A short break to Bahrain
Trip Start
Aug 12, 2005
1
7
8
Trip End
Ongoing
Manama City,
Bahrain
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Even though this is only as long weekend, instead of a proper holiday, I planed well this time. This is the itineraries:
Day 1:
· ; Go to the airport straight away after office on Thursday; take the mid afternoon flight to Bahrain
· ; Have an easy and lazy afternoon in the Hotel
· ; Look around of the surrounding area of the hotel
Day 2:
· ; Hired a car, and drive around Bahrain as an introduction with no definite destination
Day 3:
· ; Drive around again, maybe this time to the outer city of Manama
Day 4:
· ; Easy morning at the hotel before check out on Sunday
First Impression:
We travel light as this is only a very short distance and assuming that Bahrain is slightly the same like Doha. I was between excited and not as going out of the country was such a routine 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 still see the day light. So that we could hang out a bit longer before we start exploring.
I tried to warn Keith - my travel companion, that this hotel might be not as good as the hotel we used to stay previously, as Grand Mercure hotel is located in a new neighborhood. Secondly, although this hotel is part of the Qatar Airways package, as one of the cheapest; no body else had recommended this hotel on any website. 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 separate bedroom.
Location wise, yes it is away from the city, but we could hire a car and the road to the hotel was quite straight forward. Is it away from city activity...? Not at all, as next door is 2 biggish and new shopping malls. We could just walk over there to see the Bahraini.
Best of all, they put us on the top floor, so that we could see the city. Our balcony was facing the see... the gulf straight.
