Somewhere in Paris near the Sorbonne, 10.35pm.
Sounds so glamorous, doesn't it?
Telling your business unit management, "Sorry, can't make your meeting. I'm going to Paris for a training course" has a certain ring to it. It conjures up the Eiffel Tower, the Seine and the Isle de la Cite. Just shut your eyes for a second and picture it. Beautiful, elegant women in chic clothes; handsome, charming men.
[Sigh]
The reality is so different.
Paris, like other large cities, has its posh, glamorous bits (where the tourists go), and its hard working, commercial centres (where visitors only go if they have to for work). Just as I wouldn't expect a tourist to go to Dandenong or Slough, you won't find them anywhere near our Paris office. Unless they were lost.
The office is out by the Peripherique, miles from anywhere that you may have seen in the movies. It could be anywhere in the western world - you wouldn't know until someone spoke. I've spent most of today in a sub-basement meeting room. No window. No view.
Welcome to the real Paris. About as far from glamour as you can get.
-Pam
PS: On the bright side, I have some great colleagues and I've enjoyed catching up with them. We're voting to have a project accounts meeting in Barcelona (no chance of that but one can dream).
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
Update on the Use-It-Up Challenge
Makeup
The panstick is long gone and I'm now using up the final bottle of the famous Boots score from 2004. When I first started using it, it seemed a little watery but after 2 or 3 days it is back to the consistency that I remember. Since I started using it in March, I expect it to run out some time in December. Not bad for 50p.
On the blusher front, I finally chucked out the dregs of the Clinique powder blusher. There was a little bit left but it would not load onto the blusher brush. I'm now using up the Estee Lauder free-bees. The darker of the two shades has already been partially used (it looks good with a tan).
Toiletries
(Note: All my main toiletries get poured into 500ml recycled, pump-action soap dispensers. That way, I can get a consistent quantity every day, which makes it last longer. 3 pumps of shampoo. 6 pumps of hair conditioner. 2 pumps of body lotion, etc.)
I have a huge stockpile of those little sample-sized bottles you get in hotels: shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion. They were all piled onto the lid of the plastic box we used to use to house towels in the bathroom. In March, in an effort to tidy them up and to organise them, I sorted them all into separate boxes/drawer inserts using the punnet-type boxes that mushrooms come in. They're now stored in our "new" bathroom cupboard (a cupboard I paid £10 for in a charity shop, which DH refinished).
So far, I've completely conquered the hair conditioner stockpile. Admittedly, it was one of the smallest since most hotels don't provide hair conditioner. We had 7 plus two Dove samples I scored elsewhere. One bottle went to Oman with me, while the others were drained into the hair conditioner dispenser. Since they were so thick, I added water to increase the volume by about a third and shook the dispenser like mad. The result was a thick and creamy hair conditioner that lasted me 6 weeks of daily hair washings.
My litre bottle of Value shampoo ran out on Saturday (it lasted 7 months), so I refilled that dispenser with hotel samples, which took hours. In the end, the easiest way was to balance each bottle in the neck of the dispenser and let gravity do its stuff. Seventeen bottles later and the dispenser was full. (There are at least 10 more.) I'd been a bit worried about the smell because I knew some of the samples were scented, however I gave it a good shake to blend and, so far, it doesn't smell of very much at all, just some sort of clean shampoo smell. It's quite thick, too, but spreads well which is a bonus. (The Value stuff was quite gloopy.)
I'm almost out of body lotion, so that is the next stockpile to use up. Then it will be the turn of the shower gel.
- Pam
The panstick is long gone and I'm now using up the final bottle of the famous Boots score from 2004. When I first started using it, it seemed a little watery but after 2 or 3 days it is back to the consistency that I remember. Since I started using it in March, I expect it to run out some time in December. Not bad for 50p.
On the blusher front, I finally chucked out the dregs of the Clinique powder blusher. There was a little bit left but it would not load onto the blusher brush. I'm now using up the Estee Lauder free-bees. The darker of the two shades has already been partially used (it looks good with a tan).
Toiletries
(Note: All my main toiletries get poured into 500ml recycled, pump-action soap dispensers. That way, I can get a consistent quantity every day, which makes it last longer. 3 pumps of shampoo. 6 pumps of hair conditioner. 2 pumps of body lotion, etc.)
I have a huge stockpile of those little sample-sized bottles you get in hotels: shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion. They were all piled onto the lid of the plastic box we used to use to house towels in the bathroom. In March, in an effort to tidy them up and to organise them, I sorted them all into separate boxes/drawer inserts using the punnet-type boxes that mushrooms come in. They're now stored in our "new" bathroom cupboard (a cupboard I paid £10 for in a charity shop, which DH refinished).
So far, I've completely conquered the hair conditioner stockpile. Admittedly, it was one of the smallest since most hotels don't provide hair conditioner. We had 7 plus two Dove samples I scored elsewhere. One bottle went to Oman with me, while the others were drained into the hair conditioner dispenser. Since they were so thick, I added water to increase the volume by about a third and shook the dispenser like mad. The result was a thick and creamy hair conditioner that lasted me 6 weeks of daily hair washings.
My litre bottle of Value shampoo ran out on Saturday (it lasted 7 months), so I refilled that dispenser with hotel samples, which took hours. In the end, the easiest way was to balance each bottle in the neck of the dispenser and let gravity do its stuff. Seventeen bottles later and the dispenser was full. (There are at least 10 more.) I'd been a bit worried about the smell because I knew some of the samples were scented, however I gave it a good shake to blend and, so far, it doesn't smell of very much at all, just some sort of clean shampoo smell. It's quite thick, too, but spreads well which is a bonus. (The Value stuff was quite gloopy.)
I'm almost out of body lotion, so that is the next stockpile to use up. Then it will be the turn of the shower gel.
- Pam
Friday, 11 May 2012
Windscreen Number Five, Please
At least that's all it is. It could have been a lot worse.
Thursday of last week, just after 7pm, I was driving home on the M4. There wasn't a huge amount of traffic. It was dull and overcast. No rain for once. I was in the middle lane, having just overtaken a lorry, doing around 70 mph. Maybe a little higher than that, but not by much. I remember the view from my rear vision mirror and I don't recall seeing any cars behind me, just the lorry over towards my left. I debated pulling in to the left hand lane, like a good driver.
Suddenly, out of nowhere (so it must have been going fast), a black Fiat (possibly a Punto) sped past me on my right. A car length or two ahead of me, it cut the bend a bit fine and went over the rumble strip onto the central reservation. Over-corrected and swerved into my lane. Over-corrected again and, in slow motion, went into the central reservation, hit the barrier, spun and bounced to a stop.
Self preservation kicked in somewhere between the second over-correction and the car hitting the barrier, and I was already moving over to my left before the car spun and a cloud of debris went flying over the road and over the Toy. For a few seconds, I braced myself for the impact of the car hitting the side of the Toy. Or possibly its front bumper. But the only things that landed were large pebbles about 2 inches across. The lorry behind me pulled over onto the hard shoulder. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder. And stopped. Hazards on. Hands shaking. Grabbed my phone and dialled 999.
"Emergency. Which service do you require?"
"There's been an accident on the M4, east bound near Junction 8-9. Car drove into the central barrier," I gabbled.
"Which service do you require? Police? Fire? Ambulance? I can only put you through."
"Police," I replied. A bit calmer. Got put through to the police and repeated what I'd told the operator. Then told the officer what had happened.
"Are there any other vehicles involved?"
"No. But there's bound to be a shunt at the far end of the queue shortly."
The lorry drove off.
Got out of the car and started walking back down the road to the nearest mile-marker, in order to give the police a more accurate location. Told the officer what I could see. A couple of men had stopped their cars and stopped the traffic. They got the driver out of the car and on to the hard shoulder. As I got closer, I could see it was a woman.
I was still talking to the police when one of the men came up to me and told me to move my car. They were going to direct the traffic onto the left hand lane and the hard shoulder, effectively creating two lanes so that cars could get passed. I told him I was talking to the police and was told, "Someone has already done that", I was told bossily. So, I reported to the police officer that one of her colleagues was also or had also logged a call about the same accident. Then told her what the men were doing.
Walked back to the Toy. The others who'd stopped, moved their cars into the centre of the road, in front of the smashed up car. Traffic started moving around it and the debris field. There was no way I could get the Toy safely back towards the accident to wait for the police to arrive. And it wasn't safe to stay where we were. I asked the officer for permission to leave the scene of the accident. Permission granted. They have my details, if they need me, and I have a case number if I need them.
My phone tells me that the call lasted 6 minutes.
I drove off with my hands shaking. Got home and checked the Toy. A couple of chips in his paintwork, that's all. It wasn't until I got to work on Friday morning that I noticed a crack in the bottom right hand corner of his windscreen. That windscreen was replaced today. He's now on his 5th.
A very lucky escape.
- Pam
Thursday of last week, just after 7pm, I was driving home on the M4. There wasn't a huge amount of traffic. It was dull and overcast. No rain for once. I was in the middle lane, having just overtaken a lorry, doing around 70 mph. Maybe a little higher than that, but not by much. I remember the view from my rear vision mirror and I don't recall seeing any cars behind me, just the lorry over towards my left. I debated pulling in to the left hand lane, like a good driver.
Suddenly, out of nowhere (so it must have been going fast), a black Fiat (possibly a Punto) sped past me on my right. A car length or two ahead of me, it cut the bend a bit fine and went over the rumble strip onto the central reservation. Over-corrected and swerved into my lane. Over-corrected again and, in slow motion, went into the central reservation, hit the barrier, spun and bounced to a stop.
Self preservation kicked in somewhere between the second over-correction and the car hitting the barrier, and I was already moving over to my left before the car spun and a cloud of debris went flying over the road and over the Toy. For a few seconds, I braced myself for the impact of the car hitting the side of the Toy. Or possibly its front bumper. But the only things that landed were large pebbles about 2 inches across. The lorry behind me pulled over onto the hard shoulder. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder. And stopped. Hazards on. Hands shaking. Grabbed my phone and dialled 999.
"Emergency. Which service do you require?"
"There's been an accident on the M4, east bound near Junction 8-9. Car drove into the central barrier," I gabbled.
"Which service do you require? Police? Fire? Ambulance? I can only put you through."
"Police," I replied. A bit calmer. Got put through to the police and repeated what I'd told the operator. Then told the officer what had happened.
"Are there any other vehicles involved?"
"No. But there's bound to be a shunt at the far end of the queue shortly."
The lorry drove off.
Got out of the car and started walking back down the road to the nearest mile-marker, in order to give the police a more accurate location. Told the officer what I could see. A couple of men had stopped their cars and stopped the traffic. They got the driver out of the car and on to the hard shoulder. As I got closer, I could see it was a woman.
I was still talking to the police when one of the men came up to me and told me to move my car. They were going to direct the traffic onto the left hand lane and the hard shoulder, effectively creating two lanes so that cars could get passed. I told him I was talking to the police and was told, "Someone has already done that", I was told bossily. So, I reported to the police officer that one of her colleagues was also or had also logged a call about the same accident. Then told her what the men were doing.
Walked back to the Toy. The others who'd stopped, moved their cars into the centre of the road, in front of the smashed up car. Traffic started moving around it and the debris field. There was no way I could get the Toy safely back towards the accident to wait for the police to arrive. And it wasn't safe to stay where we were. I asked the officer for permission to leave the scene of the accident. Permission granted. They have my details, if they need me, and I have a case number if I need them.
My phone tells me that the call lasted 6 minutes.
I drove off with my hands shaking. Got home and checked the Toy. A couple of chips in his paintwork, that's all. It wasn't until I got to work on Friday morning that I noticed a crack in the bottom right hand corner of his windscreen. That windscreen was replaced today. He's now on his 5th.
A very lucky escape.
- Pam
Sunday, 6 May 2012
The Concert
Just realised that I didn't post about the concert. What can I say? Wow! Just "Wow!" sums it up pretty well. :). DH took some photos for me from the audience - I'll put one or two up tomorrow when I can liberate them from his camera.
For a start, it was an ambitious program. Both Poulenc's Gloria and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast are BIG pieces. Big sings. Most choirs would only tackle one in a concert. We did both successfully.
The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra were fabulous. Sixty-odd musicians who actually followed the conductor. (In my experience, not a common occurrence with professional musicians and a guest conductor.)
The concert hall gives back a very different sound quality when occupied by an audience. Much less rich. Moe dead. As a result, we struggled with the Poulenc - the third movement was harder to pitch so we went flat. Per our conductor, we recovered well and went back on key. It is such a beautiful piece of music and deserves to be better known. Have a look for the University of Utah's production on YouTube - well worth a listen.
Belshazzar's Feast was wonderful. The best we'd ever sung it. It was actually quite disappointing to get to the end and realise it was over. It finished much too fast for my liking - I'd have enjoyed going on for longer.
Our next concert is the Brahm's German Requiem at the Cadogan Hall in June. Same orchestra. Can't wait!
- Pam
For a start, it was an ambitious program. Both Poulenc's Gloria and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast are BIG pieces. Big sings. Most choirs would only tackle one in a concert. We did both successfully.
The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra were fabulous. Sixty-odd musicians who actually followed the conductor. (In my experience, not a common occurrence with professional musicians and a guest conductor.)
The concert hall gives back a very different sound quality when occupied by an audience. Much less rich. Moe dead. As a result, we struggled with the Poulenc - the third movement was harder to pitch so we went flat. Per our conductor, we recovered well and went back on key. It is such a beautiful piece of music and deserves to be better known. Have a look for the University of Utah's production on YouTube - well worth a listen.
Belshazzar's Feast was wonderful. The best we'd ever sung it. It was actually quite disappointing to get to the end and realise it was over. It finished much too fast for my liking - I'd have enjoyed going on for longer.
Our next concert is the Brahm's German Requiem at the Cadogan Hall in June. Same orchestra. Can't wait!
- Pam
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
New Month Resolutions
Last week I decided in a fit of new month resolutions, that I should once again become a keeper of lists. I have all sorts of lists in mind: some aimed at chalking up achievements (miles walked, "road kill" coins found); others aimed at becoming more organised (a pantry stocktake, cataloguing my books). I think the idea was inspired by the signature blocks of the people on Moneysavingexpert.com, where people track absolutely everything they think relevant in order to meet their goals.
I've started with counting Weight Watchers points (again), micro-budgeting and counting up my road kill coins. Am also watching my accounts like a hawk. I'll start recording my miles walked when I actually do some.
I guess my main motivation is the thought that how can you tell how far you have come, if you don't know/remember where you were when you started?
How about you? How and what do you track?
- Pam (spreadsheet queen)
I've started with counting Weight Watchers points (again), micro-budgeting and counting up my road kill coins. Am also watching my accounts like a hawk. I'll start recording my miles walked when I actually do some.
I guess my main motivation is the thought that how can you tell how far you have come, if you don't know/remember where you were when you started?
How about you? How and what do you track?
- Pam (spreadsheet queen)
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Singer
Tonight is the biggest concert I have participated in since I returned to singing in 2004. Tonight I'm singing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London's Southbank Centre. Tonight, Dr Jonathan Williams is conducting Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and Poulenc's Gloria, and I'll be singing in the second row of the chorus.
Wish us luck!
Pam (both nervous and excited)
Wish us luck!
Pam (both nervous and excited)
Friday, 20 April 2012
Frugal Friday: Freezer Tetris
One day, in the near future, I am probably going to lose at Freezer Tetris.
You don't know about Freezer Tetris? You remember the early computer game, Tetris, don't you? Where you had to fit shapes into a finite space, without leaving any gaps? Well, Freezer Tetris is a real-life version of the game, where you have to fit more and more food into a freezer that is already full. This was my freezer two weeks ago, at the tail end of Easter:
Hard to believe that I'd taken an 18lb turkey out of it to roast for Good Friday. I took that photo after I successfully managed to shoe-horn in 6 x 600ml containers of turkey stock, as well as over 2kg of cubed leftover turkey. In the interim week after removing and defrosting said turkey, I also added 800g home-wilted spinach and 1.5kg cooked chickpeas.
With the exception of a couple of lunch-boxes of leftovers (and four haggis plus a whole black pudding), the contents of the freezer remained static until I decided we needed more kidney beans, so I soaked a 1kg of dried beans overnight, bagged them, then shoved them into the freezer. Somehow. (Freezing causes ice to form in the re-hydrated cells, which damages the cell walls and shortens cooking time.) How I got them into the freezer, I don't know.
Last night, I couldn't resist the big bag of frozen hash-browns at Costco, so the beans came out of the freezer and I cooked them this morning. 1kg of dried beans cooked became 2.35kg.
Half an hour ago, I stood staring at the freezer wondering how I was going to fit that lot in. Last night's hash browns had been difficult enough.
Hmmm.... If I take these out and rearrange that......
Victory!
Pam 3 : Freezer 0
- Pam
PS: There is a serious point I want to make here. One of the things that keeps our food bill low is the way we utilise the freezer. Leftovers get frozen. Before we went on holiday, all our remaining fresh veg was chopped up and frozen. I batch cooked dried pulses, portion them up and freeze anything that won't be eaten that day. At Easter, we nabbed a bargain on fresh spinach - an 800g bag marked down to 75p from £3, so I wilted it, portioned it into 4 and froze it. We don't go supermarket shopping for dinner, we go to re-stock our stores. When I think about cooking a meal, I start by considering what is in my fridge, my freezer and my larder.
PPS: I heard a great quote yesterday from either episode 5 or episode 6 of A History of the World in 100 Objects: "If the larder is full, the mind has time to focus on other things". The presenter was explaining why art appeared after early man became farmers. Previously, all their time was taken up with hunting and gathering food, but once they started farming, they developed surpluses of food which they could store. Suddenly, there was time to do other things: become craftsmen, worry about gods, etc.
You don't know about Freezer Tetris? You remember the early computer game, Tetris, don't you? Where you had to fit shapes into a finite space, without leaving any gaps? Well, Freezer Tetris is a real-life version of the game, where you have to fit more and more food into a freezer that is already full. This was my freezer two weeks ago, at the tail end of Easter:
Hard to believe that I'd taken an 18lb turkey out of it to roast for Good Friday. I took that photo after I successfully managed to shoe-horn in 6 x 600ml containers of turkey stock, as well as over 2kg of cubed leftover turkey. In the interim week after removing and defrosting said turkey, I also added 800g home-wilted spinach and 1.5kg cooked chickpeas.
With the exception of a couple of lunch-boxes of leftovers (and four haggis plus a whole black pudding), the contents of the freezer remained static until I decided we needed more kidney beans, so I soaked a 1kg of dried beans overnight, bagged them, then shoved them into the freezer. Somehow. (Freezing causes ice to form in the re-hydrated cells, which damages the cell walls and shortens cooking time.) How I got them into the freezer, I don't know.
Last night, I couldn't resist the big bag of frozen hash-browns at Costco, so the beans came out of the freezer and I cooked them this morning. 1kg of dried beans cooked became 2.35kg.
Half an hour ago, I stood staring at the freezer wondering how I was going to fit that lot in. Last night's hash browns had been difficult enough.
Hmmm.... If I take these out and rearrange that......
Pam 3 : Freezer 0
- Pam
PS: There is a serious point I want to make here. One of the things that keeps our food bill low is the way we utilise the freezer. Leftovers get frozen. Before we went on holiday, all our remaining fresh veg was chopped up and frozen. I batch cooked dried pulses, portion them up and freeze anything that won't be eaten that day. At Easter, we nabbed a bargain on fresh spinach - an 800g bag marked down to 75p from £3, so I wilted it, portioned it into 4 and froze it. We don't go supermarket shopping for dinner, we go to re-stock our stores. When I think about cooking a meal, I start by considering what is in my fridge, my freezer and my larder.
PPS: I heard a great quote yesterday from either episode 5 or episode 6 of A History of the World in 100 Objects: "If the larder is full, the mind has time to focus on other things". The presenter was explaining why art appeared after early man became farmers. Previously, all their time was taken up with hunting and gathering food, but once they started farming, they developed surpluses of food which they could store. Suddenly, there was time to do other things: become craftsmen, worry about gods, etc.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Dear BBC
Thank you for all those years when you broadcast the Grand National live on TV. Today was the last one and your coverage was better than ever. (I am not saying that just because I had 50p each way on the winner, either.) You will be missed.
To the Powers That Be: I, for one, would happily pay an extra £20/year on my TV Licence to enable the BBC to continue broadcasting top sporting events. Even if you increased the licence fee to £20/month to pay for more sport and drama, it would still be good value (currently £12.12/month). Personally, I think the BBC is worth every penny of £20/month. Stop trying to cripple it.
- Pam
To the Powers That Be: I, for one, would happily pay an extra £20/year on my TV Licence to enable the BBC to continue broadcasting top sporting events. Even if you increased the licence fee to £20/month to pay for more sport and drama, it would still be good value (currently £12.12/month). Personally, I think the BBC is worth every penny of £20/month. Stop trying to cripple it.
- Pam
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Bed finally
At midnight. Twenty hours up and counting. Grrr....
Did I mention I am tired and sleep deprived? Hope I didn't accidentally insult anyone at dinner in my sleep-deprived haze.
[sigh]
Work functions.
Did I mention I am tired and sleep deprived? Hope I didn't accidentally insult anyone at dinner in my sleep-deprived haze.
[sigh]
Work functions.
Tired
I am tired. Had to fly "up north" this morning to participate in the delivery of two days' training. I've been awake since before 4am and it is beginning to show. My concentration is shot (and has been for hours).
I could have sworn I had the beginning of a blog post earlier - something about sunrise over Heathrow - but it's gone. All I can tell you is that the sunrise was particularly good when viewed from Terminal 5 this morning. Very yellow/orange.
Oh and the ladies toilets reminded me of something I observed in Bahrain: even the most Arabic of women will, if given the choice, wait to use a western-style toilet rather than a squatting one. Architects take note.
- Pam
ps: The walls in this hotel are paper thin. My boss is in the next room and I can hear him on the phone. Am 99% sure the guy on the other side, who just coughed, is another colleague.
I could have sworn I had the beginning of a blog post earlier - something about sunrise over Heathrow - but it's gone. All I can tell you is that the sunrise was particularly good when viewed from Terminal 5 this morning. Very yellow/orange.
Oh and the ladies toilets reminded me of something I observed in Bahrain: even the most Arabic of women will, if given the choice, wait to use a western-style toilet rather than a squatting one. Architects take note.
- Pam
ps: The walls in this hotel are paper thin. My boss is in the next room and I can hear him on the phone. Am 99% sure the guy on the other side, who just coughed, is another colleague.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Photos from Oman
Here are the long awaited photos from Oman. We took over 600 - I've whittled them down to a few dozen 47 for you. (Note: if you click on any one of the photos, Blogger now allows you to scroll through them all like a slide show.)
We landed in Muscat on Thursday 22nd March. On the Friday, we drove through the mountains to Nizwa,
stopping off along the way at a picturesque fort for photographs.
(You'll see a lot of that pink shirt. I wore it as a jacket and cover-up over my t-shirt, whenever we went out.)
Nizwa is deep in the interior of the country. It was once the capital of Oman. Nizwa Fort was built to defend the sultanate from attack. It is huge and impenetrable. It was restored in the 1990's and is now a museum. Photo of the interior courtyard:
Seeb is a fishing village on the outskirts of Muscat, with a lovely beach.
On the Sunday, we visited the Royal Opera House in Muscat before spending another lazy day, hanging around the pool at the Hyatt Hotel.
(Lots of very bright, white marble at the Opera House.)
Monday, we took a taxi to Muttrah Souk and Corniche, stopping off at the Sultan Qaboos Mosque along the way.
Naturally, I had to wrap up.
It was worth it. The interiors are stunning. This is a doorway in the women's mosque:
Another beautifully carved door:
The chandeliers in the men's mosque are beautiful:
The walls are covered in beautiful mosaics:
This one is particularly beautiful. It is a shelf holding copies of the Koran:
It is a stunning building, isn't it? We went from them to Muttrah, where the entrance to the Souk is on the sea front at Muttrah Corniche:
In the harbour were a couple of old Omani dhow's. I am 99% sure the warship in the background is from New Zealand.
The fort above the harbour was built by the Portuguese, I believe.
We didn't take any photos of the interior of the Souk. It is made up of dozens of arcades, lined with shops. In the main arcade, all the shopkeepers tried to sell me a pashmina (or two). Mindful of my New Year's Resolution to only buy 12 items of clothing in 2012, I resisted. Anyway, I've already got two - who needs more? The other thing they all seemed to sell was frankincense. However, once you got beyond the main arcade, the Souk stopped being focused on tourists and started being a market for locals. Down one arcade, I even found shops selling knitting yarn and crochet cotton. (Unable to identify the fibre content of the yarn, I didn't buy it. I think it was made in Japan.)
Tuesday was another lazing-around day. Wednesday, we went to a shopping mall (highlight: Cinnabon cinnamon rolls), and then to the fete at my SIL's school.
Our next big adventure was the Thursday, when we went out into the desert to spend the night at Al Raha Tourist Camp in the Wahabi Sands region of Oman, approximately 240km from Muscat. The accomodation is basic but Al Raha is where the locals go, including the Omani Royal Family.
The rooms are motel style:
This is the road to the camp.
Basically, you drive down the Ibra-Sur road, turn right at the Shell garage at Biddiyah, do another right at the end of the street, then turn left a kilometre or so after the tarmac ends, then continue on until you spot the camp.
After unpacking, we drove out into the desert to picnic and wait for the sun to set:
We played around with the panorama setting on DH's camera.
And were entertained by a scarab beetle:
DH walked down the hill to photograph some camels.
The sunset was worth the wait.
Back at camp that night, we were entertained by several musicians.
Friday morning, we rode camels:
And quad bikes:
Don't we look like good Aussies, wearing our Akubras?
The quad bikes were great fun. I kept feeling like something was missing, then I realised what it was. There should have been a dog sitting on the back of the quad bike, clinging on for dear life as we rounded up sheep or cattle.
We stopped in Baddiyah on the way back to Muscat, where we had a cup of tea. Despite swollen fingers, I did a little bit of knitting.
In many respects, Baddiyah is your typical dusty frontier town. It could be almost anywhere:
We landed in Muscat on Thursday 22nd March. On the Friday, we drove through the mountains to Nizwa,
stopping off along the way at a picturesque fort for photographs.
(You'll see a lot of that pink shirt. I wore it as a jacket and cover-up over my t-shirt, whenever we went out.)
Nizwa is deep in the interior of the country. It was once the capital of Oman. Nizwa Fort was built to defend the sultanate from attack. It is huge and impenetrable. It was restored in the 1990's and is now a museum. Photo of the interior courtyard:
Views from the roof of the fort:
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Saturday, DH and I had a lazy day, lounging around his sister's house in Seeb. We mainly watched - and played with - the cats.
Here are the views from the roof:
Seeb is a fishing village on the outskirts of Muscat, with a lovely beach.
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(Lots of very bright, white marble at the Opera House.)
Monday, we took a taxi to Muttrah Souk and Corniche, stopping off at the Sultan Qaboos Mosque along the way.
Naturally, I had to wrap up.
It was worth it. The interiors are stunning. This is a doorway in the women's mosque:
Another beautifully carved door:
The chandeliers in the men's mosque are beautiful:
The walls are covered in beautiful mosaics:
This one is particularly beautiful. It is a shelf holding copies of the Koran:
It is a stunning building, isn't it? We went from them to Muttrah, where the entrance to the Souk is on the sea front at Muttrah Corniche:
In the harbour were a couple of old Omani dhow's. I am 99% sure the warship in the background is from New Zealand.
The fort above the harbour was built by the Portuguese, I believe.
We didn't take any photos of the interior of the Souk. It is made up of dozens of arcades, lined with shops. In the main arcade, all the shopkeepers tried to sell me a pashmina (or two). Mindful of my New Year's Resolution to only buy 12 items of clothing in 2012, I resisted. Anyway, I've already got two - who needs more? The other thing they all seemed to sell was frankincense. However, once you got beyond the main arcade, the Souk stopped being focused on tourists and started being a market for locals. Down one arcade, I even found shops selling knitting yarn and crochet cotton. (Unable to identify the fibre content of the yarn, I didn't buy it. I think it was made in Japan.)
Tuesday was another lazing-around day. Wednesday, we went to a shopping mall (highlight: Cinnabon cinnamon rolls), and then to the fete at my SIL's school.
Our next big adventure was the Thursday, when we went out into the desert to spend the night at Al Raha Tourist Camp in the Wahabi Sands region of Oman, approximately 240km from Muscat. The accomodation is basic but Al Raha is where the locals go, including the Omani Royal Family.
The rooms are motel style:
Basically, you drive down the Ibra-Sur road, turn right at the Shell garage at Biddiyah, do another right at the end of the street, then turn left a kilometre or so after the tarmac ends, then continue on until you spot the camp.
After unpacking, we drove out into the desert to picnic and wait for the sun to set:
We played around with the panorama setting on DH's camera.
And were entertained by a scarab beetle:
DH walked down the hill to photograph some camels.
The sunset was worth the wait.
Back at camp that night, we were entertained by several musicians.
Friday morning, we rode camels:
And quad bikes:
Don't we look like good Aussies, wearing our Akubras?
The quad bikes were great fun. I kept feeling like something was missing, then I realised what it was. There should have been a dog sitting on the back of the quad bike, clinging on for dear life as we rounded up sheep or cattle.
We stopped in Baddiyah on the way back to Muscat, where we had a cup of tea. Despite swollen fingers, I did a little bit of knitting.
Sadly, my reactions weren't fast enough to get the shot of a camel being ferried out into the desert on the back of a ute/pick-up truck.
Pretty much the only down-side of the trip (apart from it not being long enough), was that - yet again - I was mosquito fodder. Just take a look at my feet:
They look like I've got chicken pox or something similar. I ended up with 24 bites on the left one alone.
- Pam
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