Change of Scene

By -

Off on my travels again tomorrow, to Muscat, a place I have never visited. Only one overnight then back to Qatar on Saturday night. Normally, I'd be going to Dubai but our little local difficulty rolls on and Dubai can't be accessed from Doha except by stopping off in Muscat or Kuwait or somewhere even further off. Alternatively, there is the option of a 'luxury' coach from Muscat to Dubai, but apparently that takes four hours. It might be a good way to see the country but would take a huge bite out of a short weekend.

Note to self: One Omani Rial = Ten Qatari Riyals. Beware of overpaying taxis by a factor of ten!

Comments

  1. Grumpy Goat30 June 2017 at 12:35

    The luxury coach has an additional potential difficulty. The road between Hatta, which is presumably the border crossing of choice, and Dubai passes through a small peninsula of Omani land. So there are two additional border crossings.

    In Þe Olden Dayes, one could drive straight through and marvel at how international travel across GCC borders was so easy. And then border controls were added. Often, we were waved through; sometimes we had to show our ID cards or passports.

    But now, only Emirati and Omani citizens may cross these borders without let or hindrance. It is unclear whether this is a full-time situation or merely dependent on the phase of the moon or whether or not the border guard had any last night. But the crossings are out of bounds for expatriates, or at least were when I last tried.

    Motorcycle trips from Dubai to the Hatta Fort Hotel to avail [sic] the Friday bikers' breakfast are not affected. There are alternative routes that pass north of this loop of Omani territory which comprise much more interesting roads.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Para Glider2 July 2017 at 06:44

    Thanks G-G, that's all good info and not surprising. My perennial reservation about any road border crossing by bus is that if anything goes wrong, you can end up kicking your heels in no-man's-land for a long time, while your bus continues its journey without you. At least if something goes wrong in an airport, you're still in an airport with a reasonable set of options. I enjoyed Muscat though - must do it again.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Dangerous Species

By -
 Beware of the Financial Advisor. It hangs around in ex-pat haunts such as Doha's Champion's Bar, listens in to conversations for hints of affluence, and ingratiates itself with unsuspecting individuals who might be looking to invest some hard-earned money. It is likely to use a pseudonym, like Decent Bloke, Helpful Guy or John Hunt. But what it is really trying to do is scam you with some  dubious investment scheme   Having received its commission, it won't want to know you any more.
Read more

How to weigh a car using a tape measure and a tyre pressure gauge

By -
There are two pretty good ways to weigh a car: Drive it to the nearest public weighbridge and wait your turn. Look up the manual under General Specifications, ‘kerb weight’ But let's suppose the nearest public weighbridge is fifty miles away and you've lost the manual (and temporarily forgotten how to use public libraries and the Internet) and the burning urge to weigh your car just won't go away- what can you do about it? The good news is, you need hardly any equipment. All you need, for a reasonably accurate result is: a hand-held tyre pressure gauge which can be analogue or digital a retractable steel measuring tape a calculator, pencil and paper, or a good head for mental arithmetic The method Park the car on some clean, level concrete Observe that the car is held up by its four tyres (!) Measure the width of the tread of one tyre: e.g. 6 inches Measure the length of tread in contact with the ground: e.g. 7 inches Work out the area of tread touching the ground: e.g. 6 x...
Read more