Navigating the roads in Oman

Cars seems to be a part of everyday life no matter where in the world you live.  Some places may have less cars, some places have more, but it's safe to say that cars are everywhere.  Here in Oman it's no different.  However, the people who drive the cars makes a HUGE difference!  Let me tell you about transportation here in Oman.

Shortly after we arrived here in Oman, we were picked up at the airport by our manager from the resort.  He drove an SUV that was made by some company I had never heard of before.  It was my assumption that America had the same car brands as everyone else; well this is not so.  I was excited to see all kinds of different car brands here - Renault and Peugot to name a few.  

Renault Duster - We've rented one of these before - very nice!

You still have all the major brands of course, but it seems to me that Toyota and Hyundai hold the lions share of the market here.  Almost every car I see on the road is a Toyota Corolla or a Hyundai Sonata.  They are everywhere, and they look brand new.  I hardly see that many older cars, just lots of shiny new Hyundais and Toyotas.  Brittney and I love the Hyundai Santa Fe!  We've even thought of buying one here to ship back.  You see, cars here are a fraction of the price back in the U.S.  I'm not sure why but cars are very cheap here!  Even brands like Mercedes and BMW sell for sometimes 50% less than back in the states.  Not sure why this is but I LIKE IT. 

Now, because this is a rich oil country, OF COURSE you see plenty of awesome cars - Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc etc.  Even the police officers drive nice cars!  I usually see most cops in a BMW or a Mercedes squad car.   Sometimes they also have Land Rovers.  Must be nice :)

BMW police car next to us

 Driving without a seat belt is normal in Oman.  Crazy huh!?  If you get pulled over and you're not wearing a seatbelt it's no big deal.  In fact, I often see small children hanging out the sunroof or cars while speeding down the road - SO SCARY.  Another interesting thing is that they cover the entire interior of their cars in plastic.  Literally everything inside the car is covered.  This is done to protect their cars for resale.  It's like a giant cell phone case, lining the entire car.  But that's not even the worst part - whenever we take a taxi somewhere, we can't buckle our seat belts BECAUSE THEY ARE BURIED UNDERNEATH PLASTIC.  So even if you wanted to strap yourself in, tough luck.  A lot of times we will just rent a car for the day, and they almost always have seat belts to use :)  Rental cars are pretty cheap too. They rent for about 10 Rial per day, which is $25 USD.

Rented a Honda Civic to go to the beach!

Gas here is extremely cheap as well!  It's about $1/gallon.  It's amazing!  Back home in Southern California, there are places where it's $5/gallon.  Did you know that the last time gas was $1 in the US was in the year 1989?!  AND if you adjust for inflation, gas has actually NEVER been $1 in the United States.  The cheapest that gas has ever been in the US (adjusted for todays inflation) is $1.62, which happened in 1990.  I suppose one of the benefits of living in the Middle East is that gas is ridiculously cheap.  But, you have to move to the Middle East ;)

In order to drive, you must have a valid Omani Drivers License.  All I had to do was go to their "DMV" equivalent, and show them my current California License, and walla!  If you think going to the DMV is America is bad, you can't even imagine how crowded it is here.  Imagine your local DMV packed to it's fullest, and then everyone is yelling in dozens of different languages, and there is no electronic ticketing, only first come first serve!  It's survival of the fittest get your license first.  However, I had a local Omani "guru" take me to the DMV, and you wouldn't even believe the process we went through.  We walk in to see hundreds of people lined up at small kiosk windows waiting for their turn, and he takes me right up to the front of the line, and through a door to the other side where the DMV workers are all sitting and processing paperwork (you can imagine if this were the USA, we would have been tackled or tazed by now).

My "guru" starts speaking Arabic to the worker and he immediately stops tending to the long line of people waiting to get their license, and takes me into a back office room.  I kept thinking to myself, "People in America would be LIVID if the DMV clerk left his desk to give someone special priority."  Well that's exactly what happened.  In this office room in the back, they proceeded to look over my paperwork.  Then I was told I would have to take an eye test.  I agreed, and he guided me to a line on the floor.  Then he asked me, "Do you need glasses to see?"  I said no, and he said, "Good. Test finished."  BEST. EYE TEST. EVER.  He took my picture, and we walked back into the crowded roof full of waiting patrons.  The clerk then went back to work tending to all the other people in the long line waiting.  The strange thing is that none of the people waiting in the long line even looked at me, nor did they seem to notice the clerk had left.  Everyone just kind of understands that this is the process in the Middle East.  Those who have connections get served, and those who don't, wait.  I was actually sad for all the people waiting.  I felt bad that I had skipped them all, but I simply went where my local took me, and spoke when he told me to speak.  I would have been lost in the sea of foreign languages without my guru guiding me.  A few minutes later, I was given my official Omani Drivers License

I wish all License Pictures squeezed your head to make you look thinner!

Let me tell you some other details about driving in Oman:

All of the drivers education cars are specifically marked with red stripes.  That way everyone on the road stays clear of them.  I think that's a pretty brilliant idea!  That way you don't get stuck behind some slow driving students.

Beware: Student Driver

Here's one thing that drives me CRAZY! In Oman it's legal for anyone to drive on the beach.  You'll literally be sitting in the sand and soaking up the waves when suddenly some crazy driver speeds past you at 35mph down the beach.  SO SCARY!  I keep thinking, what if there are kids on the beach playing?  I'm no Einstein, but I'm pretty sure a car can't stop in the sand to avoid hitting someone.  Luckily there aren't alot of people with trucks who can drive in the sand.  When it does happen though, you'll see me waving my arms in frustration at these people ;)

I have no problem yelling at these people.

CAMELS RULE THE ROAD.  You know how in the United States, you always see those signs for "Deer Crossing" "Horse Crossing" or "Cow Crossing"? Whelp, you guessed it:

The hump says it all.  Nuff Said

Camels not only slow traffic, but they literally STOP traffic because everyone wants to get out of their car and either (A.) Take a Picture (B.) Pet Them (C.) Feed Them (D.) Try to Ride them.  I certainly am not brave enough to try the latter.  

Stare Down

Out for an evening stroll.

Did I mention that I LOVE Camels?

There you have it folks.  Now you are well prepared for you first driving experience in Oman.

It's okay to have a bad day, but a bad week?!?

Salalah has had more than it's fair share of exciting adventures, so I should have guessed that eventually we'd hit a few bumps in the road.  Let me begin by talking about a very important topic that most people don't even think about - electricity and power!  Our world is filled with amazing technological gadgets and gizmos, and at the end of the night, we simply plug them in and "wallah" they're charged and ready to go the next day.  In the United States, our electrical sockets look like this:

The only problem is that not all countries use the same type of power.  In fact there are 15 different plug types used around the world, and every country is different.  In Oman, the electrical sockets look like this:

Pretty funky looking, huh?  So what's the first thing you do when you get to a country that has different outlet than you?  Well you buy an adapter of course!!  So I went to the local outlet store and got myself some adapters and power strips.





Sooooo, problem solved!!  Brittney sets up her fancy keyboard, and I set up my guitar amp.  I plug in our new adapters to the wall, and then I plug in the keyboard and the amp.  Everything looks good to go, and so I flip on the powers switches.  Everything lights up and we are rockin'!!

I'm think I'm smart, right?  I'm feeling pretty powerful at this point, then I begin to smell something burning.  I look around, peek into the kitchen, don't see any toast in the toaster.  I look back at the music equipment, and to my surprise the lights are no longer turned on.  This is when I start to panic.  I turn off the keyboard and then try to turn it back on - no response.  I go to my guitar amp and do the same - no response.  My heart is racing.  Did our expensive music equipment just get fried?  What could I have done wrong?  My audio engineer mindset kicks in and I begin testing all the cables.  I check all the connections and still no response.  I plug my iPhone into the same power socket and it charges no problem, so I know the outlet still works.  Then I suddenly think worst case scenario, "Please tell me the power here isn't 220 volts."



Without going into too much depth, I want to explain voltage (or volts) to you.  When you plug an electrical device into your wall, the electricity flows out of the socket and into your device at a certain rate.  It's just like pouring water from a pitcher.  The water is the electricity, and it pours out at a certain speed, and also a certain flow depending on the width of the spout.  Anyways, voltage is the flow of the water, and every country has a different standard for their "flow" of electricity.  All power outlets in the United States are 110 volts.  So all electronics made for the united states will say 110 volts.  Some products, (like our phone charges) are made to work in any country, so it will say 110-220 volts on it.  Go take a peek right now and see what your nearest electronic device says.  Now for example, if a device is made for Europe, it will say 220 volts on it.  Every country is different, but most use a voltage between 110-220 volts.  

Now getting back to the story.  I look on the back of Brittney's keyboard and it says 110 volts only.  I pull out my phone and immediately google "What is the voltage in Oman?"  You can already guess at this point.  It's no surprise that Oman is a 220 volt country.  Even though I found an adapter to plug in our devices into the wall,  I just delivered DOUBLE the amount of electricity that our equipment can handle.  Whelp, that's unfortunate.  So, after having a mini meltdown at the thought of having ruined my wife's $3,000 keyboard, my eyes glance over and I see that there is a fuse box on the keyboard!

This tiny piece of glass and wire saved me from completely destroying the entire keyboard!  This little thing is called a fuse, and it has a small wire that breaks when you send too much electricity through it.  It's supposed to break because that stops all the extra electricity from going into your device and frying all the circuits.  Not all devices have these fuses built into them though, so I really dodged a bullet here!  I  would like to officially thank the manufacturer of this keyboard, for implementing a backup plan that just saved my marriage.  So I called our taxi driver friend Ali, (remember the one who helped us get bikes), and he took me to an electronics shop where I purchased some extra fuses.  I swapped out the burnt fuse with a fresh one now IT WORKS!!!  What a sigh of relief.





Now what about the guitar amp?  Well, my amp wasn't as lucky.  I checked to see if it had a fuse and sadly it didn't.  I contacted Fender, (the manufacturer of the amp), and they said there is indeed a fuse, but it's hardwired to the circuit internally.  Unfortunately the nearest authorized repair shop to fix this is 3000 miles away in Europe.  Lucky for me we have an amazing staff of electrical engineers at the Anantara hotel we work at!  So I take the amp apart and bring it to the engineers at the hotel.  They order some parts and after a few weeks, and IT'S FIXED!!

After having learned my lesson about power, I headed straight to the store and purchased a voltage converter.  This little device is a MUST if you are going to a country with a different voltage than you're used to.  It will convert 220 into 110 (for my situation), or the opposite of 110 into 220.

In other news,  we had a staff beach party and I got sunburn.  Brittney kept saying, "Jer, you better put some sunscreen on."  I would just laugh and say NEVER.  I don't need that stuff,  I'm fine.  Whelp, 4 hours later:

To add to the pain of my sunburn, I was trying to format a thumb drive for work and I accidentally formatted my ENTIRE DJ LIBRARY.  That's over 400 gigs of music down the drain.  I had a heart attack after that one as well.  I have a backu, but it's gonna take a couple weeks to get here.  Better than nothing though.  Why did I not bring a backup?

I seriously just need to slow down this week and take a deep breath.  Everything will be fine.  It's just a bad week.  I shouldn't complain though,  I did get an incredible haircut last week for 1 Rial.  Yup, you heard me, that's $2.50 in US dollars.  At least I can have a bad week in style ;)

O-man do I love Salalah!

Hello again, everyone!  This week I am excited to tell you about life in our part of the Middle East, Salalah, Oman.  Salalah is a very culturally rich place, with beautiful scenery. We feel so blessed to be here playing music.  Of all the many places that we've had music gigs in, I would have to say this is my favorite so far.  Mostly because it varies so greatly from what I'm used to.  Let me tell you a little about the facts of the city.

History of Oman:
Oman is one of the oldest human-inhabited places on Earth!  One of the cities here is over 9,000 years old.  It's been really cool to explore a place with so much history, especially coming from a country that is so young (America).  The city where we live, Salalah,  is the second largest city in Oman.  It is historically very famous because thousand of years ago, this city was the heart of the Frankincense trade route for the entire world!!!  People would come from across the globe to purchase incense & oil here, and then take it back to sell or trade to all different continents.  Even now, you can smell the shops on every street corner, selling all sorts of wonderful herbs, spices, oils, and incense.  These are some of my favorite shops to visit.  Omanis were also the master shipbuilders of the Old World.  They had a worldwide reputation for crafting the finest sea-worthy vessels.  They made rope out of coconut fibers to lash the ship's parts together.

They also breed the finest Arab horses in the Middle East, and have done so for thousands of years.  I didn't know this, but apparently Arabian Horse bloodlines can been found in virtually every breed of riding horse worldwide.  A purebred Omani Arabian Horse can cost you over a million dollars.  My wife's sister is an equestrian so maybe I'll see if I can get her a discount ;)

Khareef Season:
Salalah is also very popular because of it's "Khareef" monsoon season.  Oman, along with the rest of the Middle East, is mostly desert.  However, for about 3 months every year in Salalah,  a thick fog of rain and mist overtakes the region and produces lush green landscapes, waterfalls, oases, and tropical vegetation everywhere.

People from all over the world, and especially the Middle East, come to Salalah during this season to experience this rare seasonal climate.  To someone from the Middle East, it's like being from Arizona and getting to go sledding in the snow for the first time.  There's quite a bit of excitement.  Funny enough though, locals here ask me why the heck I would come to Salalah during it's rainy season, they say to me, "Americans hate this weather, they want to see the sun" haha.  I lived in Portland, Oregon so I can appreciate how the rain makes the landscape lush!

They also have an amazing Khareef Festival to celebrate the season.  They have a fair grounds with carnival rides, food, shopping, and lots of fun entertainment.  Don't worry, I found an old fashioned game of "knock the bottles over with a baseball" and proceeded to embarrass myself in front of many strangers.  My high school baseball teammates would not have been impressed ;). Moving on...




Is Oman Safe?
Everybody asks me about this next topic, so I thought I'd shed a little light on the subject. Let's talk a little bit about crime and terrorism in Oman (or the lack thereof).  After informing people that we were heading to Oman, everyone pretty much said the same thing to me: "Good luck and be safe."  So let me put to rest some of the worries you might have if you're thinking of coming to this beautiful country.  The Middle East is the size of the United states (huge), and although there is confilict in parts of this region, they are extremely far away from Oman.  The Global Terrorism Index reports that Oman and Qatar are the only two countries in the Middle East that are completely devoid of terrorism, and it has no effect on it's livelihood whatsoever.  Also, violent crime is almost non-existent here.  In the last 5 years there have been less then 20 murders for the entire country; back in Los Angeles County, there have been 680 murders last year alone.  Needless to say, we are actually in one of the safest countries in the world.  The reason the world knows so little about Oman is because it's an incredibly prosperous and stable country, thus rendering it boring to the news hungry media who look for stories of turmoil and drama. Bottom line is, terrorism does not exist here, violent crime does not exist here, let's throw a party and dance the night away!  Nuff said :)

Random facts about Oman:

Oman has the THIRD strongest currency in the WORLD!!! Crazy I know.  It's actually been really funny to try and pay for things with my American dollars, and people just simply laugh at me and shake their heads no.  The dollar is very weak compared to the Omani "Rial,"  so if you come here, make sure to exchange all your foreign currency at the airport before heading into the city.  Don't get stuck like I was, with a bunch of useless 20 dollar bills.  The economy here is incredibly stable.  There is little to no unemployment, and I have yet to see a homeless person or beggar anywhere.  Oman is the oldest independent state in the Arab world, and a long time friend to the Unites States.   They have long since opposed and separated themselves from all the age-old conflicts that have plagued the Middle East for decades.  Oman is a huge oil exporter.  This adds to the countries great wealth, along with tourism being it's second greatest industry.  Much like Dubai, the countries coast is lined with luxurious 4 and 5 star hotels.  Mountain Dew is the countries top selling beverage!?!  Pepsi products dominate the market, while Coca Cola products are barely even on the map.  Who would have thought!  One more reason my brother-in-law needs to come visit ;)   Oman is the largest car exporter in the region.   Additionally, its most lucrative exports are gas and minerals.  The weekend in Oman is Friday and Saturday, with Friday being the Holy Day.  Our Mormon church also holds it's services on Friday.  People are extremely friendly and nice here, and it's such a pleasant place to make new friends.  I'd say that's enough details for now.

Day-to-day life:
Our apartment building is 10 minutes east of downtown, and is only a few blocks from the beach. We have lots of little shops and stores nearby, where we can buy produce, food, toiletries, and other conveniences.  We also have a shuttle that takes us downtown on Fridays and Saturdays, and that's when we usually get our major shopping done.  They have two main "malls" here.  One is called LuLu and the other is the newly built Salalah Garden Mall.  Both of these are giant malls that have a grocery store, department store, home furnishing store, theaters, and a slew of other shops and  outlets.   I LOVE going to the mall and seeing all the different style shops here.  AND... it's fun to walk around the mall and get stared at by children who smile and wave to you because you're most likely the first white American they have ever seen before :).  The grocery stores are actually pretty similar to back home.  I can find most everything I would eat back home, just with a more limited selection of brands.  This is actually way more helpful than in grocery stores in America!!!!!! Why in the world do I have to choose between 20 different kinds of peanut butter, 30 different kinds of pasta sauce, and 50 different styles of deodorant?!?!  Sheesh.   Now, there are a few things I am definitely missing from back home.
Let's begin:
First, I FREAKIN MISS WHOLE FOODS .  There's no other way to put it.  If you've ever been to Whole Foods, you understand.  But then again, I can't actually afford to grocery shop at Whole Foods, but I LOVE going there for snacks, lunches, the hot prepared food section, and other delicious particulars that keep me coming back.
Second, I can't find sugar free peanut butter to save my life.  I'm not trying to sound like a food hipster, I just have allergies to sugar, and I also like the natural taste.  You might be asking yourself, "Does peanut butter have that much sugar?"  The answer is YES, and loads of it.  I guarantee you, that the peanut butter in your pantry right now, has loads of added sugar in it.  I dare you to look RIGHT NOW.  Set down your device, walk into your kitchen, and read the label of your organic healthy peanut butter.  Told you ;)
Third, Strawberries.  You can find em, but they're the saddest looking, half white, half moldy, unappetizing strawberries ever.  And they cost their weight in gold too!  So expensive.
Fourth,  I feel strange admitting this one, but I miss celery.  Celery?!?!  Who in the world misses celery?  Well I love the crunch when I dip it in hummus, or peanut butter. (What's up with this guy and his peanut butter?!?!)
Fifth,  I can't find any pepperoni.    I would buy bags of slices pepperoni and eat it with cheese, crackers, grapes, and vegetables.  Its a great source of protein, and so delicious when you need a little savory snack.  Well, tough luck.  You aint gonna find it in Salalah, I've tried.  And believe me, that pink looking sliced pork they sell IS NOT a worthy substitute.

Sixth, I freakin miss Lara Bars.  You may have never heard of these, but they are the most delicious little granola type bars on the planet.  They have all natural ingredients, and have no added sugar.  I feel like a poster boy here, but I didn't realize how often I ate these, until I couldn't get em anymore.



LASTLY,  I crave Mexican food every second of every day.  I really hope this eventually passes because the nearest Mexican restaurant is probably the Taco Bell in Dubai, which won't fix my craving.

I thought that maybe buying some chips and salsa would help my craving, but this didn't help either.  They literally only had one kind of corn chips, which were outrageously expensive (Almost $7 for a bag), and they tasted like the fake chips that come with nacho cheese at the movie theaters. (Okay, maybe I love those nacho cheese chips at the movie theater, don't judge me).

All in all though, I really can't complain because the food here is incredible.  The smells that waft from the local restaurants here are intoxicating.  Everything smells so good, and begs for me to taste and sample each and every last bite.  I will go more into depth about the food here in another post.  Our best friend from work did however invite us over to have a traditional Middle Eastern meal.
So. Freakin. Good. My. Mind. Was. Blown.


I think that pretty much sums up the basics.  You can now consider yourselves more knowledgable about the country than I was when I arrived.  Every day that I'm here, I fall more and more in love with the country, it's people, and it's traditions.  It's a very inviting place that I look forward to exploring more in depth.  If you have any questions about things I might have missed, leave a comment below and I'll do my best to answer.  Until next week, thanks for reading and byebye for now!!! 

Welcome to Oman!

Hello family, friends, and blog readers worldwide!  My name is Jared Palick and I am pleased to present to the first entry of our Oman blog!  Woohoo!!  My wife Brittney and I are professional musicians who travel the world playing music in venues, hotels, and cruise ships.  I am often asked about our crazy adventures, so I thought I should probably start writing about it for everyone to enjoy.  I write EVERY SUNDAY, so stay tuned for more details about our adventures!

Chicago Airport --> Doha, Qatar --> Salalah, Oman

Well..... After finishing an exciting 3 month tour starting in Rome and crossing the Atlantic to the Carribean, we packed our bags and headed to Salalah, Oman!  Now I understand you're probably asking yourself, "Where the heck is Oman?"  I was wondering this myself when our agent started negotiating the gig.  Oman is a lovely country in the Middle East, southeast of Dubai (for those of you know Dubai from the Mission Impossible movie where Tom Cruise climbs the tallest building in the world :)  I love that movie).  So there is this resort chain called Anantara, and they have incredible luxurious 5-Star resorts all around the world, and they have just opened a brand new resort here in Salalah, Oman! I will tell you more about Salalah and Oman in the next post.  But anyways,  the hotel booked us as the resident entertainers for the next 6 months!  So we have been very excited to explore a new part of the world, and join forces with an incredible company like Anantara.  Don't worry, once they open I will post lots of pictures of the resort so you can plan your visit to stay at the hotel and see us. ;)

We flew out of the Chicago Airport last week, after having spent a wonderful couple of months with my family in  Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  It was so nice to catch up with family and old friends that we haven't seen in a long time. We were sad to leave but duty calls. The first leg of the flight was from Chicago to Doha Qatar, and was a grueling 13 hours long! Let's just say I didn't pack enough gummy worms to keep me settled in my seat. They had tons of movies to watch, but no WiFi :(  I was really looking forward to overposting on Instagram.  We flew Qatar Airways, and I have nothing but praise for the flight accomodations! The food was incredible and the service was top notch.  The plane was almost entirely filled with people from India.  Apparently Doha is a transit point for people heading to that part of the world.  It was refreshing to be a minority, as I savor the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and experiences that differ from  my own.  I sat next to a kind gentleman from Bengal India, and we both agreed that nothing beats a Chicago hot dog!

After a sleepless 13 hours flight, we arrived in Doha Qatar, and what a sight to behold!  This is a brand new airport and my gosh is it beautiful.  It is definetely the most gorgeous airport I've ever been in.  It felt like I was in the Bellagio in Las Vegas; glistening lights everywhere, giant screens with beautiful people on them, luxury brand stores at every corner, fancy restaurants and decor everywhere you go.  This was also my first taste of what life is like in the Middle East.  Everyone was dressed in their traditional clothing.  It was actually very beautiful to see.  *NOTE: this was my "you're not in Kansas anymore" moment haha.  I felt very small in such a big world.  After having traveled to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, and countless other places, I thought I had somewhat "seen the world",  but boy was I wrong.  The Middle East is a vast and exotic place with beautiful people that have differing cultures and traditions that are truly amazing - AND I WAS ONLY IN THE AIRPORT.  

We quickly headed to our connecting flight which was already boarding to Salalah, Oman.  Brittney and I were the ONLY Americans on this flight.  It was only a 2 hour flight and they still served us a full dinner that consisted of delicious curry chicken, hummus, pita, vegetables, fresh fruit, and drinks galore!?!?!  Come on America!?!?!?!  I've flown a 7 hour flight from Portland Oregon to Miami Florida, and didn't get more than a bag of chips and bloated cramps.  Sheesh.  They sure know how to fly in the Middle East!  After landing in  Salalah, we waited for our 8 Suitcases (It sounds like a lot but we we're required to bring EVERY piece of music equipment we own) and then we headed out of the airport.  We were met by the hotel's Food & Beverage Manager, who is an amazing guy.  He's from France and we will report to him for all our entertainer needs.  He took us to our brand new 2 bedroom apartment, provided by the hotel.  The accommodations are amazing and I will have to give you a tour one of these days.  We settled in after a long flight, and immediately went to bed.  Welcome home to Salalah, Oman!  The week after arriving was even more jam packed with discoveries and excitements, so tune in next week for the next Touring Pals blogpost!  Byebye for now!