We woke so early because both the mosque and the Royal Opera House of Muscat close at mid day... so we have to make good use of our time and visit both :)
On the outside, the Royal Opera House of Muscat doesnt look like much. It is apparently one of the few world class opera houses in the world.. and again, it is a present from Sultan Qaboos to his citizens of Oman...
This is how it looked when we drove past...
This is what we saw after we got off the car..
At one end, there is even a super high end shopping mall called Opera Galleria....
But once you pay money and go inside... the building is a different story.. 正所谓，人不可貌相，海水不可倒量.. never judge a book by its cover and never judge a building by the outside lor!:) The inside is almost as intricate as the mosque and quite beautiful too...
After discussion we decided we will pay entrance fees for a guided tour... I think each of us paid 2 riyals.. which is about 20 dirhams.. that is roughly about $6.50 sing dollars...
Even Ace is very fascinated... hahaha :) The wood is burmese wood and again, these are all engraved and carved by Omani craftsmen.. if you look carefully, you can see alot of sunflower motifs all over.. where Ace is standing is the area people stand to wait for the performance to start... the red carpetted stairs leads you to the second floor where the VIP seats ah...
Can you see the sunflower?
These stairs by the side lead to the theatre..
Outside the theatre, there is a display of some instruments.. while many look oriental in design.. they were mostly from Europe..
YOu wouldnt have guessed that these two dragon flutes were make it FRANCE!
The guide brought us inside the theatre and it was huge!
Those are the box seats.. which cost a few hundred dollars to book...
The stage can be made big or small. For a smaller stage with more audiences, the stage can be kept and more chairs can be raised up from below!:)
The stage is also very very deep.. they close up as and when needed.. according to the needs of the production...
The ceiling inside also same intricate design as the outside..
And they have these little screens in the chairs to translate for you in case you dun understand what they are singing... apparently can translate up to 19 languages lor!
I wish we had the luxury of time to watch a performance here. But since dun have, just make believe by sitting in the seats lor:)
Max seated on the VIP chair...
sunflower, sunflower EVERYWHERE!
Ace complain tired and wanted to sleep there! wahahahah
Spotted, a similar gold clock like the one we saw in the mosque.. I wonder if it is real gold...
Remember how we noticed Omani men like to hold a cane and walk? Here is a pic of them dancing with the cane...
Then we decided to go toilet lah.. and after toilet.. it became search for the sunflower treasure hunt:) wahahhaa
Basically, the sunflower is EVERYWHERE!
This is the area where the sultan can rest while he waits for the show to start... so big a hall for one person.. sayang leh :) wahahahah... but maybe he has a huge entourage... wasted that the sultan has no offsprings.. he has so much money and such good taste.... somemore he has a nice country :)
At this point, we were wondering why the girls still havent come out from toilet.. so we tried to find them but cannot find them. The only logical explanation of cos.. is tat they took a lift and went upstairs.. true enough.. when we called them, they said they were upstairs..
On the second floor, there is a VIP resting room...
When we walked out.. we saw the girls sitting in the few hundred dollar BOX.. hahahaha :)
So we tried to go and look for them.. but hor, go up cannot see them! So we tried to take photos of ourselves in the box.. but leh, dunno why I cannot find the photos that we took in the box.. so sad...
See, we were lucky, the chairs are fully raised, we wouldnt have known the secret if we joined the later tour :)
So since we cannot find the girls, we called them again, they told us they are now at the rooftop!
So we went to look for them.. we asked someone how to get there and he pointed us to the staircase that says "Staff entry only..." wahahahahah
And then we found this place with lots of windows and it looks out to a great view!
Ace was so fascinated with the maze and kept saying he wants to go...
This is a really beautiful place.. it is what they call... back against the mountain and facing the sea... best fengshui and view ever! SHIOK!
This is the sea view...
This is the mountain view...
Side view....
Basically.. any view also nice lah.. so nice and see liao so happy right?
only lousy Ace chua whine and whine cos he is afraid of heights! wahahahahah
On our way out saw these.. take photos first in case no chance to see the Opera house at night :)
Basically, because we got to see the view at the top.. our entrance fee was dam wu hua! wahahaahahha
On the way out we so lucky.. got some Omani young men walked past and we asked to take photo with them:)
Omani young men hor.. use those nice nice scarfs that we woman use to wrap their hat.. so their headgear always look very nice.. and so colourful.. i like!:) Plus they are so handsome..
A little nugget of info my friend shared is that they used to import lots of slaves from Africa and after a number of years, they release them.. eventually, these african slaves married indegenious people and that is why some of the Omani people look like they have this mixed mixed look.. like mix africa, oriental and india like tat.... I dunno how to explain..
Then the adults say want to go shopping in the mall nearby..
Ace complain leg very pain.. so I ask him to sit down and he go and squat on the floor..
In the end, we found some steps for him to sit and rest his leg...
Then we decided to go back to our car.. and Ace bugged me to bring him to the Maze.. so I said ok lor..
We walked past a beautiful garden to the maze..
Alas, walk till here, the guard say cannot go furthur.. not opened to public.. so sad... sigh.. why they dun open to public.. sob sob...
Next, we decided that we will go to the old souk area...
Previous Post:
Oman Trip 3: Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Oman Trip 2014:Oman Trip 1: Long Drive To OmanOman Trip 2: Nakheel Fort And Hot SpringsOman Trip 3: Sultan Qaboos Grand MosqueOman Trip 4: Royal Opera HOuse of MuscatOman Trip 5: Old Souk And Royal PalaceOman Trip 6: Secret Garden And Oman SunsetOman Trip 7: The Drive Home And Hatta Fort Hotel
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