Stolen Xterra Recovered!!!

It was recovered in less than 30 hours, using, of all things, Blogs and Twitter.

Special thanks to @yasserameer for finding the stolen car, and @Shweman retweeting my initial request. I can't tell you how grateful the people who own the car are to both of you. Great Job Guys!

Now please go out there and Find my missing 50" Panasonic flat screen TV!!!!!

Stolen Cars and Crazy Crime

Update: The Stolen Xterra was recovered thanks to an Alert Twitterer and blogger! Good Job guys!

The Crime here is getting ridiculous.

We have had at least seven break-ins in our small neighborhood alone, in the last three weeks. In the Last two months, 2 families with whom we are personally acquainted have had their cars stolen.

See Below for the forwarded email from some friends who have just had their new Exterra Nicked. Please keep your eyes peeled?

last night our house was broken into and the thief found a set of keys, and stole our 2009 Xterra Off Road. The truck has been modified by Tadmur Auto in Sharjah, with a custom skid plate, bigger tires, a lift and new suspension, so it is easy to spot.

Thank God the ROP are doing everything they can to reduce crime by hassling my housemaids and threatening arrest if they don't produce labor cards, and accusing any random Indian who has ever been in our house of robbery, simply on the Basis that they are Indian. The words that come to mind are unpublishable, even here.

Lock your doors guys, and keep your car keys somewhere safe.

Tier three, again

For the second year running, Oman has earned a place amongst the fabulous glitterati of Tier three on the US Dept of State Human Trafficking report. The only entities surprised by this are the ministry in charge of fixing it, and perhaps the courts. The media coverage and press release from the Ministry of Foreign affairs was so shocking, that if I were in charge I would haul up the Minister and departmental heads of the ROP and Courts and demand an explanation.

You can read the report here. One can and should question if the US is a good country to be evaluating the human rights of other nations (Git-mo Abu Gharib, etc...) but the observations in the report are a totally accurate analysis of the current Human rights situation in Oman.

I, personally, am ashamed and embarrassed, because I thought Oman was actually going to DO SOMETHING about human trafficking, instead of throwing a few conferences, issuing a decree which was never enforced and distributing a printed leaflet to illiterate labourers. How hard would it be to actually run an aggressive sting programme to bust companies and individuals who deny their employees their basic human rights? Follow that up with some aggressive prosecutions, some crippling fines, and jail time for the CEO's and sponsors convicted of sexual trafficking, Physical abuse, Non payment of Wages, and withholding Passports. Then publish their pictures in the paper. Front page. Next, set up a small shelter for Victims of human rights violations, as well as local victims of marital violence.

Congratulations one and all. This is certainly a proud moment for our glorious nation.

Damn, now what am I going to do with that Free Tibet banner?

I was interested to read in yesterday's Times of Oman about the plans for today's Olympic torch relay. The media and the various ministries seem quite excited about it all, though I am slightly disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown by most of my friends and associates.

That's not what this post is about though. I laughed out loud when I read the following :

Oman announced yesterday that the nation is all geared up to host the most peaceful leg of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay tomorrow. The claim came from Oman Olympic Committee vice-chairman Habib bin Abdulnabi Macki, who addressed a large press gathering at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

“Our security is tight and anyone trying to put a hurdle will be severely dealt with,” said Habib Macki. “The Royal Oman Police is ready to handle any such situations.”

Did you catch the pun? Hurdle! get it? Hurdle?

After I stopped laughing, I spent another twenty or thirty minutes marveling at his poor choice of words regarding how protesters will be treated. I can't believe that nobody prepped him for the question, or if they did that that was the quote he was supposed to give. That is textbook bad Public and Press Relations.

With the eyes of the world on us today, the OOC would have been well advised to trot out a someone more seasoned to deal with the media, or to have prepared statements that didn't quite present the plan for crowd control so bluntly.

That said, I think it's a real mark of distinction that Oman was chosen to host a leg of the relay. For those of you who want to attend, the relay starts off from the Dhow at the Al Bustan R/A at about 17:00 and continue along the coast through old muttrah, and up through the darsait heights area, then Past the refinery I think and down into Qurum. The relay is scheduled to finish amongst great fanfare and fireworks at around 20:30 tonight, in the floating theatre in Qurum park.

Be there or be square Hip Cats.

A slightly more Caustic version of this is Cross posted on my Blog, Other Oman

New and Improved Penalties for Driving Like an Ass.

Arabic readers will see in the above photos the latest and greatest driving improvment measures from our beloved ROP.

Following, for the benefit of the non arabic readers, is an appalingly translated summary courtesy of me. Please, if someone could provide a more detailed translation I would be so, so, so, thrilled.

The one on the right is the official report / circular issued by attourney general, from back in November. It kind of highlights some undesirable driving behaviors. Red light runing, cutting in / overtaking on the yellow lane, Drifting or stunts ??? It pretty much says that these offenses are serious, dangerous, and waaaay impolite, reccomending much stronger penalties for offenders.

The one on the left is the follow up decision taken by the Attourney general, (I am pleased to not that it's the first decision of the year!!!) that states that due to the problems and accidents caused buy people driving in an impolite way on the yellow lines and running red lights and Drifting? Racing? Cruising (help?) ? that offenders who are caught doing these things will be put in jail for up to 48 hours and thier car will be taken away until the case comes to prosecution. If the car is borrowed the owner can petition for the release of the car, and the driver has to give his lisence up. I don't see a maditory fine specified anywhere.

Azzam daily carried the article today, you can read it here.

I am especially excited to see that overtaking in the yellow lane is among the offenses. ROP, if you are reading this, you could take away 75% of the vehicles belonging to Ministry employees if you set up a shakedown on ministry street around 14:15 each afternoon.

I hope the ROP agresssively enforces this, with stings, speed traps, and checkpoints. If they can do this with speeding and reckless driving I think it would have an impact on next year's road accident fatalities.

* Updated, thanks to Amjad for the PDF and the link. *

Three Rials for a bottle of water?

I am currently working on a review of the restaurant at the chedi, but for today, I will share one major grievance with you. Bottled water.

Our recent visits the The restaurant in the Chedi Muscat, started off on the wrong foot with something as simple as water. They used to serve locally bottled Arwa or Tanuf, in big or small bottles, for a 200% mark up over the cost anywhere else. Fair enough, this is the Chedi.

Now, they sell 750 ml glass bottles of still water, imported from Scotland, for a whopping 2.8 rials, which is slightly more than Seven US dollars. It's just water. It's not particularly great water, but it's fancy, pretentious, expensive water that required many tonnes of fossil fuels to extract, bottle, and ship it here.

Additionally, they won't sell any other type of water, nothing local, nothing cheap, and our requests for a pitcher of tap water were initially refused. They have a good scheme here, knowing full well that tourists are terrified of drinking tap water, and so will pay the extortionate rates for bottled water.

The attitude from the staff was that the Chedi is too good to serve water from plastic bottles, or to offer filtered tap water. Thus, I was rather surprised to see that the complementary water inside the suite for which we had paid RO 350 per night ( 900 USD!!!) was Arwa, in plastic bottles. So it's ok to serve water in plastic bottles in a 350 rial suite, but not in the restaurant...because in the restaurant, you can charge the guests an arm and a leg for it. It's a rip off, pure and simple, not to mention an absolute waste of resources.

If the Chedi wanted to get serious about being an environmentally conscious hotel, they would serve filtered tap water, for 100bz a glass, with the money collected going to the Environmental society of Oman, or some other charity. They could offer the guests the option of buying the premium water, and quite a few would go for it, for the snob factor.

Kids, when you go to the Chedi, do me a favor and complain long and loud about the bottled water issue. Demand tap water. I think if they get enough complaints, they might be willing to change the policy when their contract expires with the Scottish company next year. Maybe.

This is also Cross Posted over at my blog, Other Oman

Black Helicopters. Blaaaack helicopters!

Has anybody noticed an increase in helicopters over the capital the last few days? Any thoughts?

I think It's either an increase in routine training of RAFO pilots, or GW Bush is going to be stopping through Muscat during his upcoming middle east junket.

Either that or a giant government spying conspiracy, where they are using the helicopters to read our minds and predict future crimes. I, for one, am lining my cap with tinfoil right now.

Just kidding. Do you guys think Bush wil be stopping here?

Buying a Used Car in Muscat... concluded

Unfortunately, The article that the week published has had no effect whatsoever on the practice of importing previously flooded and salvaged cars to Oman. There are literally thousands of them, and they can be found at every single small dealership in Muscat, as well as parking lots where they are being passed off as a slightly used family car.

Know this: The dealers will lie outright to you about the history of the car, and the repairs made to it. Even if you ask specifically, and show them where the problem is, they will adamantly deny any problems with the car, and it's history.

While a flooded car can be repaired to a state of working order, two of the wrecked and salvaged cars I saw were potential death traps. Engine mounts cracked, Chassis twisted, Airbags removed and not replaced, bending or cracking where the seat belts mount into the frame. You would not want to be in one of those for your own personal head on collision. It's a safety issue, plain and simple.

Anyway, I never really finished the series on the wrecked cars that are flooding the market here. The final chapter ought to be a quick primer on how to know if your "new" car is actually salvage. And how to tell a legitimate American import (we own three) from a Salvage import. There are lots and lots of legitimate American imports available, or ones that were imported through Dubai from US auctions because they were seized in a drug raid, repossessed, or failed Emissions standards. And they can be really great cars! My Beloved "beast" was seized and auctioned in New York, found it's way over here, only to be drowned in Gonu.

• If you have a friend living in the states, have them use thier credit card and buy you a subscription to Carfax. Check all the vin numbers, on everything you look at. This covers ALL cars, regardless of make, as long as they were at some time registered in the states. Sadly, there is no equivalent service here that reports on salvaged cars from Europe, the far east, or Australia.

If you don't have access to Carfax, then do the following, in the following order.

1. First check the wing mirror on the passenger side. If the writing is in English, then you have found a car which is American Spec, but could still be legitimate.
2. Check for stickers that reveal the cars original whereabouts. "Louisiana state troopers association" "New Orleans city council parking" etc...
3. Check the the Odometer. All legitimately imported cars that came here direct, without a stop off in Dubai will have had the odometer switched to measure Kilometers, not miles.
4. Get on the highway, look for a sign telling you a shell station is 1km away, and calibrate against that. If the car measures in miles, it's very likely salvage or flooded.
5. Now that you are suspicious... Check the cigarette lighter, and beneath or behind the ash tray, check the ones in the back seats too. If you find rust, it's likely flooded, if not, it's maybe salvage.
6. Look for over spray from where it's been repainted. Good places to check are the rubber around body panels, under the wheel wells, door jams, inside the trunk where the spare tyre goes. Ask yourself if a car of that age really needed to be repainted.
7. Climb in and lay upside down in the drivers foot well. Look up, waaay up, into the fuses, and behind the dash to where the steering column goes through. See rust? I bet you Do! With an unflooded car there shouldn't be rust anywhere inside.
8. Make friends with a mechanic you trust in Wadi Kabir. Take the car to him and have him check the alignment on the frame, and check the engine mounts and seatbelt mounts, check for the actual presence of airbags, and that they haven't just been cut out. Have him Put the thing up on the lift and scope out the undercarriage and drive train carefully.
9. Lastly, ask yourself why someone would go to the trouble of importing a car all the way over here. If the car is one that could be easily bought from a dealership here or in Dubai, it's likely here for all the wrong reasons.

And that's it on the cars. Next week, something new and different.

Ramadhan Kareem?

I love Ramadhan. Without a doubt, it's my absolute favorite month, bar none. I love breaking bad habits, Iftar with friends and family, the peace and quiet in the early evening, and the bleary early morning breakfasts. The thing I love the most though, is the fact that everyone is genuinely trying to put thier best, kindest and most charitable foot forward.

Ramadhan is the month when everyone smiles back at me on the streets and in the stores. When we all make an effort to be more genuine in our enqueries about the welfare of another's family. When we try to give more to charity, and to do charitable things for others without being asked, or thanked. This month gives me hope that maybe everything is going to be all right when the oil is gone, and that we are truly a nation of generous, kind, team players.

BUT (you knew there was a but) I have to avoid driving during Ramadhan. Because the way we drive during this month makes me think that we're all a bunch of fakes, and that our truest nature (Local and expatriate alike) is one of absolute self interest and greed. The concept of a fair and egalitarian society goes right out the window the moment we hop in the car and crank up the AC.

I've driven in both New York and Los Angeles, New York being the place I learned to use the word Jackass with appropriate authourity and inflection. But our behavior on the roads during Ramadhan makes New Yorkers look like a bunch of soccer mommies queing for tickets to Celine Dion concert.

Take for example the Ministries road toward Seeb at about 14:45. I spent 45 minutes patiently queing there yesterday while ministry employees drove up the emergency lane on the right to cut in, or drove up the road on the side of opposing traffic to cut in. The bahavior may have saved each of them some time, but it caused even greater delays because the 5 lanes they had created had to merge into two at the round about.

Last Year, I was queing near AL SArooj / Shatti. I was at the time, 9 months pregnant, in my Non-airconditioned Abu Shenab, decked out in a BLACK abaya. Some guy in a white jeep with a three digit number platecomes flying up the emergency vehicle lane on the right overtaking a mile of traffic, hoping to cut in at the front of the cue. Except I'm half way over, taking up both lanes. He blares his horn, shakes his fist, curses me in four languages. I get out of the truck, waddle over, and ask him if there is some emergency. He's late, he says. So am I, I inform him. So curses me some more. Not what I would call exemplary behavior, on either of our parts.

What I'm wondering is, does Ramadhan not count when you are inside your car? Has there been a ruling that good bahavior and generosity are to be forgotten during the commute? I'd love it if Sk Khalfan could address this issue during his drive time show.

Ladies, Gentlemen, what do you think?

Car Shopping; The Test Drive

Back to cars this week, Because I just can't get enough of them.

We are still shopping for a replacement for the our beloved "beast" which bit the dust during the recent cyclone (or unusual weather, as the papers are spinning it). To say that I am having limited success in finding the perfect car would be an understatement. Some days, it feels like I am swimming an ocean of brainless, sleazy car salesmen, who circle around me like starving great white sharks, except they are starving great white sharks who are also pathological liars and chronically late. Oh yeah, and more aggressive.

Anyway, poor me right? Thank god we are fortunate enough to be able to buy a replacement car. I know there are some who can't. Two recent (and totally shark free) highlights form an otherwise boring week follow.

Car#1) 2007 Dodge Caliber, 2.4 litre engine. You can get one from Zubair Automotive for a mere 8,800 RO... Available in any color as long as it's metallic burnt sienna.

I would rather gnaw off an arm than buy a car from a dealership, but in the interests of fairness I thought I might stop by Zubair and see what they have on offer. Also, Zubair opens at 08:30 in the morning, which is a distinct advantage when you have a perky infant who has been up since 05:00 and a few hours to kill before nap time.

As someone who likes her cars big, old, and cheap, it didn't take too long to realise that I was in alien territory... The salesmen began to circle, proffering help in the form of pointing at things and mumbling. I was really there to see about a Dodge Charger, which I think is one of the sexiest pieces of machinery to roll out of Detroit in a long time. As I walked toward the object of my lust, I was distracted by a funny looking, orange colored, compact car that looked like something someone had made out of Lego's using a doodle from my highschool notebooks. It was... Amazing... It was The Dodge Caliber (insert Star wars theme song)

It may have the aerodynamics of a brick, but there was something about it that I really liked... The styling, the way the gear shift slots out of the console. The ground clearance looks good, and it has a sporty, wide stance that appeals. give it a turbo and all wheel drive and it would make an interesting rally car. Dodge has taken some risks with the styling, and I think it has paid off in dividends. It's not beautiful, or sleek, but it's.... weird. Not an unpleasant weird, but an eye catching weird that made me stop in my tracks, set the baby on the floor, and walk over and climb in.

Inside, the Lego theme continues, almost to the point of pain. It's all plastic. Even the doors slams so lightly I suspect they are made of plastic. the speaker covers are molded injected plastic, the dash is plastic, the console is plastic. The seats can be color coordinated to match your choice of interior.... Plastic. None the less, I am intrigued. I ask the sales guy if I can schedule a test drive.

Suburban: Would it be possible to schedule a test drive?
Sales Guy: No.... Not in this one. You can drive the 2 litre version. It has a Constantly Variable Transmission (CVT). Very Nice
Suburban: Hmmm... Nothing personal, but I sort of dislike the CVT.
Sales Guy: 2 litre only comes with a CVT.
Suburban: You'll have to forgive me, but I don't see much point in test driving a different car than the one I am interested in buying.
Sales Guy: This car has a rechargeable flashlight built in!
Suburban: Okaaaay...
Sales Guy: This car has speakers that flip down when you open the boot, Like a party anywhere you go!
Suburban: Neat. So about the test drive?
Sales Guy: sorry madam, not possible.
Suburban: OK, Thanks anyway.



Car#2) 1995 GMC Safari, conversion van. V6, 4.5 litre engine, kitted out like a private jet on the inside. Yours for only RO 2,000. Black.



We saw this one parked next to the shell station in Qurum. Passers by on the street could hear me yelling at my husband to Stop! the! car! Right! Now! Because! look! Look! Look! It sat there like a 800 pound gorilla. Hulking, black, and making no excuses for it's presence. Ugly as hell, with blacked out windows and a for sale sign in the window, it was just begging me to take it home.

Let me be clear here, I honestly thought this might be the car of my dreams, the car that could fix the near suicidal sadness of not having my beast, and take away forever the ignominy of driving a borrowed BMW. We stood outside of the van, peering into the windows. Leather seats, cd player, TV, VCR, a bar, and a thousand other bell and whistles just begging to be played with. Oh! And a bed in the back that reclines at the touch of a button. Yeah, you heard me right... there is a bed in the back. How awesome is that?

So, we called the number, and arranged to meet the next day for a look and a test drive. Here is the Test Drive, with the seller's comments in parentheses:

• The guy shows up 45 minutes late (was at prayers)
• He fires it up, and oil blows out the tail pipe (has been sitting for six months)
• the AC doesn't work (needs just a little gas, has been sitting for six months)
• None of the electrics work inside (just fuses needed)
• Brakes sound funny (no! they are supposed to be like that.... Very special car)
• Engine has barely enough compression to get us to the top of Fahud street (very good engine!)
• Pulls hard to the right
• the odometer reads 45,000 miles, I suspect 1,045,000 miles. (yes, driven very carefully only 45,000 miles)
• Here's the kicker... we're driving back down Fahud street, and I can smell something burning. we get out of the car, and the right front brake is smoking. Like, black, acrid brake smoke kind of smoking. Which explains the pull to the right, and the funny brakes... I guess.

So there is another car we won't be getting. The price really was too good to be true. I don't begrudge the guy for the car's condition, though I perhaps would have had it serviced before trying to sell it. The thing that drove me bonkers was that after we listed each thing that wasn't ok with the car, he would say

Al humdulilalh! this car is good! Al humdulilalh!

Far be it from me to dictate what God himself supervises, but I don't really know if a beat to hell 1995 GMC savannah is really on top of the Almighty's priority list. Also, If there has indeed been divine intervention in this particular van, I am rather disappointed with the results.

More from here next week.

Overheard in Muscat, now in two convenient locations!!!

This is also cross posted over at my blog as well because I lack the creativity today to post both places. Enjoy, and send anything funny that you have overheard to me at Otheroman (at) gmail.com

Careful mate, he might take you up on that.

Australian guy waiting in line, to Indian guy crowding him from behind: Look, If you get much closer mate, I'm going to have to ask you to use a condom.


What I want to know, is where did he learn the word Photogenic?

At the ROP labor / driving licence card place in Seeb
Officer who barley speaks English: Sit. Sit. You! Sit. gestures to chair facing camera
Lady getting her photo taken: Should I take my glasses off?
Officer who barley speaks English: Sit... Now, looking this. gestures to camera
Lady getting her photo taken: fluffs hair, smiles.
Camera: takes picture
Officer who barley speaks English: looking at photo, not good...blease, one more
Camera: takes picture
Officer who barley speaks English: looking at photo, not good.., one more
Camera: takes picture
Officer who barely speaks English: looking at computer screen, then at woman, then back at computer screen, You are not photogenic.

We have a lot of Acronyms around here.

Guy #1 : Reading from paper "... was Signed by PDO general manager blah blah, and a Representative from the MOG, Sheikh blah bin blah..."
Guy #2: What does MOG stand for?
Guy #3: That's the Ministry of Obfuscation and Gratuities...
Guy #2: You're kidding, Right?
Guy #3: Um. Sort of.

At the vet's office.

Telephone Ringing....
Receptionist: Good afternoon, Blah Blah vet's office?
Receptionist: I'm afraid the doctor is unavailable, can I help you?
Receptionist: I understand it's urgent, is there anything I can do to help you?
Receptionist: Covering Mouthpiece, to vet. this guy wants to know if he needs to take his kid to the hospital.... Because the kid drank from a glass after the cat did.
VET: rolls eyes, shakes head. Muffled laughter from other clients.
Receptionist: into telephone No sir, that's no problem, your child will be just fine. .... Yes, I'm sure....

Am I Muttawa?

I like freedom. Oman may not be the world leader in freedom for the people, but I appreciate what freedoms we have here. Granted, that even if the government doesn't dictate all your freedoms, then your company, your family, or your friends may fill that gap through rules, guilt, and mockery. Anyway, I digress....

Take, for example, the freedom to wear pretty much anything we want. We have the freedom to wear bikini's to the swimming pool and hotel beaches. German tourists have the freedom to wear string bikinis and budgie smugglers to the public beach in qurum, where the guy hanging out then have the freedom to laugh at them. Women have the freedom to wear the hijab, or not. Men have the freedom to wear national dress or not, as they see fit. Fashion-wise we are a pretty free bunch of folks, and I think that's a great thing. I certainly don't want to see a bunch of acne scarred, short-dishdasha wearing, camel stick wielding, scraggly bearded government nut-jobs dictating my attire or questioning the company I keep.

Which is why the experience I had yesterday leaves me feelingrsomewhat conflicted. Maybe you guys could be kind enough to advise?

We were shopping at Sultan Center and in behind us walked a youngish couple of white folks. She was wearing daisy duke denim shorts so short that you could see the bottom of her butt cheeks hanging out from them, and a tight white tank top with sparkles across the tits. Attire that would be trashy in the US or Britain, and that is entirely inappropriate here in the Oman at a grocery store. Half an hour or so later we are riding down the escalator in the store, and I look down into the frozen foods section to see if our trolley is where we left it, and the couple is kissing. Like full on embrace, tongues intertwined, his right hand squeezing her left butt cheek. I know I should have looked away, but it was unreal. Right there next to the frozen beans, their image reflected in the polished front of the ice cream display.

That was the last I saw of the couple, we paid for our groceries and left. I pondered saying something to them, but didn't. Should I have;

1. politely mentioned that their attire and behavior might be found offensive.
2. Told them that when they do things like that it brings the freedom we have to wear what we want one step closer to extinction.
3. Told them that as someone married to a white guy, they make his whole culture look stupid, uninformed, and insensitive.
4. none of the above, you are a busy body. Who appointed you the Muscat Muttawa? If you don't wanna see that, don't look.
5. none of the above you should have done / said _______________________
6. Hey Suburban, freedom is freedom. TO even speak to them is the thin end of the wedge. Posting here is the thin end of the wedge, etc?

Let me know what you think here kids... I'm conflicted on this one.

This Car Has No Problems. Very Nice Car for a Lady.

Without further Adieu, here are the results for the first four cars I stumbled across that were American exports. The results were more surprising than I had imagined. All cars were found at small independent used car shops in the vicinity of the Al Ghubra R/A or the Grand Mosque. Next week, Ruwi.

Car 1 is a 2000 ford mustang, with 105,000 miles on the odometer. Asked about any problems the guys assured me that it was fine, but possibly needed a new power steering pump. The Carfax report revealed the following:

• it's a 1999 make (the guys assured me it was a 2000, and insisted that the ROP had made a mistake when Issuing the Mulkia)
• It's a former corporate fleet car (rental) that was owned by the rental company for an astonishing 6 years.
• It's been in two serious accidents, the second one causing enough damage to make the vehicle a "Total Loss".
• THe second one shows a police report- Ohio Police ReportCase #20068107401 Accident Reported in Franklin County Involving a front impact Vehicle ran off the road Moderate damage reported
• It was issued a Salvage title, and sold at a salvage auction. They have no information on how it got here.

Car Two is a 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche. It's clean, pretty, and has less than 1,000 miles on it. no sign of serious damage on initial inspection. The asking Price is RO 8,500, which is just a little more than what a similar one would sell for in the states. The CarFax report sheds more light on the issue.

• It was registered originally in June 2005 in Bernice, Louisiana. Does that date and location ring any bells? Hurricane Katrina?
• It was issued a salvage title, and a NAM (not Actual Mileage) title in November of 2005
• It was exported in May of the following year from Houston to the UAE
• On my inspection, I can see slight flood damage, but you'd really have to look hard to find it.

Car Three is a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, From a distance it looks fantastic, but on close inspection of the dash and door panels, It's pretty obviously been in a serious front-end collision. It also looks to me like the vin# plate has been tampered with or damaged in an accident.

• Carfax reports that the vin # I submitted is incorrect. I'll go back and check it again.

Car Four is a 1995 Cadillac Seville sts. 1,500 rails asking price. I was unable to speak to any salesmen about this one. The CarFax report lists the following:

• Vehicle exported brand new from Wilmington, DE. and imported to Oman. Looks like it was a bespoke special order. I don't know what happened to it here, but carfax thinks it's ok.

Of the four cars I checked, only one had anything that looks like a clean title. The flooded Avalanche is very overpriced for a previously flooded car, but my biggest concerns lie with the Mustang and the Tahoe, which have both been in serious front end collisions. I view those as somewhat serious safety issues in the long term. These cars should not be sold without disclosing the full history as it is known, and a complete inspection at the dealership.

Out of Curiosity, I also checked one of our cars which is an American export. It came up clean, but to my surprise spent 13 years of it's previous life in NYC, arriving in Dubai in late 2004. The guy we bought it from said it had spent it's entire life here in Oman, cruising between nizwa and Salallah. He said a friend had owned it from new. I plan to kick his teeth out when I see him next.

My Carfax membership lasts for another 28 days, so I'll report again next week on what else I find. In the meantime, if any of you are out car hunting and come across an American export send me the vin# and I'll check it and report here. otheroman(at)gmail(dot)com

I’m a day late and thirty dollars short.

Or, Suburban creates a giant conspiracy but lacks the resources to prove it. But I'll get to that later.

This week’s car shopping has been a lot of fun, and more than a little interesting. The best find was a 1979 Datsun 280Z at the little boutique car showroom in Al Gubra. The name of the place escapes me, but it's located on Porsche road, below the shell station and around the corner from Zanzibar Island Restaurant. Which serves the best lunch around, by the way. I digress...

Anyway, they have a gorgeous classic 280 z which those of you old-school rally people would remember as a regular feature on the Middle East Rally circuit in the early eighties. A lot of rally heroes, Arab and otherwise made their bones driving these in the early days,

It's a thing of beauty to look at and drive, turning heads wherever you go. It says that you are a connoisseur of taste and style, and have the oomph to back it up. I don't want to be vulgar, but girls wonder what a man is making up for if he's driving a Lamborghini around in circles at Shatti al Qurm. Know what I mean? This classic sports car will raise no such manhood dampening questions. Also, it has excellent ground clearance, essential for tackling the interesting and seemingly random speed bumps scattered throughout Muscat.

My husband says it's a rolling hunk of crap, and has kindly vetoed my purchase. It can be yours for RO 2,300 or maybe less if you are good at bargaining. Maybe you can loan it to me, I'll trade you a spin in a clapped out bmw 7 series.

On to the conspiracy. I have visited five small showrooms so far, and all of them have a large number of used, recently exported American cars. I think a lot of the cars leave America via ports on the east and southern coasts, arrive in Dubai via Jebel Ali, get registered and re-exported to Muscat and elsewhere.

Hands up everybody who has personally cleared and imported a car through Jebel Ali.... Without a PRO..... Just me? OK, then Ill tell you one of the interesting things I usually see when I'm clearing my cars there.

Thousands of wrecked American cars intended for scrap yards and the occasional "hot" Japanese sports car.

Looking at some of the cars in these show rooms I can't help but wonder if they are repaired ex-salvage or formerly flooded and written off, arriving here to be resold as an unwrecked, low mileage used car. One, for example, had a sticker for it's last oil change just under two years ago at the Mobile Alabama KwikLube. Timing and location suspicious given the damage from Hurricane Katrina around the Gulf Of Mexico. Hmmm...

But fear not dedicated car shoppers! There is a fantastic service called carfax that can give you the whole history on any car registered in the states. Accidents, number of owners, Ex-fleet, and salvage history. Just by typing in the vin number.

To subscribe you need a credit card that bills to an address in the states. Which is something I don't have. So last night I called my Old Boss from ten years ago. After persuading him that I'm not a crack smoking prostitute impersonating me, Or a Nigerian Scammer impersonating me, and that it's just me, Suburban, who has really returned to the middle east, he said I can use his card to charge the thirty dollars and get my carfax subscription.

So, I'm off to gather a bunch of vin numbers this week. Tune in next Monday for the results.

Car shopping in Muscat with an Autoholic; Part One

Hi. My name is Suburban, and I'm an Autoholic.

I've been an Autoholic for ten years now, owning no fewer than 25 different cars over the course of my addiction. I now realise my Autoholisim hurts those around me, and makes it difficult for me to relate to people who don't want to talk about cars. My autohaulisim has forced my husband to invest thousands of rials in barely running, obscure, and totally impractical vehicles, just to feed my addiction. My family and friends have appealed to me, and staged interventions, going so far as to offer to chip in and buy me a minivan or Toyota Prado if I can get clean. But to no avail, because until last night I wasn't ready to admit that I had a problem.

I have a problem and I am ready to acknowledge it so I can move forward and purchase a sensible car. A car younger than me. A car with less than 450,000 kms on the clock. A car that has air conditioning, starts most of the time, and can be serviced by the dealer using parts available in the region. Because I pretty much have to get my spares from NASA at the moment, and shuttle control is sick and tired of my calling them in the middle of a re-entry or launch.

I ask you to come support me in my twice weekly journey to various car dealerships in the Sultanate, and to help me avoid temptation as I adjust to my new life. You will benefit from inside knowledge and reviews of pricing, inventory and service at the big dealerships and the small dealerships. Thank you in advance for your support and encouragement.

-Suburban