The following is a message I received about Oman from a friend. It sounds like the type of place I should be going to. 

Oman is gorgeous and clean.  The food is middle eastern (now there's a surprise) and a lot of Indian as well.  The people are very friendly and obliging.  The women in Oman have the most freedom of any Arab country. Most people say hello and ask how you are going.  The men, however, will only have a conversation with other men (ie not much past 'hello').  I did a lot of swimming in the Arabian Sea.  I stayed with my cousin's daughter who lives one house back from the sea in Al Qurum, Muscat so I also swam a lot in the Gulf.  There is a dive centre in Oman - I shall attach a video clip of this.  It was 39 degrees C when we first arrived, however, over the two week period it dropped down to about 32.  However, there was no humidity, so once you got in the shade it was okay.  The heat did not bother me at all.

You could very easily live in Oman - I could very easily live in Oman.

30 years ago Oman had 7klm of made road, one hospital and two primary schools.  Now schooling is compulsory - mixed primary school, then separate sex in secondary school plus there are universities.   I shall attach photos that I took in a museum (before I found out I wasn't allowed to) of the 30 years before and afters .  They are very much into history and where they came from.  There are a number of museums around Muscat, some of which are free.  

The Sultan of Oman is in his 70's, rumour has it he is gay (which is against the law) and he has no-one to hand down the sultinate to.   He has left instructions on what is to happen after he passes away.  The Omani's very much admire him, he has
achieved a lot in 30 years and is determined not to create another Dubai.  My cousins daughter went kayaking and actually paddelled right up to his front gate, where she saw a number of bull sharks.  She noticed people close by on a snorkelling tour, so she paddelled over to let the Omani tour guide know about the bullsharks.  He responded that they were okay because they "were happy sharks".  I did keep this thought at the back of my mind when I went on a snorkelling tour.  I'm
not sure there's any such thing as a happy bull shark.

On the way back I had a day in Bangkok (which is not clean at all) and it was hot and humid.  Every degenerate, pierced, drug addicted, hippy, dread-locked, tattooed, drunk out of their brain Australian was in Kae San Road - I decided to high tail it out of there quick smart.  Give me Oman any day.

In other words - go to Oman.

I shall attach the video clip and photos under a separate email (I am not as clever as you).

I shall also attach a video of a goat market.  There was a lot of testicle grabbing (mostly of the goats) - I am not sure why, but I don't think the goats enjoyed it very much.

Here are the photographs. I didn't receive any videos. Oman looks GREAT!

A lovely swimming hole.

Beautiful. 

A Bedouin house,

And, a friend in the desert.

Some Omani architecture. 

An Omani sign.

 More pictures of Omani architecture.

 More 'Friends' in Oman.