Gulf Pearl Hotel Bahrain Manama

... a mirage of a camel. You might have come across the outskirts of a desert town. Later you might see the mirage of the outskirts of a desert town.

Well, we drove for another 500 Km, and came to a town called Al Taif. I was truly captivated by its beauty. When we first drove into it, it gave me an impression of a ghost town - not a soul on the road at 1:00 PM! It was a version of some kind of European town with mountains all around it and the appearance of some of ...

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!]

Bahrain!

Got here yesterday, the flight in was only an hour and you got a really good view of all of Qatar from the air! [stupid wing blocked photo ops though]. No problems so far, immigration was a breeze, found the hotel OK and after relaxing some more [yes, we're lazy!] my mum and I hunted down a taxi to see the few sights in the built up north of the island

Firstly we drove through the big banking district, and I was reminded of a less-trafficy, shorter ...

... transfer lobby talking for about 45 minutes.  Her name was Dina.  She was born in France, but grew up in Egypt.  Her mother was from Yemen, and she had gone back to her mother's hometown, but didn't really like what she saw of the country---such a shame the country has deteriorated from the great people who have accomplished so much in the past.  She also talked about the French and the attitude she received from the French worker when renewing her French passport.  "Do you speak ...

... the wind and high speeds can whip up the sand and really damage cars. The spray-paint forms a removable seal that protects the finish of the car. I'm working on a picture; words just don't do it justice. 2. I have mentioned the dry cleaner in a previous blog; I was commenting on my inability to effectively communicate the words "no starch" (which, I might add, is hard to do in the US -- laundry professionals L-O-V-E starch and can't fathom why ...

... I better check the name on this - it's 2am and my memory is fuzzy) the robe the women wear here in the Middle East. Gulf Air sent me a text message today to thank me for my flight booking with them on the 13th. Sheisa! I can't believe our trip is almost coming to an end! In some ways it's flown by and in others, it seems like we've been on holiday forever.

... Bahrain as a visit, maybe a stopover on a connecting flight, otherwise its really not worth your time. There are a couple of minor sights to see, but the tourism industry really hasn't fully been developed yet. But I was not here to ride camels, dress in robes, or smoke shisha, I was here for more of a cultural experience and there was plenty of that to be had. Bahrain is much more authentic then Dubai, Souqs spring up naturally, rather then the ...

... town again this time after some more food and drinks at an Irish Pub we headed to BJ's for OUR FREE DRINKS well sort of free. We each paid 2Drm which is 20Qatria Ryial, about $8 Aus so about 3Pound, for all sprits all night, not a bad deal at all. We didn't need to visit any others pub on our list. We spent the night dancing and having a ball till the lights came on at 2, then it was next door to the 'Traditional Chipper' for some late night chips while we waited for a ...

I'm in Bahrain's airport right now. It's 10:30pm, so really I have no idea what it looks like outside, but the airport is nice enough. There is a lot of good shopping here, but I decided to shell out the $6US for an hour of internet to prevent excessive spending on duty free goods. I really can't be trusted in duty free areas, especially when I'm tired and my ...