Smart Travels

Saturday, 24 October 2015

Muscat

We started our trip to Oman in Muscat, the nation's capital. Muscat is very spread out, with few tall buildings, and you are never very far from the sea.

Qurum Beach

Mangrove, Shatti/Al Qurum

Watchtower and Omani Flag

Mutra is one of the oldest and most easterly districts of the capital.

Watchtower, Mutra

old and new in Mutra: the yacht behind the dhow belongs to the Sultan

Corniche, Mutrah

Mutrah fort (built by the Portuguese in 1580s)

in Mutra souq

in Mutrah souq

in Mutra Souq

outside Mutrah souq on the Corniche

Corniche, Mutrah

elevated view showing the whole Cornice, Mutraj

playing games

The Sultan's Palace, built over the site of the former British Embassy, is closed to the public.

Sultan's Palace

The Bayt al-Zubair museum is located in a restored house and exhibits Omani heritage.

modern art at Bayt Al-Zubair Museum

It houses a reconstructed baristi, which is a traditional house made from palm fronds and trees.

Baristi

Bayt Al-Zubair Museum

coastline, old Muscat

dhows off Mutrah

sunset over typical Muscat housing

Royal Opera House, Muscat (built in 2011)

Royal Opera House, Muscat

an Omani meal may end with dates, followed by rosewater to wash your hands

No visit to Muscat is complete without visiting the Grand Mosque, which was a gift to the nation from Sultan Qaboos to mark the 30th year of his reign.

The mosque can accommodate 20,000 worshippers, including 750 women in a private prayer hall.

Saturday, 3 October 2015

Night visit to Bois Rouge sugar factory

One wet and windy evening recently I found myself on a night visit to the Bois Rouge sugar factory in Saint André, one of only two sugar factories that still operate on Reunion Island.

While the adjacent rum distillery can be visited all year round, the sugar factory can only be toured during the cane harvest season, which runs from June to December.

Bois Rouge receives sugar cane from the whole of the island's east coast, from Sainte Rose to Saint Denis.

As soon as the sugar cane is delivered, the loads are weighed and sampled by an independent technical centre to assess the sugar content.

Weight and richness in sugar are determining factors in fixing the sugar cane buying price.

The unloaded sugar cane then goes into a shredder, a machine composed of 144 hammers mounted on a shaft. The hammers pulverise the cane onto a huge anvil in order to ensure clear passage for the cane fibre into the other machines.

Once the sugar cane juice has been extracted, it is clarified and decanted by being preheated to 105°C, and lime is added to stabilise its pH at 7.5. During the decantation process a flocculant polymer is added to obtain clear juice.

The leftover filtration residues following decantation are known as filter cakes. These cakes are rich in phosphates and are given back to the cane planters who use them as fertiliser.

The clear juice is preheated to 120°C and enters a 6-effect evaporation station. Output steam from the power station is introduced into the first evaporator body. As it passes through the evaporators the clear juice is concentrated into a syrup known locally as Sirop La Cuite.

Next the syrup is crystallised in a cooking vacuum pan. The operators feed in a certain quantity of syrup and then add a few sugar grains in order to set off the crystallisation process. At the end of this process a crystallised mass is obtained, which is continuously mixed enabling the sugar contained in the original liquid to settle on the crystals and ensure greater crystal growth.

A centrifugal process separates the original liquid from the sugar crystals. In order to obtain high-quality crystals superheated water is used to dissolve the envelope of the original liquid surrounding the crystals. Finally, after the centrifugal process the original liquid undergoes two other crystallisation cycles in order to extract as much sucrose as possible.

At the end of the three successive crystallisation, mixing and centrifugation cycles, a liquid called molasses is obtained, which is low in sucrose content. Molasses are transferred to the distillery for rum and alcohol production.

one of the workers

in the control room

Since 1992 in addition to its basic manufacturing process, the Bois Rouge sugar plant has been developing consumer sugar units for brown and refined white sugar.