Brunch at the Chedi

So, I think the Chedi should start paying me commission as it seems that every time we have visitors we  pay them a visit. It is an absolute nightmare that Jenny and I have to spend our Friday afternoon drinking champagne and dining on some of the finest food in Muscat but then if it means our guests have a good time we are willing to sacrifice our afternoon. 

Not really a lot more to say about this, except for the fact that we have tried a few of the other brunches and they don't come close to what is on offer here. I think I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Cronuts

Now it's common knowledge that I enjoy my food and I especially enjoy trying new things, so when I heard that the Caramel Bakery was the first place to sell Cronuts in Muscat I knew I had to try them.

The Cronut is half croissant and half donut and was created by a french pastry chef in New York. 

When we lived in Chicago, there was a small bakery called the Donut Vault round the corner from our apartment which sold some of the most amazing donuts. It would bake a certain amount of donuts in the morning and would only stay open until all of the donuts had been sold. There were some days that people would queue for over an hour just to get their hands on a donut. Dominique Ansel (the creator of the cronut) is using the same marketing strategy. I'm not sure if the same happened at the Donut Vault, but according to the Huffington Post people are buying the $5 cronuts and selling them on Craigslist for up to $40.

We are hoping that the guys at Caramel are going to work with us at m events in a new upcoming project we busy trying to finalize. Maybe thats not a good thing for the waist line…

Anyway, whatever happens, these guys are amazing at what they do and their cronuts, as well as the other items on sale are some of the best in town. 

Visit from the folks - Via Ferrata

There are not many men who celebrate their 61st birthday by cycling in 35C heat, stand up paddle boarding and rock climbing. But then my dad is not your average bear! He has always been up for a challenge and loves to be outdoors, regularly going hiking and climbing. One thing that has been on his bucket list for a while is to do a 'Via Ferrata", so on discovering that there was one in Oman, what better present to get him for his birthday than a nice day out checking this off his list.

Via Ferrata means "iron road" in Italian and is essentially a large steel cable which is attached to rocks, which enables a safer and less strenuous climb. Oman has a number of via ferrata routes, all of which have been temporarily closed for safety reasons (not a good start!). Recently, the Ministry of Tourism reopened the one in Jebel Shams to those travelling with approved tour groups. Fortunately for us Oman Adventure were running their first trip to Jebel Shams since it was reopened whilst Mum and Dad were here, so we booked Dad, Jenny, Nicky (Jenny's sister) and Craig (Nicky's boyfriend) on the trip.

To get to the start of the Via Ferrata there is a high level balcony walk to the abandoned village of Sab bani Khamis. Here are a few photos and a short video of the trip.

Good work Dad!

Jebel Shams is known as Oman's Grand Canyon 

Hard to see, but this is the rock they climbed

Dad posing for the camera half way up

Jenny with the GoPro 

Craig reaching the top

Nicky bringing up the rear

Visit from the folks - The Daymaniyat Islands

So we've just celebrated yet another holiday in Oman. This time it was Eid Al Adha - the feast of sacrifice. With this came 4 days of public holidays. Now I'm never one to complain about getting a day off work, but with having a number of visitors (my parents and Jenny's sister and her boyfriend) and a lot of visitor attractions closed, it made it difficult to come up with ideas of different things to do. Unfortunately it's still a little bit on the hot side to chill out at the beach or by the pool.

Despite having been in Oman for 6 months now and Jenny working for Oman Sail, we've not actually been out on any of the boats. So this holiday seemed the perfect opportunity to put this right. As Jenny's sister's boyfriend Craig is in the Navy, we were able to make use of his qualifications and charter one of Oman Sail's powerboats for the day - note to self, must take a Powerboat course!

It was typical that the day we charter the boat is the day that thundery showers were forecast, but the sun was shining in the morning so we headed out anyway.

We had only left the Wave about 10 minutes when we spotted a school of dolphins. We slowed down and some of them swam right up to the boat and started jumping and playing right next to the boat.

Our plan for the day was to take the boat out to the Daymaniyat Islands, which are a series of seven  small islands approximately an hour's boat ride from The Wave. They are renowned as being one of Oman's best dive spots, but good for snorkelling too. The islands are part of a Nature Reserve so it is not possible to land on the islands between the months of May and October so as not to disturb the nesting turtles. The waters around the Island are such an amazing shade of blue.

So, after a spot of snorkelling and enjoying the beautiful warm waters, we headed to a neighbouring island, Kharabah where we could moor up and have a spot of lunch. It was very picturesque and could have featured on a postcard, but what was really sad, was that once you stepped away from the beach the island was full of rubbish. 

The day was going perfectly well until it came to getting back on the boat and I caught my feet on a couple of rocks. I managed to slice the top of my big toe and it turns out that it bleeds quite profusely. The boat looked like we'd slaughtered a small animal, so when we arrived back at the marina I headed to the hospital to get it checked out and a couple of stitches.

Visit from the folks - Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

One of the iconic landmarks and favourite place for tourists in Muscat is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. Although we've been here 6 months now, this is the first time that we've actually visited. We knew that once the influx of visitors started we would be making many visits, so we have held off until now!

The mosque is open to visitors everyday except Fridays between 8:30 and 11:00. Visitors are required to dress modestly, as you would expect. For Mum and Jenny this meant clothing that goes to the feet, wrists and having their heads covered. Don't they look lovely although mum did find the scarf particularly comforting in the 40c heat!

When we arrived we were approached by a lady asking if we wanted a tour of the mosque. Now I'm known to be a bit skeptical about things like this, but given that we're on holiday after a bit of hesitation we went "sure, why not!". The lady directed us into a room just to the right of the visitors entrance where we were offered arabic coffee, water and dates. There were a number of other tourists already seated and other Omani ladies talking to them about the mosque. Once we had a full contingent, we set off on our tour around the mosque. Given that the mosque offers 5 services a day we were surprised to learn that we could have full access to all areas of the mosque. 

Firstly we visited the ladies prayer room which holds approx. 650 ladies at one time before moving on to the men's prayer room. This room is massive and holds approx. 6,500 men at one time. As you enter the room your eyes are immediately drawn to the huge chandelier in the middle of the room. It is made entirely of Swarovski crystal and apparently weighs 8 tonnes. 

The lady tour guide was very knowledgeable and eloquently described the different areas of the mosque as well as the basis of the Muslim faith. She was also very patient in answering all the questions, of which Dad had many!

I drive past this building every day on the way home from work and it's hard to ignore how stunning the architecture is, but the real jewel is inside. Here are a few more pictures.