Piracy in Muscat.


Well I was going to comment on my amusement last week when waiting in the departure lounge but I've decided to expand it a bit and talk about piracy and Oman. Of course I mean movies and games piracy, and not the other variant which the Somalians (as funded by the Israelis according to the Editor in Chief Essa Al Zedjali) are proving so good at.

Whilst waiting for my flight in the departure lounge, I looked up at one of the many flat-panel monitors suspended above the seating areas and burst out laughing when I saw that a movie was being played, in what looked like Windows Media Player. The name of the movie was The Wild, and the file title was The.Wild[2006]DvDrip.AC3[Eng]-aXXo.avi and for any doubters, a quick search on a torrent website nets this and pretty much proves that someone at Muscat International Airport is a movie pirate, and apparently feels brave enough to broadcast their bootlegged wares onto the public information display monitors!

I snapped a picture, and here it is:


And a close up of the file name:



So, what other sources of bootleg movies and games are there in Muscat? Well, there are the Al Fair car park guys, who shuffle around usually in the evenings, looking slightly dodgy with bulging plastic bags chock-full of dvds. They usually have 10 to a disk movies and want a rather shocking RO10 per disk, for something that costs less than 100bz to produce. There's the numerous shops in and around the Sabco Center, which will cater to both your movie, and your games console desires as well. And then there is Ruwi highstreet, where I fear it's hard to actually buy anything original! There are bootleg jeans, shirts, jackets, bags, belts, caps, movies, games, watches and even bootleg perfumes and aftershaves!

So, thats my take on the bootleg scene here in Muscat....

I still find it funny someone was playing a bootleg movie on the Airport's own tv systems!
Piracy in Muscat. Piracy in Muscat. Reviewed by Sythe on Sunday, July 26, 2009 Rating: 5

10 comments:

  1. So that's where all the confiscated items go?!! A friend of mine (it's always 'a friend', right?) had some movies confiscated ... I will happily camp at the airport for a while to see the faces when those are shown!

    I could not believe it when I went to Sabco for a wii game and the guy produced folders thick with copies ...

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  2. Great post and welcome to the world of blogging-Muscat style.

    I like the Al Fair parking lot movie guys approach, *hey you like English movie?*

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  3. ED - haha - the Al Fair dvd guys also stock those types of movies... or so I'm told...! And yes.... the Wii dvd game binders... you can get the Wii chipped in that place too... it's like RO40 or something.

    AIO - oh I know... "you like DVD?" I remember the first time it happened I was just getting into my 4x4, and this guy just literally jumped into my passenger seat... after I shouted at him he got out again... cheeky bugger!

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  4. Sythe: Pirated DVDs are available on Ruwi Highstreet for as less as RO 1.500 per DVD. Some of them are good prints while most are just camera prints. You can even strike a deal with them that incase the DVD doesnt work or the picture clarity is not up to your expectations, you can return the DVD after a day or so and get a full refund... Now, thats customer service!! ;o)

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  5. RVB - care to share with us where we can find PC games? They never seem to be available anywhere... :)

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  6. Sythe, you can get them at GAME in Qurum CC, EMax and Carrefour. :-)

    Have you played Left 4 Dead yet ?

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  7. I haven't... do you recommend it? Last game I've been playing was called "Call of Juarez: Blood Brothers"... set in the wild west... quite fun.

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  8. Sythe: I am sure you should have some luck with the same Pakistani dudes hanging around on Ruwi High Street selling movie DVDs. Any particular game(s) you are interested in?

    f1dotcom.

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  9. No particular titles f1 - just like ones where I get to shoot stuff :)

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  10. Omigosh, this brings back memories. The little gas station at the bottom of the PDO in Ras Al Hamra used to have 500 baisa pirated movies. I would walk down there, buy mango juice, a galaxy bar, and then go home and watch my new movie (which was still playing in theatres back in Canada). Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Sweet memories.

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