your car. For example, if your car is worth RO 10,000, your insurance premium will be approximately RO 500 a year - more or less. They do accept No-Claims bonus letters if you bring one from your home country - it will reduce your premiums.
For furniture here in Oman, you have a few options: There is The Home Center here which caters to the upper-market sector of people living here. A 3 piece sofa set can easily cost up to RO 700 and beyond. A 6 seater dining table easily around RO 400. And so on. We chose to drive to IKEA in Dubai and bought a bunch of stuff there (bed, tables, desk, chair, kitchen stuff) and drove it back. We bought a mattress here from Raha Oman and we're not overly happy with it, but it's been OK I guess. It only cost RO 70. There are other furniture places dotted around town that specialize in various types of furniture. A new comer to the furniture scene is Pan Furniture situated in Al Khuwair in the Zakher Mall. There is also ID Design, Fahmy Furniture, Khimjis Bait Al Ahlam amongst many others.
Satellite TV package costs RO 8-24 a month, depending on the provider and bouquet you choose. English speaking networks available are:
Orbit (Badr 25.5), Showtime (Nilesat), DSTV/Multichoice (Pan-am Sat) DSTV is not legally allowed to be received here. To get DSTV (Which has South African television - best sports coverage around) you will need a larger dish. Orbit and Showtime can be received with a simple small dish.
Cars in Oman.
There are basically four options: new, used, rented or taxi's.
New cars are, depending on the model, comparatively priced with the same brands accross the globe. Toyota's are king here, and tend to hold their value the best. You can buy a Toyota Yaris for approximately RO 4500 and sell it 3 years later for about RO 2500 - give or take. Buying used cars can be a difficult experience, and there's three main ways to go about it:
1 buy a used car from the dealer (eg MHD Landrover will have used Landy's for sale).
2 is to go to a used car dealer (best cars Oman is, in my opinion, a waste of time unless you want a used Toyota) - there are many used car dealers dotted around, but there's especially quite a few along the Sultan Qaboos highway in the Ghubra area. Be careful though, some of these dealers have a reputation for importing flood damaged cars from the USA and selling them for huge profits, buyer beware.
3 is the notice boards, Al Fair, The Sultan Center and a few other places have notice boards where people put up adverts of things to sell. Look at the ad, call the number, kick the tyres, strike a deal.
Cars can be rented here in Oman from approximately RO 150 a month. A reasonable price, for, say, a Mazda 6, is about RO 225 a month. If you want, you can even rent BMW's and Mercs, but obviously you will pay a lot for it!
Taxis come in 3 flavours: Blue and Red metered taxis (but they're only interested in taking you from your hotel to the airport or vice versa) and they are very expensive. You can flag down an orange and white taxi pretty much anywhere in Oman. I've often joked that if I were lost and stuck in the middle of the desert, I'd pretty much expect to find a taxi before long. They are literally everywhere. However, taxi's are not metered here, and prices are generally agreed upon before you start. At the risk of sounding racist here, if you look "Western" then you're going to pay significantly more than if you were of another racial group. Finally there are the Baiza buses which charge up and down Sultan Qaboos highway and have a general fee of 100bz per round about.
Alcohol in Oman.
When you come here and apply for your Resident Card, one thing you must mention is your religion. If you are a Muslim, you will not be eligible for the liquor license. Alcohol can be purchased in licensed bars by anyone - regardless of religion. The cost of a pint of beer ranges from 800bz at the PDO recreation club to RO 3.000 at most of the 5* hotels. A glass of wine can cost up to RO 3.000 for house brands and (a lot) more for others.
You can purchase, from the ROP, a blue liquor license booklet. You will pay an up-front fee for a license that lasts 24 months, and you may purchase alcohol from one of the alcohol supply shops dotted around. A case of beer ranges from RO 9 for a case of Castle, RO 12 for a case of Heineken and RO 15 for a case of Corona. A bottle of Smirnoff Red Vodka is about RO 6, and bottles of wine start at RO 3 and the price goes up from there. One thing to note is that the license you purchase will have a monthly spending limit, restricting you to only be able to purchase alcohol up to a maximum value in any given month (in the take-home shops). The higher your license value you can go is based on your salary. The one-time up-front fee is based on the value of your license. I'd suggest that if you like a few drinks, to get a higher license than you think you need - its purely up to you.
As a final point, I will note that in order to lead a comfortable life here as a "Western" expatriate where you are required to provide your own housing and transportation, a total monthly package should not be less than RO 2,500 a month. I am not a recruitment specialist and so can't advise you on what salary you should expect to get working here, so please don't ask me.
Hope this helps!
le fin
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