Now that we are firmly entrenched in our bourgeois lifestyle, we decided to get an all-around-the-house guy/driver. He's been with us since January and so far he's been all all-around-the-house and we never got around to the "/driver" part. I woke up this morning and decided today would be the day that my guy would begin his quest towards attaining that most elusive of prizes, an Omani driving license. A process that could take him all next year
We went to the 24 hour ROP place in Seeb next to the Expo center. I won't bore you with the details of the boring process. Two interesting bits. I was told to go directly to the eye test room. I went in and asked the guy for a form, he was a nice young guy, probably 20 years old. But he was in way over his head. Poor guy was doing it all, giving and accepting applications, doing eye tests, and filling out the learner's permit booklets for everyone. He looked at me and asked if I can wait but he called me "al walid" which is what people in Oman call old people (literarly translated as father). Me? Ana? Alwalid? I accept that my hair is now more grey than black but come on, I'm 35 years old. All I could do was smile and sit down to wait my turn.
When my turn finally came he handed me the application to fill. I thought I could fill it right there, but in typical bueracratic fashion he insisted I should go and come back. Why? "you need copies of x, y and z". Done, here there. "The sponsor has to come here himself or else someone with a tawkeel". No problem, I'm his sponsor. Then he says "we need a letter from his sponsor stating that he has no objection that this guy gets a driving license". WTF? The guy is here in Oman on a visa that cIearly states his occupation as private household driver. I took the passport from my pocket and showed it to him. Besides, I'm the sponsor, I'm here personally to get him the permit, why do I have to go home and come back with a letter? "If you want an exception maybe you can go see the officer in charge and request him to give you an exception". Is there a logic to this? I had to calm myself down and leave the room. My record with the police is not so good. Situation like this usually end up with me being threatened with jail and having to writing pledges to not get in trouble with them. It's been three and a half years since the last time I wrote one of those pledges and I've been avoiding all contact with the police ever since. I was a good boy today. I wrote the letter and submitted it with the application. Walked out an hour later with the permit. Now I need to find a driving instructor who's up to the task of turning my guy into a hyphenate.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Great Kebab Factory
I was going to do a review of The Great Kebab Factory but Kishor beat me to it. In fact it looks like he was there the same time Thursdsy night that we were, sitting just a couple tables away from us. For pictures and an a full review complete with the actual names of the dishes we ate please read his review [link].
The Great Kebab Factory (TGKF) is apparently a known chain in India which was recently brought to the GCC by Bahrain's Jawad Group who already operate Costa Coffee, Papa Jones and Dairy Queen in Oman. The high concept at TGKF is that they have over 180 different kebabs on the menu but serve just 6 giving them a very large variety to shuffle form on a daily basis. They have a fixed price menu with your only choice being Veg or Non-Veg. We went for Non-Veg which was RO. 7.9 per person plus tax. The waiters are all dressed in overalls like a factory, but the interior of the restaurant has absolutely nothing industrial about it. Why have an industrial name and uniforms and not go all the way?
The waiter who served us first came and asked if we want the concept explained to us. He proceeded to tell us that the restaurant is basically an all you can eat buffet which is served at your table. Salad, followed by six different kinds of kebab, then some lentil dishes and finally a biryani. Then you can choose to start all over again or go for desserts. A couple of friends who've been there before had told me that they were so full after the kebabs that they never got to the biryani. Another friend told me that the biryani was the best she's had in Muscat. Since I am more of a biryani than kebab person, I asked them to reverse the course and start us up with biryani. The biryani was so good that we asked for a second helping before we proceed with the kebabs. At that point we were too stuffed to actually eat much of the kebabs. I soldiered on and managed to try 4 of the 6 but my wife and her brother both gave up before the third.
I can't say much for the kebabs, but like I said the biryani was one of the best I've had in Muscat. A bit spicy, but extremely fragrant and full of flavor.
I recommend Kebab Factory, but you need a huge appetite to experience it. We only had soft drinks and three bottles of water but our overall bill came out to be about 32 rials for the three of us. Not expensive for an all you can eat restaurant, I suppose. I wonder if they do those biryanis for take-out.
The Great Kebab Factory (TGKF) is apparently a known chain in India which was recently brought to the GCC by Bahrain's Jawad Group who already operate Costa Coffee, Papa Jones and Dairy Queen in Oman. The high concept at TGKF is that they have over 180 different kebabs on the menu but serve just 6 giving them a very large variety to shuffle form on a daily basis. They have a fixed price menu with your only choice being Veg or Non-Veg. We went for Non-Veg which was RO. 7.9 per person plus tax. The waiters are all dressed in overalls like a factory, but the interior of the restaurant has absolutely nothing industrial about it. Why have an industrial name and uniforms and not go all the way?
The waiter who served us first came and asked if we want the concept explained to us. He proceeded to tell us that the restaurant is basically an all you can eat buffet which is served at your table. Salad, followed by six different kinds of kebab, then some lentil dishes and finally a biryani. Then you can choose to start all over again or go for desserts. A couple of friends who've been there before had told me that they were so full after the kebabs that they never got to the biryani. Another friend told me that the biryani was the best she's had in Muscat. Since I am more of a biryani than kebab person, I asked them to reverse the course and start us up with biryani. The biryani was so good that we asked for a second helping before we proceed with the kebabs. At that point we were too stuffed to actually eat much of the kebabs. I soldiered on and managed to try 4 of the 6 but my wife and her brother both gave up before the third.
I can't say much for the kebabs, but like I said the biryani was one of the best I've had in Muscat. A bit spicy, but extremely fragrant and full of flavor.
I recommend Kebab Factory, but you need a huge appetite to experience it. We only had soft drinks and three bottles of water but our overall bill came out to be about 32 rials for the three of us. Not expensive for an all you can eat restaurant, I suppose. I wonder if they do those biryanis for take-out.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
D'arcy's MQ
D'arcy's Kitchen opened a second branch in MQ last week. Went there for breakfast today. The set up is really nice with lots of light. Food, as usual, was excellent. My only gripe is that I wish they had used bigger tables. The tables are the exact same design and size as the ones in their Shatti branch. Way too small, especially relative to the size of the portions of the food at D'arcy's.
Three day weekend.. two weeks in a row
Wow, a three day weekend this week because of 23rd July "Renaissance Day", then back to work for just four days before another three day weekend next week due to a religious holiday, Al Isra' wal Mi'raj. Unprecedented.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Internet upgrade rant
Samuraisam has written a 10,000 word painstakingly detailed rant about his quest to get Etisalat to upgrade his internet connection. Read it if you dare.
I went through a similar ordeal with Omantel but I won't bore you with the details. The short of it, I applied for a speed upgrade on April 30th and didn't get the upgrade till around June 23rd. They even billed me for a month at the new price while I didn't even have the increased speed. As usual it turned out that the had changed my plan in their billing system without actually implementing the change in the actual line speed. This is very typical of Omantel. Whenever I called their customer service line they gave me the same story of how the system showed that I have a 2Mbps line. It was only after I went to the head of internet customer service in Zakher that he checked the system and confirmed that I don't have the additional speed. I got it two days later. It took another three weeks till the billing system was adjusted to refund the excess amounts charged.
I went through a similar ordeal with Omantel but I won't bore you with the details. The short of it, I applied for a speed upgrade on April 30th and didn't get the upgrade till around June 23rd. They even billed me for a month at the new price while I didn't even have the increased speed. As usual it turned out that the had changed my plan in their billing system without actually implementing the change in the actual line speed. This is very typical of Omantel. Whenever I called their customer service line they gave me the same story of how the system showed that I have a 2Mbps line. It was only after I went to the head of internet customer service in Zakher that he checked the system and confirmed that I don't have the additional speed. I got it two days later. It took another three weeks till the billing system was adjusted to refund the excess amounts charged.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
AIDS, anyone?
So I'm back at work after a blissful holiday. The first time off I have had since the start of my pregnancy.
I thought long and hard about what my comeback topic would be, and I have a million and one things I would like to discuss, but now that I'm actually typing ,I can't seem to stick to a single, comprehensive topic.
Its a book that gets you thinking.
All stats re HIV/AIDS in Oman are published. We are even one of few countries in the Middle East that have a National AIDS Strategy. Every year, on December 1st, the Ministry of Health celebrates (not sure if that is the correct term here) World Aids Day and distributes thousands of information leaflets on HIV/AIDS in a bid to raise awareness amongst the public.
Food for thoughts: All GCC countries, do not allow HIV/AIDS positive ex-patriates to work in their countries. Medical tests are required prior to hiring and if you are found positive, you are deported. Human rights activists usually have a field day with this, however our governments are adamant and view this point as one of the preventative/control measures available to them.
What do you think?
Grocery hell
My wife gets Thursdays off, and she spends those mornings chillin with friends and family having nice relaxing breakfasts out. I get Saturday off, when the only other people who have the day off are other bankers, i.e. people I see everyday at work. No D'arcy's Kitchen breakfasts for me on Saturdays- at least not yet. What do I do Saturday morning? Well, our maid seems to think that the banks of Oman collectively lobbied the government for three years to get this additional day-off only so that she can greet me every Saturday morning with a neat long list of items for me to get from the supermarket. Aaaaargh.
I am never going to be one of those people who are really efficient at getting their groceries. No matter what I do, I end up taking way too long in the supermarket and buying more items than what's on my list. I used to be ok with going out for groceries because it was more of an outing. I didn't have responsibilities, grocery shopping was just another form of shopping, i.e. buying stuff that I like. Or earlier on in our marriage, grocery shopping for my wife and I was more like snack shopping because we never ever cooked our own food in our first year of marriage. Now that I'm responsible for my own household, it's become a stressful task: I am buying these things because I have to. I have to go get these things because they have run out of them at home. Can't not have milk. Can't not have water. Can't be out of bread.... And if I leave aside the not-so-necessary things, I'd end up eventually having to go to supermarket and fill a shopping cart with all the things that I kept out of the previous short trips to the supermarket.
So there I was queueing at the check-out at Lulu Saturday morning with a shopping trolley so full that it can barely move straight. I used to get embarrassed when I have so much in my trolley, but it doesn't bother me anymore because all the others in all the queues have even more. Some even have multiple trolleys. I pass my time standing in queue catching up with blogs and RSS feeds on Google Reader on my phone. Best invention ever. (By the way I got the Nokia E71 last week, but I'll tell you all about that in another post).
As it gets to be my turn at the register, I looked at the person behind me and it turns out to be some poor soul with just a handful of items. How come it's always like this? Now I felt compelled to get through the check-out as fast as possible so this person behind me can get through. Like always, I luck out with the one check-out that doesn't have a bagger. No problem, I'll bag my own- less plastic bags wasted. But, it also means that I have to first wait till all the million items in my trolley have been unloaded onto the belt before I can move to the other end of the check out and start bagging.
The total comes up and I decided "maybe it's time I use my Basma points to pay". They just keep accumulating and whenever I want to use them to pay at Lulu the damn machine doesn't work. It keeps saying "Line busy". I don't understand what line is busy when Basma is supposed to be a so-called "smart" card with all the points stored in the chip that's embedded on the card. It's such a scam. I think ever since they came up with this Basma card scam I have only been able to use it to pay for stuff once. You can accumulate points all you want, but actually use those points? Never. This time, to compound my embarrassment, the cashier told me "it says you have no points on your card." No way. I get stubborn and insist that she has to accept the card. I'm not going to accumulate these points forever. She calls the supervisor who goes on to demonstrate to me how I have no points by taking me from one Basma machine to the other on other cashiers' stations, with all of them showing the same thing. What a scam, I have about 100 rials of point accumulated on my card. I reached my stress and public embarrassment quota for the day, so I gave her my debit card, "'7ala9, I'll pay from my account". She comes back and tells me, "it says insufficient balance." I feel like I've been holding up the queue for an hour and all the people are staring at me. I can see the the ATM machine not even 10 meters behind me. I tell the supervisor "Ok, I'm gonna go withdraw cash with this same card which you says there's no money in my account". I say it knowing I could be setting myself up for an even bigger embarrasment. The ATMs at Lulu supposedly have the worst uptime ratio of any other ATMs in Muscat. "Please please don't humiliate me. Please work..." And it works! I came back in less than a minute with cash to pay for the groceries. I walked away pushing my trolley and stopped at the customer service counter and asked the woman there to check for me if there's something wrong with my Basma card. She puts it in the POS machine and it quickly gives the balance of all the points I have accumulated on the card. Welcome to my grocery hell.
And the worst part, I'll probably be back there again next Saturday morning.
I am never going to be one of those people who are really efficient at getting their groceries. No matter what I do, I end up taking way too long in the supermarket and buying more items than what's on my list. I used to be ok with going out for groceries because it was more of an outing. I didn't have responsibilities, grocery shopping was just another form of shopping, i.e. buying stuff that I like. Or earlier on in our marriage, grocery shopping for my wife and I was more like snack shopping because we never ever cooked our own food in our first year of marriage. Now that I'm responsible for my own household, it's become a stressful task: I am buying these things because I have to. I have to go get these things because they have run out of them at home. Can't not have milk. Can't not have water. Can't be out of bread.... And if I leave aside the not-so-necessary things, I'd end up eventually having to go to supermarket and fill a shopping cart with all the things that I kept out of the previous short trips to the supermarket.
So there I was queueing at the check-out at Lulu Saturday morning with a shopping trolley so full that it can barely move straight. I used to get embarrassed when I have so much in my trolley, but it doesn't bother me anymore because all the others in all the queues have even more. Some even have multiple trolleys. I pass my time standing in queue catching up with blogs and RSS feeds on Google Reader on my phone. Best invention ever. (By the way I got the Nokia E71 last week, but I'll tell you all about that in another post).
As it gets to be my turn at the register, I looked at the person behind me and it turns out to be some poor soul with just a handful of items. How come it's always like this? Now I felt compelled to get through the check-out as fast as possible so this person behind me can get through. Like always, I luck out with the one check-out that doesn't have a bagger. No problem, I'll bag my own- less plastic bags wasted. But, it also means that I have to first wait till all the million items in my trolley have been unloaded onto the belt before I can move to the other end of the check out and start bagging.
The total comes up and I decided "maybe it's time I use my Basma points to pay". They just keep accumulating and whenever I want to use them to pay at Lulu the damn machine doesn't work. It keeps saying "Line busy". I don't understand what line is busy when Basma is supposed to be a so-called "smart" card with all the points stored in the chip that's embedded on the card. It's such a scam. I think ever since they came up with this Basma card scam I have only been able to use it to pay for stuff once. You can accumulate points all you want, but actually use those points? Never. This time, to compound my embarrassment, the cashier told me "it says you have no points on your card." No way. I get stubborn and insist that she has to accept the card. I'm not going to accumulate these points forever. She calls the supervisor who goes on to demonstrate to me how I have no points by taking me from one Basma machine to the other on other cashiers' stations, with all of them showing the same thing. What a scam, I have about 100 rials of point accumulated on my card. I reached my stress and public embarrassment quota for the day, so I gave her my debit card, "'7ala9, I'll pay from my account". She comes back and tells me, "it says insufficient balance." I feel like I've been holding up the queue for an hour and all the people are staring at me. I can see the the ATM machine not even 10 meters behind me. I tell the supervisor "Ok, I'm gonna go withdraw cash with this same card which you says there's no money in my account". I say it knowing I could be setting myself up for an even bigger embarrasment. The ATMs at Lulu supposedly have the worst uptime ratio of any other ATMs in Muscat. "Please please don't humiliate me. Please work..." And it works! I came back in less than a minute with cash to pay for the groceries. I walked away pushing my trolley and stopped at the customer service counter and asked the woman there to check for me if there's something wrong with my Basma card. She puts it in the POS machine and it quickly gives the balance of all the points I have accumulated on the card. Welcome to my grocery hell.
And the worst part, I'll probably be back there again next Saturday morning.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
New Oman Mobile BlackBerry packages
Oman Mobile have introduced three new BlackBerry pricing packages.
Now light users can go for a Lite package for just 9.9 rials a month which includes only 3mb of BB data use. It doesn't sound like much but for users who only use their BBs for email and messaging it's a great deal.
Heavy users can go for either the Local Unlimited or International Unlimited packages at RO. 18.5 and RO. 29.5 which have unlimited data (international use is subject to a fair use policy).
I'm not sure whether to move to the Local Unlimited or stick with the Standard which is 19.5 rials with 10mb, but it includes all my mobile data use in the 10mb, so all the browsing which I do with my phone comes under BB use.
Details here.
Now light users can go for a Lite package for just 9.9 rials a month which includes only 3mb of BB data use. It doesn't sound like much but for users who only use their BBs for email and messaging it's a great deal.
Heavy users can go for either the Local Unlimited or International Unlimited packages at RO. 18.5 and RO. 29.5 which have unlimited data (international use is subject to a fair use policy).
I'm not sure whether to move to the Local Unlimited or stick with the Standard which is 19.5 rials with 10mb, but it includes all my mobile data use in the 10mb, so all the browsing which I do with my phone comes under BB use.
Details here.
An attempt
Now that I have an extra day off every week I should have no excuse not post more frequently, right?
Let's see how this goes.
Let's see how this goes.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
The Book Excerpt Tag
Undercover Dragon tagged me with the following:
She smiled weakly and offered out her limp, white hand.
He brushed with the most perfunctory of kisses "Charmed," he muttered without relish. "I must apologise for my appearance, I've just been fencing."
I thought of a bunch of others to tag but then I found out that between UD and Amjad, they have all been tagged already.
You've been tagged. The task:The closest book to me was Wallpaper* City Guide: Bangkok, which unfortunately is only 103 pages long. I had to cheat. I usually circulate between to three books at the same time so this excerpt is from The Blade Itself - The First Law: Book One by Joe Abercombie. It's the first fantasy novel to get my attention since high school.
# Pick up the nearest book.
# Open to page 123.
# Locate the fifth sentence.
# Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
# Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.
Hope you can play! Come on, I bet you're reading something super interesting right now.
She smiled weakly and offered out her limp, white hand.
He brushed with the most perfunctory of kisses "Charmed," he muttered without relish. "I must apologise for my appearance, I've just been fencing."
I thought of a bunch of others to tag but then I found out that between UD and Amjad, they have all been tagged already.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Before I disappear again
We're going away on a short vacation. Finally traveling for something other than work or medical treatment for the first time in almost two years. Work has been extremely hectic of late and in addition to my regular responsibilities I am also working on a big project which suddenly, quite unexpectedly, gained momentum when regulatory approvals came in ahead of schedule. The only reason the bosses are letting me go on leave is because they know the project is probably going to take away all my time for the rest of the year. If I don't go now there will probably be no vacation till next year.
Nothing posted on this blog in close to three months. I'm spending less time online. I catch up with stuff by browsing on my phone during short breaks throughout the day, thanks to Google Reader. But when I come home I just don't feel like doing much. I used to write notes on things I want to blog about but then I stopped even trying to keep track. I've surrended to the fact that this will be more of an occasional blog rather than one with regular posts.
Since the last time I posted on this blog, I've:
The two day weekend for banks has come through like I told you it will and now it's time for the government to switch their weekend to Friday/Saturday which might happen in September.
The house is slowly getting furnished. A sofa here, a coffee table there. It's gonna take a while more, but we're getting there. We now have a fully furnished study where Um Faisal can finish up the work she brings home while I browse on the work station next to her, or vice versa.
Last but not least, we kept the biggest news for last: we're expecting! Um Faisal is now 20 weeks pregnant and finally showing.
See ya in a couple weeks.
Nothing posted on this blog in close to three months. I'm spending less time online. I catch up with stuff by browsing on my phone during short breaks throughout the day, thanks to Google Reader. But when I come home I just don't feel like doing much. I used to write notes on things I want to blog about but then I stopped even trying to keep track. I've surrended to the fact that this will be more of an occasional blog rather than one with regular posts.
Since the last time I posted on this blog, I've:
- been elected to the board of a publicly listed company- my first non-NGO board membership. Finally getting paid for my opinions, though technically with 100% personally liability for my choices.
- also been reelected on the ESO board, but with scaled down responsibilities.
- been on my annual business trip to Salalah (nothing's changed in the city but business is booming.
The two day weekend for banks has come through like I told you it will and now it's time for the government to switch their weekend to Friday/Saturday which might happen in September.
The house is slowly getting furnished. A sofa here, a coffee table there. It's gonna take a while more, but we're getting there. We now have a fully furnished study where Um Faisal can finish up the work she brings home while I browse on the work station next to her, or vice versa.
Last but not least, we kept the biggest news for last: we're expecting! Um Faisal is now 20 weeks pregnant and finally showing.
See ya in a couple weeks.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Blue City Lawsuit - Janahi Speaks Out
For the first time since Cyclone (the Omani company that actually owns just 30% of Blue City) announced that they are suing AAJ Holdings to takeover their (70% majority) shareholding in the project, Ahmed Abubaker Janahi held a press conference in Bahrain yesterday to give his side of the story:
"An immediate intervention by the Omani government is now crucial, seeing as the minority shareholder is currently in full control of the project and has actively and independently started sales, disbursements and generating revenues - the whereabouts of which still remain unknown to AAJHC," Mr Janahi told a Press conference at the Mšvenpick Hotel yesterday.
"We have been wrongly and completely shut out with all references and our logo unduly removed from the project."
Prior to AAJHC entering into the project as a strategic partner, investment rights to the 32sqkm project were granted to Al Sawadi Investments and Tourism Company by the Omani government on an exclusive 75-year basis.
Mr Janahi said Al Sawadi failed to develop the land for almost five years, which is why AAJHC was brought in.
"It approached AAJHC, which developed the project concept by preparing the necessary business, feasibility and architectural plans with phased development implementation programmes and tapped into its international network of banking relationships to secure the $925 million required to fund phase one of the project," he claimed.
"Since then, AAJHC was the major stakeholder in the project - being the registered owner of 70pc of the shares of Al Sawadi Investments and Tourism Company, which it has acquired through documents legally registered at the Commerce and Industry Ministry in Oman.
"Cyclone was the Omani shareholder owning the remainder of the shares."
Mr Janahi claimed the dispute between AAJHC and its Omani partners began after phase one funding was secured.
"This funding resulted in the escalation of the project's land value from $83m to over $1bn for phase one alone and is further expected to increase to $20bn over the remainder of the life of the project, which in turn dramatically increases the value of the shares," he said.
Mr Janahi also claimed AAJHC would have negotiated with its Omani partners to sell 20pc of its shares, meaning it would become a 50-50 venture.
"Our investment, including the money generated from various sources for the project, will come to more than $100m," he added. [source]
Related post:
Blue City shareholders lawsuit
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Two day weekend for banks
Rumors are circulating that Oman's banks will officially switch to a two day weekend. The rumor goes that the switchover will be announced later this month and will come into effect the next month. I'm not sure what the details are, but the banks have jointly asked for it and this time they have the support of the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce. Last time when banks wrote to the Central Bank of Oman asking for an official two day weekend the CBO refused to take a decision and instead sent the matter for the Council of Ministers' approval. The council asked for the views of the Chamber which at the time replied saying that it's not in the interest of the economy for banks to be closed two days a week. End of Story.
Fortunately, the Chamber of Commerce is now run by a new proactive pro-business board of directors. I hope the rumor turns out to be true. I'm tired of having only Friday off every week for 12 years now. However, even if we do switch to a 5 day week, the weekend will be Friday-Saturday while my wife's job remains on a Thursday-Friday weekend unless the government switches their weekend as well.
Fortunately, the Chamber of Commerce is now run by a new proactive pro-business board of directors. I hope the rumor turns out to be true. I'm tired of having only Friday off every week for 12 years now. However, even if we do switch to a 5 day week, the weekend will be Friday-Saturday while my wife's job remains on a Thursday-Friday weekend unless the government switches their weekend as well.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Reblog: Come Back Soon: Oman is Full
From the travel blog Jaunted:
It must be fun to be a country just opening up to tourism, with all the excitement of tacky souvenirs and tourists getting in your way still to come. That's the position the people of the Middle Eastern country of Oman find themselves in at the moment. The tourism ministry had been aiming to increase visitor spending to 3 percent of the GDP by 2015, but it looks like they'll meet that target by the end of this year instead.But don't hurry to book your Oman vacation just yet. There are just 9,000 hotel rooms in the country, currently enjoying close to 100 percent occupancy rates, so there's not much room at the inn. The plan is to double the number of rooms nationwide in the next seven years.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Parking Tickets
Ever since Muscat Municipality introduced paid parking in the CBD area I've been buying 3 or 6 months permits to avoid the hassle of having to have coins for the parking meters. However, when I'm not driving my car, I use Oman Mobile's SMS Parking service, which I think is one of the best services ever. Unfortunately it has one major shortfall: if you send the message to pay for parking during a free parking period it will just send you a reply "this is a free parking period." There's no option of sending the SMS before the paid parking period begins.
Ever since I changed cars in December I've been procrastinating in getting a new parking permit because I want to first re-register the car under my old number from the car that I sold. Otherwise, I'd have to get a permit under the present number and then go back again to the municipality when I change the number plate to amend the permit. I've been using SMS Parking every single day for over two months. But in the last week now that I've moved to the new house, I've been leaving home extra early to beat the morning traffic and I arrive at work before 7.30. Paid parking begins at 8am and I forget to send the SMS at 8am to pay for the parking. I got three parking tickets in the last week.
By the way, I've been to the police twice to do the number change and both times they found excuses not to do it. Now it looks that the only way to get it done is to have the car's ownership transferred, registered, and then transferred back to me without it's current number and registered under my old number which is reserved for me in the system (for just two more weeks or I lose it). Sounds to me like an excuse to make me pay registration fees for the car twice (thrice actually). What a hassle.
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