Weekend and driving

We have rented a car, so this weekend we have explored the surroundings a bit. On Thursday we drove to As Sawadi resort where there is a nice beach. We also planned to visit some forts nearby but since we drove out very late that day and it gets dark around 6pm then all the forts were closed and we could not see the surroundings any more either, so we just returned to Muscat. Hopefully we will be better in planning next time. Yesterday, after going to see one flat we also visited Fish Market in Seeb (part of Muscat). The fishermen sold different fish outside and inside the building men were cleaning the fish. The look was quite cross I must admit, fish maw all over the floor... In another open air market there were hen and other birds sold, most of them for fresh meal.

Anyway, we still think driving is crazy here. We have not got lost very much (the road signs are very good here actually) but all this speed and constant flow of the cars... During the first days i wished I had an extra brake by my seat, by now I can sit already much calmer in the car. Though, nobody doesn't seem to care about the traffic signs and even if the sign says 40km/h everybody keep driving with 100 km/h. Andres told me he felt like F1 pilot! Another mystic for us was the cross without any traffic signs (about where is the main road) and we tried to figure out who had right to drive first. In Estonia we have right hand rule in such cross but here it did not seem to work that way. We asked the landlady about the rule and first she only laughed at our question and then she told us there was not any rule. You just have to drive, and bigger cars seem to have more rights – “logical”, eh? And yet, despite the fact that Oman has the most traffic accidents in the world, and that they do not care about the rules, the traffic still functions here, somehow...

We also bought child car seats from the shop, there we paid around 22 OR per seat while the car rentals had asked at least 2 OR per day per seat. Actually child car seats are not compulsory here – to my big surprise. And indeed, one can see quite often kids in the cars moving around, sitting on the head of the seat – while driving 120-140 km/h!!! Yes, it sounds totally suicidal for us but here it seems to be rather normal. By the way, I have read that one is not allowed to drive with a dirty car here and one can get fine for it. Indeed, you don't see any dirty cars driving around here.

PS: To those who are waiting for more photos: our Internet connection here is not the best, so it would take me ages to upload lots of photos. So I just try to add 1-2 photos to every post and when I will be back in Estonia I will share more photos:)