Seeb

Seeb is a small town at the limit of Muscat. It is 15 minutes away from the airport. the main road is surrounded with a lot of small shops and restaurants. the beach is not far from the center and nicely set out.



I currently work in Seeb at the moment. Hopefully there is also a lulu supermarket where I can spend some times shopping for my leisure.

Hot water

The temperature this days is becoming really hot in Oman. One unexpected consequence is that cold faucet gives boiling water ! This is because water tank are placed on the roofs of the buildings and it heats with the sun...

Pretty annoying when you want to take a shower or brush your teeth. The solution to this problem is simple but surprising : you have to switch-off your water heater, and use the hot faucet to get colder water. Actually, with this method the water is cooling down in the water heater during the day.

Qantab

As you know, friday is the day-off in Oman, corresponding to sunday in France. One of our usual activity on the friday is to go to Qantab (15 minutes from our house) and take a boat to go in litlle coves like this one.


It is not as culturally fulfilling as an interesting art exhibit (which would correspond to my usual activity on sunday when I am in Paris), but it is still better than a visit to an overcrowded park, where most of the people go on sunday in Paris when it is sunny ..!

Hi-tech prices

Now that I know the Muscat City Center, I realise that high-tech product prices are more interesting here in Oman than in France. For example I've compared prices with the famous shop in France "la Fnac":

• Ipod 2 Gb : 140€ in Oman (69OMR), 160€ in France
• Ipod 30 Gb : 230€ in Oman (115OMR), 280€ in France
• laptop Toshiba A120-189 : 790€ in Oman (395OMR), 900€ in France

I really hesitate to buy this laptop, but the keyboard is "qwerty" :(

Barr Al Jissah resort

The Barr Al Jissah resort is a luxuous complex comprising three hotels, several pools, private beaches...


It is some distance from muscat (about 20 minutes) but the area is very nice.


My opinion is that the best hotel in Muscat would be The Chedi, but if you have kids I would definitely recommand you to go to Barr Al Jissah resort because it is more suitable to family : there is waterslide, and kids are allowed in the swimming pools unlike in the Chedi

Elevator dilemma

Constructions are booming in Muscat. buildings are raising all over the city. Often, in the rush to finish the job fast, workers don't finish their task properly. In this case the result is an elevator control pannel kind of "messy".

Sultan Qaboos Highway

I think what could be considered as the real "city center" of Muscat should be the Sultan Qaboos highway. This highway goes through the middle of Muscat, from Seeb to Muttrah. If you are willing to reach another area of Muscat you will use the highway :


But this highway is very dangerous for mainly two reasons. First reason is that some pedestrians decide sometimes to cross the road, which is very surprising for me. You can see one example on the picture below :


The other reason is that shared taxi van can stop at any moment on the right lane to take some passagers :


However, Muscat police has tried to reduce the speed on this highway by installing a lot of radar alongside the road :


security consultants say that The major risk in Oman remains the car accidents.

Muscat city center

"Muscat city center" is known as the biggest and the luxuous mall in Muscat. Despite its name, it is not localised at the center of Muscat but after the Seeb airport. I have to say that I've been impressed but the width and the crowd in this mall.


And I've found a lot of intersting shops (including the Carrefour), especially for clothes (here below Mango & NEXT shops). My wife too and it has cost me a lot :(

Carrefour

Carrefour is a well-known french hypermarket. It is amusing for a french to see the differences between a Carrefour in France and a Carrefour in Oman. For example, in France there wouldn't be room of prayer in the supermarket :


Also, there wouldn't be a cash counter dedicated to women :



Except these little cultural differences, we were very happy to find french products in this Carrefour : "formage", "compote", and also some kind of "baguette".

Sefah beach

Sefah is giant deserted beach 1hour away from Muscat. First you have to take the road of Yitti, then you follow the road to Sefah. The day I went there the weather was not very ok (yes it can happen in Oman!) but It was really a nice trip beacause we mad a barbecue and we went snorkeling near the rocks on the pictures and We've seen a lot of fish !


You can see on the piuctures there are a lot of little crabs. But don't worry, as soon as you approach them they run away into the see.


On this pictures you can see a group of pink flamigos.

Wadi Mistall video

Just a short video showing some difficult passages of the trekk in Wadi Mistall

Top 5 tags

A good way to discover the "overwhelming" content of this blog is to use the "tag" feature. Here below are the top 5 most used tags by the visitors of this blog :

1. tourism
2. beach
3. food
4. water
5. trekking
   

Oman trekking explorer

I've been able to make all these treks thanks to the Oman trekking explorer guide. You can find it in almost all the libraries of Muscat. This book describes where to start the treks, how long is the walk, the difficulties, ands so on...


I think this book is a "must have", as well as the Oman off-road explorer.

Trekking in Wadi Mistall (Jebel Ahkdar)

2 hours from Muscat is Wadi Mistall (4x4 car is needed). Here you can make a 2 days loop trek in eastern Ahkdar.


This trek is very difficult because the mountain is very high (2000m), very steep and there are a lot of difficult passages. And you have to bring a lot of water and food which makes you carrying heavy bags.


The trek is 2 days long : We've started the trek at 8.30am and we were back the day after at 3.30pm ! So this trekk is generally recommanded to experienced trekkers. But we aren't expert trekkers and we did it ! so you can do it as well I think, you just need a good motivation.



Note : you can do this trek yourself refering to the trek numbers w25, W24a, w24b in the Oman trekking explorer guide