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Bab al Bahrain
My father enjoying the entertainment.Beautiful Bahrain
In Bahrain, November through about April is all any normal human being can stand. Once the heat of summer hits, forget about it. Pray for air conditioning!
Winter is nice, however, and this former Brittish colony still very much retains a lot of its Brittishness (is that a word?). Roundabouts and pubs.
Besides Manama, the rest of the country is mostly tiny roads surrounded by oil pipelines and sand. The first thing that really got me saying "huh?!?" was the huge amount of hotels in the city. This place is a playground for Saudis to spend their money in a more liberal place. There is even a bridge -- or causeway -- that crosses the 20 or so miles between Saudi Arabia and the island of Bahrain. They come over on Thursday nights to spend their weekend at the bars and shopping in the malls. I've never seen a place that puts as much emphasis on their shopping malls as this country. They are like palaces and have all the luxuries of a Nordstrom's or Sax.
The Irish Pub that has become so common throughout Europe exists out here as well. You can walk into one of these and sit with Brits and be served by Brits and get drunk and forget what country you're in. That was confusing the first time I did that. Six or so hours knocking back pints of Guiness and then stumbling outside and feeling completely disoriented. Another thing they have here is the Shwarma, a chicken burrito-like thing with cilantro that is very good! They sell them all over the place.
I walked into a Chili's restaurant and was confused for a second. The bar you normally see in any American Chili's is still there except that it's all juices. I found out that someone with authority here decided that any place that caters to families cannot serve alcohol. You have to search out the bars. I suggest J.J.'s Irish Pub and Digger's. They get roaring any night of the week (Thursdays and Fridays especially).
Bahrain's a nice place to visit, but it does get very boring. You can rent a car and drive the entire spanse of the island in about two hours. The Persian Gulf is very calm and beautiful. There is a resort/health spa called Al Bandar that is worth a visit. It'll cost you a couple Dinar to get through the gate for the day, but from there you can go in and get a Thai massage, they have a really nice pool with a bar. There are little bungalows you can rent. It's pretty upscale, but not too expensive.
Overall, the island is pretty expensive though. The Bahrain Dinar is worth almost 3 American Dollars.
Well, I think that's about all I can say about Bahrain for now. It's a pretty out of the way place to visit, but let me know if you'd like any more information.
Peace.
South of Manama is a place called the Tree of Life -- it's a tree out in the middle of nowhere that's covered in grafiti. Supposedly it's a mystery how it survives. But there's also a guy who herds camels there. I gave the guy a Dinar and he let me get this funny photo.
