Ramada 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.

I must admit that it took them an effort to coax me but the trip I made was eventful. Well, I am based at Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia and my relatives at Jeddah invited me over more than once. I had been putting off my visit simply because of pure laziness, no doubt, but basically my life here is office and back, so I guess I just got used to that. Well, our Ramadan holidays were coming up and I decided to get on the bus to Jeddah (1500 Km away), mailnly because there were no flights ...

... 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.

... 1604;&#1607;&#1606;&#1575;&#1603; &#1608;&#1575;&#1610;&#1590;&#1575; &#1575;&#1604;&#1578;&#1605;&#1578;&#15 93; &#1576;&#1575;&#1604;&#1575;&#1605;&#15 75;&#1603;&#1606; &#1575;&#1604;&#1587;&#1610;&#1575;&#15 81;&#1610;&#1607; &#1608;&#1604;&#1610;&#1587; &#1601;&#1602;&#1591; &#1575;&#1604;&#1575;&#1605;&#1575;&#16 03;&#1606; &#1575;&#1604;.... &#1605;&#1575;&#1606;&#1610; &#1602;&#1575;&#1610;&#1604;<br><br><br ><br><br><br><br>

... as we slowly made our was through no less than 4 checkpoints: 1) some type of general car permit issued from Bahrain, 2) a passport/car permit check (from Bahrain?) 3) then another passport/car permit check where identity was confirmed [interesting to women with full abeyas covering all but their eyes get out of their cars ahead of the checkpoint and walk up to get their identities checked by women at the checkpoint (as I was told by my Indian driver, then walk back to the car ...

... with the man working and will find out today after 3 if I was successful in my depictions of laundering and pressing but not starching. The gas station would have been less intimidating if I had not been on fumes trying to locate it. I did find it, however, and was rewarded with a full tank of gas that cost me BD 3 (about 8 USD). Last night, we went to a dinner with Michael's coworkers at Bahrain's best Italian restaurant, Oliveto's ...

... exactly what its name states. However, it wasn't as easy as it sounds. Bahrain, although a small island, never seems to have a direct route between places. Because we were a bit off the beaten track, coming back took us up highways and byways that seemed different from those we had come down on. Finally, after getting "close" to downtown and realizing it was almost 10 P.M., we decided to go to Ric's Kountry Kitchen instead of the Country Club. So off we went to find Ric's ...

... Thirdly, the new suburb was a little bit separated from the main city activity.... Is this a good choice? I was glad when he said it doesn't worry him. To my surprise as well as his, this is an excellent choice of hotel. Yes it has all those things above, but this is not just like any other hotel, as this one is an all suite hotel; every unit has it's own kitchen, dining room, and living room as well as ...

... we walked over to the Bahrain National Museum, which does an excellent job of showing the history of the Island, starting from the prehistoric Dilman period through to just before the modern day. The amount of information they've gleaned from burial grounds is impressive, but how would they know that a 40-year-old man's tomb was dug from the time he was 16, and that the bodies of his two children were laid to rest before him on the periphery of his tomb's circular wall? We learned ...

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 ...