Barka Fort, Southern Batinah Region

Barka Fort is located about 80 kms from Muscat in the Walayat (like district) of Barka in the region (like state or province) of Al Batinah.

Cannon looks pretty impressive from the front till you see it from the side…

I wonder what the local punks have written on this cannon. What a shame!

Like 99% of all forts I visit in Oman, this one was closed as well!  Are they really taking tourism seriously when so many of these places of interest are constantly closed?!

It’s nice that the fort is right along the beach, but I wouldn’t recommend swimming here (especially the ladies) as it’s a conservative small town.  Another reason I wouldn’t recommend it is that there were several local young men that kept paying my sister-in-law far too much attention as we walked around the fort and one guy was even parked there for the longest time is his heavily tinted windows just gawking. Creepy!

As you can see from the map here, other places of interest in Barka include: Al Sawadi Coast, Bait Al Naaman Castle, and Al Falaij Fort.  Barka Fort isn’t the most exciting place in the Sultanate so I wouldn’t recommend coming here unless you plan (going to/coming from) another destination.

Seems that some Barka local residents and citizens are directly or directly involved in human trafficking- Read this article from Gulf News!

Royal Opera House Muscat – A Cultural Beacon of Light

“To love beauty is to see light.” (Victor Hugo)

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” (Plato)

Curry in Hurry, Muscat Grand Mall

“Curry has ubiquitous appeal, and is a favoured food for the Omani and expatriate, young and old, alike.  Indeed it is one of the fastest growing retail food categories in the World, principally because it offers consumers an authentic alternative to international fast food brands.  Our mission is to contemporise the Indian classics, by offering consumers convenient curry dishes, prepared and cooked to very high standards using locally sourced, high quality ingredients for people who have appetite, but are on the go: hence our brand name – Curry in Hurry.” (from Entertainer Oman 2013 description)

Curry in Hurry is in the food court of MGM, between Szechwan Wok and McDonald’s.

What do you think we paid for these 2 Chicken Combos? Would you believe only 2.6 rials for both?! (about $6.75 US!)  Well, it shoud have been 2.6 each but we got 2 for the price of one thanks to this…

All 3 coupons for Curry in Hurry are for “buy 2 for the price of 1 Chicken Combos”. The combos come in 3 sizes: small (2.2 OR) , medium (2.4 OR) , and large (2.6 OR). I wonder why the coupons are all for “chicken” and they don’t offer the choice of the mutton or fish combos?!

A closer look at what you get for 2.6 rials:

A pretty decent meal and for under 3 rials! (Drink included!)  I’m not normally a curry-kind-of-guy but I was in the mood to try it out.  Glad I gave this spot a try!  This combo meal was SO good!!!

More of the menu found on the wall

Here is their entire menu which is found on the counter.

The gents at the counter said they’ll have these menus available for customers to take away in about 15 days. For now, there are 2 menus bolted together behind 2 sheets of glass available at the counter.  They hope to have delivery service in the near future.  Check our “Curry in Hurry” on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Curry-in-Hurry/165587696917101 or you can check out their main website at: http://www.curryinhurry-me.com  Tel: (+968)-2200-9696, 2200-9700.

So, any of you readers out there try “Curry in Hurry“? (If we want to get tecnical, it should actually be called “Curry in a Hurry”! 🙂 )  If so, did you enjoy it as much as I did? Let a comment and let us know!