Is it okay that we’re glad our Traveler of the Week used to have a lame job and started losing his cricket form? He attributes his past few years of worldwide traveling to those two factors, and the result is experiences in China, Mongolia, Korea, Turkey, and now Oman. TianjinPaul’s ever-growing journal about living in Rustaq, a town in the north of Oman, is full of anecdotes and observations on, as he calls it, his life in the middle of nowhere.
The heat of Oman is a theme throughout this journal, and you can best get an idea of just how intense it is with his list of “you know it’s hot when.” Not only does he look like an ageing Hollywood movie star tan-wise, apparently it’s impossible to have a cold shower, you can’t even wear flip-flops, and getting frozen pizza home from the store is a race against time that you won’t always win.
Other parts of the journal are more serious, or at least less funny."Censorship shocks me" is a story about TianjinPaul’s experience with government censorship of media all over, with special consideration of what Oman does with Skype.
As a university teacher, TianjinPaul experienced the effect of rain on a classroom of students--a hushed silence, a few gasps, and pleas to be sent home for the day. While he did not then understand the change that came over his class, he did get how incredible it was when the wadis, rocky valleys made up of river beds and palm trees, were transformed from an arid, moon-like landscape to a wonder of waterfalls by rain in one of the driest places on earth.
For descriptions like that--and stories about the trials of nonalcoholic beer and impersonating an Omanis--we are indeed glad TianjinPaul’s few weeks of post-job traveling turned into six years, and we are looking forward to the next stop!
More from TianjinPaul on IgoUgo
The Historic Parts of Beijing
Istanbul Sights
Going Back ‘Home’
Istanbul Survival Guide
Staying in Beijing
Posted by eyesoftheworld (Anna Welch)
Comment by kiroshimasylvia on November 23, 2025
I think that you need to check and see, my understanding is that flood insurance is available. One of the problems that the public may encounter is an agent that has not been to flood insurance education to sell it. That might have alot to do with it.. I think he said the other day that 33% of the claims for flood, were not in the flood plain. But, most people will not buy due to paying another premium….
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