Blogs from Manama, Bahrain, Middle East - page 3

Flying on from Singapore(after the usual hours of waiting,Meal upstairs in food court with $7 Tiger beer) we arrived in Dubai and straight on to Bahrain. It was a smooth entry into the middle East except for the warnings about eating and drinking in public during Ramadan. A quick taxi trip and we were installed in the Landmark Suites in central Manama. Very comfortable and about 5 times the size of our Vietnamese rooms-Bedroom bathroom,kitchen,living rooms. There was no one on the streets during the day because it was 43 degrees and Ramadan. Most of the shops were closed. After the fast was broken each day at sunset it was more like a soccer match-thousands on the streets and every restaurant full until about 3 AM and the Mosques bulging and the ever present call to ... read more

Hi Friends and Family Just thought it easier to post pics of our new Apartment here rather than clogging the internet capillaries....... We lurved our 3rd floor apartment BUT the traffic noise was diabolical. Seems #32 is the apartment people move in to before they move higher up to avoid the noise!! The previous tenants to us did exactly that. The Apartment management are sneaky tho, they say "We have an apartment available on the 3rd floor (closest to traffic) but thats unavailable to view today, but we can show you an identical apartment on the 11th floor" Anyways - I moved us with multiple trolley loads during the day so when Jude came home, She just slept in a different apartment than she left in the morning! Fortunately the furniture is all the same, so ... read more

Bring on Twenty Ten! Well, after a fantastic break in Chiang Mai, we eased back in to life here in Bahrain - a change of currency, back to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, and, for Jude at least, WORK! We have managed to have some fun tho, “as you do” when away from home and friends, we tend to knock around with fellow expats and share birthdays, etc - and “socialise with selected refreshments” when appropriate. One outing recently was to the Horse Races - held every Friday over “winter”, remembering our weekend is Fri/Sat, back to work Sunday. Entry is free, and it gave us the opportunity to pull on some glad rags (why do we call them glad rags? More likely they are glad when we take them off) and head ... read more

Seasons Greetings Friends and Family We have just 3 sleeps left til we skidaddle off to Thailand for 18 days or so, - Jude can’t wait! - and I'm also looking forward to a change of scene, some more warmth (22C here - and 30C there) - and hopefully some riding….. Bahrain is really quite small - maybe 40 km’s long and skinny, so when hols come around, most people take the opportunity to take off. With some new air routes being added by various airlines, there are some bargains to be had - for example, a return flight to Dubai for $NZ85! Evidently Hotel prices there are cheap also given their wee ‘crash’ recently. We have been doing some exploring on the weekends and amusing ourselves while the temps are conducive to outdoor activities. We ... read more

Our trip to Bahrain was an unexpected bonus during my sabbatical. My brother-in-law lives in Bahrain and as luck would have it, we had enough frequent flyer points with Emirates to score a return trip from Amman for JOD 36.15 (AUD 56.89) each, flying via Dubai. Tourist visas for Australians are available on arrival and cost a measly BHD 5 (AUD 14.25) each. The line up through customs took a little while (about 1/2 hour) but was trouble-free. My brother-in-law met us at the airport and we were welcomed by the warm weather. We stayed in a new suburb of Bahrain in a three-storey apartment situated on a lagoon connected to the nearby sea. The water was perfect for swimming, but there is also a pool as part of the apartment complex. Although we were only ... read more