Vol 10 Wednesday in Muscat

Wednesday night in Muscat. Wednesday is their Friday; start of the weekend. Everyone is out. I am sitting in Kargeen, in the ultra-swanky, modern indoor section, looking out at the ultra-cool outdoor section. I got here by fluke. I was driving around, getting lost-ish, when I drove by it. I say lost-ish because you can never really get lost in the Muscat area. The communities that make up Muscat are spread out along the coast in little areas divided by craggy hills and there’s a highway running along parallel to the coast down the center of the cities. There isn’t really a downtown area, just neighborhoods with shopping areas. There are only a couple of tall buildings and they are maybe 15 stories high. When I lose my way I just head back towards the water or the highway until I get my bearings.


These photos of Qurum Heights, one of the suburbs of the Muscat area, were taken at a rest-stop driving to Mutrah. It is just so freakin' gorgeous here! The rules of driving here are funny! Everyone is crazy behind the wheel. They all speed like mad except when traffic is slow, but they’re friendly about it. No road rage. There are hardly any traffic lights; it’s all roundabouts and they take some getting used to. You have to be careful and aggressive in them. First time I went into a roundabout was on my Daihatsu test-drive. I had the salesman in the passenger seat and Firas, my boss, in the back. As I entered, they both started yelling at me. “Slow down!” “Keep going!” “Stop!” “What are you doing?” “You’re going to kill us!” Once I got out of it they explained how they work. I have the hang of them now. The cars all start beeping at you when you go over 120kpm. When Eric drives the car beeps constantly. Even my rental car has beeped at me. The limit is 120km. They all go faster. I get passed a lot. No one uses signals here; they just dart in front of you. Aggressive and defensive. There is a law that your car must be clean and a big fine if you’re caught talking on your cell phone. Kargeen has become my favorite place to hang out. It is so pretty here and I quite like the smell of the shisha. Don’t worry, I’m not about to start smoking it, but the smell is nice. I am the only single person here; this is definitely a social gathering spot. I got stared at when I first came in but the novelty seems to have worn off now. Perhaps I also look odd because of the laptop; oh well.
I took these pictures as I left, at closing. I headed over to the Copacabana, the disco at the Hyatt Hotel. Wednesday night is Salsa night. Free Salsa lessons and then dancing. I got there as it was wrapping up; I spent too long soaking up the atmosphere and second-hand shisha smoke at the café, I guess.

Bonus shot! I got new shoes and a pedicure today! (Don’t bother clicking on this one, it shouldn’t expand). My feet are too big for women’s sandals here, these are men’s! My suitcases ended up being 20 pounds underweight each so I could have brought more of my shoe collection. Oh well…… more room to bring stuff home.