This morning I had my orientation tour of Muscat, I met my guide Masida in the hotel lobby at 8am. To my delight he was dressed in his traditional while outfit and wore a small round colourful hat.

I was the only one on the tour so I sat up front with the guide and just chatted to him in between the guiding. The first stop was the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. The mosque is made out of a beige coloured marble with a brilliant gold dome and five minarets, representing the five pillars of Islam. I went inside the ladies prayer room, which was pretty spectacular, or so I thought. The main prayer room was almost as large as that of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and it was a hundred times more ornate.

The dome was designed in Iranian mosaic, beautiful greens, blues and whites, with a huge Italian chandelier in the centre. There was a false door way at the back also in the Iranian style, but deep blue, it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen, and me now on my 33rd country, that's actually quite a statement.

We moved on to the government district and had a look at all the embassies, most of these were Arab nations, but there was also America, which the guide remarked looked like a prison, France and England. I said of the English Embassy, "Typical! Its right on the beach." I don't think the guide got the joke. The guide also pointed out that the ministry of health was right next to a McDonalds, which I found very amusing.

We then went and had a look in the Museum of Oman and the guide got me in for free, by telling them that I was training to be a guide. I had told him about my travels and my job with Tucan and about having once lived in Istanbul and I think he may have felt a bit of a connection with me because we got on really well.

After the museum we went to Muttrah to visit the souq….always a bad idea for me. I ended up buying a pendent, a ring, some hats, two paintings and this little antique box. Which was the cheapest thing I bought, but also my favourite as it was so different. They had so many weapons! I had to try my hardest not to look. They had really old antique swords, silver Hajar daggers and knives inlaid with precious stones. It really was torture for me not to be able to buy any.

I had lunch in a small café outside the souq and then went for a quick look at the Sultan's Palace and then went back to the hotel. I said goodbye to the guide and then went out looking for dinner, I was having an early dinner as I has booked a cruise on a traditional dhow for the evening. I ate in this restaurant near the Ruwi souq and again the food was terrible. All the staff were Indian and my waiter would not stop hovering over me and annoying me the whole time! KFC again tomorrow I thought.

I went back to the hotel and had a swim and a sun bake before being picked up for my dhow cruise. The cruise went for about an hour and a half and sails up and down the coast of Muscat at sunset, which was beautiful. It was actually quite spectacular seeing the sun setting behind an oil refinery, which I suppose if you're reading this, you would probably be thinking this would not be spectacular at all…but somehow it was. The cruise ended rather abruptly, when the sea got a little rough and this silly woman decided to stand up. She fell down with a great thud and somehow sliced her leg open. We then headed back to the port and were all taken quickly back to our hotels.