Holidays in Oman!

Juhuu! First real holiday since we arrived in Jordan! Ok, I had one day here and there, especially for the marriages last year but it was short and combined with lots of travel. This time we decided to fly to the Sultanate of Oman. We evaluated many different places and we went back and forth between Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and some other destinations. Especially as we already are east of Europe, the travel time is shorter and Royal Jordanian offers straight flights to those destinations, to let’s say reasonable prices. Nevertheless, the flight to those destinations is still way more than six hours and so we decided to choose a destination close to us, where it is warm but not boiling hot but we can enjoy the beach. One part of the world that fulfills all those requirements is the Gulf or the Red Sea. As we already have been in Egypt twice (and for actual reasons) we decided not to choose Egypt but look into the Gulf. Kuwait is too north for the season, Bahrain and Qatar are countries we will visit later and are also north and we have already been too many times to the UAE. So the only country was Oman! Oman is, whoever you ask, described as a wonderful country. Peaceful, nice and quiet. What we have seen so far is exactly how people described it to us. The country is beautiful. Very nice hills and a beach that is not from this world!
Last week was really tough at work. In general, the last couple month have been very demanding for various reasons. But the bigger was the joy when Katja and I finally were sitting in the airplane from Amman to Muscat! The cool thing (at least we thought it was) is that the airplane leaves at 2345 from Amman and arrives at 0450ish in Muscat. Problem: Muscat is two hours ahead. Second problem: hotel rooms are usually available from 1200 a.m. on. OK, if you do the math, you leave Amman at 2330, you fly some 3 hours and you arrive at 0430/0500 local time. How many hours did I sleep? Maximum one as RJ is the only airline I’ve see worldwide that wakes you up to ask if you want some dinner at 0030!! And this of course although I had a mask on and was sleeping on my pillow with ear plugs in my ears... anyway, the flight was nice and easy. Once arrived, we should have had a driver who was supposed pick us up and take us to the hotel. I guess you already can imagine that it did not happen ;-) nobody was there, the emergency numbers were one not on, the second not even working! We went to the desk of a car rental which was indicated to contact in case of trouble and which was supposed to have a 24/7 help-person. The guy of course was not there but put a sign there “back in 5”. Unfortunately you never know when the 5 minutes started and 5 minutes in this part of the world are slightly longer then in other parts... at least he left a mobile number which I called and I told him to come to the desk. He showed up and told us after calling the numbers, that he couldn’t do anything as they were not answering the phone. Then he said that he would try to reach them and walked away. Then he came back and asked me for my name. I showed him my name in my passport and he then said:” Give me your passport and wait here!” If there is anything I am most reluctant to give out of my hands, especially abroad is my passport. So my reaction was to look at him and say:” Yeah right, I am gonna give you my passport and you walk off...! I don’t think so dude...!” For whatever reason he took it personally and was pissed and asked me to wait where I was. I went to the cafeteria and bought a cappuccino and a croissant as in the meantime it was something around 0530/0600. He came back and told us that he could not reach anybody and that the only way was to take a cab on our expenses to the hotel. We couldn’t changes Omani Rial in Jordan (for whatever reason) so we tried to get some from the ATM at the airport as we needed some for the fare. Tough luck... we couldn’t withdraw any money with our cards... Luckily enough or thanks to my experience traveling the Middle East I always have some 200 US$ cash in the pocket. Katja took the money and went to the exchange desk to change some money. Not enough, the morning prayer Fajr (فجر‎) just started and the desk was closed for half an hour! I guess that’s called Murphy or so... OK now either we had to wait another 30 minutes or we take the cab, pay in USD and of course have to pay some 10$ more...I decided to take the cab and get out of the airport asap. The good thing at least was (seen in most countries in the Middle East), that the fare was fix and you pay up front (means no discussion on the price at arrival ;-) So we paid, left and arrived within 30 minutes as the city was empty as it was early Friday morning. We arrived and the hotel was just amazing! Thanks to the new world of information on the internet we were able to book a stay in Oman through a German Travel agent who offered us a terrific offer to stay 7 nights, pay five and offered us half-board and pick up service from the airport (which did not really worked out...) We checked in and of course no room was available. There was a huge group of Germans who would check out soon. Katja and I decided to enjoy breakfast in the sun and see if something would be available later after the breakfast. We spent some two hours and went back to the desk but the room was available but not cleaned yet... we decided to change our cloth and head to the beach. We changed our cloth in the bathroom (big as my apartment back in student times...) and headed to the beach. We arrived, grabbed a chair and put our head down....and woke up some three hours later! We were both so tired that we just fell asleep and spent the morning sleeping. I went to the desk and they told me that they were looking for us as the room was already ready. Katja and I went to the room and maybe because we waited so long or I don’t know why, they gave us a wonderful room with sea view and a nice balcony! Regardless the beauty, we unpacked and...went to bed (one penny for your thoughts... No, not what you are thinking...! We just took a shower and went sleeping. We woke up in the very late afternoon and it was time for dinner ;-)

The lobby of the hotel

Apparently I attract celebrities to the hotels I go (or maybe it is just coincidence). So far I have seen in hotels I staid: Evander “The Real Deal” Hollyfield (World Heavy Weight Box Champion) in NYC, in Switzerland the Miss Switzerland girls (they are really tall…), Art on Ice with all Ice Skating stars and here in Oman: all the bicycle racing stars as these days the are having the “Tour Of Oman” and all teams with their stars have their base in our hotel. Cancellara, Boonen, Vinokurov and all the others sitting around us on the beach. Funny enough, you spot a member of the racing team even without his team jersey. They have all a white torso, from the upper mid arm down they are extremely taint with extremely taint faces except where they have the glasses on. They look a bit like raccoons ;-)

The teams have their food served in a separate room as they mainly eat carbs by showeling tons of cereals, fruits and pasta into their bodies… must really be hard for them to pass in front of our buffet which is filled with all the most delicious things you can imagine. But hey, it’s their choice! Late in the evening I bummed into Fabian Cancellara one of the most successful sportsman at the moment (won almost everything last year, was Olympic Gold and Silver medal winner and won both of most prestigious one day races in Europe). Anyway, as he is Swiss I stopped him to wish him all the best for the next day. He was surprised to hear somebody talking to him but he stopped and we had a very nice chat. I usually don’t do it but I really took a pic with him… I know, it’s soooo paparazzi…but he is really a nice guy and a role model for many sportsman. While talking to him a gentleman approached us and said hello to us and said in Italian: ”Ja, ja, those Swiss…!” I looked at him and I knew that I had seen his face before but could not put a name to his face. We chatted a moment and he left. I then asked Fabian who the person was that we just spoke to as I had the impression knowing him. He looked at me and said: ”This was Eddy Merckx!” Wow…the UCI cyclist of the century hanging out here too :-) Katja read in the newspaper that he organizes the tour of Oman and that was the reason for him to be in Oman too.

Without knowing we planned our holiday “holiday efficient”… you’re asking why? This week the Muslim world celebrates Prophet Mohamed’s birthday Mawlid (Qur'anic Arabic: مَوْلِدُ النَبِيِّ). http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/holydays/miladunnabi.shtml

The interesting thing is, that as always such holidays are announced by a ministry at a very late stage. Means that we knew that there would be a day off, but not exactly when. So this week, Tuesday is off in Oman for the public sector and Wednesday is off for the private sector. An interesting aspect is, that as per Omani law it is forbidden to serve alcohol starting from Tuesday 06.00 p.m. to Thursday 6 p.m. So the bar will be quite empty these days ;-)

Oh, btw, I almost forgot… never go to the gym and sit next to a pro on the bicycle to warm up… I usually go on a cardio machine for half an hour to warm up like treadmill, steps or bicycle. So the other day I felt like bicycle and sat down on one. I found out later that the gentleman next to me was a member in a pro team… the dude was pushing the pedals so hard and in a velocity that you cannot even imagine! Not enough but after some 45 minutes of die hard workout the guy gets off the bike and starts his regular work out on the weights!!! Aaaahhhh! I guess that’s why they are called pro and I pay my monthly fee at the gym just to make me feel better ;-)

OK, that’s all folks for the moment. Enjoy whatever you are doing and take care wherever you are in this world! Big hug from Amman!