Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Who doesn’t like a good, old-fashioned festival? Whether it is a religious function, a cultural tradition, or just an annual event to celebrate as a country, at the end of the day, a festival is a great reason to gather as a family or a group of friends to enjoy a different kind of nightlife. Here in Oman, Muscat Festival is something that we all eagerly look forward to as it offers an array of cultural, educational, and recreational entertainment options that can make anyone feel like a kid again.
The activities at Al Amerat Park are cultural, with international and local pavilions, while the ambiance at Naseem Garden in Seeb is more akin to a colourful carnival. Huge stages house various local and international performances, a food court area offers fast food, Indian food, and Arabic food, and as you stroll through the park, you will be greeted by cute mascots and performers walking on sticks. The new rainforest is filled with exotic plants and flowers, ducks and rabbits, all a pleasant change of pace for our desert home. The shopping is also fun, with rows and rows of vendors selling clothing, accessories, fragrances, spices, household items, and food from different regions of the country, as well as small halwa stations scattered in different sections of the park where strong, dishdasha-clad men stir and cook the thick sweet and sell it fresh.
Being an adrenaline junkie, there is one section, in the noisiest part of the Naseem Garden, that has been my favourite since I was a kid: the rides area. Year after year, I spend hours there, enjoying the childlike joy of the blinking lights and pulse-quickening rides. Every year, Muscat Festival introduces classic and new rides including roller-coasters, electric swings, pendulums, and more. This year, I rode them all, and can tell you, there are three particularly exciting rides you really shouldn’t miss.
Crazy Dance
This ride rotates and revolves at very high speeds, so make sure your stomach is relatively empty when you get on. There are four blocks of four two-seater benches, and each of the seats rotate in an haphazard manner, flinging you from side to side at an almost 90-degree inclination. The trippy lights and the music, whose tempo varies with the speed of the ride, makes it all the more fun. You will scream and yell and definitely have loads of fun.
Tagada
This ride is as weird as its name. Essentially a big circle, you need to find a place for yourself along the circumference. Easy enough, right? Well, the catch is that the ride has no belts, just a railing bar behind you that you can hold on to. It feels a bit like sitting on a rickety bus that’s flying down a road with too many potholes. It goes up and down and round and round. Make sure you hold on to the railing tight. The whole experience is hilarious, and you are likely to find yourself laughing all throughout.
Sling shot
The best of the bunch, as the name suggests, this ride involves two people being propelled upwards in a catapult-like contraption at crazy high speeds. You can never be sure if you’re going to face upwards or downwards while on the ride, making it the most thrilling ride at the festival. Sling Shot is a great combination of height and speed, and it is not for the faint-hearted.
