7th of June
After another great breakfast we hop on the boat that brings us to Dharavandhoo airport. The whole crew is expecting us already and after a friendly good-bye we fly to Malé to get fuel and clear immigration. Again the handling is far from efficient and we lose quite some time. A four hour leg to Mumbai where we fill up the plane again. Also here it takes longer than thought. After another four hours we reach Oman; Arabia here we come!
They are building a new airport here in Muscat and we get the first taste of „construction boom in the Middle East“. When we are fueling up, the sun is setting but it is still hot. Immigrations and security is no problem and a nice, cooled car drives us to the hotel. It is already dark but we see all the new buildings and the roads are in super condition. Driving is civilized and people seem to have manners here.
Dinner at hotel which is also civilized and then early to bed. It was a long day today.
8th of June
Another rest day after yesterday’s long flight. Late breakfast, then pool. We get the first taste of the heat that we will experience the next few days. It is even too hot to swim in the sea; the water has the temperature of a jacuzzi in Davos! Later in the afternoon, still hot, Tom and webmaster visit the famous souk. The gold section is quite impressive and there are many local people in the gold shops here. It looks like there is purchasing power here.
Lebanese dinner at hotel and again another early bed time.
Historically Omanis were seafarers and traders who dominated regional commodity trading in the Indian Ocean, East Africa and the Arabian Gulf. There were thus a succession of migrations which saw the growth of settlements along some parts of the East African coast.
In 1970, QABOOS bin Said Al Said ousted his father and has ruled as sultan ever since. His extensive modernization program has opened the country to the outside world and has preserved a long-standing political and military relationship with the United Kingdom.
Oman’s moderate, independent foreign policy has sought to maintain good relations with all Middle Eastern countries.
