Phoenicia Tower Hotel 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.

... But I later realized that the hills didnt actually sweep into the town, they were outside the town. (Pardon my illuision!). We entered the SAPTO busstand there which was quite the opposite of lonesome-boy it was packed! It was there that I made a call to Manoj in Jeddah. He asked me where I was and I said that I was entering the last lap of my journey and that I was in Al Taif. He said" Dont miss having a good look - it is like the hill station, Ooty, in India!"<br><br>The ...

... 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.

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Got through immigration (2 BHD for a 1 day visa) and customs pretty quickly (gotta love the "nothing to declare" exit---I don't know why anyone was using anything else) and found my hotel driver with his "Mr. Blake" sign. I was pretty much scared out of my mind pulling out of the parking lot---lots of running head on into cars, who would reverse and find another route. Lots more dodging and weaving throughout Manama (main city of Bahrain)-was glad we were in a big Chevy Caprice ...

... but they really don't know what you are asking. I decided to adopt the practice. The cleaning crew was at our apartment yesterday and one of the men asked me a indecipherable question to which I responded, "no problem." He smiled broadly, nodded his head, and finished cleaning. Who knows to what I agreed, but our apartment is clean, the crew left smiling and telling me to have a wonderful day -- they might even think I know what I am doing here.

... it wasn't crowded due to Ramadan. During Ramadan, the park opened at 4 P.M. on weekends until 12 Midnight, and then 8 P.M. to 12 Midnight on weekdays. They had some really great rides - one of which saw Dawn and I riding in a two man tube going down a chute into a large bowl which we went around and around in before finally zooming down another slide to the bottom. It was a hoot. They also had a big wave pool, which Colin loved. The biggest hit of the night, though, was ...

... to us. However, the excitement was to have a break to a new place, where had never been before. My colleague who is also my traveling partner this time had also the same feeling. For him maybe the excitement was to go back to the place he used to visit more than 6 to 20 years ago. We leave the airport early to take the 15.45 flight to Bahrain; and arrive in Bahrain 25 minutes later, as we could ...

... that it on Thursdays (the start of the Arab weekend), it filled up a bit later in the day. This seemed to be true; as we thanked him and bid him goodbye, the place was starting to hop as all the Indian shopkeepers were flowing into his place. We had time to kill before the Bahrain National Museum opened up, so we walked around the closing-for-the-weekend cloth and gold souks ("Yes!" "Sir, look here." "Yes!" "Sir, you want a kefieh?" "Yes!"), which were basically shops with the usual ...

... you are in the military it is worth the trip. For the most part the people are friendly, the food is good, and the weather is tailor made to sun worshipers. The beaches are sadly lacking in bikini clad women, but the local yachts are fantastic. Lots of British bars and restaurants, and a majority of the locals speak English. If you respect the local customs and standards there is no reason you can't enjoy your visit and get some great shopping woven into your tours of the ...