RustyC

Gotta go see what that oil money is paying for. Golf courses? Indoor ski slopes? 6-star hotels? Takes the edge off those gas prices, huh?

Am sure there's a bit of Vegas style build-it-and-they-will-come thinking, as well as the notion that the region has room for only one pre-eminent place of that type.

I did research on it in 1998 and darned near went (out of BKK) because airfares from BKK were so cheap in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. But the timing wasn't right (don't go in summer or Ramadan). I dunno if the visa situation is easier now, but then you had to have a hotel sponsor it, and the possible budget hotels that would do it were very limited.

Oman did sound more authentic, the kind of place Indiana Jones might go.