A quickie to the Capital city - Muscat

When the opportunity arises to travel, I take it on with both hands. I've been to Muscat on a few occasions,but never really had the chance to take my camera and see the sites Muscat has on offer.

I've joined good friends Riegardt and Saskia on this quickie to Muscat. When travelling with good friends, the 229km journey feels so short. Recalling memories from our time teaching together at Laerskool Tygerpoort made the conversations spark fond memories about our time at the school.

As they have been living in Oman longer than I've did, they showed me around, better than most travel guides would!  Muscat has beautiful beaches and some of them are quite remote with only you on the beach.

  

Some tourist agreeing on a price for a boat trip

We went on to visit some hidden villages where you can't grasp the fact that behind the mountains, is a buzzing city. Children are playing and swimming between the fishing boats, while their fathers get the nets and fishing gear ready for the next day's catch.  

 

Fishing village - Muscat, Oman

 Oman's Parliament building is a beautiful sight with a picturesque dhow in front of it.  

 

  

The Parliament building and dhow at night 

As Muscat is getting ready to show us his night colours, we went to see the Al Alam Palace of the Sultan Qaboos - ruler of Oman. The palace is now only used for ceremonial purposes as the Sultan lives elsewhere. The palace is not accessible by the public.

  

One of the corridors in front of the palace

As it was a beautiful night, we've decided to get out of the car and walked down the Mutrah Cornishe. It is a stunning 3km walk around the harbour/port. The Sultan's personal yacht "Al Said" is docked in the port.

The Al Said Yacht owned by the Sultan Qaboos

Another sight worth a visit is the Mutrah Suq. It is one of the oldest markets in the Arab world. We went into a few shops that sold antiques. Below are some of the shops and products:

  

One day is definitely not enough to scratch off the top layer of this picturesque city. I will make my return to this city and explore more of the amazing sites and landmarks.

Safe travels!
Phillip
http://saffatravels.blogspot.com/

Photos: 
Copyright - Phillip Grobler
Nikon D7100 - Nikkor 18-105mm

Useful websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscat,_Oman
• http://eng.bigbustours.com/muscat/tour-highlights.html 
• http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g1940497-Muscat_Muscat_Governorate-Vacations.html

Birthday Party on the beach!

To have your birthday on 1 April is always a risky business to organise a birthday party. You always have the possibility that no-one will come as they might see it as an April fools joke. So I've decided to have a party a bit later in the week. The idea of my very own beach party meandered in my thoughts for a while now. As my birthday was approaching, I thought maybe this is the right time for something different than your average house party. I went through the tick-list in my head and the scale topple in my favour.

Al Uwainat Beach - Sohar, Oman

Whatsapp messages sent to friends - checked, decision over the venue - checked, ready to party - checked!
As South Africans we love a "braai" - barbecue. Therefore there was no other choice than to have a nice braai on the beach. Those people who know Oman, would agree that buying wood for a barbie is quite an expensive story due to the small amount of trees. Luckily one of my friends had some in stock and he was able to bring some wood for our bonfire. For the braai we used charcoal.

The bonfire before the party

I'm very privilege to have friends that are very good cooks. They offered to bring my favourite salads on this special day. From potato salad with bacon and egg to coleslaw, that tasted yummy. My other friend made another South African favourite - pap / porridge. Put a nice piece of meat to the mix and every person attending will smile from ear to ear.

One of the highlights of the night was a red velvet cake two of my friends baked and cheerfully decorated. Red is a bit of an understatement, because due to a lack of red colouring, they used my favourite colour - blue. So we called it a blue-velvet cake. It was absolutely delicious and we even ate it before the main meal was ready.

Many Omani people passed by during the night and could not really comprehend why this Saffas are "braaing" on the beach. Maybe it was the camping chairs, maybe the bonfire or just the smell of deliciously cooked meat on a fire.

It was a very memorable birthday party and definitely one of my favourites!

A big thanks to everyone who made this a memorable birthday!

Ma’a salama (Goodbye in Arabic)