Nearly ruined in Ruwi!

So we decided to go into Ruwi today, which is a suburb of Muscat, but chose the worst possible time to go.

Our reason for venturing into the madness that is Ruwi at lunch time, was to go to these very secretive shops that we’d visited the week before. I say secretive because they are hidden down and alley, through which you have to dodge dripping air-conditioners whilst pressing yourself against the buildings as some random taxi drives passed, and then into a small shopping complex that looks like it was built in the 60’s and then just left to its own devices. Needless to say, I love the shops there!

Anyway, back to the story. Ru

Ruwi is full of Indians, Pakistani, etc. (and the odd Omani) and they all decide that at lunch time, driving is great! You know when you see those shows on TV of streets in towns of third world countries that are chockers full of cars, trucks, people, bikes, goats…? Well, that is what it was like today. Circling the block took about half and hour. At one point, I believe there were about 6 cars trying to get into our lane, right where we were.

Reasons for avoiding Ruwi at lunch time:

1. Crazy drivers.
2. Everybody has right of way – all the time.
3. What are you talking about – 3 cars can fit in that parking space!
4. Expect to be cut off, forced over and to give way when you have right of way.
5. Hazard lights equal ‘I can do what I want with my car’
6. If you have an accident, don’t move your car to a safe location, stop where the accident occurred and argue with the other driver – even if it is in the middle of an intersection at peak hour.
7. The horn does not make cars move, no matter how many times you honk.

I wasn’t even driving during this time, but it takes two to navigate!

My advice, if you absolutely must go to Ruwi, do it before 10.30am otherwise, avoid at all costs. It is an experience.