NOV 2, 16 .. PART I .. THE BIG BUS IN MUSCAT, OMAN

Prologue: In order for my two BIG BUS Posts to appear in their proper order, I moved this, the first Post, here to November 2, 2016. Then future readers will first read this Post, then scroll down to Part II following this Part I.

My first outbound ride on the BIG BUS in Muscat, Oman, began at 3:50pm on Sunday the 23rd of October. With my day to ride being 24-hours in duration, I then had until 3:50pm on Monday the 24th of October to ride the BIGBUS.


In case some of you have never heard of the company, BIGBUSTOURS.COM, you are now going to become familiar with it. As I show here .. BIGBUS .. is written with the word BUS in a different sized type.

The logo is in red.

Patti and I rode the BIGBUS MACAU.

Patti, I am sad to say that the BIGBUS MACAU is no longer in operation. Can you believe that I have not yet posted the photos I snapped on our visit to Macau.

Let's open up the above brochures.

The brochure opens up exactly as you see below. It is meant to be read in its folded state and not to be opened up.

I did a little trickery with two brochures to give you a better look at it.

 The other side is meant to be fully opened up to study.

** Let's begin with some photos of some BIGBUS buses. **

"Wait a minute Captain! Don't we need a ticket?"

"Yes we sure do. You purchase your ticket when you get onto the bus."

My wonderful front desk manager here at The Qurum Beach Hotel told me how to do this and where to go to board a bus.

Stop Number 4 on the BIGBUS route is right in front of my Japengo Cafe opposite to Qurum Beach!

The couple you see below are waiting for a BIGBUS there in front of the Japengo Cafe. I talked with them then took this photo.

Below are photos of MY HOME BIGBUS Stop Sign Number 4.

My terminus is called SHATTI.

Let's look at a bus.

Up rolls my BIGBUS. On I hop. The conductor pulls out his little credit card device and I now have my ticket.

My ticket cost me U.S. $67.60. 

Sports fans I wrestled back and forth, forth and back again, for three days as to ..

DO I do this? 

DO I do not do this? 

Pay sixty seven U.S. dollars and sixty cents to ride a BIGBUS.

Why did I opt to ride the BIGBUS? 

I opted to take the ride (1) because I can well afford the cost of $67.60, (2) I will probably never ever be back here in Muscat and (3) Patti and I tremendously enjoyed our BIGBUS ride in Macau last November of 2015.

My first outbound ride began at 3:50pm on Sunday the 23rd of October. I then had until 3:50pm on Monday the 24th of October to ride the BIGBUS.

My strategy was this: 

Begin my first day with the last ride of the day. Ride the entire round trip NOT getting off.

I figured out from my first ride the one and the only place I wanted to get off the bus for a 1-hour / 2-hour rest on my second day to explore one specific area of Muscat.

I began the second day with the earliest bus. I got off the bus during this second round trip with time to get a full third round trip under my belt. 

In all of life, seldom do you get the full and the total story before you decide on a course of action. This is especially true in the medical field. 

I was told you got a 24-hour riding pass. I did not understand that the buses stop running at 7pm and do not begin running until 9am the next morning. I was looking forward to some riding in the cooler evening air. 

Look again at my ticket.

Do all of you see my boarding time was changed to 3:50pm and initialed off by someone? The 'someone' was an official Supervisor by the name of Aimee?

When I was handed my ticket on the bus after I purchased it, I did not even think to notice the time written on my ticket. Why would I? I had just boarded and the bus was movine. The original time of my ticket was 3:30pm. 

My plan was to de-board the bus at the one place (see above) I had in mind and to re-board the bus on the last round trip at 3:40pm. At home Sunday night I saw that 3:30pm was written on my ticket EFFECTIVELY PREVENTING me from executing my plan because my 24-hour day was ending before the last bus arrived.

I was furious. I pointed this out immediately when I boarded the bus at my Stop 4 at 9:50am (the buses run about 10-minutes late by design) Monday morning. The driver said I had to discuss this with a supervisor at Stop 1.

This happened at 11am at Stop 1. A young lady named Aimee told me not to worry. I said I want it changed. Finally Aimee did as I asked. 

** I now KNOW that this will be a several part Post.  It is getting away from me.**

Gullible? Do you now see the benefit of my special photographic 'Clean Photos Lens Filter'? Don't the buses look spotless?

The above photo looks towards the back and the below photo looks towards the driver and entry door. Yes at the very back two seats face to the rear so a party of four can visit. I would NOT want to sit that way.

Now we have gone upstairs into the upper section of the bus.

ALL of my riding, 100% of my riding, was done upstairs. 

Let me tell you. As these photos show, I was all alone by myself. I was jumping from left to right and back. I was going from front to rear and back. I was also in the middle section. I was all-over-the-place! 

Oh Captain! Does that mean you have hundreds of photos? Sorry to say yes I do. I wanted to get my moneys worth.

Study the below bus for a moment. Notice that the entire upper level is open-to-the-atmosphere. To this point in this Post, all of the photos you see were taken on my first bus you see below.

Now study the below bus. Do you see that the front part of the upper level is enclosed?

I think that I will go to my final resting place totally amazed at how clean it is here and in Dubai and also in Aba Dhaba.

The two styles are side-by-side below.

This second design provides air conditioning on the upper level.

I got off the BIG BUS and ate lunch at the Subway Sandwich Shop you see above during my second day of riding. I spied it my first round trip. I show my sandwich and the store in Part II following this Part I.

Smiles, Cap. 

This indeed will finish off this opening Post. In my next Post following this Part I, you will see many photos of Muscat.

So please scroll down to Part II below.