Living in the hamlet of Birkat al Mouz, in the shadow of the omnipresent Jebel Akdhar, is geographically and geologically impressive, culturally rewarding, and quiet, oh so quiet.
However now and again we all need a change, so off we went to Muscat for the weekend.
My wife Lena, is a photographer, and she needed some seaside pictures, so we first made our way to the ‘Wave’ roundabout, ooops, ‘Almouj’ roundabout, and hung a left to find our way to the Seeb beach, as we thought we might find some nice fishing snaps.
We wandered down the beach on what was a beautifully breezy day, with the sea gently lapping the golden sands.
We spoke to a number of local fishermen who were unloading their catch before turning their boats back out to sea for an afternoon catch, but most, though happy to chat, didn’t want to be named in the media.
One though, left an impression as he showed me some of the old parts of nets that are no longer legal, due to having extremely small mesh sizes, and was disappointed by how active the ROP Coastguard is in pursuing those who use small mesh nets.
I could understand to a minor extent his frustrations, which are based on cultural and historic fishing rights, but I feel he fails to see the big, conservation, picture.
We wandered a little more, and to our astonishment found a large group (herd) of camels, who were inquisitively nuzzling a couple of tourist 4x4 vehicles, while the tourists had climbed out were busily clicking away with their cameras.
It was quite amusing to watch.
We then drove up the new road of the Seeb corniche, up past the Royal Cavalry stables.
We spoke to a local landlord whose villa is for rent.
It was a lovely villa, and in an amazing location, and the sort of place I could see myself living in if I moved to the capital, with its sea views and clean, solid appearance.
All of which made me think about the current rental real estate sector.
The loss of 5,000 ‘educated’ expats, as the media put it, over the last six months must have a detrimental effect on landlord’s earnings, though you would think rents must fall, so that has to be good news for tenants, no? The other big query though, is where are the tenants going to come from? After all, very few Omanis will rent while it is so cheap to build, and in most societies ownership is the preferred option.
Lunch beckoned by that time, and many eateries were closed, so we took in the golden arches of the well-known burger joint.
What a laugh that was.
I’m good on my computer, barely passable on my phone, but can do some things like play music, text, and the like, but MaccaD’s new interactive ordering system kicked me good and proper, and they wouldn’t take my order verbally either.
It was like… order at the terminal, or starve! Thank heavens for Lena, who demonstrated much more patience than I was prepared to, and got us fed!
Popcorn with Dave and Rana, who are GREAT company, and a lazy couple of hours in the mid-afternoon, early evening before, wait for it,… more food.
We decided to go family dining, taking in a well-known, chilled out (get it?) eating place at the City Centre.
There, where incidentally, our waiter Ben was excellent! We had some fairly light cuisine, but Dave was the first to weaken, and called for the dessert menu, ordering a Caramel Apple Tart.
Well, you can’t let a mate eat alone can you? So I weakened and ordered a sweet as well.
The ice cream on top of a chocolate chip cookie was decadence at its best, if you ask my taste buds, and at its worst if you ask my bathroom scales or waistline, and there was no way I was sharing!
Actually, I did eventually, because the decadence got the better of me.
I know I ate too much, and too much ‘bad’ food, but a walk on the ‘wild side’ doesn’t hurt now and then, does it!
Ray Petersen
petersen_ray@hotmail.com
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
