Bahrain

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Once again, I found myself in Bahrain... but now visiting not only Shawn, Augusta, and Kai... but also Quinn, my newest niece. She is a very cute baby. We are still trying to figure out which features she got from her mom and which from her dad. She definitely has Shawn's feet and fingernails. But she also looks a lot like Augusta did as a baby.

The last trip in April it was hot (but not Bahrain summer hot). This time it started out very chilly
-- I was told by one of the locals that it was the coldest he could remember it being in the past 25 years--but eventually it got up to the low 70s.

We stayed a total of nine days. A lot of that was spent going around to the malls and shopping. The malls in Bahrain are very modern, clean, and have a very good selection of stores. We also went to the Souq a few times. I had two more three-piece suits made and also bought six tailored shirts (at $12.50 each... with hundreds of fabrics to choose from 😊.

We also celebrated another Christmas. It was a lot of fun... Kai still hasn't quite gotten the hang of unwrapping presents, but once we got him tearing the paper away, he seemed to enjoy it.

My mom, Shawn, and I also went night golfing at the Riffa Golf Club. Now, on a desert island how good can the golfing be? Well, actually it is very good and quite the challenge. Shawn definitely won the night, and my mom played surprisingly well for her first time playing golf. However, there aren't really any typical roughs. There are regular tee boxes, fairways, greens, lakes, sand traps, and fringes. But beyond that it is solid desert earth. http://www.riffagolfclub.com/

Another day my mom and I decided to venture out on our own on the 266 square mile and 27 mile long island (which has numerous roundabouts like England, except that they drive on the right side of the road) . We started out heading west. Along the way we almost went through the entrance to the bridge going to Saudi Arabia, but a pulled off and went back the wrong way for about 50 yards to get on a side road. From there we headed down the west coast.

We ended up going through numerous little villages and a one point heard the call to prayer pretty clearly. The south side of Bahrain is pretty desolate... lots of open desert. Eventually we made it to Al-Jazeer beach where we stopped and walked around for a bit. It was a nice day to be out and about, but the water would have been too cold to swim in.

We then headed up the middle of the island past the Bahrain International Circuit (Formula One - http://www.bahraingp.com.bh/) and the King's Palace, which has a massive flag of Bahrain flying over it. Somewhere in the middle we also stopped at a Fuddruckers (yes, there are actually two in the Kingdom) to have lunch.

Other than that, we spent a lot of time playing with Kai, holding Quinn, and spending time with Shawn and Augusta. It was a great second trip to Bahrain and it kind of felt normal to be there.

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Photos

Celebrating Christmas - 11
Father and Daughter

Kai
He is now, I think, officially a toddler.

Celebrating Christmas - 4
Shawn changing Quinn's diaper

Kai and Me - 2
It was so great hanging out with him. Though, he does wear me out because he just goes and goes and goes...

Celebrating Christmas - 10
Kai loves to line up his cars... and he does a really good job to... pays attention to detail and lines them up facing in the same direction.

Our "Parking" Space
I think this is outside of the Seef Mall. It is a holiday and very busy, so we got this corner spot. :)

Bahrain Building - 1
Not sure what this one is named.

Al-Jazeer Beach - 8
Ah, I miss elementary school... I used to love climbing on things (even on top of the school). Actually, I still like to climb things. :)

Comments

[muneer]

hi
this is nice pic and you willcome any time to bahrain best regard muneer bahrain

[Celeste]

Cool!
So, do you think it would be boring to start a travel blog for monthly trips from Branson to Columbia :)? I occasionally venture to Springfiled for shopping...