Darsait Viewpoint
Qurm Beach
Qurm Natural Park
Qurm Natural Park
Qurm Natural Park. March 2016
[from FB post: March 11, 2016]
Muscat confounds me. Oman has a fraction of the money of Saudi Arabia, yet they do everything here so much better. It is cleaner. People drive sanely. People are super polite. They treat their foreign workers respectfully. They respect their heritage. They have a great sense of art, style, and architecture. It is like I found a place that takes the good stuff of Saudi Arabia and Dubai and rolled them into one. Now I wish it just weren't so damn expensive 🙁
My entire trip to Oman was only because my plans for Bangladesh got cancelled due to civil unrest. Everyone I knew who had worked in Oman loved it. I was more than curious about the place, but admit to doing very little research before going due to the last minute nature of the journey. In fact, most of Muscat was only known to me through the my informal guidebook, the "Writing I" textbook at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia. I knew a few neighborhood names, and that was it.
As I indicated in other posts, like my hilariously bizarre visit to the Muscat Opera House [see: Royal Opera House, Muscat] with the strange driver provided to me by the hotel, Muscat was just not an easy city to get around. Although there were aspects of the city I liked (it was beautiful and uncrowded, and the Omanis were so much nicer than other Gulf Arabs), the very fact that it was only navigable by extraordinarily expensive taxis put me off. I did somehow manage to explore a lot of the city and I was somewhat satisfied that I visited the most important places. Muscat was ancient [see: Al Muttrah]. In fact, Muscat literally WAS Oman for most of its history. I so wanted to like the city in hopes that I might find a job there.
Working in Oman was no easy task either. Although some people were lucky enough to fall into a good job, most people had to suffer through a year of working via a contractor (akin to slavery) while the Omanis decided if they liked an instructor enough to offer a more permanent contract. Even if I didn't like the policy, it made me respect the Omanis even more. They had contractors filter out all the chaff and those that were left were worth hiring directly (at very good salaries). I wasn't interested in being vetted that way. Staying in Saudi Arabia for a few years should have been proper vetting for anyone wanting to work in the Gulf.
Meanwhile, on my Muscat tour, the strange little taxi driver took me to Qurm (from writing textbook fame) where its famous beach had just been destroyed by a storm. With nothing to see there, he drove me to a nearby park. I supposed to make up for my disappointment in the beach? The space looked more like an urban park from Saudi - a big empty green lawn and a fake lake with a few trees around it that looked totally out of place with the environment. On the way to Muttrah he stopped at a viewpoint in Darsait (another textbook location) which provided a good view over the city and of the stark mountains that divided the old port with the more modern city. The scenery was dramatic all over Muscat. Juxtapositions abounded: old and new, green and barren, flat and mountainous. I can see why cruise ships called in Muscat. I might have actually preferred a package tour from one of those floating hotels for the Omani capital - I probably would have spent less.
I left Muscat feeling that I had not really had a complete taste of it. If I had had friends there, it would have made a total difference. If I returned with a job (and maybe a car), I could see enjoying living there a few years. Muscat had a quality I liked even if my introduction was less than perfect.
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