Elite One - Luxury Apartments Manama

Not much - just waiting at the airport for the flight! Bahrain was both nicer and more boring than I thought, the weather is a lot more forgiving but it's not worth more than about 3 days exploration tops.. Unless you like to get really nittygritty :P

... and also not having any male family members with us [women are not allowed to cross solo, nor are they allowed to drive in Saudi!], we didn't even bother to attempt to cross the real border to go into Damman [although I wanted to..], so Saudi exploration will have to wait until I'm married :P [I have no brothers and my dad would much rather go anywhere else but a hot desert!]

... old was about the same height as me! They were very cute though :)

We then drove on the Causeway to the Bahrain - Saudi Arabia border [that road in the middle of the sea on the map]. We couldn't cross the border [you need a visa in advance, which is tricky during pilgrimage and they don't just give out visas to lone women anyway.. too much red tape for our likings!] so we went to an observation tower and looked at Saudi looming on the horizon. There was a huge jam of ...

... an announcement.  One of the other passengers said, "They can't afford to have another crash."  The southerner's response was "Hell, I can't afford for them to have one either!"

Thus began our Yemenia hell.  The southern guy and I hung together so we could make sure we don't get lost in the shuffle and so we'd have someone to talk to during what we suspected was going to be a long night (since I don't think Yemenia has a bunch of planes laying around).  We tried going up to the ...

... before I got picked up, but I got to straighten things out for my transport to the Bahrain airport later that day.

The guy that picked me up was a quiet Indian guy that worked in maintenance. I threw my bags in the bed of his truck and jumped in. The guy’s English was decent, but he wasn’t a natural conversationalist, and I didn’t force it much.

The shortened day ...

... cancel your flight or be several hours late. H - Hypermarkets. The Wal-Marts of Bahrain. Geant, LuLu, etc. You can find everything here, from spices to shoes, widescreen tvs to sheeshas. I - Indian. It seems to be the adopted national cuisine and I'm glad. I've never enjoyed it as much as I have here. The spicier, the better. The more dhal and naan, the happier I am. J - Juffair. This is the neighborhood in which we live. It's probably the ugliest part of town; it's home to ...

... and gorge myself. I get a couple of extra post cards (can't mail my Omani ones, since the post office is closed), and finally take a cab back to the hotel to meet my uncle -- after walking from the airport all the way to the Bab, which I think is maybe 8 km or so, all in the middle of the day (30 degrees or so), and a heavy pack. I watch the Liverpool-Arsenal (?) match, until my uncle shows up to meet me in the pub -- which begins the next phase of my trip, I think.

... for you Even though your in a barren desert, you still buy water for only 33cents for a regular sized bottle and 60cents if your REALLY thirsty The fast food tastes exactly the same, menus are the same, with the exception of the McArabia (poignant don't you think?) Sidewalks are not made of cement, only brick and stone pavers, no joke, that's ALL you find Where ever you walk, there is often a small Indian man following you in a ...

... money and how much we had taken out of the ATM we arrived at the lovely Sheraton Hotel (Damm the ONE hotel under minor construction) we paid the driver what he had asked for and hoped for the best. The Hotel was great, all the girls had settled in, been out for dinner, and were having a few champers to start the night off. So bags down, quick change (we didn't need to cover up hear so that was also a novelty) and a few cheeky Vodkas in the room after all it was Nanine's ...

... I could tell that this guy fully expected that the large, cru cut wearing American, to manually fold him into an unnatural shape and insert the entire case of 9/11 lighters into various unpleasant orifices. Yea, I'm big, and my knuckles drag the ground some times, but I have never gotten enjoyment from seeing fear in someone's eyes. Those who know me, know I'm a big, tire swinging, luggage smashing, banana eating, Ann Darrow saving, teddy bear. What the guy didn't know is that ...