2013

Good Afternoon folks! And a belated Happy New Year!

Dhofari Gucci's first post of 2013. I've been super-busy lately, so forgive the gaps:

1) This morning I received the government announcement about Oman's new government-owned national railway company. The first phase includes Dhofar. Exciting.

2) Rumor has it that McDonald's is set to open in Salalah in that new golden building on the highway before Centrepoint but on the other side of the highway. Can anyone verify this? (FYI: I'm not a fan of McDonalds, but I'm sure many readers are). I drove past there yesterday and it looks like they're setting up a two-storey restaurant, but no signs yet.

3)  I read this eye-brow raising article by Saleh Al Shaibany o Reuters Oman "Taboo on premarital sex can lead to tragedy in changing Oman". It saddens me to know that it's true. The number of kids at the orphanage is evidence enough. Naturally, society/authorities try to hush things up as much as possible. Problems will never be solved or dealt with unless they're brought out into the open. (notice how he never mentions rape, which is a common reason for these pregnancies. Victim-blaming).

4) 15 Million Rials to develop tourist facilities in Dhofar in 2013. Article here. I say set up more bathrooms, and teach apartment owners to use booking.com. Last year's Eid Al Fitr tourist-crisis was a true disaster. Remember my post from August "The Invasion"?

5) Oman introduces black point system for driving offenders. This makes me happy.

6) Dhofari Gucci is busy figuring out resolutions for 2013. Need to work on becoming a better person. In the meantime, Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love' is stuck in my head today... particularly Birdy's version of the song. Watch it here. That child is incredible.