Early days: Bangkok & Muscat

The trip from Melbourne was fairly uneventful.

Bangkok is slowly growing on me: I enjoy wandering the backstreets. On the radio from the airport, I had the pleasure of listening to "Music decaf, on Laté 106 FM"... oh yeah... the call-sign was immediately followed by I Just Called (to Say I Love You), it was a perfect moment between the non-English-speaking taxi driver and I.

Something about staying here in Muscat (with Sophie) makes me feel like a prince, and it's not just being looked after. It's the heat, the white interior of the apartment, and the persistence of exotic fragrances like frankincense, lime and coconut (the latter two of which perfume the shower douche (what a funny word) Sophie provided). And the aimlessness... many Omanis seem to just hang around, shooting the breeze, playing with their mobile phone.

So far we have just done the usual in Muscat: dinner at Al Arab, Sophie's regular Indian restaurant; out for an end-of-the-week lunch with Geoff, one of her new co-workers, and lay around on the couch reading literature and introductions to reading Arabic. It's relaxing, but my mind is still unwinding from exam-mode.