Oink, oink!

Here's a bit of back ground information first on pork in a Muslim country (for those who do not know). Pork isn't usually easy to come by in a Muslim country. They just don't agree with it! Something to do with pigs eating their own sh*t I think. In some countries in the Middle East it's actually illegal to import or sell it. So, if you are lucky enough to live in a country that is allowed to sell it you usually have to head to a limited number of supermarkets that supply it. Once inside you go into a special room next to the 'normal' meat counter that has a warning above the door stating 'Not For Muslims'. It really can make you laugh when you first see it. That's enough background for now.

I had finished work for the weekend on a Wednesday and decided to go shopping in the supermarket underneath my office. This supermarket is luckily the only brand that sells pork in Oman (it's called Al Fair) so it's nice and handy for me. A bacon butty would be a nice way to kick off the weekend tomorrow morning I thought. My jaw literally hit the floor when I saw how much a pack of bacon was! £15 (9.5 Rials)......YES, read it again, £15!!!! For a pack of bacon??? I thought pork was expensive in the UAE, but it's nothing compared to Oman. I am told this is because of a 100% import tax the government imply on it, but still, £15?!! That's just a joke. It even makes the £15 full English breakfast in McGettigans pub in Dubai seem cheap.

So what is the solution to this pork dilemma? Boot leg it from Dubai of course! The week prior to me travelling to Dubai for the weekend I was flooded with pork requests from fellow colleagues. I discovered pork (in all it's varieties!) really does take up a lot of space in a regular shoulder bag when you have roughly 5 kg's of it!! I don't charge a fee for this service as yet, but a simple dinner invite from the receivers is as good of a payment as any.

Around half of the pig order

Taxi's in Muscat

I flew back to Dubai last weekend (to attend a chairty ball I bought a ticket for before I moved to Muscat) and planned to drive my 'Dubai' car back to Muscat, so I left my hire car at work. This meant that on Saturday morning I had to have my first Muscat taxi experience to get back to work to pick up the hire car.

Taxi's in Muscat aren't that convenient and can be a little hard to figure out at first. Here's some basic information on the taxis here:

• They are white and orange in colour.
• They are driven by Omani's who own the taxi themselves as a small business.
• There's no central number to call if you want one so you have to flag one down or know the phone number of an actual driver.
• They don't have a meter, so you have to agree a price before you set off.

I soon discovered that flagging a taxi down on a morning is hard work, I just couldn't get any of them to stop. If it was the middle of summer I'd of been sweating my ass off in no time because I ended up having to walk for roughly 15 minutes to a taxi rank I drive past every day on the way to work. Just as I was approaching the taxi rank a taxi pulled up next to me, he already had a passenger inside, but I told him where I wanted to go and he signaled for me to get in. I had been told to always agree a price before you get in because they try to charge you 5 Rial (about £8) no matter how short the journey is. Seeing as my office is only a ten minute journey I offered him 3 Rial, but we eventually agreed on 4 Rial. Maybe I should have offered 2 to begin with!

The taxi driver was very old and small, with a grey beard. A lot like the fisherman I encountered at the fish market actually! He spoke very little English, but he tried to ask me how I was.........at least I think that's what he was asking.



If you squint you can just about see his beard!



I'd been in the taxi a couple of minutes when we dropped the other guy off (who had been relegated to sitting on the roof because as you can see, it only had 2 seats!). The driver then started going in the opposite direction to where my office is. Brilliant! It appears he mis-understood my description of 'the Al Fair supermarket on 18th of November Street' (Yes, I know, bit of a stupid name for a road isn't it?). Instead, he was taking me to a place called Al Faheer, or that's what he kept repeating anyway. He eventually understood where I wanted to go when I told him my offce is in an area called Azaiba.

Upon arrival I gave him the 4 Rial and he offered his hand to shake mine. I said 'Shukran', which is 'Thank you' in Arabic. He said 'Shukran' back and gave me a huge smile, one that was definitely big enough to suggested I had over-paid! Or he was possibly just another very friendly Omani. Still, taxi's here aren't expensive compared to most parts of the world, but they could do with some imporovement on how to come across them and how much to charge.

Property Hunting

Property hunting takes far too much time and effort (unless you get lucky!). This is generally because most real estate agents in the Middle East like to show you things that are way over your budget or have been on their books since the dawn of time, i.e. they're a pile of sh*te. I wasn't shocked to discover that most agents in Muscat are the same then. Despite me being very specific on the phone (3 to 4 bed villa, walking distance to the beach, fairly modern and not too far from work) the first two agents I met took me to see the dregs of what was on their books. A 6 (yes, 6!!!) bed villa that was very old and a good 10 minute drive to the beach. A 5 bed villa which looked like it dated back to the stone age, but it was close to the beach so he got that right. Next was a 2 bed apartment. This was the point that I told the agent he was wasting my time and to call me if he actually had something that fit my very small list of requirements. Since that experience I've learnt to get details of the places they want to show me before they actual take me.

Some of you might be thinking '4 bed villa? on the beach? just for him? posh tw@t, rich b@stard' etc, etc. Please allow me to explain though before you judge. Firstly, rented accommodation here is CHEAP! Maybe not that cheap compared to the UK, but compared to Dubai it's brilliant. A 4 bed villa, by the beach (some even have a pool!) costs roughly the same as a 2 bed apartment in a nice area of Dubai. Secondly, I am planning to rent at least one of the rooms out to someone. No idea who yet, but possibly someone at work (there are new guys starting all the time). I found this works quite well judging on my experience in Dubai (yes Dom, that's a compliment, don't get a boner). I'm also expecting a few visitors. Mum and Dad haven't booked a date in yet, but I'm sure they will soon. All friends are welcome to book a visit of course to take advantage of the free digs and to explore a new city/country. Same condition as before though for the couples: no loud bedroom 'holiday activity' late at night if I have work the next day. So that's at least 3 bedrooms I need. The fourth could just be used for something else, a study, a gym, or just a Scalextric room!?! The reasons for being by the beach are: because it'll be cool and because I can.

Ignoring the pain of the first agent I have met some nice ones who have been very honest and up front with me. So far there are two villas I like. One is a 4 bed (tick), with a 500m walk to the beach (measured on Google Earth - tick), but is a bit lacking on the modern side when it comes to the bathrooms and kitchen, so I'd have to compromise there. The second place is a 5 bed (bit big, but tick), with a 1000m walk to the beach (semi-tick), a shared swimming pool with 5 other villas (not an initial requirement, but big tick)  and fairly modern throughout (tick). There's one big cross against the second place though, which I am going to have to go and explore at a certain time of day. Roughly 50m away is a small mosque. For those of you that haven't lived in the Middle East, this is by no means a good thing. Most notable is the call to prayer at around 4:30am every morning! Even though the current tenant told me it doesn't bother him I'll have to go back at one of the 5 prayer times throughout the day to see just how loud it is for myself.

For now, my search continues. I already have a couple of places to see tomorrow (luckily my boss has been very accommodating so far and is letting me check out all these places during work time!). So the next time I mention accommodation will probably be when the decision is made and I've moved in. When this happens I'll make sure to post a few pictures to tempt all you potential visitors!