Blogs from Manama, Bahrain, Middle East
May 25th 2012
This small Arab nation is to be found in the Persian Gulf. If you travel back to times of yore, you will know that Bahrain has influences from places like Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Babylonians and of course the Arabs. Bahrain Tourist Information guide is certainly a guiding star as to knowing much about the history of Bahrain. History in Bahrain is a fascinating voyage into the makings of a country and its coming of age.... read more
A flight from Switzerland to Kuala Lumpur can take 50 hours - or: a chaotic stopover in Bahrain
Published: January 24th 2012Middle East » Bahrain » Manama
January 9th 2012
Finally, we were ready for a longer trip again. We were happy as hell! After having worked a lot in the last year, it was really time for us to leave our daily lifes in Switzerland for a while. Well, it was just for 2 weeks. But this is better than nothing. Having just made the first steps with our own company our budget and our time was limited. But we definitely needed a break and free our minds of all the business struggeling. Do not get us wrong, we love our business - but nothing can beat travelling. From Bern in Switzerland we took a 1,5 hours train ride to the airport of Geneva. It was our first flight with Gulf Air ever. The flight from Geneva to Bahrain was quite comfortable and short. Happily ... read more
August 26th 2011
We had only 22 hours in Bahrain, but it was plenty of time (assuming we were willing to forgo a bit of sleep) to see a few of the more popular sights. We arrived late at night and by the time we got to our hotel (The Diplomat Radisson, close to the airport) it was after midnight. The flight from Kuala Lumpur was over 3,700 miles and took nearly 8 hours, but Gulf Air seems to be a nice airline and once the flight attendants knew I was a sister flight attendant, I received first class service, even in coach. It would be awesome if I could one day return the favor! The Gulf Air flight attendants are wonderful and their uniforms are flawless, right down to their beautiful hats. After a short night, we were ... read more
March 22nd 2011
At the Arabian Gulf sits the small archipelago consist of 13 major islands. It is one of the oil producing countries with the biggest oil reserves and it's monetary unity is the dinar. It is being ruled by monarch. The royalty which ruled the muslim nation for more 30 years. Recently riots in the streets particularly the Pearl round-a-bout is at the center or world media and politics. The majority Shiite muslims wants to overthrow the Sunni ruling monarch. A martial law imposed and some people died in the protest which is rampant in the middle east including Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen and more recently Libya. There's nothing much to see in Manama. It's a rich emirate/state-nation but it will only be fully developed in the next ten years. It's way backward to it's neighboring Dubai ... read more
March 12th 2011
I returned to Bahrain from Dubai Thursday evening and just hung out with Dan and Jason. Turns out that Dan is an excellent cook and he made a wonderful chicken curry. He says that when he is back in California with his wife that he does all of the cooking! Jason really knows how to pick a roommate. We had a leisurely start Friday morning which is the first day of the weekend here. Then Jason and I headed south into the desert in search of adventure. Our main objective was the Bahrain Oil Museum. Along the way we stopped at a major landmark called "The Tree of Life". This is a large old tree (no one seems to know how old). Which is growing right out of the desert sand! As is typical in Bahrain, ... read more
March 11th 2011
This is just a break from sightseeing. Jason's job involves supporting US Navy submarine activities in the Persian Gulf. There has been a submarine and a tender in port for the last few days. Jason and Dan organize what they call a "Rug Flop" to give the visiting sailors a chance to by an oriental rug. Jason has become friends with a local rug merchant named Abdul Wahed Abdulla. It turns out that if you want to buy an oriental rug, Bahrain is the place to do it and many visitors know this and want to buy one. The Rug Flop is a combination social event and rug sale. The idea is that the party saves the sailors from having to shop from store to store and haggle for price. There is catered Arabian food and ... read more
March 7th 2011
Jason and his friend Dan are renting a house from a Bahraini man. He was originally planning to live in it himself with his family so it is very traditional and very well appointed. Many of the homes and apartments in this area were built to be rented to U.S. service people. We are only about a mile from the naval base where about 3,000 naval personnel are stationed. The house is quite large with five bedrooms and a separate apartment over the garage. I have attached a couple of pictures to give some idea of the decor. The house is in the main city of Manama which is in the NE corner of the island and we are in a neighborhood called Jufair. I think there is a map on this site which you can ... read more
March 7th 2011
This afternoon Jason and I went to see the Grand Mosque. This site is analogous to the main cathedral in any Christian town. It is relatively new (22 years) but built in the classic style. I was surprised that they offer tours for non-muslims. We were guided by a very knowledgeable and articulate woman who learned her English at Oxford where she completed an advanced degree in English Literature! She was Egyptian by birth but has lived in Bahrain most of her life. She explained the architecture and the significance of the the design. You may know that Islam prohibits the depiction of humans and animals in any art form. So Islamic artists tend to compensate by developing very complex patterns and designs. She took us from the main entrance courtyard into the prayer hall with ... read more
March 5th 2011
I left Minnesota at 8:00pm Thursday on a direct flight to Amsterdam which arrived there at 11:00am Friday. That's about eight hours travel and a seven hour time difference. I passed part of the three hour layover there by visiting a branch of the Riks Museum and just wandering around checking out the shops and people. A seven hour flight with two more hours of time change got me to Bahrain at 10:00pm Friday night. Bahrain is a relatively small airport but very busy. Customs and immigration went very smoothly and Jason met me in the lobby. He is only about 15 min from the airport so we were at his place by 11:00. Needless to say, spending 20 hours in travel is not pleasant but all went well considering! Slept thru the night with the ... read more
December 19th 2010
Hi Everybody and a very Merry Christmas from the sunny desert island of Bahrain! Another year done and dusted and before ya know it 2011 will be well underway, scarey scarey... Here’s hoping 2010 delivered all you asked of it and that you’ll be getting some time off at Chrissy. We’ve become masters of distraction to help the time pass on the small isle in the Persian Gulf which has been home for nearly 18 months, - where a road trip means turning around at 60km. Along with Buddies Roger and Karen, Jude and I moved apartment from our beloved Burj Omran when our 12 months lease matured. The market had dropped majorly so we were able to a secure a brand new three (as opposed to 2) bedroom apartment at a much cheaper rate – ... read more
