BH: Day 2

Day 2 started around 8am with a breakfast at the hotel's coffee house, Al-Nafoora. The breakfast was just bread, butter, jam and tea/coffee - egg will be different charge.

After breakfast, we went out walking arrounding the Bab-al-Bahrain area. Visited a so called "Tourist Information" at Bal-al-Bahrain which turned out to be a souvenir shop. I bought a postcard to send to myself -> every where I go, instead f buying postcrd or any other souvenirs (fridge magnet is a must), I will mail myself a postcard from that country.

Then, we walked to the "souq" - hoping to see the traditional souq. However, I fond myself in the Rantau Panjang type five-foot path stores. It's nothing traditional at all. All the workers are from south asians and items on sale are clothing, bags, kitchen utensils and alike. I was a bit frustrated actually.

Then, on the way back to teh hotel, we stopped by at Ethnic Craft shop. First step into the shop, some handicraft Made In Thailand are on sale, further inside, we found out the word ethnic actually refers to Pakist4n cottage industries.

Went back to the hotel and requested for a late check out. We were only granted one hour extra. Since it was enarly 11am, we decided to check out straight away.

After freshen up, we went to Bahrain Fort. According to Zal, this fort is listed in UNESCO list. For what, I dont know. The fort is very near to the bustling Seef area. I have to admit that this fort is a bit different from other forts tht I have visited. The fort is pretty huge and we just made a round by car before stopping in front of the main entrance - just to see what inside it.

On the way back, stopped by at Bahrain Mall and then went to Al-Faleh Mosque - the Grand Mosque. The Grand Mosque is not as huge as Oman's Grand Mosque, but worth a visit. The only difference I noticed is the separation of teh ablution area/toilet from the main building. Al-Faleh's ablution area is situated around 100 meters south west from the main building.

After jamak prayer, we drove towards the airport. We have agreed to return the car before 3pm and we have less than 40 minutes to do so. Bahrain is not big, so we have plenty of time. However, we have not had unch yet and this local joint "Jasmi's" apparently very popular here. There is one nearby the airport, but time was not on our side. We needed to rush to return the car. I remember when I stopped by at BAH before, there's Jasmi's in the duty free area. Hope it is still there..

We reached the airport around 2:45pm, returned the car and proceeded to departure level for check in.

Well... thats end the weekend to Bahrain. Nothing much to see, just like Qatar. But it is good to visit other countries while you are in the region.

~ MT @ Bahrain
~ BAH Int'l Airport, Muharraq

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

BH: Day 1

Our first stop after picking up our car was the National Museum. It is the first stop from Muharraq Island if you cross from the middle bridge. Sorry I can't remember to bridge name. Too lazy to open the map :-)

It costs 500fils per person to enter the Museum. Bahraini Dinar is broken into fils. BD1 = 1000fils.

There were six different section opened. The Natural History section was closed for unknown reason. We spent around 45 minutes at the museum learning the early era of Bahrain, previously known as Dilmun and later Tylos before been known now as Bahrain. It was an eye opening experience to learn the history of each country you visited. Before this I didn't know that Bahrain has very interesting history.

After the museum, it's time to go through the map to find the hotel. I have booked the Oriental Palace Hotel via the Asiatravel website for for RM220 per room incuding breakfast. To find the hotel, our key landmark is Yateem Center. Apparently, according to the (non-updated) Lonely Planet book, this is one of the well known center in Manama. Yeah right.. it was empty when we paid a visit the next day ;-)

Almost all the lanes around Bab-al-Bahrain are narrow and one way street. Enough only for one vehicle to pass by at one time. As compared to other Gulf countries that I have visited, I noticed there are not a lot of Filipinos in Bahrain. Hmmm... wonder why.....

Steping into the Oriental Palace Hotel is like stepping into 1970s era. From the deco, colour and the overall architecture, you can say that this hotel is too shy to embrace the new world.

After checked in, we went straight looking for food. We ended up having late lunch at KFC near Bab-al-Bahrain, a walking distance from our hotel. After that, we walked around the area and snapped few photos before went back to the hotel to freshen up.

Later, we drove to down south of Manama - hoping to find A'ali, a pottery center for Bahrain. Luck was not on our side and we could not find any pottery place despite being in A'ali area. later we were told that this cottage industries are home based. No wonder we could not find any place at all. Proabably it is Friday - everything is closed. We gave up and drove to nearby area to visit Riffa Fort. It was an easy find, thanks to the sign boards available along the street. As per any other forts in the world, it has the same design. Hmmm... wonder whether the same person designed the forts in the world during medieval time... hehehehe

I don't really know how to appreciate fort architecture, same way I don't know how to appreciate paintings. So, for me, it was merely a visit to fill up the itinerary. Being there, done that kind of thing :-)

Since we have more time before the sunset, we decided to drive further south to the Bahrain International Circuit. We passed by Bahrain University on the way to the circuit. Snap some photos and then we drove to the north towards the King Fahad Causeway to catch the sunset. According to the Lonely Planet (again), we should enjoy the sunset while sipping coffee at the Causeway Restaurant. So, that was our plan.

Paid BD2 toll, we drove along the causeway until the border. It was a beautiful sight, only on the way to the border. The causeway Restaurant is no where near what Lonely Planet said. Paid BD1 to go up to the observation deck. The weather was a bit hazy and we could not really see the Saudi side man-made island. From the view on the top of the tower, the Saudi side has more excitement. There are McD, Hardees and the island is bigger than the Bahrain side. Well, the causeway was built by Saudi using their funds. Of course they have every right how to design it :-))

We spent around 30 minutes there before driving back to Bahrain Island. On way back, we stopped by at Seef Mall. No visit is complete without a visit to the shopping mall. :-) After the mall, drove back to the hotel to freshen up and then went out to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Bought few souvenirs for friends and had a filling steak dinner there.

On way back, Zal decided to visit another fort on Muharraq Island, Arad Fort. Unfortunately we could not find it, probably due to lack of sign boards. It was already around midnight, we drove back to the hotel and dozed off until 8am the next morning....

~ MT @ Bahrain
~~ Oriental Palace H0tel, Manama

~ To Travel Is To Disover Oneself ~

QA: Next Weekend Plan

Next weekend, am going for a trip to Bahrain. This is part of teh visa run series that I have todo. Last time, when I was on business visa, I have to do this every three months, now since I am on tourist visa, I am doing it bi-monthly.

At first my plan to stay 2 nights in Bahrain. However, since BH could not come, I decided to spend only one night, leaving DOH on Friday morning and returning Saturday evening. I invited Zal to join me.

Plan to stay at cheap hotel within walking distance to area of interest (read: souq, malls) but the regional/local hotels are pretty expensive. Might as well stay at inernational brand hotels. Right now, still contemplating whether to rent a car or not since I was told it is hard to hail a cab in Bahrain.

Anybody in Bahrain? :-)

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~