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Published: January 27th 2007
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I had no idea what to expect from our two and a half days in Bahrain, and now that our time there is over I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. Our decision to spend a few days in Bahrain was fairly random--when booking our flight to India we had a layover in the Bahrain airport, so we decided to extend it into a couple of days' stay out of curiousity. Bahrain is a very small island off the northern coast of Saudi Arabia. It is in fact connected to Saudi Arabia by a long bridge, which we didn't know until we got here. Our first impression of the country was disappointing; it looks a whole lot like Miami at night, or Chicago plus palm trees. Very urban, littered with American fast food restaurants, full of skyscrapers and cars. The whole place smells faintly of oil. We had booked hotel reservations at the Metropolitan Hotel, which boasted a view of the ocean, so when our cab driver pulled up at a high-rise in the middle of the city we thought we were in the wrong place. Turns out it was the right hotel, but the "view of the
ocean" meant we could see it faintly in the distance when standing on the roof/pool deck. When we checked in we were told that the pool was open for another half hour, so the first thing we did was put on suits and head to the roof for a swim... It was already dark and the pool was absolutely freezing, but we both jumped in for a couple of seconds, which was actually refreshing after a full day of traveling. In order to get to the pool we had to pass through the exercise room, and I'm pretty sure the man working there thought we were insane for wanting to swim (it was probably 60 degrees F out).
We asked at the front desk for recommendations of places to eat, and the man suggested MacDonald's. We asked for another idea, and he said there were many restaurants right across the street, so we went to find something. There were indeed a lot of restaurants--aside from MacDonald's there was also a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a Subway, a Popeye's, and a couple of fast food Chinese places. So much for authentic Bahrainian food, whatever that might be. We ended
up at Pizza Hut. After dinner we decided to go to bed early to catch up on sleep, but realized that the sounds of the pumping American pop and dance music from the club downstairs were way too loud for sleep. We called the front desk to ask how late the music continued, and he assured us it would only be another half hour. It ended up being at least an hour, maybe two, but we read and talked for a while and eventually made it to sleep.
Our first day's impression of Bahrain was that, aside from about half the people being dressed in traditional Muslim dress and the signs being written in Arabic, it was nothing different from an American big city. No one was particularly friendly the first day, and we got a number of unfriendly stares. We went to bed disappointed.
The next day ended up being better. We slept in longer than we planned, and when we got up around noon we went out to take photos and try to get a feel for the city. The sky was bright blue and cloudless, and it was pleasantly warm out. Walking around the city
during the day, my impression was of a place that had been overdeveloped. There were tons of buildings but most of them seemed to be empty. We passed an entire mall complex that looked brand new but there were no stores inside... not enough businesses to fill it, and not enough people to shop there, it seemed. There were surprisingly few people out on the streets, also. With the huge bright white cement buildings and the empty blue sky, Bahrain struck me as strangly empty and almost desolate. Some people were very friendly and smiled at us, but others just stared. The majority of women had their heads covered, a small number wore full burkas, and a few were dressed very western. I had debated covering my hair, but seeing other women with theirs uncovered I decided I was most comfortable wearing very conservative clothing but leaving my hair uncovered. I think--and hope--that I didn't offend anyone. It seems we did offend one person at least, just by existing... When we sat down to eat lunch (at a cafeteria-like place near our hotel, for lack of better options) a man eating near us took one look at us and stood
up immediately and left, his food still steaming and nearly untouched. Not that I don't understand hatred for America--our President has represented us horribly to the world--but it was shaming and frustrating to have someone (and probably others, who weren't quite as obvious about it) hate us for simply being American. I hope the damage done by Bush can be eventually reversed.
That evening made our visit to Bahrain worthwhile. We stopped into the bar in our hotel for a drink and to play pool, and ended up meeting two men from Saudi Arabia. One was named Nasa and I unfortunately don't remember his friend's name, but both were extremely friendly and we ended up talking with them for hours about politics, religion, traveling, and many other things. Both were dressed in traditional Islamic dress (which was interesting, considering their being at a bar, but they explained that they were not extremely devout). We had great conversation with them, especially about politics and the war in Iraq... Despite our completely different backgrounds, we shared very simliar views about politics. We were able to ask them questions about life in Saudi Arabia, and they asked many questions about us and
our way of life. We ended up seeing them again the next morning, and talked with them again for a while. Meeting them helped us feel more comfortable in Bahrain, and answered many questions we had.
The next day we took some pictures of the city and then packed up our things to check out of the hotel. We had one more disappointing cafeteria lunch, then caught a taxi to the airport. I'm in the airport as I write this (although I'll have to upload it later, in India), waiting for our 1 a.m. flight to Delhi. We arrive in Delhi around 7 a.m. their time, on their Republic Day, which I believe is their independence day celebration. Apparently there is a huge parade in the center of the city, and many of the monuments and stores will be closed. Not the greatest day to arrive, but we had no idea when we booked our flight. We have been emailing with an Indian man named Harmeet, who we met through couchsurfing.com, a website that allows travelers to meet each other and offer guidance to people coming to their city. He has great reviews as a really helpful and accomodating
guide for people going to Delhi, and so far he has been fantastic. He even booked a hotel for us when our other one fell through a few days ago. He is planning on meeting us for dinner tomorrow night when we get in, and will give us suggestions for our stay in India. It will be really nice to meet a local to help get us settled. India is, in a way, our first real destination--Amsterdam was more of a vacation, and Bahrain was sort of a random detour--and I'm very excited and a little scared to arrive in a country so crowded, colorful and completely different from anything I've ever seen.
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bahraini
non-member comment
so sorry lol
I apologise on behalf of Bahrain for giving you a bad first impression. Lol I guess its kind off your fault for not doing some research before coming to Bahrain; but your right Bahrain isn’t tourist friendly when you have no idea where to go. The country is spending a lot of effort on developing and upgrading the current hotels to provide better services to tourist. You see up until now most of Bahrain’s tourists are made-up of Saudi driving down for the weekend to either have a couple of drinks or prostitution; mostly both lol. Now we are trying to shift the attractions from girls to the many unused wonders on this island. There are forts dating back to 3000 b.c. largely empty; that are being converted to museums recognised by UNESCO. There is Hawar Island to the south of the country that is a heaven for bird watchers being home to large populations of rare birds. Seafront developments are currently being built with great beaches. I truly recommend to wait four year and visit www.bahrain.com and plan a new trip to our island. Bye bye