Job Discussion Forums

Tazz · Joined: 26 Sep 2013 Posts: 512 Location: Jakarta

Can we have a link for the bachelors on the beach story? It's Sunday morning and I need a good chortle before doing my grading! Laughing

omanoman · Joined: 11 Jun 2014 Posts: 140

it's to stop the footballers from taking over the beaches as they currently do, leaving no space to relax or have a picnic - I am all for it since taking the family to the beach with the kids is one of the best things about Muscat.

Times link: http://www.timesofoman.com/news/35606/Article-Families-happy-at-Omans-bachelor-free-beach-zone

MuscatGary · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 8:30 am Post subject:

Tazz · Joined: 26 Sep 2013 Posts: 512 Location: Jakarta

maybe that's what being a bachelor in Muscat is all about.....free-spirited beach soccer players? Cannot disturb the 'family unit' now, can we?

omanoman · Joined: 11 Jun 2014 Posts: 140

I think it is partly to do with the Ministry's way of making policy - blanket statements that don't accommodate every perspective and also partly due to a loss in translation - the regulation doesn't mean "unmarried men" but it means men arriving to the beach alone, in this case, to play football.

When 80% of the available sand is taken up by a football game, it is a royal pain and stressful for families with kids or who want some space to relax.

Now, if they would just do something about the yahoos ripping up and down on the quad bikes........

MuscatGary · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:27 am Post subject:

omanoman · Joined: 11 Jun 2014 Posts: 140

You are taking a single news item, not a decision or policy and certainly not any action, to make vast assumptions about changes in Oman.

Really, a "bachelor city" ? No, what that news was about was that the Ministry of housing and the municipality will be making sure that homeowners rent out their properties for the intended purpose, ie single family dwellings in the case of villas. They are trying to limit or stop people from renting out their 4 bed villa to 15-20 workers. Yes, some families have complained about this and I am not sure I blame them.

Will the municipality now re-zone some land to force developers to build only 1-2 bedroom flats? yes, that is how they will try to solve the issue.

I am trying not to be combative but also can't ignore some of your more obvious misinterpretations or misleading assumptions about life here.

The Ministry is often bumbling, that much I agree with and their policies more often than not are too vague and blanket whole sections of the community when only a portion are the target. But I wouldn't spend too much time with dark theories about fundamentalists taking over.

Whatever will be · Joined: 05 Feb 2014 Posts: 303

If the Ministry is trying, they are not succeeding but merely pushing the problem from villas to flats.

Case in point: a couple of weeks ago 8 Indian male bachelors have moved into the 2 bedroom apartment opposite me.

On a lower floor, there is now also a group of 4 Indian male bachelors in a 1 bedroom apartment.

Currently, there are some apartments for rent. Let's see who moves into those.

The cooking smells and noises are unpleasant as they leave their front doors open to benefit from the communal air conditioning in the corridor.

omanoman · Joined: 11 Jun 2014 Posts: 140

well, that is what a lot of Ministry decisions do, just push problems around and not actually solve any of them.

MuscatGary · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 11:20 am Post subject:

I'm absolutely not taking a stance from one single news story but from a succession of decisions that started during the summer break last year with the banning of live music and dancing on stage.

Have you seen the locations of the intended Municipality bachelor zones?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA