For my second trip to Oman I wanted to pamper myself a little but like any company there are certain budgets that I had to work within. I decide to choose a nicer hotel this time but the one I wanted didn’t exactly fit into the budget, so I took what they gave me and choose the one I wanted paying the rest off on my own. The company paid for a 1/3 and I paid for 2/3 out of pocket and it was really really worth it. First off Oman is one of the cleanest and most vegetated country in the Gulf, and some of the nicest people there. The hotel is a resort about 20 minutes from the airport and probably one of the nicest I have seen. I was one of the few Arabs staying there, I mostly saw Italians and Germans for some reason, and they said that only 10% of the hotel is ever filled by people from the GCC.
Walking in you really feel like your swept away, it has the lushest green laws I have seen. Took a 5 minute walk to my room and it was amazing, a scene out of a movie. Put my things down, changed and headed to spa to book a massage and I wanted to have a late dinner. I booked a one hour reflexology session an hour later, went back to my room finished a few reports up before heading back to the spa. As soon the session started I knew that it was going to be good, I brought a magazine to read but I passed out within the first 10 minutes. I wasn’t expecting it to be this relaxing. After being woken I was all loose and dazed from only a foot massage. Then I head over to restaurant to have dinner, and it was an amazing meal, a very good salad and lobster.
Next morning off to meetings, I think I was the only person there he was staying there while heading to meetings, most everyone were couples or families on vacation at The Chedi. This hotel is more oriented to younger adults and couples then it is to families with kids. The service is very good, everyone is very helpful, and the rooms are amazing and comfortable, full Bose sound system with two different iPod docks, not including free internet and minibar. I’m not much of a Spa person but their massages were so good I made an appointment every day in the evening for three days, luckily they were open until 10pm. I just couldn’t get enough of the amazing range of food during breakfast or dinner, didn’t have a chance for lunch during my stay but I am planning a visit their for vacation. I didn’t manage to take advantage of the two pools while I was there, next time I hope to. Anyone who is looking for a nice relaxing place for vacation then I highly recommend the Chedi, it really surpassed my expectations.
(A lot of pictures below!)
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While in Dubai my cousin (lets call him Druss) recommended we go to the shooting range, it was four of us, three wanted to go and one was being stubborn but in the end he got stuck with us and went. One of my cousins (Druss) kept on saying how he learned how to shoot while fighting in the Gulf War, he fought in Kuwait and in the US military and the types of pistols he had. I was a kid then my brother was in his early teens so we didn’t have any military exeperience at that point. So we were on the way there and he kept talking about his skills as a shooter.
As soon as we got there, we took 50 9mm bullets each with Czech gun, it was a nice shooting range but the one in Kuwait is much much better. Getting a gun in my hand surprisingly felt good, I put the bullets in the clip, pushed it in, switched off the safety and shoot like I was in lethal weapon. I enjoy shooting because I think that my Halo skills make me that much better, and I can shoot one handed or two handed in different ways just to enjoy myself. My goal isn’t just to hit the target but to try different ways of shooting which are within reason.
Then my cousin (Druss) who was very confident of himself proposed a competition between the four of us, and the loser would pay for dinner. I knew I wasn’t going to be the loser in this bunch but what next I wasn’t expecting. The next 25 bullets we were in competition mode, so we shot with our best aim, I wanted to take pictures so I loaded two clips and shot like I was Danny Glover in Predator 2, nonstop until I emptied each clip, then the last clip with 5 bullets and shot those one handed and started taking pictures right away. The gun barrel was pretty damn hot after shooting consecutively and I was very happy with the results.
In competition mode these gentlemen only counted the points which hit in the black target area. Once it was done all you kept hearing was Druss complaining that these guys didn’t know their math, and don’t know how to score on these boards. We were all treated with the same criteria, I honestly surprised myself as I was clowning around a bit and it seems my hours playing Halo had its results. And as expected the loser had to pay for dinner, and such a bitter defeat for him, with so much experience yet losing miserably.
Ranking By Points:
1 – Tiny @ 187
2 – Me @ 182
3 – FirstTimer @ 144
4 – Druss @ 132
(Did I feel like a cop in a movie in the shooting range, yes I did, and on another note the shooting range in Kuwait is better with more variety of fire arms and weapons)
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A lot of people have either friends or family stuck in this strange situation. I never knew that Volcano can do this much damage, I just remembered that helicopters get clogged in it from Dante’s Peak but other then that I never knew the rest of the stories that have been flying around. The reason they grounded all the planes and halted all travel to the European airports is because of the ash in the air, all the way up to 40’000 feet so the planes can’t fly over it or under it, and if they flew through it they may not make it through. Ash is basically made up of grounded rock, glass, and sand which acts like sand paper against the body of a plane and cement when going through the plane engines. The blades on the engine are also sanded down which causes more friction then causes the engine to catch fire which in turn destroys the engine. After a plane fly’s through the ash it comes out looking like a bare metal plane sanded down to its core, that’s if it makes it through the ash. Now with a lot of planes grounded, all types of water and ground transportation has been overloaded. Everyone trying to get across via boat or train to one location or another is insanely full. Even the transportation companies in all the different European countries are charging exuberant prices because they know some people will pay for it in this extreme situation. And all these delays are having an affect on many countries which aren’t directly affected by the ash.
Kuwait’s businesses and people have been affected by this delay but people don’t realize to what extent. I kept asking about these delays and it really added up very quickly as to the extent of the effect.
Delays:
- Delays from delivery companies such as DHL, UPS, FedEx, Aramex, UShopWeShip, SkyNet, and TNT. You can’t get any of the packages in your mailbox and if you need send something via courier it isn’t going anywhere for this moment in time.
- A large amount of meats, fruits, and vegetables aren’t being flown in, we ate at Meat Co and there were some steaks which weren’t on offer because they weren’t delivered.
- Many flowers aren’t offered at flower shops because flights can’t take off from Holland
I really think they should rename the Volcano, I think it needs more vowels to make an audible sound.
Link: BigPicture
While in Oman I tried keeping to this diet, or trying to eat light throughout this whole trip. I just made sure that whatever I ate that was really good I would walk it off, and I took the opportunities to enjoy the fish and all forms of crustaceans. To say that the food at The Chedi hotel in Muscat is exquisite is a huge understatement. The service itself was top notch, probably one of the best service I have had in a while, they were all very helpful and accommodating on all forms but the food was just something else.
Breakfast in the morning was a large selection not including what you could order from the kitchen. I had fresh cheeses and turkey, labnah and breads, all kinds of juices. Then came the scramble eggs, they turned the food into an art form and it tasted so good I wanted more. The lunch was amazing, I can’t remember the last time I had lobster and since having it there I kept asking for it. The meal was amazing and the each dish was better then the other. Their Tiger Prawns were huge, bigger then normal and everything just tasted so fresh. I’m going to have to visit their again just for the food and this time not on business so I can enjoy it and relax while their instead of running back to the hotel and eating then heading back out again.
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The past week I have been between meetings in Oman and Emirates and between planes all over the GCC. Its always a new experience and exhausting at the same time, it was supposed to be Oman only then as soon as I was in Oman I got a call for a meeting in Dubai/Abu Dhabi so I had to change my flight plans.
Surprisingly a lot of flights to Oman were full and Oman Air had inconvenient flights so I couldn’t take them. Emirates and Qatar Airways had horrible times, the best flight times were Gulf Air so I took it. The transit through Bahrain was decent because Gulf Air have a decent lounge and fast internet so time flew by as I was sitting there. With the diversion of flights I had to take a flight from Muscat to Dubai and that was insanely full, I barely managed to get on the Oman Air Flight to Dubai which was only 37 minutes. Then the flight back to Kuwait on Saturday is via Wataniya Airways my prefered airlines. This has been a cocktail of flights and airlines, so many damn meetings I was exhausted. Oman is always an interesting experience and this time around I did something a little different then usual to make it a different experience and relaxing even with all the work.
Flying all over the place for a week is exhausting, I don’t mind traveling for work but this past week took a lot out of me. Luckily now that is done and hopefully I can make some progress with all this work.
Now this came as a shocker, I wasn’t expecting the Banyan Tree Bahrain to be shutdown. From this letter it looks like that they really are serious about terminating the contract. I’m not sure what was breached in the contract or what violations led to this but I’m curious about it. This is very sad since we stayed in this hotel twice for GulfRun 4 and GulfRun 5, perfectly close to the track and very good service in that environment. Now looks like Banyan Tree is taking legal action against Al Areen for their breach of contract and actions, click the image above for the full letter that was sent out.
Thanks F for the email
While in Dubai for two days we walked nonstop back and forth between places, their isn’t too many places which are designed for walking. There are lots of entrances and exits into the Mall but their are a lot of areas around it to walk and also other places in Dubai that you can walk a lot indoor or outdoors. The first day my calves were straining but the second day it was a bit better, I don’t walk around as much in Kuwait. The only place to walk as much is inside Avenues Mall and by the Scientific Center. There needs to be more development of our areas for people to walk, I see people walking every day in the Mishref walkway but there has to be other areas which can be nicer and more fun to walk, they can develop those areas and make more interesting. The area in front of Blajat which has been under construction for a long time now. The Showbiz which was under construction then Parliament took it away and did nothing with for three years now and counting. There are open spaces in Kuwait but they do need some work to look good and attract people to them. The Scientific Center was a fantastic idea and lots of people love it, it needs some improvement these days but we want more ideas such as those. Marina Waves and Marina Crescent are also areas that people enjoy walking, we need more waterside developments, and there are a long list of developers who are willing to do build them.
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Knowing that I was on a diet and I would take one break day, I knew it would be the day I would eat a Fatburger burger. I walked 1 km around the mall to get the Fatburger shop, knowing that I was in for a very good burger. There was a decent line as usual, just a few people deciding what they want with their burgers.
I ordered one Double Fatburger with cheese, no pickles, no tomato, another Regular Fatburger with the same items, and regular fries. I wanted to have coke but decided on water only, at least I would stick to one thing. That Double Fatburger disappeared from my hands with a few bites, it tasted so fresh and easy to eat that I wanted to eat the next and all the fries. It looking like a scene from the Cookie Monster, my hands and face were smeared with mustard and ketchup, I couldn’t give a damn how messy it got but I loved the taste and being full again. After cleaning up we went to the movie and we were very relaxed and full. The surprising part for me was that I felt like I was going to explode, as if I ate too much, it seems my stomach has shrunk and I wasn’t aware that this has happened from cutting back on food, previously I would be able to eat that without a second thought and maybe a third burger as well, next time I will just have that Double Fatburger with fries and that’s it.
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Watching movies is one of my favorite past times, all kinds of movies, there is no question that I like going to the movie theaters to see some amazing movies. At times I want to go watch those movies at the VIP section which might have more comfortable seats or better sound or more secluded then other theaters. I have tried a few theaters in the Middle East and Europe, but for Middle East I wanted to do a ranking and the reasons why each one is good or could be improved
Cinema VIP Theater Ranking(Out of 10):
- Reel Cinemas (9)
- Cinestar Dubai (8)
- Cinescape KNCC (6)
Reel Cinemas
- Best Service
- Comfortable Large Lazy Boy Chairs
- Electronic Chair Controls
- The Chair Extends All The Way To Be Flat
- Button To Call For Service (Actually Works)
- Chairs Vibrate With The Effects which is fantastic
- Very Large Screen and State of the Art Theater Sound System
Cinestar Dubai
- More food selection
- Comfortable Large Lazy Boy Chairs
- Manual Chair Controls
- The Chair Extends all the way to be flat, but requires an extra push
- Button to Call for Service but its always broken
- Very Large Screen with Decent Sound
Cinescape KNCC
- Stiff Leather Seats, comfortable but after a while feels uncomfortable
- Doesn’t lean back all the way so you don’t feel as comfortable
- Electronic Seats which are good
- The Screen for the VIP is very small
- The sound is only good for the people sitting in the middle row, the edge seats don’t have good sound at all
- The food is stale and usually pretty bad, sad excuse for popcorn
Overall between all the cinemas Reel Cinemas is fantastic and I still enjoy Cinestar Dubai, but with Cinestar KNCC I prefer to go to the regular cinema because of the much larger screen and better screen, the VIP I go to if I don’t want to be bother by the crowd.
After a long week and one annoying meeting I had to attend in Dubai, I decided to take one small break which would take place on Friday. Met up with my cousin in Dubai while he was there with his family we decided to have a movie day on Friday, all day. Came in late Thursday night, the plane to Dubai was packed and so was the plane to Beirut, in the Wataniya Airways Lounge in Kuwait I kept saying hello to people. As soon as I landed I headed straight to The Address Downtown Dubai, which was also filled with Kuwaities. Had a light dinner and passed out, I knew I had a lot I wanted to do the next day.
We had a full day planned out which worked out perfectly, I wanted to try out the Chinese Restaurant in The Address called HAKUMU but I didn’t have a chance
Simple Full Day:
- 2:00 pm Fat Burger Lunch
- Walking Around
- 3:40 pm Green Zone – Platinum Cinema
- Going to Bookstore then Walking Around
- 6:45 pm Shutter Island
- 9:30 pm Dinner @ Japengo
- 11:10 pm Avatar (For the second time and loved it)
I tried sticking to the diet, I had just a little too much food but didn’t have any soda. I will make up for this week but taking a break one day isn’t bad. After all that we passed out around 3:30 am but a very satisfying and fun day, we never had to leave the mall.