Yes, another visa run has us spending the night in Muscat, Oman with the decision made to play tourist and enjoy the sites. It was a bit of a surprise to find after we returned home that this particular weekend was the point in time that the Omani people decided that Tunisia and Egypt were getting too much world press and to start protesting against their own government.

We saw nothing at all the entire two days to suggest that even one local citizen was unhappy as everyone in Muscat was friendly with smiling faces – probably at the prospect of separating us of our money since B had her shopping face on the entire time. Apparently there were anti government protests in some of the rural areas of the country which to me seems somewhat of marketing blunder as there aren’t many people out there in the middle of the desert. If you ask me how to get attention, go to the big city and throw rocks at the Presidential Palace.

Nary a rock thrower in sight at the Sultan's Palace.

Perhaps the Omani citizens are merely shaking their proverbial sticks in the air and scowling in front of the cameras to see what goodies the Sultan will give them, seeing how some great reforms have been granted in some of the other neighboring countries for the same kinds of actions.  Sure enough, The Sultan was spooked enough to announce a few days later that the minimum wage had been doubled, a few of his cousins had been thrown out…uh…replaced in high government positions and a dialogue would be opened up with the people, a popular promise in this part of the world over the past few months.

Fun at the Muscat Festival

We attended the last night of the Muscat Festival, a kind of Fatacil (for my Algarvian friends) and felt very comfortable walking among everyone. We were even interviewed by a local radio station – typical questions. How do you like the festival? Where are you from?  So thank you to the dozens of our American friends who expressed their concern that we might have been beheaded during the weekend but we are fine, rested and ready to explore again during the next visa run, probably to Qatar next.

It seems these visa runs come more frequently the longer I live here.  A series of SNAFU’s, bureaucratic red tape and a very laid back management at the company I work for still have me in limbo between the category of a tourist and a worker here. Therefore I am taking these visa runs as an opportunity to see other countries as a tourist rather than just an airport to jet in and out of.

We took an overnight trip into the Musandam region of Oman and stayed at the Golden Tulip hotel just out of Khasab. What a beautiful part of the world with arid mountains directly on the coastline and an undulating coastline that is nicknamed “The Fjords of Oman”. Khasab is a small port town with fishing and tourism as its main reason for existence. I also hear stories that it is a main artery for illegal smuggling of goods, mainly electronics from Iran in exchange for what I don’t know. But don’t quote me on that.

I’ll let my pictures tell the story in this post so enjoy.

Approaching Oman

You know you are getting close to Oman when you see the mountains suddenly jut out of the landscape.

Omani Coastline

The road to Khasab skirts the thin line of land between the mountains and the sea.

Caution, cattle crossing - literally

Livestock abounds, both in Oman and the border towns of the UAE as you approach Oman.

Everyone has a few goats in Khasab

You can’t go anywhere in Khasab without seeing goats everywhere.

A local resident lets us take a photo with him.

This local resident let us take a photo with him at the Marina.

Catch of the Day in Khasab port.

Fishing is a way of life in Khasab.

Sunrise in Oman

I awoke early the next day to catch this photo.

Vacant beaches in Oman

Wide open beaches with plenty of room to spread out.

Local Khasab family

A small family sits ouside their house.

High and Dry Dhow

Someone forgot where their marina slip was.

Khasab Mosque

This mosque was located near the marina. Nice view of the mountains in the background.

Golden Tulip Hotel

The hotel where we stayed.

Khasab Marina

The marina at Khasab, Oman.

Hope they has the car waxed.

As I said, goats are everywhere.

Beachfront View

Just a short walk from the hotel.

Seaside village in Oman

This can be seen from the hotel.

Larry, Moe and Curly

Six to a room.

I thought it would be a romantic touch to B’s birthday celebration to take the train overnight to Vienna, where we were to meet up with good friends who live there. Therefore we flew into Geneva, Switzerland the afternoon before and immediately went to the train station, which is a grueling 100 meter walk from the airport, to purchase tickets. We tried to purchase these tickets on line a few days before but couldn’t navigate around the complicated website. The nice gentleman at the ticket counter was very good at his job and knew exactly what lines we should travel on and what stations to make the proper transfers that allowed two people enjoying the second half of their lives enough time to wheel three large suitcases to the next platform. We were told that we were the only two in our sleeping berths, which I assumed meant we were paying for a two berth sleeping quarter.

Surprise! We had mistakenly booked a six person berth complete with four new friends. Each sleeping berth was smaller than a coffin and too short for my legs. As it turns out, we couldn’t have asked for nicer bunkmates. These four young people were all attending a hospitality and hotel management college in Switzerland. One was from Viet Nam, one from Taiwan and two from India.

Bed and Breakfast - Literally

The cramped quarters didn’t allow us a very good night’s sleep but the adventure of talking to these kids from all over the world, was worth it.

Asleep at the Wheel

I’m taking B away for her birthday to Vienna, Austria to meet up with friends and just relax before starting my new job on July 1^st. Out flight left Lisbon at 9 AM, not too early in the morning, but apparently too early for the airport security to be on the ball. When passing through the security checkpoint, we placed out carry on luggage on the conveyor belt to be X-rayed but noticed that there was no human monitoring the display screen. Therefore, when we picked our belongings up on the other side, no one had inspected our handbags. In addition, the half conscious officer on the receiving end didn’t ask about any liquids we might have been carrying, nor did he ask to see the plastic bag we had placed these items into.

Nine years ago we had our pets transported into Portugal, which was a long and complicated process of coordinating paperworks between the two countries, getting health certificates and proper vaccination records translated into Portuguese and arranging the flights. The final checkpoint was to have all these documents checked by the veterinarian at the Lisbon airport in order to have our animals legally enter the country. It turns out our precious pets arrived on January 3^rd to the airport, and the veterinarian on duty hadn’t returned from his Christmas vacation. When the commercial baggage employee, whose job it was to get the crated animals to the on site veterinary office discovered that the all powerful decider of our animal’s eligibility to enter the country wasn’t present, he merely waved us on to our automobile, animals and all. We could have imported rabid skunks and gotten away with it.

Some things never change.

Nature burps as I decide to go.

No, I’m not talking about my body’s physiological response to my last McDonald’s meal. The “burp” I’m talking about is what that pesky volcano in Iceland is starting to do once again. You know, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which was named by the official volcano naming geologist’s cat when she walked across his keyboard.

I was starting to wonder if there was a chance that I would not be able to fly to Dubai for the critical exam I’m taking on June 5^th. Although 3 weeks away, I can not afford to let Mother Nature’s indigestion delay me of employment another 4 months. Coincidentally, my future employer called me and thought it would be a good idea if I could come early, just to make sure I’m there for the exam. I guess they really want me there as they said they would take care of my accommodations over there so the “go” I’m talking about is what I’m going to do in 2 days. There is a bit of a concern as my two leg journey takes me through London, England, where the potential kink in the hose might occur.

The paralysis of international flight witnessed a few weeks ago because of the first eruption was completely unnecessary, an overreaction, an inability for anyone in charge to take responsibility and a financial disaster. A good friend of mine, whose father is a retired international airline pilot told me that back in 1980, when Mount St. Helens erupted in the northwestern corner of the USA, airline travel was hardly affected. Only when one airliner flew directly into the ash cloud did the pilot experience a temporary loss of power, and that only happened once, not that that was insignificant. The point is no flight was affected that chose not to fly directly into the ash cloud.

Regardless of the political correctness of the past and future decisions concerning air travel due to this unpronounceable climatic event, I can not afford to sit around and see what happens. I’m off to England Thursday during this little window of opportunity and, once there, then changing my ticket for the Dubai leg for the very next flight. If I get stuck in England at all, I have decided I’m going to have to take the train as far east as possible, perhaps Instanbul, and then fly to Dubai from there.

I have almost 2,500 flash cards inputed into the Anki program I mentioned a few blog posts ago, so all I need are my books and the mini laptop and I could study my way across Europe while sitting on the train. That sound like a once in a lifetime experience. I’ll keep you posted.

Cold Wet England

This obviously is not a photo taken in the UAE.  I am in transit back to Portugal to wait another two months to take the exam that I was supposed to take on this trip. I knew I was cutting it close getting all my papers and licenses authenticated and approved in time to make the cut off for taking the exam, and I really thought I had just made it in the nick in time. However, Murphy’s law as it is, was in full force the other day when I was informed that the current exam is full and I will have to wait another two months.  Most people would be quite upset by this, but having lived in Portugal for the past 10 years, and living these kinds of bureaucratic inefficiencies on a daily basis, I will have to look at this as an opportunity to study more and take a much needed vacation. One step forward, two steps back.

Up Up and Away

My airline tickets arrived today.  My new employer is paying for me to fly to Dubai in order to take my licensing exam, which they also are paying for.  No, I am not flying first class, but I am not complaining. I am not used to all this attention. I leave in three nights which is hard to believe. I won’t miss all this rain and cold weather in Portugal. We have already burned through all the firewood for the season. I’ll be gone for approximately 10 days to take the examinations and check out the new job. I can’t wait!