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It was nice to see that some industrious Omani has begun to advertise his taxi service for the Roman Empire and anyone else associated with Nero or Caesar.
The trouble is that he's about two thousand years behind the eight-ball.
Prizes will be awarded to those of you who can work out this man's phone number.
In all fairness he deserves recognition for the originality and I hope it only brings him good luck.
Will be back soon with more of the usual attacks on the "simple life".
But right now, it's vacation time.
Off to spend the hard earned money that, as my dear friend OMR recently put, I do not deserve!
Until then....... mmmmwah!
JD
It would appear that there are chalk lines down and surveying pins laid at the popular - and very publically used - Qantab Beach.
I had originally thought that they were just going to be paving some road to get better access, however, further enquiries have uncovered plans for two new hotels and a "housing complex".
Two new hotels? For what? To throw further money away into Oman's already extremely low hotel occupancy rate?
What is the occupancy rate at the three hotel mega-complex that is the Shangri-la, clearly seen from Qantab Beach?
What impact are these new hotels going to have on the local population?
Another public beach commandeered by the Ministry of Whatever.
What is this housing complex that has been tagged on? Is it another Barr Al Jissah, millionaire's row type of thing?
Is it a back-hander?
More of the corruption that the local population have been protesting against and have been given promises of it being curbed?
This is by far the best local beach in the Muscat area. Now being taken away from the general public. Not on!
Where are the residents of Qantab and the, literally, hundreds of visitors from Muscat going to go of an evening now?
Shatti Al Qurum? - already full.
Yiti Beach? - nope......that's gone.
Al Sheikh? - errrrr.....no we're building stuff there sorry.
Anyone fancy a 90 minute drive to Bimmah or Fins, because that seems to be the only option at this point!
Omanis - your beautiful local resources are being taken away from you to line the pockets of others.
While I understand the need to develop tourism in the country, I get the feeling that blocking off Qantab and destroying its natural beauty is a step too far.
Any Facebook and Twitter whizzes out there who are ready to set up a web page about this? Would be interesting to see how the public reacts to this as it all seems to have been hushed up - or maybe I am just out of the loop!
This should not be happening!
It has been brought to my attention that the Rock Bottom management have started racial profiling again on their entrance - something to do with skin color being associated with the amount of money that you have to pay to get in.
Those who object to being segregated and discriminated against because of their ethnic origin or, in some cases, excessive sun-tan, can expect to have their face smashed in by a somewhat disproportionate ratio of about 15 bouncers to 1 customer.
The above actions assume some form of legal immunity from arrest for the staff of Rock Bottom.
One wonders what the deal is. Free entry and drinks for Muscat's finest maybe? Who knows?
You can read more about it here on Muscat Mutterings.
So maybe it is time to have a long hard look at whether or not you want to risk getting a beating during your night out around town.
The bottom line in this blogger's opinion is that there are far better establishments for folks to go and have a burger, a drink and a dance in than the paltry efforts for Ramee Guestline Hotel and the attached after-thought that is Rock Bottom.
Where I come from, places that use excessive force on their patrons get boycotted for better venues.
Maybe the venerable Andy In Oman can get do a night-life review for us.
His restaurant review blogs have changed my social life in Muscat, and I highly recommend you read his blog.
Ciao
So it has been a rather active few weeks in Oman, what with all the whining and the complaining about this, that and the other.
Someone earlier in the month asked me what my opinions on the protests were.
I replied with the following comment:
"No reason in the world to comment about a bunch of lazy, entitlement-deluded idiots who, while looking for the usual Omani 'easy way out' are doing nothing but adding further damage to an already grossly corrupt and flawed system.
It is endemic. The blame culture meets the handout brigade.
You are doomed."
The emailed responses to the above were the typical drivel that one has come to expect from the regulars. There was, however, the marked absence of my good friend OMR, who has probably run out of internet credit and will need to sell his Yaris to feed his surfing habit.
The damage that has been done to Oman over the past few weeks has been nothing sort of massive.
Of course, with the local mentality of looking no further than an extended hand, it has not fully dawned on them that they've gone and royally fucked things.
As Undercover Dragon very gently put it to you the other day, the numbers just don't add up - you are not living in an oil rich nation.
Add to this a grossly undereducated band of 20 somethings (and don't DARE blame this on the government - you have been given EVERY chance of learning) and you have the shit-fest that is coming very soon.
Just read the placards on some of the protests:
"We want 500 rials a month - and two days off"
This was outside one of the hotels in Muscat.
Sorry. But if you want two days off, then go back to school and get a job that warrants that! You are a hotel worker - you would not be there had you kept your head down in school.....the entitlement mentality here is unreal, as is the naivety!
No real oil wealth: just enough to run the country and give you things like roads and hospitals and schools (hint: which you can use to invest your time in and get a good job).
Dependancy on foreign employment.
"EXPATS OUT!" was another sign, but they failed to write the specifics.
All expats? Or just the ones that have the jobs you want to do?
Getting rid of just the house-workers.....there's your 50,000 jobs right there!
But, ohhhhhhh, you don't want to be sweeping floors and working for another Omani.
Being told what to do? No way!
How many of the local kids would be happy to:
Clean houses
Wash clothes
Wash cars
Clean Toilets
Build villas
Sweep roads
Change tyres
Fill your petrol tank
And don't give me the bullshit "There ARE Omanis doing this!" ok?
There's a handful! And bless them for doing it!
You might notice that this blog post has no real structure to it and apart from the raw information, there is no substance to it either.
Take that as a metaphor!
As I said before.... "You are doomed".
Oil revenue almost gone.
Gas is negligible.
Tourism? Ha! You've wrecked it. The goodwill damage alone will take years to get back.
Back to making clay pots and selling incense.
It is a crying shame what you are doing to this beautiful nation.
Laziness and greed abound!
Is it too late? Who knows!
Nice to see that the ROP have begun plain-clothes operations on the roads here in Muscat.
I'd been wondering for years why there were no undercover road traffic officers driving "normal" cars....it really does make a difference.
Nothing more annoying than watching all the "goody-two-shoes" demonstrations from folks when a blue and white is driving along the motorway, only to watch the same cretins tailgating a few moments later when the "danger" has passed.
Driving on the new expressway has become particularly hazardous as there are still no permanent speed cameras in place, so folks are doing insane types of driving.
One had an altercation with a local driver a while ago who cut across me and two others doing about 160kph and proceeded to slam on and flash the guy in front of me to get out of the way.
When I was lucky enough to come side by side with him at the traffic lights, his bravado outweighed his intelligence and he offered me a discussion at the side of the road which I was more than happy to partake in.
Having already called the ROP before this, he was astonished to find them pull up alongside us as he got out of the car.
Suddenly it was all my fault...I was the bad-guy, doing the dangerous driving and flashing my lights at him.
Ahhhh, but hold on.....Mrs. Jet Driver had wanted to show her family the lovely new motorway with the mountain view - so had video'd the whole incident with her new camera. You've got to love technology.
There he was, in all his High Definition glory!
As you can imagine, he didn't have an answer for that......but the cops did!
Saddest part, and the thing that made me call the police in the first place?
He had his young wife and toddlers in the car with him.
Well done ROP on another leap up the policing progress ladder.
I think it's great!
After a while sitting parked while I'm away, my wheels can look a bit shabby around the edges, so this evening, after a long few days beating up the skies of Asia, I drove to one of those car-wash places where you can get the inside and outside done for a couple of rials.
Kindly bear that thought in mind for the next time you go there: "It only costs a couple of rials.".
I'm waiting in line for the pressure washer guy. There's a Range Rover Sport in front of me - pearl white with all the trimmings and a wasta registration plate.
Unusually, the guy at the end of the hose was a local chap in what looked like his late teens, ordering around what is left of the post-Omanisation Indians.
The Range Rover goes up on the hydraulic jacks and the guy starts spraying chinks of mud, tar and other crap off of the bottom.
It was hard to see in the dark, but he seemed to lack the gusto of his "sub-ordinates" who were busily cleaning the other vehicles in the line.
He turns off the washer, and awaits inspection from the driver.
Typical Range Rover type, with the pressed dishdasha, the big ring and the attitude to match.
Lots of finger-clicking and general nit-picking about little marks on the car, with this-and-that not being perfect enough.
"You clean engine." is what came next, so up came the hood and the kid starts washing and waving the hose around for a while, still with no real commitment - just going through the motions. (Work went on around him at the other cars.)
Second inspection.
More pointing at the engine and then his attention goes to beneath the car again.
Clearly not clean enough for this man.
We can't be seen parked on the pedestrian ramp outside Starbucks at Shatti with a dirty underside now can we?
A few rude upward waves of his hand and he walks away. "You clean again better."
Back to that thought again: "It only costs a few rials."
Seriously. This is just a quick wash station, operated by a guy who just couldn't give a toss about you. It's a local....being told what to do by a local....and that appears to not go down well for some.
If you want a full showroom valet you will need to take your precious compensation device to Ziebart.
So the guy with the hose then does something that all happened for me in slow motion.
He raises the Range Rover up on the hydraulic platform again….
….but the hood is still up!
And the hood is higher than the roof of the jeep, and starts to fold to accommodate the ceiling.
Awesome sound, then the head turning left and right to see where the odd din is coming from, then the change in facial expression when it finally dawns on this guy that it might have been better to just leave this to the Indians!
Management dishdashas had arrived by the time I stopped crying with laughter.
They had a copy of their Terms & Conditions with them! "You can't blame us!"
I guess it was going to be a long night.
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