Two worlds: Our Shangri-La Muscat experience

So 2 weeks ago, Daniel came over to Oman. And instead of bunking over at mine, I decided to try out Shangri-La Muscat hotel just for the sake of trying to make Muscat like a vacation destination over some of the weekends.

So Daniel arrived around 8pm and we picked our rented car up from Europcar. AGAIN, for the SECOND TIME, they took FOREVER to deliver our car, despite the fact we've already booked the car way before WITH DETAILS ON OUR PICK UP TIME yet they seem to be unprepared for it.

Anyway, the car this time round wasn't as shabby or smelly as the car we previously hired. So whatever. Got our car after 45 minutes - 1 hour waiting at the booth and then we finally drove up to Shangri-La at Qantab, which btw, was super far away from the airport. Took us about almost an hour drive and got there around 10pm, just enough time to check in and have a quick dinner.

Since it was already like super late, we were not able to check out the scenery as much and decided to rest and explore the area the next day.

So we woke up Friday morning and decided to try out the breakfast buffet that was on offer. I was amazed by the choices given; there were like foods from different regions of the world!! I, being the fatty me, took one of everything, however Daniel remained to his American roots by sticking to plain eggs with some sausages and salami.

Food was very satisfying although the one thing that annoyed me was that Daniel and I had to request for coffee/tea 3 times to the point I went up to the coffee jug area and attempted to just take one to our table. Thats when the waitress noticed, apologised and insisted that she will bring it over, like she stated 3 times before.

Anyway, after breakfast, Daniel and I decided to drive around Muscat and check out souq Matrah (the main touristy area of Muscat). Then because it was Friday prayers, we noticed lots of cars were piling up on the streets and we decided to run off before we get caught in traffic. We went to Grand Mall just to realise that about 60% of the shops weren't open, so had a quick coffee before heading out to City Centre Seeb.

Our main aim at shopping was to find proper swimming attire for the weekend. We managed to find a nice swimming shorts for Daniel and some snorkels for me at Sun Sand and Sports, goggles for us from GoSport and my swimming suit from Marks and Spencers. Then we rushed back to Shangri-La and I quickly told Daniel to suit up and get in the sea with me =D

THE VIEW OF SHANGRI-LA FROM THE SEA WAS AMAZING!! I felt so super honoured to be staying at that hotel and using their private beach.

Anyway we only managed to stay for like an hour in the sea as apparently they close the beach at 6pm. I don't know what the reason is, maybe thats when the lifeguard goes off-duty or for safety reason or what not, but whatever. Daniel was much happier lazing on the beach chairs with his Nintendo on.

Later that night we decided to try out the International dinner buffet (think it was 22kd per person) and OMG THEY WERE AMAZING!!! There was SO MANY FOODS that were offered that we couldn't even try all of them!! And they were super delicious and worth spending on!!! Daniel and I slept with a full bloated happy stomach that night and felt super satisfied.

Prior to the trip I saw a super positive review on tripadvisor on a private cruise trip to see the dolphins. I decided to message the guy in charge to book a session for me and Daniel. So then on Saturday morning, Daniel and I rushed to Bansher Marina, located only about 10 minutes from Shangri-La for thetrip.

So around 8:15am, we took off and went searching for dolphins. It took a while till we actually spotted one, but when we did, we ended up spotting more than one. The whole dolphin watching lasted about 2 hours, including the time it took to get us to the middle of the sea and back to the dock.

Then after dolphin watching, the Captain took us to check out the coastline of the sea. He would stop for few minutes at most of the coastline for any one of us to take photos off.

The captain at the back. Super friendly guy.

Then after the whole dolphin and coast seeing, the captain took us to some seaside to allow us to do some snorkeling. He gave us about 1-2 hours to snorkel and explore the area and even provided us with cold drinks throughout.

The corals and fishes were not AS spectacular as the ones I've seen in Malaysia, however, they were enough to satisfy me and make me happy. I did see some sea urchins on the seabed which panicked me out and made me decide to use the flippers.