Adhari Manama

... 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.

... But I later realized that the hills didnt actually sweep into the town, they were outside the town. (Pardon my illuision!). We entered the SAPTO busstand there which was quite the opposite of lonesome-boy it was packed! It was there that I made a call to Manoj in Jeddah. He asked me where I was and I said that I was entering the last lap of my journey and that I was in Al Taif. He said" Dont miss having a good look - it is like the hill station, Ooty, in India!"

The ...

17/10
Time to be honest. We're heading home.
The last country is a stop-over in Bahrain (for 2 hours) as we fly through the night back to England
We wanted to surprise a few folks so have sneaked home quietly.

Never the less, Bahrain International Airport looked very nice at midnight, all lit up. This small island state lies in the Persion Gulf alongside saudi ...

... 1604;هناك وايضا التمت 93; بالام 75;كن السيا 81;يه وليس فقط الاما 03;ن ال.... ماني قايل

... run down buildings clinging to steep hills. Not somewhere you would choose to go, right? Look past the first glance and get down into the fine print though and you find a safe city that is vibrant and full of life in the street markets. The people are really nice and hospitable, too. The place has a soul under all that dust and dilapidation. Go outside Amman and you have wonderful ancient places like the Dead Sea and ...

... mess and be of no use to me what so ever. But surprisingly she didn't. What she did do however was quite humorous. During one of our 9mm pistol practice shoots, she tied up a Teddy bear her partner had given her and proceeded to shoot the living fluff out of it. It was all caught on film and sent home to the offending ex. One of my boys also had the same thing happen to him but he took an old fashioned approach. We all chipped in a photo of our girlfriends or wives (I hope you don ...

... s prayer on the intercom, anyways.) This devotion to religious minutae and theological debate can only come from a morning spent at Islamic facilities, I hope. I woke up after a very late night packing; it felt more like leaving home than returning to the road, which is good in terms of hospitallity received, but not so great in terms of staying up until 3 AM. There was a cabbie, one of Magic Akbar's brothers, to take me into Bahrain. He worked as my driver for the ...

... ever seen, with the square tan buildings rising out of the earth and reflecting the sun downwards to the street. The people are friendly, but do not see too many westerners, so the English is not that clear. The USA has a naval base on the tip of the island (although you can not go near it of course) so every now and then a fighter jet streaks over the city heading for Iraq, just a short way up the Persian Gulf from here...

... The museum was great. 0.500 (the smaller bits that make up the Bahrainian Dinar are measured in thousands - still not quite used to it) dinar to get in, interesting exhibits, air-conditioned, and best of all, practically empty. We spent the entire afternoon learning about Bahrainian culture (when a boy is born, the umbilical cord is buried in the mosque, for girls, the cord is buried in the kitchen...), Bahrainian history (the prophet Mohammed ...