Oman Blogger's meeting setup

After a long discussion in OCB (Oman Community Blog) about the meeting, we have came out with a result.

The first and hopefully not last meeting is going to take place in Cinnzeo at Al Massa Mall. The meeting will be on Wednesday, 3rd of October at 9pm.

I am still thinking of a way to be able to cover the event for bloggers who don't attend the meeting. Any ideas?

Criticize "The Week"

This is a weekly post that discusses the mistakes, weird, funny and sarcastic stories that the week newspaper publishes or it could just be a story that's worth talking about. Because the week publishes every Wednesday, I make this post every Thursday.

This week they covered a very interesting topic. They talked about how difficult it is to get your driver’s license these days. I wanted to talk about this topic for a while now but they beat me to it. They were also giving the reasons why people fail and what’s the reason behind it.

They kept on saying that the real reason why people fail a lot is because the instructor teaches them to fail. They will give the student wrong information or no information in order for them to fail and the instructors get more and more money out of them.

I don’t disagree with that. They make a good point and I find it very true. That’s why I had to change instructors three times. But they have failed to mention one very major reason as to why students fail frequently nowadays. They failed to mention that the police themselves are really the main reason why students fail when they are not supposed to.

I am not talking only about my when I say that the police could tell you that you’ve failed in the end of the test with no reason what so ever. It happened to me and it happened to many people I know.
Now I know that some of you might say that everybody thinks they know how to drive but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they do. That’s true but when your instructor starts arguing with the police about why you failed and is really pissed off about, you must know that you did good. And my last instructor was also my uncle so I know for sure that it isn’t an act.

Maybe “The Week” should have thought about what the police had to gain from it. Imagine each student pays RO5 per test and passes at least after their 5th test and hundreds of students do their tests every day. Imagine the income that the police get. If I were to guess, I would say that this is one of the biggest incomes for the ROP.

So far I have done 4 tests and paid well over RO100. And the journey continues…

Oman Blogger's Meeting

So far, we never had a meeting where all Oman's bloggers meet up and talk about their blogging experiances. This could be a great thing for all of us. This could give us the apportunity to share our knowledge with every blogger and hopefully improve our blogging skills.

Other that gaining more knowledge, I think this could be loads of fun. I would love to meet all of the great bloggers whom I read their posts almost every day like: Muscati, blu chi, Amjad, (hopefully) sleepless in Muscat and the list goes on and on...

A similar post as this one was made earlier on OCB (Oman Community Blog). The post is meant to discuss how the meeting will take place (location, timing, topics, etc). So, wheather you discuss that here or in OCB, it wouldn't make a difference.

Let's make this happen!

Criticize "The Week"

This is a weekly post that discusses the mistakes, weird, funny and sarcastic stories that the week newspaper publishes. Because the week publishes every Wednesday, I make this post every Thursday.



I am sorry for not being able to post last week, we had harder issues to cover on the blog so, I didn't have enough time to read The Week by detail and analyse the stories.


Coming back to this week... I don't believe what I found to talk about in this week's issue. I found absolutly nothing. There is nothing I can say about this week's issue and I don't know wheather it's a bad thing or a good thing. In one han, it's good that they don't have mistakes and unrelevent titles but in the other, it also means that they don't have any stories that are worth talking about.

Is it me or is The Week posting less and less stories nowadays?

Digital Nation Seminar series

A third in the it's series organized by Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM). I attended the seminar yesterday and it was much better than what I expected it to be. The topics covered were very interesting.

There was a host, Mr. Graham Porter a VSM, Public Sector, Strategic Engagement Group for CISCO, who asked questions to a panel of people that are making a difference in the Media sector of the country.

They talked about New Media, the definition of new media, how can we use it and what are the pros and cons of using it. Everybody had a different idea of what it is and how to use it so, it was a pretty good discussion.

Then they talked about the portable devices, such as mobile phones, how do we use it, what is it used for, what could it be used for and how did it develop since a while back?

It was fun to see how every indivisual uses their mobile phones differently.

There was a good number of people who attended, the chairs were full and it seemed like everyone was very interested.

These seminars are great ways of making a change to the way the coumtry works. As most of us know, e-government is growing rapidly. And as a proof to that, Oman was the first country to use mart ID cards.


I am looking forward for the next seminar on Decemberwhich will talk about the "iGeneration". How the younger generation is embracing the digital world.

Oman's Royal Cavalry Investigation (Part 3)

I just want to assure you all that I've indead seen the papers from the police showing that Mr. Dale was accused of bringing Adult Toys to the country and he was kicked out of the country because of that. I still don't have the copy of the report but I am working on it.

Dale continually told us that he wasn't payed but I've seen bank statements proving that Dale was payed but I wont publish any for security reasons.

And to make all what I just said more reliable, Dale said that the watch he was given was fake and the Cavalry has admited to it. He was complaining about it when he is supposed to be grateful that they gave him a gift. That's why they call it a gift.

Anyways, what I am trying to say is even though he knows that it is fake and the cavalry admited that it's fake, he still went online and sold it for 2000 US Dollars. Now, does this sound like a good man's doing?


If you can't read what's written there, this was what has been said by him about the watch:

I WAS AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE PLAQUE PRESENTED WITH THIS WATCH BY THE SULTAN OF
OMAN FOR MY SERVICE IN THE ROYAL CAVALRY AS THERE HORSE RACING EXPERT AS HE
IS THE 4TH RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD I THINK WE CAN SAFELY SAY ITS GENUINE.PLEASE
NO WASTERS SCAMMERS OR DREAMERS SERIOUS PEOPLE ONLY.A DOWN PAYMENT OF $2000 IS
REQUIRED.

What I am trying to prove here is that this guy is not honest in what he does. If he can sell a fake watch for 2000 USD imagine how far he can go in doing other things.

I will try to get the papers proving that he was payed for 5 months even though his contract was for only 3 months and he only worked there for less than that time. I've seen these papers my self and I am giving you my word on it. But if I dont get the papers, atleast I presented enough avidence proving that he is in it for the money.

Oman's Royal Cavalry Investigation (Part 2)

As you have seen in the earlier post, I have posted the pictures taken by Dale of the horses after Cyclone Gonu which made them look really bad.

We were invited to go visit the Cavalry and see for our selves how the horses are treated. We went yesterday, as you know, and we took some pictures of the very places where Dale took the pictures.

These are some of the pictures we took during our time there...

This is a picture of the very same place Dale took his picture of the horses. In his pictures, it seemed like they were uncared about and left to suffer but that only looked that way because of the cyclone.

As you can see in this picture, the horses are treated like king. Each one is kept in it's own hut (or whatever they call it).

And from the inside, they have working fans and ACs.

Dale said that they don't feed them. Here you can see that each horse has more than enough food to eat. I also spoted in my way in, a huge truck loaded with food.

In my opinion, these horses are living a pretty good life.

Unlike Dale showed in his pictures, It was pretty clear to us that these horses were treated well and fed well. Like I told dale earlier, I am not an agent for the cavalry and I don't support them just for the sake of supporting them. I only present the facts and analyze them.

You judge for your self... how do you think these horses are living?

Oman's Royal Cavalry Investigation (part 1)

I would just like to say before I start that this is a completion of the last post. If you read the last post you will understand this one. I would also like to clarify that in the last post, Bling made some mistakes in the post it self and the real story is all in the comments.

Mohammed Al Raisi (Bling) and my self investigated Mr. Dale's story about the horses as we got invited to go visit Oman's Royal Cavalry yesterday afternoon.

We got a very warm welcome by Mr. Salim Al Mahrooqi coming into the gates. After showing us around the place a bit, we got straight to business and started talking about Mr. dale's allegations regarding how the horses are treated.

Mr. Salim gave me the pictures that Dale took during his stay here which included the picture of the injured horse. These pictures were taken a few days after Cyclone Gonu hit the country.

As you can see, all of the horses were affected by the cyclone which is only normal considering how big the cyclone was and how it affected all of us. People died in he cyclone so, won't any horses at least get injured?

I think it is unfair for Dale to say that this is how the horses always are and that they are not being treated well only based on pictures he took after a major cyclone.

These are pictures he took but didn't publish. These pictures were taken by him at the same time when all the other pictures were taken.

We also took recent pictures of the place and you will be surprised as to what we found. Things only kept on getting juicier and more was revealed after a talk with the 1st man in charge him self and an extensive look at all the legal papers.

PS: please have a look at the latest comment by David Casey Dip in the previous post. He is an expatriate who works in Oman's Royal Cavalry. I will talk more about him in coming investigations.

Oman's Royal Cavalry

Of course many of you know about Oman's Royal Cavalry and the Royal Stables.
If not then you can know more about them by visiting their official web page:- http://www.rca.gov.om/english/cavalry/arabhorse.asp

Don't be surprised that I made the word "official" in bold because while surfing on the net I found this website:- http://www.omanroyalcavalry.com/

Did you notice that? The domain name is: Oman Royal Cavalry (dot) com!
But visiting this website will make you get shocked, really shocked.
A British man who used to work in the Royal Cavalry here in Oman went back to the United Kingdom and started attacking the Royal Cavalry through this website.
I really didn't want to share this website because I really find it offensive and I don't want the website to be spread everywhere but I had to so anyone who knows how to hack can shut down this website.
This British guy created this site attacking His Majesty and The Royal Cavalry and also providing pictures of injured horses and all. He even left his phone number in the contact page. So I think this means he isn't afraid from anything, so if anyone knows how to hack, please shut down this website as soon as possible.
Thanks.

The holy month, Ramadan

Ramadan in the Islamic world is considered to be the most holiest months of the year. People become much more aware of their religion and take more time in praying, reading the Qur'an and following the Qur'an.

For you who don't know what Ramadan is, it's a month when all Muslims fast from foods, drinks and anything that could be added to the body such as injections and cigarettes from dawn to dusk. The fasting also includes good behavior and speaking good language.
Ramadan is a month from of the Islamic calendar which is different from the calendars used by most people. This means that Ramadan changes dates every year.

It could be really tiring to fast all day long. Concentrating at school could be a little difficult in the first few days but it gets easier as the days go along.

Since Ramadan is a time for prayer, most people stay up late at night praying and thanking god. And for that reason, Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, minister of the Diwan of Royal Court and chairman of the Civil Service Council, yesterday issued a decision stating that the official working hours at the ministries, public authorities and other departments of the state administrative apparatuses would be from 9am to 2pm. So, there you go... no excuses.

I had always liked Ramadan. Even though it involves some level of suffering, it always had this feel to it, this sweetness that I can not explain. And I think the best thing about Ramadan is that all the family gets together which I always love.

I am looking forward to it. What's your experience of Ramadan and what do you think about it?

Driver's Test

It's the most valuable thing you could ever have in your teens. It's almost like a pass to your freedom. Yes, it's your driving license.

It's really great to have your driving license. You wont need to think 50 times before deciding to go out somewhere. But to be given your license, you need to be good enough and careful enough in driving.

But what if you are being failed every time you do your test for no reason and no reason at all. Being failed for over 10 times before getting your license even though you would be qualified to pass since the first try.

Well, this is the case here in Muscat. This is the case with me!
Today I did my third test and as usual, I failed. Now I know that some of you people may think that you know how to drive although everybody else thinks different. But that's not the case with me. I know how to drive, my teachers say so, my parents say so and everybody else who ever rides in the car with me says so.

I've been unfairly failed for the third time. last time I failed, the police's excuse was that I was driving too slow, TOO SLOW!!. I know, how does that sound. and clearly that wasn't true for both me and my teacher. It just seemed like he didn't get any better excuse to give. And when I saw the paper which he write the result in, I saw marks in almost everything as if I didn't do anything right.

Lucky for me, the second time, I got the very same police man! I know, I am that unlucky. This time, I drove faster and did much much better and was very confident about the way I drove. He didn't say anything till we finished driving and I honestly thought that I passed to find out that I didn't. This time he didn't get anything to say at all so he just said that I am not concentrating. I don't know where but just not concentrating.

I got so pissed and angry. When I came back home, I decided to call the police station in charge of the driving tests.

We spoke Arabic so I made a video with the translation in English.



I know that they think I wont go down there to see what's up. Well, they thought wrong. Although I have school to attend, I wont let this slide. I will go down there some time this week and find out more about this problem.

Just so that we are clear, this problem didn't exist a while ago. People used to pass pretty easily few years back. But nowadays, it's almost impossible to pass from the first tests. Maybe 1 out of every 100 passes.

My opinion is that they found it a perfect source of easy money. 5RO for every test, you do 10 tests and that's 50RO. My friend got his license on his 14th test. Let's not forget the amount we pay for the teachers which is 5RO per hour and 10RO for making an appointment for the test.

I only did 3 tests till now and I already paid 100RO!!

Criticize "The Week"

I know, I know. I am a day late in making this post. I usually post every Thursday but I had some other commitments yesterday.

It really wasn't worth the wait. There was nothing really exiting in the paper.

I have noticed something though, they had recently made a new column called "Arabian Nights" a couple of weeks back. The column talked about all the night events in the Sultanate and what's going on in town. It was a great city guide for people who were looking for night activities. But now, this column is canceled for some reason. I was sad to see that it wasn't there last week and this week.

I will call the paper tomorrow morning to find out why this happened. I will post their answer here in the blog.

Other than this, nothing worth talking about in "The Week". Hopefully next week will be more exiting.

My discovery of An Omani Blog

I have just dicovered today an Omani Blog that was so good, I had to post about it right away.

The blog is called Omani cuisine. And from it's name, you can probebly tell what the blog is about. The blog is managed by chef Ahmed Al Yahyai and co-chef Riyadh Al Bulushi. You can learn more about them here.


I think that this is one of the best and most creative Omani blog I've ever seen. It is very usefull for both expetriates and Omanis. I was amazed when I first saw it and it looks like it's being updated reguleraly.


So check it out and see what I am talking about.

How Oman is divided

This is a small description of how Oman is devided.

The Sultanate of Oman is administratively divided into four Governorates and five Regions:

Governorates:
-Governorate of Muscat
-Governorate of Dhofar
-Governorate of Musandam
-Governorate of Al Buraimi

Regions:
-Al Batinah Region
-Al Dakhiliyah Region
-Al Sharqiyah Region
-Al Dhahira Region
-Al Wusta Region

Each Governorate/Region is formed of Wilayats (totalling 61); further divided into Niyabats. Additionally, each Region has one or more Regional Centres totalling 12 overall.

I will post more about each region in the coming days. I will place a list of all the regions in one of the sidebars so that you can get quick access to the information you need.

Time is cheap

Three days and nothing is being done at school yet. I am sitting at class bored out of my mind having nothing to do or to say to anybody anymore. So bored, that I am actually writing about the situation.

I noticed that Omanis and Arabs in general don't appreciate the value of time. We all know the saying "Time is money" but do we really understand it?

One of the most things that I admire about the western countries is their appreciation for time.
A friend once told me about a situation he went through when being in Britain. He had a doctor's appointment at 7:15 exactly. My friend left his house at 6:45 and assumed he will only need a half an hour to get there. And he almost did but he was a couple of minutes late. When he arrived, he was surprised to find that his appointment has been disregarded. That's how much time is important to them.

But lets have a look at things here in Oman. You could have an appointment at 7am and leave the house at 7am. By the time you arrive, it's already a half an hour late and yet, you still find that the person you are supposed to meet is even later.

It's very normal here and I hate it. When I am going to meet someone, I usually tell them to be there 15 minutes before I actually want them to be there.

I am always on time and I hate being late and people who are late. If we learn to save some time, we will be able to do much more and maybe we could be much more ahead than where we are now.

Some of our teachers didn't even come from vacation yet. Three days we could do a lot. Three days is a life time.

I don't know if the residents of Oman noticed this problem. Or maybe they are the ones always being late.

Tell me what you think about this and maybe I could be wrong.

Musandam Region

Musandam is the smallest and most northerly region of Oman, covering an area of around 3,000 square Km. Its rocky headland juts out into the Straits of Hormuz, giving it strategic dominion over one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The magnificent Hajar mountain range dominates Musandam landscape. It extends about 640 Km from R'as Al-Hadd in the south up to Khasab, and ends with Ru'us Al-Jebal plunging dramatically and dizzily into the sea creating long fjords and inlets. Jabal Harim is Musandam's highest mountain at 2,087m.

The entire interior is basicly mountainous, with a graded track stretching from Daba to Khasab that snakes through narrow gorges, up hairpin bends and down into wadi beds. The seas are rich with wildlife and breathtaking scenery readily overwhelms visitors.
Musandam has a population of approximately 30,000 largely concentrated in Khasab; the administrative centre. They earn their living mainly through fishing, boat building and crafting a number of traditional handicrafts, such as the axe of Jerz; the symbol of Musamdam that dates back to the Bronze Age.

The isolated and harsh environment of the region has instilled hardiness and resourcefulness in the people of Musandam, many of whom migrate to the coast in summer to fish and harvest dates.

Dhufar Region

The Governorate of Dhofar lies at the farthest southern part of the Sultanate and is bounded by the Wusta Region in the East, the Empty Quarter in the North, the Arabian Sea in the South and the Republic of Yemen in the South West.

The Governorate occupies one third of the Sultanate’s area and accommodate about 9.4% of the sultanate population. It consists of 10 Wilayats with Salalah being the administrative capital, some 1040 Km from the City of Muscat.

Dhofar climate dramatically differs from the Gulf region due to the effects of the monsoon winds which arrive in summer, forming rains and dropping temperature to around 25 C° in the plains and below that on the hights, which turns the area lush and green, with waterfalls and floods feeding surrounding pastures and springs.

Dhofar has long been characterised by its significant location and prosperous commercial activities throughout the ages, being the chief source of Frankincense, Incense and Myrrh.
For about 4,000 years, the frankincense trade was Oman's economic backbone, affecting directly or indirectly, the lives of all the inhabitants of the South. It was exported in huge quantities to Egypt, Greece and Rome in ancient times either by sea or by camel caravan.
Along the ancient overland route, kingdoms and cultures grew up relying for their very existence on the taxes and trade brought by the frankincense caravans. Aknowledging the role it played in mankind history, UNESCO added the Frankincense Route commencing from Dhofar to its World Heritage List.
Dhofar is currently undergoing tremendous development, aimimg to strengthen its economical role in the country and future significance as both a Free Trade Zone and a major Tourism Attraction. In addition to the natural and cultural opulence on offer, Religious Tourism is ordinary in Dhofar, as it hosts Al-Ahqaf area, tombs and religious shrines.

Muscat Region

Muscat is the heart of the Sultanate, the political and administrative hub of the nation, providing its main source of economy, tourism and commercial activities.

Sayyed Hamad bin Said Al-Busaidi took Muscat as Oman's capital from Rustaq between 1779–1792, and this has never since been contested. Today, under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Muscat has improved beyond recognition, but has never lost its pride in its heritage and culture. The capital area is a prime example of intelligent and aesthetic development, amalgamating modernity with tradition.

Muscat was known as the "Governorate of the Capital" from 1960–1970, before it was declared in 1988 as the Governorate of Muscat, uniting Wilayats of Muscat, Muttrah, Bausher, Seeb, Qurayyat and Al-Amerat.

The Governorate which is the most populated in the Sultanate, confines between Gulf of Oman and Eastern Hajar mountains, bordering Al-Batinah and Al-Dakhiliyah to the West and Al-Sharqiyah to the South.

Muscat Governorate is home to many luxury hotels, upmarket restaurants and a multitude of service companies, in addition to an array of magnificent beaches and breathtaking creeks such as Qurum Beach, Al-Jissah, Yitti, Al-Khairan and Al-Bustan.

A number of forts, museums and traditional Souqs are popular attractions not to be missed.

Back to School

Today was a day I was not looking forward to, a day that ends all the fun. Today we went back to school!

The holidays are over really fast. Three months felt like nothing and I feel like it was wasted and I didn't do much.

Anyways, it's something else that I am meaning to talk about...

Look at this picture for a second.

This was how our school looked like today. We stood there in the heat for over an hour trying to get all the classes organized.

All that's in the picture happened during Gonu. This is all understandable. Although, one thing doesn't make much sense to me, since Gonu occured until today has been about two months, if not more. Now, I want to understand why haven't the school done anything to help fix this small problem?

If their excuse is that they had other schools which were more of a priority, then I'll say that they are lying. That's because I've seen other schools that didn't even have walls but nobody bothered fixing them. They just started fixing a week before school started.

I've been reading articles in news papers talking about how many millions were given to the ministry of education. Now, I want to know where all this money went because I, sure as hell, don't see it going on our school or any other schools around the area.

I am not placing the blame on anybody but we've got to do a better job maintaining our schools. Not having a shed may not seem like a big deal but it is. We get to class sweating our asses off and are expected to perform well.

I can bet anybody that it wont be long before they come asking everyone at school for money to help fix the school. I don't mind paying the few baizas but all I want to know is how was the money given to them spent?!

Seminar on managing demand for water (continue)

We have talked in an earlier post about the seminar organized by the Sultanate. It was a two day seminar which ended last Thursday.

This was what the Times of Oman had to say about the conclusion of the seminar and the results.

A number of working papers were covered yesterday including by Eng. Zahir
bin Khalid Al Sulaimani, director-general of water resources assessment at the
Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources on water
status and sanitary water treatment in the Sultanate of Oman. Dr Shawki Al
Barghouti of UAE delivered a paper on water quality and management. Dr Saleem
Zikri of Sultan Qaboos University delivered a working paper on management demand
for underground water whereas both Professor Linus and Khailfa Al Hinaie of SQU
delivered a paper on the use of automatic control in developing management of
water supply for agricultural sector in the Sultanate.

It is worth mentioning that water experts, consultants and academics taking
part at the seminar came out with valuable proposals that will help in
maintaining a balance between supply and demand and provide solutions for water
related problems facing a number of countries as a result for high demand for
water in tourism seasons.

So we are making progress and that's good. Let's hope to see some action and not just talk.