On the road

There's always a lot going on in our everyday life as cyclists in Oman, here are a few things:

Omanis love huge cars, their SUV's and pickups can't be big enough and they love to slow down next to us, do some smalltalk, invite us to their homes (not always seriously.. it's more their kind of 'Taruf') and pull their smartphone to take videos and photographs. And, they love to not leave their cars and if so, they keep it switched on to keep the AC running. Must be a habit coming from the incredible hot summers.. Whenever we sit in a restaurant or coffee shop, they stop in front of it, start honking and wait for the waitstaff to come and place their takeaway order. By the way, we've never seen a woman working in a restaurant nor an Omani woman eating there with her family. Fathers sometimes come with their kids, but it's absolutely a male domain.

And while we're writing about restaurants, there is something more: In the non-touristy restaurants, cutlery is taboo. You get some nice, warm, fresh, greasy bread and grab your lentils, beans and other veggies with that, yummy! And for some reason, compared to our, other tables always look like a mess after the Omanis finished their meals, maybe they should introduce some tools..

Whenever we enter an Omani house, hotel or something, it is likely to happen that we end up in an intense fume. Burning incense that is made from myrrh is an old tradition and the Omanis like to hold their headgear above it and quickly put it back on their head then, or, more astonishing, put it between their feet, standing above and waiting for the fume to fill their Thawb :)Read more