I like living in Salalah. It has a beautiful location between palm-fringed beaches, banana and coconut plantations and the Dhofar Mountains. But, it is a relatively small city and so there are some things it just doesn't have. I flew up to Muscat for a meeting this week and after it had finished I had a few hours to spare and went to the Muscat City Centre shopping mall. I felt like a boy from the sticks, awestruck by the amazing variety of things on sale. There was a Borders bookstore, with thousands of English books - something you just cannot find in Salalah. I bought five: 'The Time Traveler's Wife', 'The Alchemist', 'No Country for Old Men' 'On Chesil Beach' and 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush'. I was looking for 'The Book Thief', but they didn't stock it. Perhaps they thought it might encourage shoplifting. There was also a massive Carrefour, full of goodies, from which I bought, amongst other things, some fresh pasta. It's amazing the things you take for granted, like books and pasta, when you are in your home country.