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Published: December 24th 2008
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A sunday walk through Hampstead Heath
Yvette, Dom and David take in the beautiful autumnal leaves and fresh air by anna (and david) Catch-ups in London Having only spent a fleeting weekend in London for Ascot in June, we wanted to spend a bit more time there catching up with some friends. It was great to be able to stay with Yvette and Dom in their new apartment and do just that.
While Spain had cooled down a lot before we left, the London weather was still a bit of a shock. There was snow on the ground from the night before when we arrived and it was cold and rainy for a lot of the time we were there. This was a great excuse to stay in and chill out though.
We spent the time while everyone else was at work catching up on some emails and planning, then in the evenings we had drinks with the L.E.K. crew
(I'm looking forward to hearing how Gordie's fireworks show went) and a few others who could make it, and dinner with the chicks and blokes (hithermore the A list and B list). David took in a football game at Crystal Palace
(Chris kindly organised the trip to Selhurst Park in the outskirts of London for my first ever soccer game in the UK. Being The Championship it was a real grassroots experience - no glamour clubs involved just genuine fans braving the wet, cold and windy conditions. The result was a hard fought draw followed by a few quick pints in the local while we waited for the train), while I had brunch and went shopping with the chicks. The next day, Yvette and Dom took both of us for a Sunday ramble in Hampstead Heath before a hearty Sunday Roast at a cosy pub.
Great day with Yvette and Dom which concluded at their place with us watching Lewis Hamilton winning the F1 title in amazing circumstances that evening. Overall, our few days were really relaxing and it was great to catch up with everyone.
Culture shock in Bahrain Spending a weekend with our friends Alex and Dan is always a blast but this trip took the cake. Our hosts took the week off work to show us their adopted home and met us at the airport early on Tuesday morning. We were thrilled to be back in warm weather and headed straight for the pool as soon as we got there.
Al and Dan had recorded the Melbourne Cup for us to watch (we were mid flight when it ran), so once dry and changed we kicked off the few days with some champagne watching the race.
(I obviously appreciated this part immensely!) This was a fitting start to the week, which was simply sensational - fantastic food, either cooked up by Dan or at one of the very mod restaurants built for the wealthy expat market, some lovely wines, warm weather and a fascinating environment
(not to mention the guys beating up the girls in a few rounds of 500). The week was somewhat hard on the liver though - it's almost as if we were staging our own protest against the anti-drinking regime (although the Bahrainis won too - high taxes mean alcohol is about twice the price it is in Aus).
The mission to buy some beer and wine was an adventure in itself. The shop(s) were relegated to an industrial estate in a dodgy part of town, with little signage. They can't sell alcohol to anyone who appears Muslim, so the distinguishing characteristic of the bottlos seemed to be the cars parked outside with Saudi
Dan bringing in the contraband beer
While we could buy beer in Bahrain, it wasn't considered the thing, so everything is put in unmarked plastic bags men sitting in them waiting for someone to run in and buy their alcohol for them. It was like they were a bunch of 17 year olds ... very amusing ... as was the fact that even the cases of beer were put into big black plastic bags so that the 'goods' weren't seen on the street.
The supplies were put to good use by Dan and I after we outlasted the girls during the US Election coverage - I managed to see Obama claim victory after an all-nighter at about 8am Bahrain time. Al and Dan took us for a drive around pretty much most of the island to give us a good feel for the place, and even organised a place for us both to get a much needed hair cut, a novel event in a year of travel
(and a shave for me but I knocked back the face massage - thanks Dan for shouting me - another first for me).
On our last day, we "did brunch". Brunches are a big weekend thing in Bahrain, with most of the hotels offering a fixed price spread. Dan had to work unfortunately
(even moreso because the previous night was the third consecutive big night in a row - not sure how he survived the day), so Al took us to the Novotel (the nicest Novotel I have seen) where we met a couple of friends. The meal was great - fresh seafood cooked up on the BBQ, sushi, salads, schwarma and champagne. A great way to end a sensational few days.
Bahrain struck me as a strange place of contrasts and contradictions, and at times, hypocrisy - a place of wealth, ever expanding in a barren desert, where foreign investment and know-how is needed and wanted, but where foreigners can't actually own anything, a place where everyone seems full of ambition but things only happen 'inshallah' (god willing), a place where most women wear traditional arabic clothes to cover themselves entirely, yet it is apparently well known where to go to find the philipino prostitutes that Saudi men come over the causeway to find, and the malls are full of shiny new designer label clothes, a place where land is being constantly reclaimed on which to build the most modern and luxurious of skyscrapers, next to villages where donkeys and horses still help in commerce.
I'll be fascinated to return in some years to see how it has changed, to see if these contradictions remain.
Finally, as if to warm us up for the chaos of India, as we sped along the modern highway to the airport in the near dark, we very nearly missed a guy on a horse crossing the road against the lights. Al reacted really well to save us from hitting them. I left Bahrain thrilled to have seen somewhere new but somewhat shell-shocked.
Another brilliant few days where we were looked after like kings in Alex and Dan's palace. We really appreciated them taking the time off to show us such a good time.
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