Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK whY

[Flying mermaid]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Lovely photos - have been enjoying reading, as we did a lot of the same things last year. We stayed at the Nilya in Selcuk, which is the Hotel Bellas other property. - a bit nicer, but still quite basic. I loved the Bella proprietors - did they get you to look at their ceramic shop - beautiful stuff? They were quite helpful and organised a guide for us to Pamukkle/ Hierapolis and Aphrodisias who had been one of the archaeologists involved in the original digs. I would really love to go back as there is just so much to see in that area.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Yes, I got a tour of the shop and probably would have purchased had I not already done so in Cappadocia. I didn't realise they had another property.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Yes, I got a tour of the shop and probably would have purchased had I not already done so in Cappadocia. I didn't realise they had another property.

yes up the road and into the back streets. It had a few rooms upstairs with a long verandah, where you could sit and socialise with other guests and a lovely big courtyard downstairs. Still very basic, but pretty.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Second full day was bright and sunny (and hot and humid ...) and the first order of business was a walk along the Corniche and foreshore in old Muscat. Afterwards, there was to be a cruise and snorkelling on a reef.

Here is the entire day's travels, with the Shangri-La about 2/3 the way down the pic (the point with numbers 2 and 6 where the photo markers start going offshore), the Corniche walk at the top and the cruise at the bottom. Most of the built up part of Muscat is off to the left, along the water.


Here's the Corniche walk. Starting with the fish markets at top left, then around the edge of the bay bay and past the Muttrah souq, then striding out around the corner and ending up at the Sultan's palace, National Museum etc. (none of which I went into - so no history lessons this time ). The walk was a bit over 5km, done in a couple of hours and I was nearly expiring by the time I finished such was the heat, humidity and lack of shade.




It was about 8:30am by the time I got into old town by taxi, so the fish market wasn't very busy.



Walking along the Corniche affords a fantastic view of the old port.



More Corniche. In the RH pic you can see the old defensive forts that dot every hill and mountain top. Looks like a UFO has joined them.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Moseying along the Corniche, past a colourful mosque, with parking privileges for the Imam.



The Muttrah souq. it was too early at 9am-odd, and there was virtually no-one there. On the right, I think that's the Sultan's yacht.




A nice fort. normally I'd make a bee-line to inspect but it was just too hot.



Looking back to the old port



Re-purposing some old stuff. Decoration along the walk.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I've just looked up the guidebook, and the Corniche so far was in the locality of Mutrah and that was the Mutrah Fort, built in the 1580s by the Portuguese.

Now I walked round the headland and past the gate to old Muscat beyond. There are some forts and good museums on Old Muscat, but I was out of water and pretty stuffed by this time. So it was straight to the Sultan's palace (RH pic).







A call brought a driver from the hotel and a drive back there, past the parliament building, I think. I was beyond caring ...




Part of the highway back and the entrance to the hotel complex.




The drive into the hotel gives an indication of the size of the place. Shown here is just the Al Husn (high end) hotel - the other two, larger, places are off to the right.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Got back to the Shangri-La to get a message that my ride down to the hotel marina for the hotel-booked cruise and snorkelling I had booked would be here in a few minutes. Hell! That's 30 mins early! I was utterly stuffed from the morning walk and needed a shower at least. I queried the time but the guy on the desk just repeated the message.

When I returned in 20 minutes the guy was waiting with a golf cart and took me down to the marina. No-one was ready. The only two other pax didn't arrive for another 20 mins! Rather annoying that I had been geed up for no reason.

Anyway, it was a large craft with a friendly pilot and we headed off. This is the entire Shangri-La complex ; Al Husn on the right, on the headland.




Eventually we entered a secluded bay with the reef around the corner.




The reef was small and I think anyone who has done a bit of snorkelling might be disappointed. The corals were plain and the fish of a few colourful varieties. Water was very clear.




Fortunately these guys saved the day. It still wasn't any Galapagos, but nice for an hour or so.




On the way back we checked out the arch near the hotel. This was the actual water colour at the marina.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

That sohal tang was worth seeing!

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Is that what it was? Here's another ...

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Certainly looks like it. A very highly prized marine aquarium fish. Very aggressive and territorial though, but that's only a problem if you try to keep other tangs (surgeon fish)!

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

For the rest of the day it was just veging out ... which I rarely do on holidays, but fortunately the remoteness of the Shangri-La made it possible . I received a bit of a surprise in the evening when I went for drinks on the terrace. No booze - Ramadan. But I thought Ramadan didn't start until tomorrow (what I was told on check-in). No, today I was told. oh, well.

I did a bit of a tour of the rest of the complex. As I mentioned before, its quite large. I checked out the restaurants (I think there are about 6 outside Al Husn) but none really appealed. The spa was very expensive, so skipped that, too. I went back to the pool and did some reading.




Dinner was OK at the other Al Husn restaurant - there might have been three other people and I'm guessing that the 'closing for Ramadan' effect was in full swing as the service was poor - for instance, entrée and mains brought out at the same time!

Check-out the next morning was Ok, and I had a limo ride to the airport included in my rate. I had checked in on-line so again avoided the Oman Air check-in counter. The flight was to be on their A330 in J, which I was hoping would redeem some of the bad inwards experience. Up to the Oman Air lounge:




Its a great lounge! This is in the old terminal. In the new terminal it should be spectacular. There is lots of space. good wi-fi and comfortable and practical seating. Also a great buffet selection and a small dining area.





I had an early small lunch and it was delicious.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

On to boarding, and my bad run with Oman Air business continues. First at the gate, its another shambles. A single gate agent, and there are about three long, separate queues snaking their way through the gate lounge area. I guess priority boarding isn't one of WY strengths, then ? And there's an equipment change. the A330 I had really been looking forward to has been subbed by a B737. Grrrr!

In the LH pic, that's the long awaited new terminal in the distance. I'll probably never get to use it. RH pic the boarding shambles. Of course we were herded onto a bus and there we stood in the rotten heat for what seemed forever.



We drove out to the plane, and of course they weren't ready for us, so on the bus we waited. Out of the bus, onto the stairs and we waited there some more, in the sun.

Finally in my seat - desperately need some water, but none in the seat pocket (as I think there should be), so I ask for some and get a bottle. Hooray!

Pretty standard 737 J seating. Arabic coffee and dates offered and taken.



In the air, no menu. Meal is beef and rice, or a wrap. Absolute cough for business class, DYKWIA or no. I'm not sure its because of Ramadan, but either you offer a decent business class meal, or you don't offer anything is my attitude. A wrap?

Then when I asked for a G&T it got even weirder. I was expecting a 'sorry, no alcohol due to Ramadan' (and that would have been fine) but what I got was 'sometimes they load it, sometimes not - I'll go and look'. She reported that there was Chevis Regal available, but no other alcohol. Again, what's that all about? Either you serve alcohol during Ramadan or you don't; if you do, have the normal selection.

Oman Air business class, both on board and pre-flight gets a complete fail from me. I guess their long haul would have to be better, but my flights (1.5 to 2 hrs) were shockers (for the class travelled).

Arrived DOH a bit early, 38 deg outside. An airbridge, at least.

The business class lounge, as others have observed is very big and quite swish. A shower, with no wait this time (the lounge was virtually empty at 4pm)




I had about 6 hours to kill, so went to the business centre as it was the only place where I could put a laptop on a table. I helped myself to a coffee and some buscuits and took them back to the desk to do some e-mailing etc. Afterwards, a lounge dragon came by and told me no food or drink in the business centre. Can't understand that, but whatever.



Up to the restaurant upstairs, and its definitely booze-free for Ramadan. I think there was a la carte available, but I had the buffet and it was very nice.




Next stop, my A350 to ADL.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

On board QR 914 DOH-ADL. Its an A350 scheduled and thank goodness, it stuck! Really looking forward to this, and it didn't disappoint.

A 1-2-1 config in J. Big fixed screen in front, tray table slides underneath. Tons of storage room at the side and 2 shelves to put stuff on. Good leg room; the shelf for feet is just wide enough for you to put your feet sideways when lying down.




The cabin was about 1/4 full. Pre departure service was a bit uneven at first. Great welcome, shown to seat. My request for a yoghurt drink rather than the champagne they brought round seemed to throw them a bit (yes, I WAS feeling a bit unwell, hence the yoghurt drink). It took another request when the champers were getting re-filled before it came. Then dinner orders were taken, unfortunately right in the middle of the safety briefing, which was loud. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but on she ploughed. In the end I had to half-shout "nothing, thanks!". Later on, no problems with the service. All attentive; good PJs and amenity kit. Interestingly, even when the cabin was in darkness, one of the FAs were sitting next to the darkened bar area, keeping an eye on the cabin and responding to button calls or direct approaches. No hiding behind the curtain here!




The cabin has a very spacious feel, in part because there are no overhead lockers over the middle seats. There is a 'bar' in the centre of J, but on our flight it didn't function as such (even though with seat belts off by 10pm I could have wanted a bar drink if I was feeling better).

Centre pairs slightly face each other. This has one drawback. The big fixed screens face slightly outwards, and spill light across the aisle. There is little head privacy when you lie down, so the spilled light, at least in my case was a bother, as the guy in the seat decided to watch his TV all flight. I simply moved to the back, and had an OK nights sleep. The IFE system seemed to re-boot periodically, which left all the TVs on.




There was in-flight wi-fi. The brochure says US$5 for an hour, but in reality it was for 30MB, which went very quickly of course. Pretty slow, too.




I had bekkie, bircher muesli and a potato rosti, but when it came I would have called it a samosa.




Overall a great flight. Yes, Qatar does business very well, and the A350 is a fantastic plane.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

Looks good - like the table coming out from under the screen. Must make it easy to get in and out of your seat during meal service?

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I guess so; I didn't try it.

One flaw in the seat design I think is the lack of aisle 'wrap around' of the seat. While this lack allows you to slide out sideways with the tray partly slid back, on lying down there is little between your face and lights and movement in the aisle if you are lying that way. I'm an incredibly poor sleeper so the slightest distraction is bad news for me.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

That does sound unpleasant. It's a shame when an otherwise good seat is ruined by a single flaw.

 

[kermatu]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

That does sound unpleasant. It's a shame when an otherwise good seat is ruined by a single flaw.

I've noticed the same with CX and AY J seats, as well as some of the QF refurbished J seats. Trade-off of space vs being nicely enclosed. I'm not a widebody myself so always prefer a closed-off space when possible.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I wouldn't want to give the impression that its a bad seat; I'm very sensitive to impacts on sleep, so have highlighted that. The QR A350 J cabin is terrific.

Contrast it with the rumoured BA A350 J layout. 2/4/2 ... no, thanks.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I wouldn't want to give the impression that its a bad seat; I'm very sensitive to impacts on sleep, so have highlighted that. The QR A350 J cabin is terrific.

Contrast it with the rumoured BA A350 J layout. 2/4/2 ... no, thanks.

True that layout looks awful. And the high density layout will have inevitable impacts on service levels.

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Historic Turkey (and 5 airports!), finishing in Muscat,Oman. QF, QR and WY J, TK

I love the cameras mounted on the tail. Apparently a bit of cross-wind, and we had a little side-on on approach to ADL






Getting ready for the pic on touchdown ... and then ...

Wham! A 'firm' landing; no doubt JB747 would approve.



Off the plane and into a taxi in 10 minutes (I was HLO).

Why was I in Adelaide? Well, Buzzard and I are Rockford Stonewallers, and we had invited a few AFFers to one of the Stonewaller lunches in the Barossa in a couple of days.

We started in the Stonewall room, with some rare, aged Black Shiraz. Apparently they found it while cleaning out a storage shed (sounds like me when cleaning out under the staircase!)




Spot the AFFers ... and the menu.