Oman is looking very festive at the moment. All around Muscat, buildings, trees and anything else that can be, is adorned with green, red and white decorations. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Sultanate is getting into the Christmas spirit, but it is in fact all in celebration of Oman's 44th National Day. The 18th November marks Oman's independence from the Portuguese in 1650, but as it also coincides with His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said's birthday, the country celebrates his rise to power in 1970 on this day too.
Although Oman celebrates the 18th November with much fervour, the day isn't actually a public holiday. Instead there are two days later in the month reserved for the holidays. While this seems strange initially, the logic behind it is to try and ensure the majority of the country stays in Oman to celebrate, rather than taking advantage of the four day weekend and disappearing off to the UAE.
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| One of the local office buildings |
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| the road near to my office |
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| one of the SQH flyovers |
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| The Walk at The Wave |
In addition to decorating buildings, the Omanis love to decorate their cars. There seems to be an endless array of stickers which you can use to show your loyalty to the Sultan. Here are just a couple of examples of some of the more extreme ones.
