I don’t know why I traveled all the way to Hong Kong to escape busy, fast-paced and crowded Dubai! But, you can read all about my trip to Hong Kong in my earlier posts here.
Then, I decide to visit Muscat to relax by the beach and do some man hunting! (as in finding a partner basically). Of course I was only confronted with the fact that the nightlife in Muscat is struggling to survive.
I found out from residents of the enchanting city that all types of live entertainment have been banned recently in all hotels and establishments. Apparently, the new rules were enforced by the new tourism minister. This left only a few options for a night out in town. Half of them were chains that had branches in Dubai.
The stage for the live band at Pavo Real – a cool Mexican restaurant and bar – was still there. As if it was waiting for the live band to come back and play their regular tunes one day soon. Everything was still in place – as it was left by members of the band on the last day they were allowed to perform.
Since I now have less time for blogging – busy with University and other things – I decided to write this post in the form of a photo essay. It saves me time and makes it easier/faster to you readers to go through the post. So let’s look at the photos from my Muscat nightlife exploration attempt 🙂
Here’s a sum up of my Muscat night spots:
- Pavo Real officially has the best long island iced tea in town.
- The Left Bank had a strange crowd of expats, locals and pretentious people from Dubai. I felt like I was flown back to a pretentious Dubai bar when I was there. I truly hated my experience there.
- Trader Vic’s at the Intercontinental hotel is quite spacious with a big outdoor dining area. It had a very upbeat and lively atmosphere. Everyone who was there seemed to be having a good time, dancing to Latin beats. No live band here either – just a DJ or playback music.
- O’Malley’s at the Radisson Blu Hotel was by far my favourite place to hang out. It’s a casual pub with an Irish theme, and friendly staff. The food was great, the DJ played commercial tracks from different decades, and I met some nice people there. The funny thing is that no one told me about this place! I found out about it by doing some research online. I’m so glad that I ended up going there on my last night in Muscat. At least I managed to have some sort of fun eventually 🙂
- Zouk night club: Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to check out Zouk on this trip. It was located right outside of my hotel, but I just didn’t get the time to visit.
I hope that this post was somewhat useful or interesting. Have you visited any of the places that I’ve mentioned in this post? If so, how was your experience?
You can view my previous post on the Muscat trip here.
Thank you for the post Rebellious Lady. I’ve been missing reading your blogs. I always find them so insightful. I’ve been to Muscat a few times and like you I haven’t heard of O’Malley’s. I’ll be sure to pay it a visit when I’m next in town.
I spent a few days in the Chedi recently and found it divine! I would certainly recommend it. In fact I’m planning a visit to Bali this year and I intend to stay at a Chedi hotel in the hope that the experience is as good as I had in Muscat.
I hope your studies are going well.
Have a great 2015 and good luck with the manhunt!
Thank you for the thoughtful and kind comment Kevin. Glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay at The Chedi. And you should definitely give O’Malley’s a try.
I would love to visit Bali! What time of the year are you planning to visit? can you send me a message on the blog’s Facebook Page, so we can communicate there?
Thank you so much for the lovely New Year Wishes and stay tuned to hear more about my manhunt mission 🙂