Baldrick's Bar is open!

Well, I have been having lots of fun with my best buddy M, who has now sadly buggered off and abandoned me ... but has left me with a nice little addition to the party pad - my own cocktail bar! We've been talking about it for ages, and he brought all the cocktail stuff out with him. Then we sat down and discussed what I wanted, he did a stonking design, and a lovely carpenter I know made it up for us.

The new bar on it's first day in the corner of the balcony

Loving the stylish curved corner

Mixologist extraordinaire of Baldrick's Bar
rocking the Lederhosen look ...

Last Thursday was the opening night of what we have christened Baldrick's Bar, when I got to invite all the lovely people that I've met so far to meet each other and try a little cocktail or six. It ended up being a wierd mix of diplomats, divers, defence contractors, business people and a liberal sprinkling of nutters. Could have been strange, but actually ended up being very jolly and a whole lot of fun - with people already in the pool by 7.30, it was always going to get silly, but in the nicest possible way!

Yes, there was even a flyer!

Did we have fun? I think so ...

Even the barman ended up in the pool with a mojito!
In fact, I think I remember the pool becoming
pretty much one big mojito by the end of the night ...

The Perfect Respite

So, you've been bouncing across the sands of Wahiba, little grains lodged in every nook and cranny and the skin on your face stretched by the sun ... where do you want to be? Well, the short answer is Wadi Bani Khalid - only a 45 minute drive away from the last of the dunes, a little wonderland that couldn't be more different ...

Driving up the valley past the date and mango plantations

Shallow pools with baby fish ...

... turning into your very own Olympic-sized swimming pool!

Ah, the bliss of it ...

So, you get a beautiful swim in the cool water (almost chilly in fact!), shared with the water reeds and fish, and to top it off clouds of multi-coloured dragonflies - apparently a sign of a healthy eco-system, but also so so magical ...

The Omani cauldron

Wow, it's been a crazy month - lots of visitors to keep me busy at home, a week's holiday in March that feels like it was years ago, and let's not get into the shenanigans in the region ... Plus the weather has decided it is time to get hot and stinky, already had 39 and it's still going up. Phew!

So, a lot to catch up on. So let me start with a bit of Oman that I just hadn't gotten around to visiting until Mike and family gave me the excuse - Oman's desert. There are so many different kinds of desert, some flat, some hilly, some stony, some even trying to be green, but Oman also has the classic sand dunes that you see in all those movies, English Patient style. Ours are called the Wahiba Sands ...

OK, so maybe not that bit, but then the desert is very rarely just sand in my experience ... and thank the lord for that! Those poor camels need to eat something after all.

And having a few twigs also means water, which means that camps can be set up. Yes, I know we could have just set up tent near a dune somewhere, but Mike's parents are not quite that adventurous, and it is nice to have a bed to sleep on, a sheltered area to escape the midday heat and someone churning out food and tea. The 1000 Nights Desert camp is 40km into the sands - literally the last stop for a thousand kilometres - and just getting there is a pretty exciting drive up dunes and through shifting sands ... my car getting put through its paces!

So there's the civilisation of the camp, but it's only a quick clamber up the nearby dune and over the other side to find yourself alone in the desert wilds ... stunning! The Wahiba Sands has rows of parallel sand dunes that can be 50ft high, with lots of little breaks and dunes in between. This is the dunes at sunrise, before the lines get blurred by the sun overhead and the heat haze. Definitely worth waking up early for ...

And hey, it wouldn't be a desert without camels ... am actually just listening to a radio programme on desert travel and how the Empty Quarter in Oman was pretty much the last unexplored place on earth, which even fifty years ago was only crossed by the odd Bedouin caravan and the last great explorers like Wilfred Thesiger. Now of course, the oil men have come, but there's still plenty of space to sit and ponder the harsh wonder of nature ...

Through the arched window

Oman may do a good line in doors, but the windows can also be pretty impressive. They're mainly arched, some with bars, others with shutters and often small to keep the rooms inside shaded and cool. There's something about a window that makes me want to peer in, or peer out - am I just a natural nosey parker? Somehow, I don't think it's just me ...

Beautiful stone grills for the rooms, arrow slits and peep holes for the guards on the roof

Another castle window (if you hadn't guessed!)

Simple curves and lines overlapping in this gorgeous example of Arabic architecture

Windows to let in the light and air but keeping the lower part of the room cool - genius

what's left of a window in an old-style wattle-and-daub house

Classy modern shutters create patterns of light inside

because you wouldn't want to accidentally fall out at this height!

Keeping the thieves out, or the residents in?

On a tangent ...

... I was listening to a TED talk today about introverts, and decided that I'd try one of those personality tests - the one I did is based on both Jung and the Briggs-Myers test, which I think a lot of workplace personality tests use. If you have a spare couple of minutes, try it here.

Anyway, according to this test, I am an ENFJ - Extroverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging person. Apparently I share this with a few US Presidents including Obama (yeah!), Reagan (less yeah!) and Clinton (hmmm), and a whole bunch of caring-sharing types including Oprah and the founder of the Red Cross. But what I found really interesting was the lists of jobs recommended for ENFJ types, of which this is a typical example:

Possible Career Paths for the ENFJ:

• Facilitator
• Consultant
• Psychologist
• Social Worker / Counselor
• Teacher
• Clergy
• Sales Representative
• Human Resources
• Manager
• Events Coordinator
• Sales Representative
• Politicians / Diplomats
• Writers

Scarily, I have done at least half of these jobs, and wouldn't mind a lot of the others (although I'm not sure about the clergy ...). So is there really something in it after all? Am I really such a stereotype? Would love to hear what you think, to try and work out if I'm getting sucked in by psycho-babble boll@#%s or if these tests are actually quite perceptive ...

They think it's all over ...

... but it isn't for the Omanis! Their football team, against the odds, has made it through to the next round of Brazil 2014 playoffs, with the added satisfaction of seeing neighbouring Saudi Arabia eliminated. Much rejoicing in the streets of Muscat (or at least, much beeping of horns and standing with their heads out of the sun roof of their cars waving flags).

Yes, silly supporter hats are universal

I didn't make it to the match itself, as it was annoyingly in the middle of the working day (to be at the same time as the Australia match), but I did go and see Oman play mighty Wigan a couple of weeks ago (Wigan have the only famous Omani football player, Al Habsi, in goal). It was not a night of scintillating football ...

... but the crowd was fun!

Jabrin - interior decoration Oman style ...

Jabrin castle with Jebel Shams in the background

Move aside Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, and let the Omanis show you how to decorate ... Jabrin Castle may not be Oman's biggest castle, and it ain't that much to look at from the outside, but inside it is a little treasure. After having been the home of some of Oman's Imams (the religious leader of the Ibadi muslims here) back in the 17th and 18th centuries, it apparently stood empty from the 1780s right up until the restoration in the 1970s. It's actually incredible how much was left, and the restoration has been beautifully done - you really can imagine what life was like all those years ago. Magic.

Each room has its own design of flowers on the ceilings

In some rooms, the ceilings reflect the carpets on the floors below

Love the colours on this one - all the more glorious against the white walls

There are words and patterns carved into walls and archways all over the castle ...

... especially in this beautiful staircase, leading up to the Imam's audience room

Even the pots of dates in the kitchens are decorated -  William Morris would have approved!