Gulf Manama

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.

... lap of the journey was very picturesque, with a totally different desert scenario. It was basically a mountainous desert terrain.The highway took us along myriad ranges, and at one point I even saw a plateau out yonder.<br><br>It was at around 3:30PM that we finally cruised into Jeddah, and I saw Manoj had come to receive me. Well, he and his family looked after me and gave a great time, and Jeddah was a great city................... but that would be another story- a story of a city!

... 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.

... was powerless to provide any.<br><br>Mike invited a bunch of guys for a beer and headed up to the airport bar.  I stuck around because it was clear now that with an 8-9 hour delay and a 6 hour layover, I wasn't going to make my connecting flight to Seiyun (I think I was "special" as the only one with this circumstance).  Eventually everyone wore themselves out berating her and knowing nothing would change, leaving me as the last one.  She had promised that there was a person that was ...

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... much the same way with mailing lists, with the difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, and consequently you can expect a lot of people to get upset if you consistently send commands to the list address." V - Vision -- apparently having it is optional if you want to drive here. W - Windmill Building. It was built with three windmills in the middle to provide the building with energy. Unfortunately, because the engineers didn't take into ...

Yay for wonderful bed and sleep in! Oh, and yay for A/C too! I believe it was 36 degrees all day today. Our day got off to a bit of a late start. I slept in, and by the time we threw in a couple of loads of laundry and had breakfast, it was 1pm! We drove out to the tree of life. A big tree that grows in the middle of no where and no one can figure out why ...

... beginning. My plane left at 2:55pm from Dubai and arrived here at 2:56 (no the countries are not THAT close, there is an hour time difference haha). On arrival the differences between Dubai and Bahrain were evident, rather then the immaculate taxis lined up by the dozens that greeted me at Dubai's airport, instead a menagerie of old run down cars with taxi signs on their roofs. Each jockeyed for my business and I settled on one guy, he offered to ...

... lighter in hand, trying to wrap my mind around it, and staring at nothing in particular. I noticed the guy behind the counter was a bit pale and his eyes were fixed on the lighter I held. I cold see the "oh $h&t!" look in his eyes. I am used to being one of the biggest guys in the room, and I realize that being 6'1", 240 lbs can intimidate some people. I try never to use my size in that way, and the fear I saw in this guys eyes shook me out of my mind numbing thought ...