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

I wouldn't recommend it... unless one has a death wish.

VS

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

I'd give motorbikes a miss: road accidents in Oman are a part of daily life and the mortality rate is frightening.

Travelling on baisa taxis is very cheap, but can be hair-raising at times.

I managed to find a friendly (and reasonably reliable) taxi driver who didn't charge the earth.

Dekadan · Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 95

Was afraid this might be the case. Are there some areas of Oman that have more laid-back traffic? I think I remember hearing Salalah wasn't as...intense.

Many of my Saudi students back home had lost relatives due to car accidents, one even flying home mid-course because of the death of a brother because of one. What's even more tragic to me is that nothing seems to change. I had other students proudly showing me pictures of maxed out speedometers, videos of drifting and getting cars onto two wheels, as if these were valuable skills and achievements. Instead it puts a desire to imitate in the young, impressionable and not capable and perpetuates the problem.

Sorry, got a little rant-y there. While I'm a motorcycle rider, I try to do it safely and when I see someone do something that's counter to self-preservation... it gets to me!

madrileno · Joined: 19 Aug 2010 Posts: 270 Location: Salalah, Oman

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

Avoid night-time excursions, especially in Dhofar. I knew someone who couldn't wait to try out his new bike and ventured out at night. He encountered a herd of camels parked in a dip in the road and ran into one of them. He survived the collision (and being dropped by the ambulance crew!), but was in a metal brace for several months afterwards. A surgeon told him he'd come close to being paralysed from the neck down.

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

That is also true in the US. I have two acquaintances who died from motorcycle/deer or motorcycle/moose accidents. Animals on roads at night are a danger for anyone driving anything on a road. Camels, like moose, are tall and tend to go through the windshields of cars... normally fatal to both the animal and those in the front seat.

VS

Dekadan · Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 95

Yeah, nighttime riding is dangerous, as well as at dusk and dawn. That's when many animals become active and move around. Potentially dangerous for any vehicle, but motorcycles don't have a shell of plastic and metal around a person. Generally I try to avoid riding at those times, only doing it if it's necessary.

Salalah sounds more my speed, provided I get to choose my location!

MuscatGary · Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 8:13 am Post subject:

They're recruting for Salalah CAS right now....

MuscatGary · Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:15 am Post subject:

There's a video here which says it all re driving in Oman: http://www.muscatmutterings.com/

The youth hanging out of the car window died....

Dekadan · Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 95

Scary to see. That was hard to watch. Sad

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

I didn't watch it... there are so many of those videos on youtube of Arabs killing themselves and each other on the roads of the Gulf.

VS

1st Sgt Welsh · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:25 am Post subject:

omanoman · Joined: 11 Jun 2014 Posts: 140

well, you are in luck! There is a newish Royal enfield dealer / shop now selling new ones.

It is just beside the highway going into ruwi, just after al Nahda hospital, on the right , there is a line of shops, a used car / boat dealer and the bike shop is in the middle of that line. I think a new one is going for about 1200-1500 rials.

omanoman

1st Sgt Welsh · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 8:18 am Post subject:

MuscatGary · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 8:27 am Post subject:

[quote="1st Sgt Welsh)I'll be in Salalah so it would be a fair drive, but it might be doable. Thanks again![/quote]

If you've been told that you're going to Salalah then many of the negative points being posted on here don't apply to the same extent. There's a really good British HOD there and teachers don't seem to leave as much or as quickly. The only drawback may be that teachers often have to surrender their accommodation during the summer break even if they're coming back, this means having to find storage for stuff. The reason is that Salalah is a tourist destination in the summer and property attracts high rentals. In any case you've done well.