images from Oman

i know i know, it's a bit late for all these postings now, but better late than never, no?

well, here's the story: my friend Valia, who lives in muscat, had sent an open invitation a few months ago to celebrate her birthday over there. Valia is an old friend from the 1990's aiesec times and i really wanted to go, though i didn't have any days of left from work. surprisingly in the beginning of october i managed to put my final 3 days together and tadam! booked my tickets to spend 4 and a half days in the middle east, mid november.

i was so much craving for a "different" destination (not that i spared myself of those in 2007, including china, malaysia, singapore and thailand) and there i was, enjoying the sun, swimming, celebrating my friend's birthday and being in a different world, in november, when it was cold all over europe. i hadn't been to the middle east [save for egypt in 1992] before, and i enjoyed every minute of it.

oman struck me as a country with beautiful landscapes, friendly people, a strange political system (a very progressive sultan), modern infrastructure and a capital developed in traditional architecture but with quite a bit of anarchy there. the recent history of the country is quite impressive. the current sultan basically lifted the isolation that the country had been into for decades, started training, founded schools and universities, made a more secular state than before, invested in infrastructure and started making a business out of oil and tourism. that's not bad at all for 37 years, when previously the country only had a handful of schools and about 11 km of road strip.

all of this has brought a certain pride to the omani people, who nevertheless are very tolerant and open to foreign people. the biggest contrast that impressed me was the fact that tradition and modernisation so far seem to be going hand to hand. the religious feeling is there, the traditional way of life and dress is there, but so is the education, the training of the workforce and the modernisation of the country. i haven't visited the wealthy neighbours to have a measure of comparison (UAE), but it seems to me that oman is progressing without necessarily selling out to the west.

if my impression is right, i wish it lasts for long. eitherway, it's a country worth visiting.