Muscat to Paris

We have had an interesting couple of days in an exotic city and a far cry from Palmerston North .
After a wonderful spring day in Sydney wondering around the Rocks and harbour /Manly Bay area we boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur with a few hours stop over and then on to the Mystique of Muscat in Oman.
Oman is like UAE in that it is very wealthy due to oil and gas. Muscat the capital city is surrounded by jagged rocky hills and the Arabian sea. It is late summer here and incredibly hot as in 35 degrees.
It is run by the Sultan of Oman who is worth an estimated 1 billion American dollars. Yesterday we had a great tour with Mohammed a devout Muslim and who was very handsome in his spotless white Omani traditional long tunic. Don't think I could cope with all that white!
Mohammed was great and we saw the amazing Grand Mosque with a 9 ton chandelier made in Italy of 600,000 pieces of crystal. Not your everyday dining room light fitting. We were very pleased that the mosque was air-conditioned and I am sure the worshippers are too ,as they are called 5 times a day for worship. We were taken to meet an Imam after seeing the mosque and had an "interesting discussion" about the Islam faith. Lee the lawyer amongst us added quite a bit of light hearted debate to the chat which the Imam enjoyed. All the while we were eating delicious fresh dates and sipping on their wonderful coffee.
Other highlights of the day was the beautiful opera house built and gifted by the old Sultan. We went to the market with of course a very exotic array of stuff so have bought my been to Oman pashmina ( from India) We saw the Sultans 2 ships berthed at the harbour and ended the trip in a great Omani Cafe having a lunch of lamb biryani. We were thankful for the hotel in the afternoon and out of the heat.
We ate in at the hotel for dinner and realised after we had ordered that there was no alcohol allowed which certainly didn't hurt us. The previous night we had had cocktails at an amazing hotel Chedi on the shores of the Arabian sea watching the sun set. The joy of it all was slightly diminished by the costs of the drinks. $25.00 for a beer! For the first time ever I had a mock tail!
We leave today for Paris and are hoping to catch most of the rugby game. Let's hope it's not quite as hot as here but it's been a great stop over and not a place on your normal radar. The people seem to be gracious gentle and friendly.
Go the All Blacks... hopefully they won't be gracious and gentle!Read more