Muscat Festival 2015 - A Dizzy Dazzle Show

Muscat Festival 2015 - At Naseem Garden, Muscat

It was the end of Valentine week, the last day of Muscat Festival 2015 and a weekend too. My daughter was complaining about us not taking her to any of the Muscat Festival venues, and that all her friends had already visited them and blah, blah....So with the little time we had in hand, we decided to fulfill her wishes and take her to one of the locations.

Muscat Festival is an annual event celebrated to showcase all aspects of Oman's culture including its handicrafts, folklore, heritage, and history. This Festival began in Muscat since 1998, and it has been successful in portraying the past and present development of Oman and at the same time promoting tourism. It is a month long event, held at a couple of outdoor locations in Muscat and attracts millions of visitors every year. Organized by the Muscat Municipality, it receives financial aid and contributions from various sponsors who in return look forward to this event for their marketing and promotional opportunities. This event is organized every year in two different locations viz. Amerat Park (around 25kms from Muscat city) and Naseem Park (around 45kms from Muscat city). 

This year the theme for the Festival was 'Oman Fascinates' focused to attract family and children alike. It was a month-long celebration from 15th of Jan to 14th of Feb. Getting reviews from our family friends, we made up our mind to visit Naseem park. Also, we'd already visited Amerat park last year, so this time we decided to explore the other venue. 

Roadmap: Muscat city to Naseem Park

A short drive for around 30-35 minutes and we were almost there. The garden had many entrances and special parking arrangements were made during the Festival to cope up with the excess parking especially during weekends. However, since it was the Valentine's day and also the last day of the Festival, the parking ground was fully occupied. It took us about 25-30 minutes to find an empty space for our vehicle. Thereafter, a quick stop for the tickets and we started our exploration. Entry to Amerat park is free while at Naseem park there's a fee of 200 Baisa for an adult and 100 Baisa for kids. I sort of liked the golden embossed designs on the tickets and took a quick snap of them before handing them over to the security at the entrance of the garden. 

Entry tickets to Naseem Park

We knew that it was a big park but what we didn't know was the amazing strength of our daughter who eagerly walked with us without any complaints to cover the entire stretch just waiting to discover the dinosaurs that she had heard about from her friends. Naseem garden is built on the models of Arabic and Japanese style of landscaping and it sprawls over an area of around 75,000 sq m.

A Japanese style stone lantern, Naseem Garden

At the entrance, we found a map showing the arrangements made for the festival in different locations. The script was in Arabic, but we could guess what's where from the pictures made on the map. Also, there were brightly lit sign boards all around the park in English (thankfully) indicating the locations.

Naseem Garden - Map showing the Festival arrangements

So, as we walked we passed by some refreshments stalls, and finally reached our most awaited destination - the Dinosaur village. What we saw would keep us enthralled for many more days to come. And as I write this, I can still picture them around me. There were around 14 life-size Dinosaur model from the Jurassic park movie. From Brachiosaurus to Velociraptors, these Dinosaurs even moved their giant tails and their huge jaws open and closed. The overall animated effect combined with lights made the dinosaurs look real indeed. We were happy to see the wide grin on our daughter's face that made our visit priceless. And here's the conversation that took place between the two of us as we watched the dinosaurs.
She said: "Mom, the dinosaurs are so cute, Can we take them home?"
My reply: "What? for dinner?...they'll have you for dinner instead!"
She snapped back: "No, we'll have dinner with them." and without waiting for my reply, she spoke to them (as if they were alive): "Dinosaurs please come home with me." 
I smiled and just wondered at the innocence of a child. Dinner with a Dinosaur! As adults, we are always scared and afraid of a million things in life. It is indeed this very innocence of a child that lets you enjoy truly without any fear and inhibitions. When being with a child, be a child yourself, I thought and enjoyed our trip.

The Dinosaur village at Naseem Garden

Thereafter we proceeded to explore the other activity areas too. Immediately we spotted a fort-like structure enclosing a souk (marketplace). Outside the enclosure, we saw an Omani dance being performed by a group of locals dressed in black. They performed beautifully, in tandem with the drum beats. We also spotted a stall wherein there was a live demonstration of making of the Omani halwa and many locals were purchasing it too.

Left Inset: Omani dance performance by the locals
Right Inset: The making of Omani Halwa

Inside the souk, there were various objects for sale viz, abayas, spices, perfumes, winter wear, blankets, bags and accessories, and much more. The souk was bustling with people who were mostly locals, a few Indians and few more from other nations.

Left Inset: Entrance to the souk
Middle Inset: Omani spices on display
Right Inset: Packages of Omani spices

Display of Abayas, Perfumes, and Jewellery

We just came out from the souk and we were greeted with balloon sellers who were selling balloons at ridiculously high prices. One seller offered to sell a balloon at 2.0 OMR while another one at 2.5 OMR. Imagine the disappointing look on my daughter's face when we refused to buy one at such a price. Luckily for us the fireworks began and captured all her and our attention too. The sky was lit with dazzling fireworks and people around us stopped all their activities and simply enjoyed the breathtaking view. This beautiful firework lasted for nearly 5 minutes. All the while, I was so dazzled by the fireworks, I didn't realize that I'd spoken out loud that 'they are over' and somebody screamed back from the crowd 'not yet'. Truly, there was another round of the dazzling show and with that I simply smiled as I realized that like me, everyone else wanted to see more and more of the dazzling show.

Fireworks at Naseem Garden

We were a little tired by now, so we proceeded to the refreshment area. We settled down on the green lawns with some refreshments in hand and enjoyed watching the performance of child acrobatics on the large LED-lit stage. 

It was already late, but we were ready to explore more and so we were back on our feet. We started in the direction that said family area. And to my daughter's delight it turned out to be the section designated for rides. This time we couldn't refuse and we had to buy tickets to experience one of the rides. We selected a train ride, thinking it to be less risky for our 6-year old, as well as for us who weren't much of adventure seekers at this age. Well, we were in for a surprise. The ride started slowly at first and then the train surged ahead at a high speed and it twirled around the central axis that made us all dizzy, it slowed and then twirled in a reverse direction around the central axis; all three of us felt so sick after this ride that we pledged not to sit in a similar one ever again. We found one cute ride though - a teapot with tea-cups rotating around it. But then one ride was enough for that day. There were other activities too for the kids like horse rides, tattoo painting etc. We also found a stall where one old gentleman was painstakingly making live portraits. 

Different rides in Naseem Garden for Muscat Festival 2015

Finally, it was time to get back home. We returned home with heads - dizzy from the ride and eyes - dazzled from the firework show. Gratefully, we had a peaceful dinner remembering the dinosaurs. So, there I was thinking that this Valentine's day I would just end up dating the dates, but my husband turned up home on the weekend and we ended up with a dizzy and a dazzling date with the dinosaurs. Apart from the dizzy dazzle show, Muscat Festival 2015 will be remembered by us for its beautiful location, various activities highlighting the Omani heritage and culture, and the spirit of celebration that brought joy and excitement to the minds of children and adults alike.

Muscat Festival 2015 at Naseem Garden 

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