The Jungle is a new restaurant located to the right of Qurum Natural Park’s main entrance. True to its name, this theme restaurant has a forest-like setting with lots of green creepers, small trees, animals and birds dotting the garden as you make your way to the dining area.

For an authentic feel, the diners first experience a drizzle in the garden, and transparent umbrellas are provided. The path leads you to the restaurant. Of course, enroute you will not miss hearing peacock shrills and dinosaur roars.

The main dining area is a huge space wearing the jungle-theme. Whether it is walls, ceiling, seating, serving plates – tiger stripes, cheetah dots, tribal art – it is a true jungle out there. It is evident that a lot of thought has gone into creating the decor and theme of the restaurant, which is very unique to Muscat.

The comfortable seating facility is actually on three layers on an ascending pattern. I have been twice to this place, and enjoyed the food and experience on both the occasions. During weekends, when the place is packed, it gets a bit noisy for normal conversations to be heard when you are in a group.

The menu is impressive with an interesting range of meat, fish, chicken and veggie options. Looks like the management has given a serious thought on the pricing – it is very affordable to the middle-class families too. There are some interesting salads on the menu and for the adventurous type, there is camel meat on the platter!

The salads, main course dishes and the desserts are nice, and on both the occasions, I loved the food. The service is good too. On the whole, Jungle provides a value-for-money experience. This place is tailor-made for kids.

I am a regular customer of your Darsait fuel station, and it comes as a surprise to me that every time you have the ‘Win with Shell’ promotion, the fuel station attendants are reluctant to issue the promotion coupon from day one. Currently there is a promotion going on for the month of March 2012. The attendants have to be reminded about the coupon every time you fill gas worth RO 3.

This is not the first time I am noticing this issue. It has happened during the last three promotions. It is stupid of the attendants to wear promo t-shirts and act indifferent. Last week, I had to give the attendant an earful because he said a customer has to ask for the coupons, and they won’t hand it out on their own. Surprising! It sounds like they get an incentive for not giving out the coupons.

Regards,
Irritated customer

Omantel announced yesterday new reductions on international calls to all countries for mobile and fixed line subscribers.

The new reduced rates introduced today “Tuesday” will enable all subscribers to make international calls at slashed peak and off-peak rates. As per the new tariff revamp, the off-peak timing has been extended to 13 hours and starts from 6 pm to 7 am. All Omantel fixed line, postpaid Mada and prepaid Hayyak subscribers shall benefit from these new rates.

The tariff reductions will allow all Omantel fixed line and mobile subscribers to remain in continuous contact with their families and friends in any country at very affordable rates. Fixed line and mobile customers can call more than 70 countries including GCC, Indian sub-continent, majority of Arab and European destinations as low as 65 Bzs per minute, and 85 Bzs per minute respectively.

Mobile off-peak tariff to India: 85 Bzs per minute. Fixed line off-peak tariff: 65 Bzs per minute.

Nice. Keep it coming!

Here are a few pictures I clicked today.

If you love sea food or coastal Karnataka delicacies, then a visit to Blue Line Restaurant in Wadi Kabir is a must. Other than the regular North Indian and Chinese fare, the place services choicest of traditional Mangalorean fish and chicken dishes. Come weekend, the restaurant comes up with a long list of special dishes to tickle the palette of discerning NRIs from Mangalore.

We went to the restaurant for lunch on a Friday, and ordered Kori Rotti, Prawn and Crab Sukka, Chicken Biriyani and Veg Meals. The food was delicious and feels at home.

The friendly waiter who conversed in chaste Tulu made the experience all the more wonderful. The service was quick and fast, and the portions were quite good. For the above menu, the bill came upto RO 11, and it was value for money deal.

Tucked in a corner of the Muscat Pharmacy building, the restaurant doesn’t boast of fancy interiors or plush atmosphere, but if you are game for delicious food at throwaway prices, then give it a try.

We returned a second time and tried Neer Dosa with Chicken Puli Munchi, Fish Fry and Pundi Etti (rice dumplings served prawns masala). The Neer Dosa was soft as it should be and Pundi Etti was awesome.

Lunching out on Friday is now an interesting option.

In a bid to increase awareness and acquaint the Indian travel trade with Oman’s tourism products and offerings, Oman Tourism plans to conduct a four-city road show in February 2012. The road shows will be held in Mumbai on February 3, Bengaluru on February 6, Chennai on February 7 and in Delhi on February 8. This year will see a two-fold increase in the number of participants, with a total of twelve tourism suppliers attending the road shows as compared to last year’s six. Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative – Ministry of Tourism, Sultanate of Oman said, “We see India as one of the most promising markets for tourism. These road shows are being conducted in order to educate the Indian travel trade on the potential of Oman as an ideal destination for clients looking for luxurious short-haul vacations. This year, we have more participants in the road show as compared to last year, which will surely bring out the best of Oman to the Indian travel trade and we will also give the travel trade an opportunity to interact with the delegates.”

According to Sheerazi, Oman Tourism would be promoting Muscat, Nizwa, Sur/Ras Al Jinz and Wahiba Sands in India. Additionally, Oman Tourism is planning to continue its offline training programmes in the four metros and is also considering taking the programmes to other Indian cities. Participation in events organised by association like TAFI and TAAI are also on the agenda. Apart from the road shows and training programmes, Oman Tourism will also organise familiarisation trips for the travel trade and the travel and mainstream media. Sheerazi added, “We will continue to create awareness through advertorials in both mainstream and trade publications. The metros will continue to be our focus markets but we will also explore a few of the feeder markets that have been performing well on the outbound front.”

Cox and Kings Ltd is offering tailor-made holiday packages to Indian tourists. And below are the rates:

A doctor who has been working in Oman for more than a decade said he sympathized with doctors of these big hospitals who are given a target to achieve every month. It is more business-like, he said. Other than the consultation fee (which is negligible in many cases), they are forced to refer patients for unnecessary and sundry tests which will add to their targets, and to the hospital’s coffers ultimately. Recently, a gentleman approached a decent private hospital in the capital for a nagging headache, and without blinking an eyelid the physician said he might be having a brain tumour, and advised a CT scan and many other tests. It is a different story the man scooted from the place and took a second opinion from another hospital. It was not a tumor after all. The physician might be qualified, but his corporate-job requirements make sure that he sees a revenue model in every opportunity. So much for healthcare here.

* My social media resolution for 2012 is to blog more on kishorcariappa.com. Yes, over the years I have realised the potential and reach of blogging vis-à-vis Twitter, Facebook and the likes. I am not underestimating the power of other social media networks, but I believe blogging would be the right space to spend quality time at this juncture. I have made friends, got projects, got referrals by way of blogging and often when I introduce myself to strangers, I get a reply, “Oh, you are that blogging guy or we like your blog.” It is a different story that over the last two years, I have neglected my blog for a variety of reasons. Like they say water will find its own level, I have come to the conclusion that blogging is here to stay, and nothing can match the quality of interaction (comments) happening on blogs, even now. Not that I will stop interacting on Twitter, Facebook or Google+, I will make an honest effort to post more and regularly. Yeah, yeah, another brilliant thing about blogs I like is that it is super search-engine friendly.

* 2011 was a crucial year for me personally it terms of saying goodbye to mundane things and working on some exciting projects. I learnt a lot about different domains, and connected with a lot of like-minded people, including intelligent clients. The year taught me to handle invoices, quotations, business communications and all sorts of paper-work which I had not bothered to learn in my earlier roles. Taking a calculated risk, I did venture into unknown territories, and felt I should have done it 2-3 years earlier. But, then everything happens at the right time.

* I believe success is all about 50 percent hard work and 50 percent luck. I have tried to add more focus on the ‘hard work’ bit, but somehow to make it work, luck factor is crucial. There are times when you do all the work, take it to the last level with effort, but it doesn’t work out for you in the end. And, there are times success is achieved with little or no effort. 50:50 works for me the best at this point of time.

* Since my role includes marketing, I did learn the hard way to pitch and quote the right price for the services we offer. The trick in Oman is to not to quote too high, not undercut – but strike a healthy balance for the services offered. The whole idea is to provide quality service, get the work done; build confidence and look for long-term alliances rather than focus on short-term benefits.

* Who said clients can be friends? Some of my clients are my good friends, and they appreciate the kind of work we do for them. They also refer new clients for me. Nothing like referrals you see. Some clients are miserable. They take you for a ride by not paying for the services or bargain hard to save some bucks here and there. I learnt this year to let go clients who are tough to manage and work with. There is a revenue loss obviously, but there are times when you say enough is enough and can’t take the crap anymore. It is tough to work with people who don’t stick to their words and change tunes each day.

…and finally thank you for your comments, encouragement and feedback. Best wishes for a happy, safe and peaceful New Year.

A job posting in Gulftalent.com. Well, it was a typo.