Step to Muscat [:D]

Hi All...

Ok... So this time i think i'm at least not planning to post this one very late; the way i had posted my "Trip to Moscow" after being 2 months in Moscow :p.. This time i think i've been better/pro-active/hardworking and sooo many things that i'm posting this one early ;)...

So, Well ok.... i understood what u were going to say.. Fine then, lemme continue.. :)

Will I go to Muscat ??? [[ Yes, i myself was not sure :) ]]

Well to start with; this trip of mine was d main reason to get what i have best for now :) [[ hmm.. i mean to say.... I GOT ENGAGED ;) ]]...

Yes, u read it right :))...

Okay.. let me brief a bit about the history behind this trip.

I was released from my earlier project [[ MegaFon FMS, d trigger which made me to visit Moscow and eventually made me to write my first proper blog :)) ]] say around d month of September 2009. Then i got/had to checkout one of the options (to get engaged) which was waiting for me :D. Apparently i found d nature of ppl being good and most importantly the one who was getting engaged to me [[ Yes, right now my fiancee ]] is quiet simple, considerate, lovable and what-else to ask; she's good, qualified, well educated and currently working. All these things influenced me to say a big YES; and hence guyz so now i'm as well caught ;)....

Well !!.. Anytime if u feel that you need some guidance in how/what/why to choose someone ??? Then what u can do is, Just ring my number.. n guess what, i'm there to guide you... i repeat.. its only GUIDANCE !!... :)

Okay, so coming back to the point...

I was saying that, when i had the offer of coming to Muscat for an interesting/quiet challenging project; i had this option [[ to get engaged ]] in hand. This muscat trip made me to ask them for an early engagement. And ultimately I got engagement on 2nd of Oct.. Yes, its Gandhi Jayanthi :D... Okay so now, hope you will not forget this date and will wish me without miss on my first engagement anniversary.. :D.. Well, don't worry, I was just joking.. :) lol..

While i was busy in deciding whether i should go on for Muscat or should i get engaged... I decided to tell my company [[ HP ]] that i will go to Muscat, but after some time. The company then decided to send someone in place of me and postponed my trip to Muscat for II Phase of the project. Some how II Phase of the project took some significant time to get kick'd off; delayed my trip making me to re-think on this option, whether i should take it up or not. At last some how i decided to take it up and come here. So, finally i didn't knew that i'll be flying to Muscat some day :))

Step towards muscat [[ By OmanAir ]]

I didn't had so much of expectation about OmanAir since i had not got any good feedback about the quality of service/comfortness... Well i infact wanted to fly by Kingfisher :p, but somehow didn't wanted to take a chance because of 2 reasons....

Reason 1 being, if i was flying by Kingfisher i would need to travel to Dubai; take a transit of 3+ hours and then again travel for another 3 hours of so to reach Muscat...

Reason 2 being, If i am flying by OmanAir i will directly fly to Muscat within a matter of 3+ hours and ofcourse i chose the latter option :)), since didn't wanted to take any chance while traveling to a completely new place..

So, to talk about my personal experience during this flight; It was quiet good !!. Yes,,, Again the main reason is the company that i had got in this flight...

First thing is i'd my colleagues wife n daughter travelling with me. Her (daughter's) name is Nikita; a very sweet girl, chubby, sweet and definitely very active.. She had an appealing smile which attracted so many ppl :))... Her nick names are Pinky, Putty n so on :)).. I had some good time with her and hence didn't feel bored about this travel.

Secondly i had asked for a window seat, where i was surrounded by at least 4-5 kids... One of them was very cute, she was literally exchanging whatever she had with me; somethings like pillows, food articles, shake hands and so on :). Where as her brother was very much interested in knowing whatz there down and why is it so and finally, Are you also going to Muscat ??? ;)... So in all, my travel went very well and i never felt bored.

My first step into Muscat [[ Muscat Intl Airport, formerly known as Seeb Airport ]]

Since one of my colleagues family was also flying with me, i'd someone receiving us in the airport. Okay, So, better late than never, his name is Delly Kumar. He had come to receive his family as well as me. He had bought a beautiful Barbie doll for pinky :)).. Well, that time i just remembered one line which i had read somewhere. It goes like this, 'The number of Barbie dolls in US is more than the population of the country' :)). Isn't it funny.. but it is a fact :)

So for the sake of header/info, Seeb is a suburb of Muscat, Oman.

Safeer Plaza [[ Hotel, where i stay; 3 Star ;) ]]

Just mentioning Safeer Plaza as a hotel would not be complete, in fact its a Hotel Apartment where u have a Dining Hall, TV room, full Fledged Kitchen and a Big Bed Room; and very importantly including a good Wash room as well :))

Okay, so as soon as i reached my hotel room; i got a call from my Cousin Shyla. She's married and settled here with hubby (Krishna Raj, my bhava) n a kid. Bhava is staying in Muscat since 15 yrs, so he knows very well of the city and the culture. He's a Construction engineer/designer.

Well, lemme continue. So as soon as i reached my hotel room; got a call from shyla asking me to get ready and she's gonna take me to her colony (its just like an apartment, but grows in area and not in height). Colonies here is a Muscat are like apartment buildings in bangalore; with a variation that here individual apartments are built adjacent to each other as opposed to vertical growth in bangalore. People here want to acquire most of the area; they want to use the complete landscape. Very opposite to bangalore; isn't it. Yes it is :))

A Party @ home and an Outing in Muscat [[ To Muscat city center ]]

This is my first night stay @ Muscat. The reason i say it as my First Stay @ Night is because, as soon as i reached my cousin Shyla's colony i discovered that there is some party tonight. It is a birthday celebration !!!.

Well, parties in their colony would usually last till 4 or 5 AM next morning :o... Yes, even i'm evident of that now :)).

Well, what i have seen over my past experiences is that, Indian people outside India will have at least twice parties n get-together's than people in India itself, with the reason that they are alone outside ;).. Infact they meet/party more than what we do here in India !!!. Same is true here as well. I learnt from Shyla that there is at least 2/3 parties in an average in their colony every month.

The Party was full of stuff's as what a party should have. You name it, you have it ;).. I don't wanna detail everything here, ppl u know why.. bcoz I'm engaged now ;)

Well, this is my second day here; a Friday. Mean while, as u would know here weekends are Thursday and Friday. I landed here on the beginning of a weekend (i.e, Thursday) and hence i have quiet a little time to spare before i start hanging out with my usual work :)). So, as i mentioned it is my second day of stay in Muscat. I was @ my cousins home till afternoon checking out the lifestyle of an Indian Muscat family ;)... Okay, so after lunch we decided to visit one of the most happening places in Muscat. It's Muscat City Center. Its like Forum in Bangalore. Before we reached City center, we got to visit Ruwi, market area in Muscat. U will find all kinds of people in this area. It is a part of old Muscat city.

Well, i visited to some Jewelery shops to check out the current gold price [[ Of course its very high here as well, because of world market ]], Ice cream parlors in Ruwi and some grocery shops as well. We will get to see very good quality of dates/date chocolates here. I'm definitely gonna get some date chocolates on my way back to India.

Finally got to visit Muscat City center. I'm not gonna detail much about it since it is also a standard shopping mall offering wide variety of stuffs in all of your shopping interests (to be specific, is as a Forum mall in Bangalore). As soon as we reached city center, it started raining here !!!!!. Just to get drenched in rain, we decided to make a Terrace Parking.. :)).. Guyz believe me, People here know the value of rain. Here in muscat, it would rain only for 2-3 days in a years time !!!! and today it is raining :))..

To make it more clear, It has not rained here in Muscat since last 2-3 years after Gonu..

Gonu !!! [[ Oman: Considered as the nation's worst natural disaster ]]

(I definitely want this one to be in RED)

Cyclone Gonu (also known as Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu) was the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Arabian sea. Some of the areas in Muscat were completely covered under water for around a week to months time. One of the area (business area) took around a year's time to complete recover from the damage caused by Gonu. For more details about Gonu, u can always visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Gonu

How did i find Muscat ?? [[ My personal opinion ;) ]]

Well, to start with; I was pretty curious to know whether it would be possible for my Fiancee to start working here in case i say YES to the long term project that HP is offering me now. When i said Long term; its for a period of 2+ years. I learnt that city offers employment in a wider range to Civil/Automobile/Mechanical/Industrial Production graduates than for IT professionals. Please note, i didn't say there are NO openings for IT professionals, but very few... Just to mention, me and my fiancee are both IT professionals. This is actually not a very good point for me !!!.

Fine, personal things aside... Muscat is a big city which is not thickly populated but occupying a larger area. As i had mentioned people here want to occupy area, not altitude :))... They want to use the entire city area. I can say that, Muscat is a semi desert area. You will not find continuous area of houses/buildings where as you will find small chunks/numbers of buildings over a distributed area. I think now you can imagine how the whole city would look. Muscat lies in between several deserty mountains.. I say deserty because the hills surrounding Muscat will have no vegetation but only hard sand and some rocks. Muscat city is infact built in place of small sized deserty hills which are replaced with buildings over a period of time.

On one side, you will find Muscat covered with a big range of deserty mountains where as on the other side more than 40% of the city is surrounded by Arabian Sea. So, there are sooo many places to visit if you are in Muscat starting with the Caves present in the mountain range to the long list of exotic beaches around (you also have a turtle nesting beach), but one must not miss to visit the Great Omani Deserts as well.

Finally, all was well till i know/enjoyed Muscat but at the end of the day; i started missing my people :'(...

Before finishing this, i want to make on Point, Its important to earn people than earning money :))

Miss u all guyz. :))... I mean it !!!

Hey, but never forget to drop a comment for me ;)

Urs,
Karthik :)