100,000 km

The 100,000 KM Party was great! Lots of people came.

And I'd put together a slide show with over 150 pictures of my blue Sirion, playing in the background all evening.

And the Toyota sales guy who sold me my Sirion two and a half years ago - Rijo - came as well (standing to the right in this photo), along with this sales colleague Prashant.

More pictures here.

Sharaf Al Alamayin

Two days later I drove up to my favourite spot in this area, Sharaf Al Alamayin. It's about an hour from Nizwa. When you arrive, you're at 2,000 metres above sea level but still you have this great car park.

Right where the trekking path starts. It's all very civilised. 

There's nothing up there. Well, used to. Now, looking left from the car park you can actually see a building project. I have no idea of what it is. Goes to show that if you want to see unspoilt Oman you might want to hurry up!

Anyway, walking for about 45 minutes from the car park along the mountain ridge, you're spoilt for choice of where to sit down and  take in the view. This is me.

This is the view.

Snorkelling in Muscat

Yesterday morning, a few of my friends and I went snorkelling in Muscat at sunrise. The BBC weather forecast said it was going to be 48 C (118F) in the shade, so sunrise snorkelling kind of makes sense.

Though I'm not sure Derek actually got the idea.

There were a few people around.

Some fishermen sailing by.

It was a fabulous morning. More pictures here.

Party Time!

Here's the invite.

100,000 Kilometres on the Clock

Yesterday, while driving to the UAE, my odometer passed 100,000! I was approaching Shinas and at around 99,994 I thought I'd better drive onto one of the smaller roads so I could be sure to stop when the odometer reached the magical number.

I love my car! I've never owned a car in my whole life until now - here in Oman - and maybe I'm trying to make up for it now.  It's small on the outside but big on the insde and it has great character. Sometimes I even feel like waving at others driving around in an Daihatsu Sirion - almost like the Beetle owners did when the Beetle first came out. Also, for my car to cope with doing 100,000 km in less than two and a half years is not a bad feat in my opinion. It doesn't look one day older than 20,000.

The people at the Toyota garage have kept asking me whether I will have a 100,000 party when the time comes. Maybe I should.  Anyway, here I am with my Daihatsu Sirion at the magical moment.

Easter Day

At the end of the Pascha (Easter) Liturgy - just after midnight this past Saturday - the Priest handed out eggs, mostly painted red, to all the people in the congregation.

There is little incentive to win in the traditional egg-to-egg combats (the loser is the one whose egg is broken) if you haven't had eggs all Lent.  That said, I actually won a few times and had to fight with others to actually get to eat some. They were sooooooooo good.

Lots of people had come for the Easter Liturgy, but there were enough eggs for everybody (though some seemed a bit worried).

About an hour later, I was sitting at McDonald's eating a BicMac. It was sooooooooooo good.  In fact, it was the most amazing culinary experience I've ever had. Or, at least that is what I think for a few hours at the end of Lent each year.  And I was also happy that McDonald's is now open 24 hours at some places in Muscat.

Today is Holy Friday

This week is Holy Week in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the video below might give you an idea of what the singing will be like in my church in Muscat this evening.

Q: What do all these people have in common?

• Bjorn Candel
• Madonna
• Prince Albert II of Monaco
• Kate Bush
• Michelle Pfeiffer
• Jennifer Saunders
• Prince
• Michael Jackson
• Christian Amanpour
• Sharon Stone

A: We were all born the same year.

Q: How am I different?

A: Only I have a birthday today.

(I know this is old hat, but I like it.)

James Blunt in Muscat 

The James Blunt concert was great - except for the fact that it took 2 1/2 hours between the gates opening and James Blunt coming on stage. I was there very early, and along with other early birds I got a good spot just a couple of metres from the stage.

In spite of the wait, and the fact that it was extremely hot, the atmosphere was on top. The concert was held in the Intercontinental Gardens, at the Intercontinental Hotel, and the tickets must have sold out because I could not see much empty space when I walked around the grounds towards the end of the concert.

Where I stood, right in front of the stage, there were hundreds of excited teenagers - and me.  Well, not true. I saw three others over 40.

Lots of T-shirts were being thrown at the audience from time to time - though I couldn't catch one. When James Blunt finally came on stage, I realised I was the only one in my section that did not know all the lyrics to all his songs by heart. My, at times I could not hear James' voice as everybody around me were singing at the top of their voices.  However, being right there at the front I got some good shots of James Blunt and the atmosphere was really on top.

I don't know if it was just me, but he seemed a bit overwhelmed that so many people had turned up. At one point he kind apologised saying something like, "With all you you here and I just got some wretched songs". This picture, I think, captures some of this melancholy streak.

But the audience didn't agree with that comment about "wretched songs", of course. Whatever song he sang, people just went crazy where I was. Especially when he sang favourites like "You're Beautiful".

After a while, James Blunt seemed to loosen up and forget his melancholy mood. 

He even got into a bit of head-banging against the piano for a bit.

After about seven or eight songs, I moved away from the stage to get a bit of air. Well, as I moved back through the audience I discovered that this is where all the people in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s were! I tell you, James Blunt has got a broad appeal. The only group of people I couldn't see were Omanis dressed in traditional Omani clothes (i.e. dishdasha or abeya) - except for a couple of officials at the gate. There might have been a few (or maybe even many) Omanis dressed in Western clothes, but I could not really spot them. My impression was that this was an event for expats (including non-Gulf Arabs) - and maybe that is not surprising. As far as I know, this is the first time ever a pop singer/superstar has held a concert in Oman. Not to mention the fact that very many of my students at Nizwa College believe it's a sin to listen to music.  Anyway, all in all it was a great concert - worth the wait and the unsuccessful T-shirt hunt.

For more of my pictures from the concert, click here.

I'm going to the James Blunt concert in Muscat tonight. I think it's the first time ever a world-famous singer is performing in Oman. So, of course I'm going!  The poster is from the HI FM 95.9 website and they are the ones arranging it. - And, yes, I've now discovered how you can post larger pictures on Xanga.

A Lost Sheep in 2009

A few weeks ago I suddenly saw a shepherd walking his sheep right outside as I looked through the window. I'd never seen sheep directly outside my house before so I quickly grabbed my camera.

At one point, one sheep lost its way and the shepherd had to go and look for it.

However, he found it quite quickly.

It's when these kind of things happen that I realise how exotic and different my existence in Oman is compared to London. I don't know. I mean, in my flat I've got satellite TV and ADSL broadband and I drive to college where we've got PC projectors in each classroom. And yet outside my flat I suddenly have this almost biblical scenery. It's like being in a time warp.

The Empty Quarter

Just to backtrack a bit. On New Year's Eve, on my way to Dubai, I decided to drive into the Empty Quarter. The edge of the Empty Quarter is very near Ibri, which is on the way to Dubai, so I thought I'd have a look. And I also think I was looking for a bit of silence and space as I was contemplating the end of 2008.

It was very, well, empty. And not much traffic.

As I got near the Saudi border, the road just suddenly disappeared! I was driving 120 km/h and then, without any warning signs or anything, the road just ended. But I guess with all the sand, it's probably a "soft landing" if a driver is not really paying attention to the road ahead. I think this is supposed to be a direct link to Saudi Arabia in the future, but they haven't connected the roads yet.

Great scenery, though. And lots of space.

On the way back towards Ibri, I saw a couple of baby camels walking with their mum.

Click here for some more pictures I took of the Empty Quarter.

Dolphin-Watching

One thing I've done recently is going dolphin-watching. A group of us went on this boat  trip. We sailed right out into the Sea of Oman from one of the marinas in Muscat.

Eventually, we reached a place with quite a lot of small fishing boats. Apparently, there are always tuna fish where the dolphins are so the boats taking people dolphin-watching just sail to where the fishermen are. We were surrounded by large numbers of dolphins, but it was a bit difficult to catch them on camera. I think I've got about 50 pictures with just sea water.  But I got a couple reasonably good pictures.

It wasn't crowded, but there were a few boats around.

On the way back, we sailed along the coast for a bit. This is near the Shangri-La Hotel.

And this is not very far from the Dive Club.

Click here for more pictures from my Dolphin trip.

The Omani weekend is here and tomorrow I'm going to Wahiba Sands with some friends. It's one of the main tourist attractions in Oman but for some reason I've never been. We'll be staying at a desert camp and out there people do things like dune bashing, sand surfing, sand skiing and camel riding. I'm looking forward to this trip!

Oman Won the
Gulf Cup Final!

For the first time ever, Oman has won the Gulf Cup Final (this was the 19th Football Gulf Cup). I saw the match last night at the local Turkish restaurant.

After extra time, the score was still 0-0 between Oman and Saudi Arabia, so it was quite tense during the penalty shootout.

However, Oman won by 6-5.  And a few minutes later, it was mayhem on the roads, with everybody driving around and honking their horns.

When I woke up at 5.00 AM this morning, I discovered a text message from my boss. The Omani government has declared today a public holiday!!  What shall I do? Go back to bed?