Elite Royale - 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!]

... being Ramadan pretty much everything was shut! And it was roasting hot, if cooler than Dubai would be, so I grabbed a few provisions from the supermarket and retreated to the hotel room!

We might go explore the restaurants later tonight [will probably end up in Hard Rock Cafe.. when it comes to Arabic food we're not the most adventurous!] and we'll see what happens tomorrow! Leaving tomorrow night though.. It's a nice little country though. If a bit small and empty :)

... aiport).  About 5 minutes later (about 1.5 hours after getting off the plane), there was an announcement for everyone to go down to the transfer desk we were already at.  The original plane had come from Sana'a, was going to Dubai (where the southerner was going), then back to Sana'a.  All the passengers headed to Dubai were re-booked on Gulf Air flight heading out at 1:40AM.  I was told they could not help me yet as Yemenia had not decided on what to do with passengers heading to ...

... rush to tie up loose end at the plant, package some things to send back to the U.S., and give away some of the small gifts I had bought in Atlanta for the people I’d be working with. The taxi driver got lost in the Industrial City that the plant was in, so I spent about 10 minutes standing in the sweltering heat and sun during the peak of the day, sweating my butt of in my business clothes.

... Hotel used to be a beach front property -- now it's a mile to the water. Bab al-Bahrain (the gateway at the old customs pier) used to oceanfront, too. M - Muezzin. Cantor who sings the call to prayer. You can hear him as you're driving around town which, I guess, is the point. N - Nirvana. Wonderful and aptly named Indian restaurant. Make reservations in advance and go. O - Oliveto's. Our favorite Italian restaurant on the island. If you're ever here, go and make sure you get some ...

... my swimming shorts. I cursed my foul luck but relaxed and had a good night sleep. The next day I had a good breakfast and then took the short ride back to the airport. I was not there for long and it was difficult to get a feel for the place but the people seemed nice and I think it would be an interesting area to travel through. I think I will have to come back someday and see what it is all about. And of course, being so close to Iraq, you could almost smell the freedom!!!

... within 7yrs Dubai will have the largest "anything" in the world, currently they are will have the largest building in the world this coming September, but plans have already been drawn up to surpass it with another, the largest man made islands (the size of the city of Paris), the largest airport ever, the largest airport and most expensive construction project ever undertaken (Jebel Ali Airport to the tune of $82billion, $62billion ...

... the main reason for this is after two months in Doha with, shall we say limited number of nightlife locations, it was fantastic to go out to new places and not know 90% of people in the bar. The first place on the list was BJ's a traditional English pub/club, the minute we walked in all 8 sets of eyes lit up reading the sign "LADIES DRINK FOR FREE EVERY NIGHT except Thursday" After realizing it was a Thursday, and being slightly disappointed, we continued on our ...

... that it's mission directly affects the lives of the friendly forces on the ground. My jet saves American lives. I calmly put the lighter back in it's display case and paid for my purchase. There was another customer in the kiosk, who immediately started berating the clerk in the local language, pointing at the lighters and then to me. At this point I just wanted to get out of the local area and make sure there wasn't an "international incident" with my name all over it ...