A TR from Dubai and Oman, part 2
Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:21 pm
OMAN
We landed in Muscat in Oman in the morning, and I had made plans for several things, we should do during the day, among that have our first snorkel trip, since we visited USVI. We had really been looking forward to that.
But sometimes you have to change a plan, and the day began rather disappointing.
When we landed in the airport, we had to stay in line to get permission to come into the country.
It was cheaper than we have expected to have the permission due to the short time, we should stay there, and it didn’t take too long time. But when the luggage came, we missed a big suitcase. Finally we found it wrapped in plastic. Something was broken. We spoke with different people to complain and ended up in the office for the Emirates. The lady in the office said that the only thing, they could do for us was to repair the suitcase. They would find a large plastic bag, which we could take our luggage in, and after three or four days we could pick the suitcase up again at the office.
We were not satisfied with that solution. Our plan was to take a roundtrip, and we would not come back to Muscat before the day, we returned to Dubai. She could understand our problem and said that instead they would buy another suitcase for us, and we could choose it ourselves in a store not far away from the airport. We accepted, and she phoned after some money. We waited and waited, but finally a man brought her some money. After that she called a man, who should drive us to the mall, where the store was. He arrived, I think he was Indian or Pakistan, and we drove.
It turned out that the driver did not know the way to the mall, so it took some time before we arrived. In the store we found a suitcase, we could accept, but the driver told us that it was more expensive than the Emirates would pay. We said that we would pay the rest ourselves, which the lady accepted in the phone. It meant another delay because the driver then said that he needed to find an office, where they could split the bill in two bills. Finally he succeeded, and we were ready to go back to the airport. The next problem was now that he couldn’t find his car in the huge car park. Another delay. But we came back, put our luggage in the new suitcase and went out to find a taxi to drive us to our destination.
Then we had problems again. We should stay in a villa with bed and breakfast, and we had the address and a map, which showed the way. But the taxi drivers, which all seems to be foreign workers, couldn’t understand us. They only could ask “hotel?, and because we didn’t have a hotel name, they couldn’t help us. But one of them hailed another taxi driver, who said that he understood English. We were happy finally to come to the destination after all the delays, we have had, showed him the map and told him the address. During the trip however we became more and more restless and nervous, it seems for us, as if it was a wrong way, he drove. We tried to discuss it with him and found out that he only could understand a few words in English. Suddenly we ended up in a deserted place, which was a totally wrong place. I was a little scared, but Hubby found out that even though he was a taxi driver, he was not able to look at a map, and he probably couldn’t read either. Luckily we had a phone number to the villa, where we should stay. But the owner of the villa was German, and he couldn’t understand the taxi driver, instead he gave us a number to another guy, who could speak Arabic. So with help from this guy, we came to the right place.
We had been told that it would take about 20 minutes to come from the airport to the villa, but it had taken more than an hour. The driver wanted that we should pay him for the whole trip, which we refused. He became angry, and we ended up paying him most of the demanded amount. We could not take any more that day.
It was a nice villa and the lady, who welcomed us, was very friendly. The room was nice too, so I should be glad. But when I saw that there were big waves on the sea, so that it would be impossible to go out to snorkel, for me it was the straw that broke the camel of for that day, and I nearly began to cry. I was SO disappointed. My calm husband said that worse things could have happened, and he was right.
MUSCAT
After unpacking we found a place, where we had some lunch, hailed a taxi and went to Muscat to look at the city. The way to the city wasn’t something to talk about, a lot of traffic and several roads crossing each other. But the city is pretty.
We went into the old souk and from there we took a walk around in some of the narrow streets
in the old city.
Then we strolled around near the harbour. I had to rest a little and sat alone on a bench, when an Arabian taxi driver stopped, and asked me in nearly perfect English, if he could help me with something. We had a little talk, hubby came, and the taxi driver was very eager to show us Muscat. We accepted, and he drove us around and told us a lot about the city and about himself. He worked for the Sultan in the morning, but later in the day, he often drove taxi. He has visited several European countries as a part of the Sultan’s company. Very interesting to talk with him about the Sultan and his life and of course also to see more of Muscat.
By now we were being hungry, and our driver asked us, if we want to try some Oman food in a
restaurant, he could recommend. We said yes, and he drove us to the restaurant, spoke with the owner and told him, whom he should phone to bring us back to the villa, when we have had our meal. We had told him about our problem with taxi drivers not speaking English.
It was an authentic Oman restaurant, where the guests normally were sitting on the floor while dining. But they had a table, which people like us could use. Funny experience, and we had good and cheap food. No alcohol was served, but we knew that.
The next day we decided to hire a car. It was too difficult with the taxi drivers, who could not find the villa. It also had been difficult for the driver from the last evening to find the place, even though he spoke some English. The owner of the villa told us that it was usual that many foreign workers do not know the names of the streets.
to be continued......
We landed in Muscat in Oman in the morning, and I had made plans for several things, we should do during the day, among that have our first snorkel trip, since we visited USVI. We had really been looking forward to that.
But sometimes you have to change a plan, and the day began rather disappointing.
When we landed in the airport, we had to stay in line to get permission to come into the country.
It was cheaper than we have expected to have the permission due to the short time, we should stay there, and it didn’t take too long time. But when the luggage came, we missed a big suitcase. Finally we found it wrapped in plastic. Something was broken. We spoke with different people to complain and ended up in the office for the Emirates. The lady in the office said that the only thing, they could do for us was to repair the suitcase. They would find a large plastic bag, which we could take our luggage in, and after three or four days we could pick the suitcase up again at the office.
We were not satisfied with that solution. Our plan was to take a roundtrip, and we would not come back to Muscat before the day, we returned to Dubai. She could understand our problem and said that instead they would buy another suitcase for us, and we could choose it ourselves in a store not far away from the airport. We accepted, and she phoned after some money. We waited and waited, but finally a man brought her some money. After that she called a man, who should drive us to the mall, where the store was. He arrived, I think he was Indian or Pakistan, and we drove.
It turned out that the driver did not know the way to the mall, so it took some time before we arrived. In the store we found a suitcase, we could accept, but the driver told us that it was more expensive than the Emirates would pay. We said that we would pay the rest ourselves, which the lady accepted in the phone. It meant another delay because the driver then said that he needed to find an office, where they could split the bill in two bills. Finally he succeeded, and we were ready to go back to the airport. The next problem was now that he couldn’t find his car in the huge car park. Another delay. But we came back, put our luggage in the new suitcase and went out to find a taxi to drive us to our destination.
Then we had problems again. We should stay in a villa with bed and breakfast, and we had the address and a map, which showed the way. But the taxi drivers, which all seems to be foreign workers, couldn’t understand us. They only could ask “hotel?, and because we didn’t have a hotel name, they couldn’t help us. But one of them hailed another taxi driver, who said that he understood English. We were happy finally to come to the destination after all the delays, we have had, showed him the map and told him the address. During the trip however we became more and more restless and nervous, it seems for us, as if it was a wrong way, he drove. We tried to discuss it with him and found out that he only could understand a few words in English. Suddenly we ended up in a deserted place, which was a totally wrong place. I was a little scared, but Hubby found out that even though he was a taxi driver, he was not able to look at a map, and he probably couldn’t read either. Luckily we had a phone number to the villa, where we should stay. But the owner of the villa was German, and he couldn’t understand the taxi driver, instead he gave us a number to another guy, who could speak Arabic. So with help from this guy, we came to the right place.
We had been told that it would take about 20 minutes to come from the airport to the villa, but it had taken more than an hour. The driver wanted that we should pay him for the whole trip, which we refused. He became angry, and we ended up paying him most of the demanded amount. We could not take any more that day.
It was a nice villa and the lady, who welcomed us, was very friendly. The room was nice too, so I should be glad. But when I saw that there were big waves on the sea, so that it would be impossible to go out to snorkel, for me it was the straw that broke the camel of for that day, and I nearly began to cry. I was SO disappointed. My calm husband said that worse things could have happened, and he was right.
MUSCAT
After unpacking we found a place, where we had some lunch, hailed a taxi and went to Muscat to look at the city. The way to the city wasn’t something to talk about, a lot of traffic and several roads crossing each other. But the city is pretty.
We went into the old souk and from there we took a walk around in some of the narrow streets
in the old city.
Then we strolled around near the harbour. I had to rest a little and sat alone on a bench, when an Arabian taxi driver stopped, and asked me in nearly perfect English, if he could help me with something. We had a little talk, hubby came, and the taxi driver was very eager to show us Muscat. We accepted, and he drove us around and told us a lot about the city and about himself. He worked for the Sultan in the morning, but later in the day, he often drove taxi. He has visited several European countries as a part of the Sultan’s company. Very interesting to talk with him about the Sultan and his life and of course also to see more of Muscat.
By now we were being hungry, and our driver asked us, if we want to try some Oman food in a
restaurant, he could recommend. We said yes, and he drove us to the restaurant, spoke with the owner and told him, whom he should phone to bring us back to the villa, when we have had our meal. We had told him about our problem with taxi drivers not speaking English.
It was an authentic Oman restaurant, where the guests normally were sitting on the floor while dining. But they had a table, which people like us could use. Funny experience, and we had good and cheap food. No alcohol was served, but we knew that.
The next day we decided to hire a car. It was too difficult with the taxi drivers, who could not find the villa. It also had been difficult for the driver from the last evening to find the place, even though he spoke some English. The owner of the villa told us that it was usual that many foreign workers do not know the names of the streets.
to be continued......