Vacations to France

I'm leaving Oman for a short week of vacation in France. I'll go to Paris and in Bretagne to some friends and family.


So I won't blog untill June 2nd. see you soon !

Beach football

This is what main Muscat beach look like in the evening :


The whole beach is suddently transformed in a mass of improvised football fields. If you want to join a game people will usually welcome you. But I've to say it has becomen very difficult to play football with this temperature for me, especially when you have to run in the sand !

D'arcys kitchen

A classic in Muscat. This restaurant serve simple but good quality food. it is located just near the sheraton resort complex (shati Qurm). The most appreciable falicity is the terrasse, which is always full of people (mainly expat people) when it is not too hot (i.e. from november to mars). prices are around 2,5 Ryals.


A good address when you want to eat a excellent club sandwitch, sitting outside, reading some gutter press (available for consultation for free in the restaurant)...

Jade & Garden : Sushi bar

I realise that I've not spoken much about the restaurants of Muscat. So I've decided to fix this and give you some good addresses in Muscat (from my point of view).


If you like sushi, I recommand you the "Jade & Garden" at the Sheraton Qurum Resort.
Every thursday evening, there is a "all you can eat" sushi bar - with excellent and fresh sushis, sashimis, soups, makis ... And good point also is that the restaurant serves alcohol (I don't recommend you wine by the glass however, but beer is excellent).


Prices are bit expensive : 8,5 Ryals + tax per person. On Wednesday evening, you have also a Seafood "all you can eat" buffet (15 Ryals + tax per person), and on Tuesday evening you have a Asian buffet for 7Ryals per person. But I did not test yet these buffets.

Manal

Manal is an old deserted village between Muscat and Nizwa. the houses are made in earth, and you can recognise fortifications ruins in the mountain.


I don't think this spot should justify a dedicated trip, but if you're in the area you should make the detour to see this village, recognized as unesco heritage.

The poo-poo trucks

One unsual thing about Muscat is that there is no sewage system. Thus, dirty water is drained off by, what we call between us, "poo-poo trucks".


These yellow trucks wander around Muscat looking for full septic tanks. When they don't do their job in time, it happens that the system overflows and a good smelling spreads in the area.

Qurm beach

This weekend we've found a nice little beach inside Muscat itself, in the "Qurm" district. This beach is very interesting because as you can see on the picture there are some seaweeds, and thus there are a lot of tropical fishes ! This gives a very good spot for snorkeling...


Actually, There are also some turtles swimming in the water, and I've been even able to touch one swimming next to me ! The possibility of swimming with turtles on the weekends is definitely one of good aspect to be living in Oman :)