Oh man, Oman...

Sorry it took so long, folks. The long weekend in Oman was quickly forgotten this week in a whirl of 14 hour days at work - bah.

What can I say about Oman? It's quiet - much quieter than Dubai - which I guess is part of its charm. We stayed at the Dive Centre, which is right up near the posh Shangri-La...and much as I'm normally all over some five(or at push, six or seven)star luxury location, this place takes some beating. For about a hundred quid you get your very own beach hut, literally 15 steps from the sea. And that hundred quid included breakfast and dinner- both of which I scoffed in large quantities as it was an amazing spread and utterly delicious.

We did have one 'night out' (I'm loosely referring to it as this as it did not involve an inappropriate outfit/boy chasing/dancing - all pre-requisites for a decent night in my book) where we propped up an ex-pat British pub type place. What fascinated me most was the large amount of Omani men drinking pints in their dishdashes. (Muslims aren't supposed to drink, and in Dubai it's illegal to serve a man alcohol if he's wearing a dishdash.)

After that the next three days were spent lolling around on sun loungers, drinking wine, catching up on celebrity breakdowns and (most brilliantly) ogling a large group of 24 year old marines who were ashore for the day. It was like watching a Men's health cover-shoot crossed with a porn film. I'm not ashamed to say I still have a crick in my neck from straining to watch them as they played beach volleyball....frisbee...went diving off a jetty with their shorts pulled down (no, really). Call me shallow, but it was a treat of an afternoon and I'm still giggling about it now.

The Dive Centre does exactly what it says on the tin - it's a big draw for divers - which meant we (almost) felt a bit guilty each morning when ambling along for breakfast at 9.30 as the ealy divers were on their way back in from amornng at sea. Note: you're supposed to be on holiday, folks! Still, it takes all sorts.

So, a trip to Oman - it will re-charge your batteries but don't expect to get your dancing shoes on. Just what the doctor ordered...