Marriott Executive Apartments Manama, Bahrain

... sitting around all these businessmen...  waited on hand and foot... hot towls, Champagne, French wine, white table cloth meals...  so just when the crowds and pushing and shoving at the Cairo airport was about to make me explode, I was placated.  In conclusion, all Airlines in the US are **** compared to the service you get elsewhere, and for less money.

Out of the widow Bahrain looks like lots of dust with skyscrapers on. Inside it is a strange mix of Christmas decorations lots of tour groups who look like they might be going on pilgramage, 25k rolexes in duty free, mcdonalds,costa and free internet to keep us amused. We've got 2hrs to kill - body clocks already out of sink! Am going to try and learn some nepalese from a podcast.

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I got myself reserved on the 07:30 PM bus, well organized, and reached the SAPTCO Bus Station early only to be told that the bus was cancelled. I coudnt figure out what the attendant was trying to tell me but I was relieved to know that there was a bus at 10:00 PM so I waited, and got on that one.

The bus started making its slow cruise out of the city and I started getting images (although night) of the desert. Well, I have been on the outskirts of ...

... to the west and Qatar to the east. We didn't know where it was until we were due to fly home via the island. It's interesting to note the road bridge (King Fahd Causeway) which links the two countries and is 17 miles long. Soon to be surpassed by the Bahrain to Qatar 'Friendship Bridge' currently under construction at 25 miles - it will be the longest bridge in the world.

كانت سفرتي مع زوجتي وبنتي شهد وماني قادر اوصف لكم جمال البحر 10;ن وجمال المن ...

... the new skyscrapers. Bahrain is one of those places I have always wanted to go to for some reason since I was a kid. Maybe it was seeing pictures of the Concorde here and thinking it would be so cool to fly it here when I was 11 or 12. I can't believe I am actually on a tiny island in the Arabian Sea called Bahrain that seemed so far away and exotic when I was a kid. I've noticed a lot of things being away from the ...

... fueled development of Dubai, and is making a half-hearted attempt to catch up. Like the ridiculously over the top environmentally questionable development projects in Dubai, Bahrain too is creating man-made islands of various shapes encroaching into the Persian Gulf and sticking shiny modern skyscrapers on them. It is largely a business and brief vacation spot for Saudis, as there is a bridge connecting it to Saudi Arabia, and serves as a way ...

... waiting - Dawn at the office and James at his villa. Finished with tires (and yes, the Trooper rode smoother, handled better, and I felt secure knowing as we drove to Bahrain that we (a) had new tires and (b) had a spare) we picked up Dawn and headed for James'. He met us outside and we discussed our hunger issue. The solution turned out to be as simple as a stop at McDonald's and then onto Baskin-Robbins before we hit the highway to Bahrain. The trip itself ...

... and I don't know where I stand. So in conclusion, being in Bahrain is sort of exactly like being in a resort town in Florida, , one like Marco Island, only where there's a little Arabic here and there, and business is done as well. And I never did find a beach today, after spending all afternoon looking--whatever the priorities of the international business community and their hosts in the Kingdom of the Archipelago of Bahrain, they certainly don't include swimming in that dirty water.

... along a rocky beach. We were also discovering that the rule that the place met was that the food was cheap. Sated, we wound our way down the coast. We were too late for the Al Jasra House where Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the Emir of Bahrain was born. (Many places close at 2:00 PM.) We drove past the causeway to Saudi Arabia, past the Formula One Bahrain International Raceway, and found ourselves at the Al Areen Wildlife Park. The park was created in 1976 for the pleasure of ...