by Lachlan » Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:18 am
Hi
It’s hard to think we’ve been here almost 5 years ! I came here first on my own in August 2006, as my family and I were pretty fed up with the London situation and a chance came with my work to come to Oman (a country I’d barely heard of). So I was sent ahead to take over from another QS who was leaving Oman, did a couple of trips back and forward, my company got a rental house organised and in October, out we all came full-time.
This is our first time in the Gulf/Middle East. Previously, we’d been in the London area and I was a late starter in going abroad. From Edinburgh, I’d emigrated to London in 1984 and worked there until a chance to go to Hong Kong came up in 1992 to work alongside the Dutch. I was there for 2 years on the marine reclamation works for the new Hong Kong airport. From then on, I had the “abroad bug”. It was a pity that there were fallow times when construction projects were rare or not at the right time, so I returned to the company in London (so at least I had work). I met my wife in HK and we’ve been together ever since. We went to Indonesia with the Dutch for 4 years (we thoroughly loved it), came back to UK, then the Philippines with the Dutch for 2 years, plus short stints in Singapore and Malaysia, then the UK again. In 2006 I explored chances and although no Far East/SE Asia jobs were on the cards, my employer had a project in Oman I could go to. So out we came.
As Muslim Arab countries go, I would recommend Oman.
For a holiday, it’s got lovely beaches, there are very good international hotels like Hyatt, Shangri La/Bar Al Jissah resort, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental, Chedi, plus a few nice resorts. The South of the country near Salalah is very lush and tropical during monsoon season. The scenery is dramatic and has deep ravines and mountains, wadis and oases, deserts and dunes. You can go on organised trips into the interior to arab-style camp sites beside oases or dune-bashing in 4 x 4’s, or swimming in cold waters in the djebels. There's also a lot of boating, diving and you can go and watch dolphins and the green turtles. Dubai is 30 minutes by air from Muscat, 3 hours by road. It’s quieter and not so brash as Dubai, so tends to attract older people, people with young families and those who want to explore the souqs, countryside and have some peace away from hustle and bustle. The ruler, Sultan Qaboos, has kept away from over-building, especially trying to keep tall buildings at a minimum and in styles sympathetic (but not slavish) to its culture. My first impression was like a birthday cake-shop, full of lovely white-iced Arabesque b'day cakes !
If you want to live here, if you have a young family, it is peaceful, quiet and picturesque. If you have a teenage family (or you’re young and carefree and up for action) it’s decidedly limited on action. Dubai it isn’t ! Muscat is the capital, situated beside the Arabian Gulf, looking across to Iran. It’s generally a long narrow city, due to the mountains reaching the sea in parts. Most buildings are built on the dry wadi beds between mountains, or else the wider coastal plain to the North. It has licenced hotels with bars/discos, a permit book system allows non-muslims to buy beer, wine and spirits at special, discreet shops. Westerners can generally dress as they wish, but don’t overdo it ! A woman wearing a bikini top and “Daisy Dukes” in a shopping mall is likely to get some nasty stares. Schooling is private and nationalities often set up their own curriculum schools. For British kids there British School (for GCSE's and A's) and also the American-British Academy. The climate is cool October –April (the low 20’s) but the rest is hot (like now) and can go to 50 sometimes. If you’re keen on pork, it can be bought in special shops. Otherwise, most of what you like is available, but expensive as it’s imported. I’ve always got Baxter’s soup in the house ! A Scottish entrepreneur has started up a business here, offering Angus beef, Ayrshire bacon, West Coast lobsters and queenies etc etc.
Though I’ve no real experience of people of other Arab countries, I’m told that Omanis are the best of the lot. Certainly, they seem friendly enough and don’t seem uptight (but there are exceptions). All agree they’re miles better than UAE people, Qataris, Bahrainis and most definitely Kuwaitis and Saudis. The driving and road-sense and safety though is desperately bad. They drive on the American side here, cars are mainly automatic and there’s a lot of SUV’s, CRV’s and 4x4’s. Tailgating at speed is fatally common, lane discipline lamentable, no signalling is usual, kids standing between seats, child sitting on driver’s lap while driver in on his mobile phone doing 120+km/h is typical. There’s a high death rate in vehicle accidents (surprise, surprise !).
You can get a decent curry here (so many Indians here), some are excellent, but Chinese isn’t really wonderful (it tends to be Indian version of Chinese) but is okay.
The project I work on, called the Wave, is Oman’s first foray into attracting foreigners to live. It is an international-quality housing development beside the Arabian Gulf. It’s being released/completed in parts and the whole enterprise has luxury villas, townhouses and apartments. It has a 300+ berth marina being built, there are a network of fresh seawater canals built among the housing areas to give a waterside view to most properties. It also has a grassed Greg Norman designed links golf course being built.
This is the only development in Oman where foreign buyers can buy freehold properties and get automatic residency.
The Wave has a website which you can google easily.