I wasn’t excited to begin this journey, more like disappointed that my trip to Iran fell through; since I had the time set aside and the airline refund to spend I opted to go and collect a new country.  I expected it to be similar to Doha, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It was. It is another city built on sand with incredibly tall and interesting buildings displaying extreme wealth and very little history. Muscat was different.

It was tough interacting with locals because they all seemed to be in speeding cars or talking on their phones. When I asked about different sites the hotel staff had no idea where they were, as they like all other people holding hospitality jobs, were immigrants from somewhere else.

Tourism infrastructure was not in place. My research indicated that US citizens staying less than 90 days would not need a visa. Not true, as I discovered after waiting in line to get a stamp in my passport.  Fortunately I was able to get one upstairs where I waited for another hour. The process was most confusing but others waiting were kind enough to answer my many inquiries. It was definitely one of those Charlie Brown moments: aaarrrggghhhhh

More later about the cats, cats and more cats and boats, yachts and personal watercraft. It’s also the place to go for detoxing!