Fort Nakhal and Hot Springs

Fort Nakhal has been totally rehabbed which differentiates it from many of the hundreds of forts in Oman. The fort is about an hour from Muscat. Go north to Barka; then, turn left at the roundabout towards the interior, and Nakhal is about 30 minutes from the Barka roundabout.

Historically, the fort was a main defensive stronghold in the region. The main tribe from Nakhal is Al Harusi. The fort is open most days until 4 pm officially and sometimes stays open longer. There is an entrance fee of one Omani ryial.  About 10 minutes from the fort, one can find the hot springs, Al Thawrah. There is a bathing area and wadi. The spring is generally very crowded, so it's best to go on an off day.

Fort Nakhal: Latitude : 23°23'41.00"N, Longitude : 57°49'43.00"E

 

Queen Beatrix @ Nakhal

As Swaidi Beach and Islands

As Swaidi Beach and Islands is a nice day trip close to Muscat north of Barka. There is large beach with a 'lot of action'. A highlight is to have a local fisherman drop you off at some of the nearby islands to spend the day.

Muscat: Garden City

Although the natural landscape of the Muscat area is made up of rugged mountains with a sandy desert floor and prickly bushes, the government has adorned the roadsides and other areas with brilliant flowers and trees. It seems each month the flowers are replaced with newer lusher ones.  Hundreds of expat workers who can be seen tending to the plants in the mornings are employed to keep the flowers coming. Irrigation systems have been installed running from Muttrah to past Seeb. The gardens are quite lovely, and the powers that be deserve credit.

Natural Landscape

Wadi Shab, Sharkiya

If you are longing for a place to take a dip in fresh water or even to cliff jump, Shab is the wadi to visit. Wadi Shab is located a about 1.5 hrs from Muscat in Sharkiya  This wadi is famous for its deep canyons and swimming pools.

It's a bit tricky to find, so I am posting directions once you get in the area. If you are coming from Muscat,  take the road to Amerat. Follow signs to Quryat and then towards Sur. After you pass Fins, you will be getting closer. There will be a sign to Wadi Shab, but do not exit here.

You must go toward the direction of Sur until you pass Tiwi where you can exit an make a U-turn back towards Muscat. Then, you will exit into the village of Tiwi. Turn left and go through the village of Tiwi until you get to Shab. If you turn right, you will go to Wadi Tiwi. You will need to park under the overpass. There are boats you can take for 200 bz across the water and into Wadi Shab. Coordinates:
Latitude : 22°50'13.72"N, Longitude : 59°14'34.71"E

How to Send/Receive Mail in Oman

   

How to Send/Receive Mail in Oman

If you need to receive mail or packages in Oman, here is a list of options. Oman does not use a postal system that delivers to home addresses. Instead individuals, families and businesses maintain PO Boxes at a Post Office branch. The box rent costs 10 OMR per year plus 5 OMR key deposit which seems reasonable. That being said expedited mail services will deliver to the physical address of a business or your residence (if they can find it).

In order to rent a PO Box, one can get an application at the Post Office branch where they wish to rent a box. Normally, one needs an ID to get a box. Most postal workers speak some English and are very helpful. One staff told me he graduated from graphic design school in the UK. The system works pretty well, but there is no guarantee the mail will reach you a timely way. Oman Post offers registered mail service for a fee of 400 bz. And, for express mail, EMS worldwide service is offered.

For Oman Post's website see: http://www.omanpost.om

Oman has recently launched a virtual post office, www.Epost.om, which seems an interesting addition to the postal service. I hope it catches on.

'Oman Posts’ ePost features the world’s most advanced digital postal processes, ensuring exact location of mail through ePost account. Digital or printed mail can be received/redirected,whenever and wherever, without fear of losing mail.'

Mailing to the USA
Due to the security protocols of the US, one may not mail a package over 500 gms by regular mail at the post office to the USA. One must use the DHL or Aramex service (with whom the Oman Post has some sort of agreement) from the Oman post office.

The rate is about 27 USD for the first kg. However, one does get a cheaper rate with DHL/Aramex at the Oman Post Office than at the local DHL/Aramex offices. No liquids are allowed. If you have larger packages to mail internationally, it's better to go to the Seeb office or Ruwi office as they have more experience in dealing with such.

Oman Post Offices
I have put a list of post offices in the Muscat area at the bottom of this 'post'. Note the addresses of the post offices are listed by landmarks (the system here). Each post office's hours vary, but all are closed on Fridays (holy day). The Ruwi post office has extended hours. Ruwi is open until 7pm on most days but not at the weekend (it does have limited hours on Saturdays). Other post offices close early; some by 1pm, others at 5pm. The general public service hours are 7:30 - 2:30 in Oman on weekdays. The best bet is to arrive at the local post office branches before 1 pm on weekdays (except holidays) to ensure it's open  until you figure out the hours of the particular post you use.  There is no listings of post office timings anywhere (not even posted on the door on most branches) . The weekend in Oman is now Friday & Saturday.

Alternate services which provide mail forwarding or expedient service are as follows:

1. Aramex Shop and Ship: http://www.shopandship.com or www.aramex.com

Aramex provides a service which acts as a mail forwarder. After paying the life membership fee of $45 dollars, customers are assigned three address: US, UK and China. One can use the address to have packages/letters shipped to them from around the world by just giving the shipper the appropriate address. It takes about 3-7 days from the US and 2-5 from Europe to reach Oman. All the mail is tracked and Aramex sends an SMS or an email to update the customers on the status of their mail.

Update: I had excellent service from Aramex in 2010-11; however, more recently and after a few bad experiences with them I cannot recommend them anymore. A few months ago they damaged some items and left me with no recourse and more recently have been overcharging me. The biggest issues is their customer service; not only do they not know how to deal with problems, they were rude to me on several occasions. Instead, I have switched to Borderlinx which has been great so far and much more customer oriented.

2. Borderlinx is a shop and ship service which provides US & UK addresses to customers. They have partnered with DHL. www.borderlinx.com/  is run by a Belgian company.

Comparison of Borderlinx vs Aramex. Borderlinx comes out on top in almost all categories except for price where Aramex is significantly cheaper.

Set up Fee:  

• Borderlinx - Free 
• Aramex $45

Cost:   

• Borderlinx - By volumetric weight but they will repack and/or consolidate


• Aramex - A bit cheaper but I believe they have been upping weights and custom duties in the last year. The same product I ordered several times last year was twice as expensive to ship with Aramex recently.

Website: 

• Borderlinx -  User friendly and easy to navigate. Cost calculator.
• Aramex -  Complicated; difficult to calculate rates

Address:     

• Borderlinx -  UK and USA. US address in Ohio.
• Aramex -  UK, USA and China. US address in New York (highest sales tax rate)

Delivery: 

• Borderlinx -  Partnered with DHL. Delivers to the house or pick up at DHL office. The office is in Seeb across from Bank Muscat.
• Aramex -  Pick-up only at their office in Al Khwair near the Park Inn hotel and LuLu's. Hard to get to in traffic and limited parking. Long waits to pick up your package even in there is only 2-3 people ahead in the queue.  

 Customer Service:  

• Borderlinx -  Polite, helpful. Have online chat. European run.
• Aramex -  Not equipped to deal with customer issues or complaints- lacking proper channels and procedures (Muscat office).  Dearth of customer service skills; the staff give the impression they are doing you a favour by doing their job. They rarely say thank you or any other pleasantry.

3. FedEx

FedEx offers their worldwide service as expected. The main drawback is the cost. FedEx delivers, as well as, holds the package at a location. If you live in smaller city, usually there is a FedEx shop which will hold the package for the customer.

4. DHL

DHL also offers global shipping service and is a  bit cheaper than FedEx. Their on-line retail system quoted me a rate of $95.72 where as the FedEx calculated a rate of $109 to ship a letter between Washington, DC and Muscat. There is a DHL office located in the Qurm CentreCity Mall.

DHL also offers a service called DHL Easy Shop, http://www.dhleasyshop.com/. I have not been able to set-up an account online hence cannot recommend it.

Mail Between Omani Cities

A. OmanPost:  For rates and options, see omanpost.om.
B. Bus Station: If one needs to ship something between Omani cities, one can use the bus station and have the package put on the bus to the city one is shipping to, and then at the receiving bus station someone will pick it up. This is normally the fastest way to transport packages between cities. Be aware that some buses only leave once a day to certain destinations. Small stationary stores near the bus station sometimes will hold the packages for you. The first time, you may need to employ the help of an Omani.

The bus schedule in English: http://www.ontcoman.com/english.pdf
C. FedEx, DHL: Service as usual.    


Post Offices in Muscat - Omanpost.om

Postal Services  Post Offices  Governorate of Muscat

S Name of Post Office State/City Office location / region / district Postal Code Tel. No. 1 Central Post Office Next to the Muscat International Airport 111 24510343 2 Muscat Muscat Near the British Bank - Muscat branch 110 24738547 3 Muttrah Ruwi Ruwi / Ruwi Commercial area near the Telecommunications Company 112 24700922 4 Al-Wadi Al-Kabir Behind Golden Oasis Hotel – Al Wadi Al Kabir 117 24816275 5 Muttrah On the campus of the hospital 125 24711707 6 Khaula Hospital Near the Oman Oil Company 127 24560455 7 Mina Al-Fahal Seih Al-Malih area / near PDO 116 24565465 8 Al-Hamriyah Al Hamriyah / near to Al-Hamreya roundabout, next to Al-Maha Petrol Pump 24789311 9 Al-Harthy Complex Al-Harthy Complex building 118 24563534 10 Madinat Qaboos Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos / near the British Council – Oman, next to Oman Petrol Pump 115 24697803 11 Bousher Al-Udhayabah Azaiba / near Al-Watan newspaper - Azaiba 130 24492658 12 Al-Khuwair Al-Khuwair / behind Said bin Taimur mosque, Al-Khuwair 133 24480805 13 Jawharat Ashati Al-Qurum Beach / Jawharat Al Shati building – AL-Qurum 134 24692181 14 Quryat Qurayat Al-Shbari Area / near Wally’s office 120 24845007 15 Al Amarat Al Amarat Area No. 6 - Al Amarat 119 24878011 16 Al-Seeb Al-Seeb Market area / behind public prosecution – Seeb 121 2442003 17 Al-Rusayl Industrial area / Al Rusayl Industrial Area 124 24446226 18 Sultan Qaboos University Sultan Qaboos University Campus 123 24141111 19 Al-Khud Al-Khoudh / near Sultan Qaboos Mosque - Al-Khoudh 132 24544197 20 Al-Maabela Al Ma'abela North / Commercial Area 122 24451687 21 Al-Murtafa'a 129 24333410

Pattaya Tragedy: Drunk Omani drowns in pool

News from abroad. I saw this recently in a Thai paper. The poor guy was from Muttrah.

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2012/05/08/drunk-pattaya-omani-tourist-drowns-in-hotel-pool/

Drunk Pattaya Omani Tourist Drowns In Hotel Pool

A resident of the Sultanate of Oman on a Pattaya holiday drank a large bottle of beer felt hot and jumped into the swimming pool, hit his head, drowned and died minutes later. 

PATTAYA – May 6, 2012 [PDN]; Pol. Lt. Krittha Prathumkaew, Pattaya police was notified about a foreign tourist who had drowned in the swimming pool of Mid Town hotel address: 373, Phratamnak road, South Pattaya, Chonburi.

At the scene of the accident, a medium size swimming pool, the police found the corpse of Mr. Hussain age 43, Omani citizen, wearing only brown underwear. His head was bleeding. Beside him, a pool of vomit consisting of alcohol and food.

Upon investigation Mr. Nawadol Ratphong age 61, the staff of the hotel said that the cashier came and told him that a hotel guest had drowned in the pool.

The staff rushed to the pool and pulled Mr. Hussain out of the pool and tried to resuscitate him and notified the police. It was too late, Mr. Hussain was dead.

Mrs. Daeng Syril Ellis, age 47, said that yesterday the Omani man had hired her for sexual service in the Walking Street, South Pattaya. He bought three bottles of beer, drank one swiftly and ate a chicken sandwich and a lot of snacks.

Then he said that the weather was hot and went to the swimming pool. While Mrs. Daeng was waiting in the hotel room, watching television.

The police took photographs, collected evidence and concluded that the cause of death was alcohol intoxication, hot temperature, followed by a concussion when he dived into the pool.

Pattaya police will inform to the embassy accordingly before sending the corpse for post mortem examination.