Marine Tower 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

Apparently the Bahrain-Saudi border is on a little island [not sure if it has an official name], which hosts a rest point on either side of the border, complete with matching observation towers. The whole road, which is 45km long, is called the King Fahad Causeway on the Bahraini side, with a different Saudi name.. Interesting stuff! :) Due to it being Ramadan and us not being ...

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 ...

... The security situation was deteriorating in Yemen and all Western nations advised against all unnecessary travel there.  There had been some small attacks and minor shelling of the U.S. Embassy and surrounding areas in Sana'a, an attack on a busload or Spanish tourists, a suicide bombing of 4 South Koreans and their guide in the exact spot of one of the places I was going to be, increased kidnappings in/around Sana'a normally safe, in addition to the normal kidnappings of Westerners ...

Last day in Saudi…woke up, showered, packed, and headed up to the usual breakfast. I called the front desk before I left and asked for a 9AM taxi. Breakfast was the same as before except this time there was mango juice. Was really good and reminded me of the stuff I had in Korea. Brushed my teeth and packed the last few items and went to check out. It took like 15 minutes to check out (U.S ...

... three words of Arabic I have picked up (Inshallah, Allah Akbar and Shukarah which means thanks). He told me that I couldn't leave the mall. I told him my car was right over there and he said again I couldn't leave the mall. It turns out what he meant was I couldn't go out the door I was in front of and had to use the one behind me. Three minutes of going back and forth and wondering how in the world I would get out just to learn that is ...

... levels of makeup on). Anyways, because the plane is waiting for a handful of passengers, we depart Sharjah an hour late (seriously; it's barely an hour-long flight). Customs goes okay, except for an egregriously queue jumping Lebanese gang (so egregrious the Egyptian behind me protests loudly). So I'm in Bahrain, and the taxi drivers are a little aggressive; they're asking for pretty ridiculous rates (I was planning on cabbing it to the Crowne Plaza I was meeting my ...

... docking in Manama over Dubai, because as they put it, Bahrain is the Las Vegas of the Middle East. Now don't get me wrong, by no means is Bahrain a bad place. Just its like comparing, on vacation terms, Cincinnati to Miami. Seef Mall was nice, nicer then most malls, but still pales in comparison to some of the stuff I've seen in Dubai. I guess you become a little jaded after seeing a mall with an indoor ski slope in it. Saturday morning, I got ...

... attic with their countless numbers, namely over 10 000. Besides that he has thousands of pictures of old trains and trams. The next day was already much more eventful. Arriving at Frankfurt Airport checkin i am welcomed by the news that my flight to Bahrein has been delayed and i cant make my connecting flight to Sydney on time. After waiting three hours in line i finally got offered a solution to stay in Bahrein overnight and catch the ...