Ramee Suites 3 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

... 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!]

... old was about the same height as me! They were very cute though :)

We then drove on the Causeway to the Bahrain - Saudi Arabia border [that road in the middle of the sea on the map]. We couldn't cross the border [you need a visa in advance, which is tricky during pilgrimage and they don't just give out visas to lone women anyway.. too much red tape for our likings!] so we went to an observation tower and looked at Saudi looming on the horizon. There was a huge jam of ...

... with one guy who was buy himself.  We all introduced ourselves (I finally learned the southerner's name---Mike).  The new guy was a navy officer of 17 years named Dave---he was 34 but looked about 24.  He was heading home for his grandma's funeral.  Beers were around $7 US.

We chatted until it was time for Mike's plane-he went to board and I went back to the transfers desk.  I got down there and there wasn't too much info to be had-I joked around it bit with the transfer staff ...

... rush to tie up loose end at the plant, package some things to send back to the U.S., and give away some of the small gifts I had bought in Atlanta for the people I’d be working with. The taxi driver got lost in the Industrial City that the plant was in, so I spent about 10 minutes standing in the sweltering heat and sun during the peak of the day, sweating my butt of in my business clothes.

Seperti biasa, berangkat selalu dari kantor... segera sesudah makan siang, dengan Gulf Air untuk pertama kalinya.... sebelumnya tidak lupa mendaftarkan diri menjadi Frequent Flyer dari Gulf Air, karena inilah penerbangan lokal yang akan mengantarkan saya terbang langsung ke tempat tujuan....

... Maya Moon, Light Vision and Phoenix Fire, with all the different equipment and backstage preparation for each performance, and our fire show was the event finale. The breakdancers were a real highlight with the locals and had most of the kids and some of the crowd busting moves with them backstage later. The agency crew (really cool people) took us out for a nice dinner and later to party. Nightclub entry seemed a bit tricky in Bahrain ...

... thump-thumping our way along as our steel-belted radial slowly disintegrated. Thank God they don't use radial four plys anymore! I finally got off the elevated section and parked on the divider between the highway and the off ramp. Here is where experience came into play. After having my last flat tire in May, I always make sure I have my two-ton jack (the small jack that came with the Trooper lost its handle long ago), as well as gloves, a tire iron, and assorted ...

... photo, NONE were finished. One was close, but the others were far from done. This struck me simply as ridiculous. I tried to think of the rationale behind the decision--"we're setting a new standard in Bahrain's status in the global business community...in a few years." "Come see the sleek new international finance center...but maybe put your kids through college first." The photos of these nonexistent buildings are on postcards, on the airplane, in Middle Eastern magazines ...

... car, at $0.80/gallon) was the Al Khamis Mosque, the first mosque in Bahrain (possibly built as early as 682 ACE) when Islam came here. The minarets have been reconstructed, as have a few walls. It sits stark against the busy road which now seems to otherwise ignore it. From there, we drove west and north of Manama, to the Bahrain Fort, which is actually three or more forts, only one of which - the youngest, about 500 years old - was reconstructed. Bahrain has been at the crossroads ...