Diesel engines are not so easy to find for light-duty vehicles in Oman

As a former British protectorate, finding some old Lister stationary engine once in a while is no surprise at all. Some fishing boats also rely on Diesel, but it's not so easy to see Diesel-engined light vehicles as it is for petrol-engined ones. It is quite surprising to find out Toyota is using its most modern Diesel engines for the HiLux instead of the old-school 5L-E nearly everywhere by now. As a general rule, most Middle East countries used to not enforce emission standards so strictly.

Ancient hot-bulb engines simply refuse to die

It's not impossible to find 100-years old hot-bulb "semi Diesel" engines still in perfect operating conditions fitted to fishing boats. Even though the widespread availability of horizontal-single true Diesel engines from Japan and those copies made in China could sound promising for a phaseout of the "semi Diesel" with its need for some external source of heat for start (usually a kerosene-burning lamp, but sometimes just a few pieces of red hot charcoal can also do the trick), it's not really uncommon to find older British hot-bulb engines not only pumping water in the rice fields but also powering small fishing boats in Pakistan. Maybe that's still the clearest part of the British colonial heritage, along the RHD rule.