Snake Gorge

Also known as Wadi Bani Awf ..























Pitch black 30 meter Water filled cave
Trekking for hours
Climbing, gliding and even slipping
3 km walk-through
Small waterfalls
Scrambling over boulders
Wading through narrow pools
10,000 feet cliffs
Pools of water only 2 feet deep
Dangerous in the aftermath of a downpour

At the end of it, you feel like a hero!

Thanks to all my cousins and friends who made an effort to make it happen. I feel incredibly special and thoroughly enjoyed it although I looked terrified half the time. It was great fun.

Snow In Oman

Snow in Oman last month - on Jabal Shams that is :-)

New Kuwaiti Law for Driver's License

I read this somewhere yesterday but I can't remember where and can't find the website anymore. Anyhow, I read that the new Kuwaiti law requires foreigners to be a degree holder to be eligible for a driver's license. Oh, you must also have lived there for at least 2 years.

This doesn't make sense to me at all and it was bugging me so much that I had to blog it.I have one too many comments on this one:

1. It's very ignorant to think that a degree holder is a safer driver on the road.
2. Does this mean that tourists will not be allowed to drive when they visit Kuwait?
3. What is the purpose of requiring you to be there for at least 2 years in order to have a driver's license?
4. What happens to all the Indian drivers who drive their masters around?

I'd totally appreciate this initiative if they said everyone is required to go through a defensive driving course or what not but a graduate degree? that's ridiculous!

Dubai to give up control of U.S. ports

A top Senate Republican says that Dubai decided to give up its management stake in some US ports (source:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11741617/).

I can't connect the security issues that they rant about. Numerous companies lease terminals at ports. DPW operate port facilities in countries like Germany, China, Australia etc. 30% of the countries port terminals are operated by non-US companies.

At LA port, 80% are controlled by mainly Chinese companies. I noticed this even when I was living in NYC and fact is, internationally, 24 out of 25 of the largest companies that operate ports are non-US which means just about all the containers that enter the US is from a foreign controlled facility.

I'm confused, DPW handles port calls for US Navy ships in UAE. Isn't this a security issue? It's so easy to bash a group of people on matters of national security when it really isn't. One more fact, a microscopic % of cargo that enters the US is inspected so forget who facilitates the operations. For starters, they need to get around being more diligent with inspections first and then worry about who facilitates the port.

International Woman's Day :-)

Not just that it's International Woman's day today but 27 Omani women are being honored today as an appreciation for their contribution to the development of the country :-)

Forms for sale at NBO?

In Oman, the new hype nowadays is buying IPO shares. A few days back, one of my staff members comes up to me saying 'please do wasta for me, call someone at NBO and ask them for a form so I can buy Emirates Finance shares'. I said 'wasta?', she goes 'yeah, they don't give it anyone, only some people'. That confused me more. Anyhow, I know a person with a senior post at NBO so I called him up and he said that they stopped distributing the forms because Emirates Finance has not released their shares yet.

Later on in the evening, I mentioned this to my friend and he said that the forms were being sold for RO 10/each. I just cannot digest that. Forms don't come with a price. Some individuals actually have the sick unethical greed to grab a few hundred forms, stash them away and then sell them to people for the equivalent of $25 each. This is just absolutely unacceptable. If anyone knows somebody who has paid for it, it should be reported to the bank because this form of business misconduct is absolutely deplorable and I for one will make noise.

World Summit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This will be held in Oman on April 1-3, 2006. I'm in disbelief. I read this in the papers today, decided to check out the website and found out that one of the confirmed speakers is Dr. Deepak Chopra!!! (photo below - I SO HAD TO) Ok, I know he may be over-rated, celebrities love him and I've heard he gets paid $10,000 for an hour of his time or something quite ridiculous. Others include Lebanese Minister of Telecom of Lebanon, Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade, Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce, Founder & Chairman of Arab International Women's Forum, VP of Oracle, VP of Cisco systems, lots of shots from UN and lots of other profiles.

Topics covered: infrastructure and competitiveness, disruptive innovations and value creation, growth strategies and prosperity, knowledge and development, energy and sustainable environment, geopolitics and innovation society... followed by interactive sessions.

I'd really love to meet Dr. Chopra though :-( too bad this summit is irrelevant to my job. Maybe I should just consider starting up my own business so I can attend such summits because I bet this one will be very interesting and mind stimulating. Forget everything, the power of networking would be so rewarding.

Quick Thought

Think about how families came into existence. Was it necasserily due to blood relations? What I'm finding out is, everyone needs a family or an immediate circle of close friends (family), to trust them, support them mentally, truly hope for advancement (unlike our blood family??).

Humans are supposed to operate in small groups and live off that same group. At least you have a solid circle of comfort, rather than a whole globe of people to compare oneself with. So bottom line is, comparing ourselves to the world is impossible, because everyone has his or her own platform that were built on.

The secret is, don't compare yourself with the world, because as we are perfectionists, we want to master all trades. We live in a family or circle that masters different aspects of life and depend on each other, which is not a comforting thought, but it is the truth.

The Darker Side of Chocolate

Almost 1/2 of the world's cocoa is originated from the ivory coast of Africa. This is harvested by over 1/4 million kids between the ages of 9-12 - thousands of them are a result of child trafficking - sold by their families, working upto 100 hrs/week, beaten and starved.

More heart-breaking info: http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12754