Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 17:36:29 GMT 7
So I thought I would make a short post about my recent (and first) trip to the Kingdom of Bahrain and include some pics for anyone that's interested. As I am now in a top secret neighboring nation, it was only about an hour long flight and it was an abbreviated transit. On a Thursday (end of week here), I got off work around 3 pm, was home by 4pm, was at the airport by 5pm, was on my Gulf Air flight by 6pm, and eventually arrived in Bahrain at 7:10 p.m.
The airport was pretty much like any other airport, but the arrival, immigration, and duty free experience was world class. [The bottle of Jonny Walker Red certainly met and exceeded my expectations in the coming 48 hours]. Outside in arrivals, I was to be met by a driver arranged through a friend...and he wasn't there. After a period, I was finally able to get ahold of him and met him in the parking lot, where we were then on our way. One word about the taxi drivers in Bahrain, they are scum. Taxis are overrpriced, and if you have no wheels, you will be at their mercy.
Quite a proportion of the METERED taxis over the course of the weekend would quote a rate of "Meter PLus 1 BHD". I think that kind of defeats the purpose of a meter, but if you question them how they can charge meter plus one, you will get a response along the lines of, "Because we can..." Anyways, along the path to my hotel, I asked the driver the price. He noticeably paused and then replied, "5 BHD" That is about $13 USD for a 10-15 minute drive along nice paved streets. I replied, "My friend told me the rate is 3 BHD", to which he smilingly replied, "Hmm up to you, as you wish".
He got 3 BHD.
Anyways, soon I was in my hotel room, showered up, and met up in another room where a couple of friends had already arrived. We caught up for a short time and went to a well known bar called Diggers. The bar was supposed to be a pretty rocky place full of live music and broke down whores, yet it was simply full of broke down whores and a giant screen playing footie or some such nonsense. The whores were mostly of the Chinese variety, with some Thais, almost all over the age of 30, some definitely over the age of 40, and NOT lookers for the most part. Almost every one looked like the had been around the block and missed a few turns along the way. The only great looking one was a Chinese girl who looked more Korean and who had flown in on Dubai on a visa run.
The reason for the lack of live music and (as I was to find out) more subdued atmosphere in Bahrain is that the government is trying to do an image makeover. They have prohibited booze being sold at 3 stars or less hotels and stuck their finger into the pulse in other ways. This has led to (a) the lack of live music I mentioned and (b) quite a bit of construction going on, which is essentially an attempt by the "lesser" hotels to upgrade to 4 star or above status, so that they can begin to sell booze again!
Anyways, after a period of time in there, I moved on with my cohorts and tried to track down an Ethiopian place that I had heard about. Just as we got there, everyone was spilling out due to the reduced hours. It was only about 1:30 am, but god were the people a mess. One girl was being carried out by her friends and was just in a right state. This led to the best joke of the weekend.
[Upon seeing this girl, one Arab guy says something to another and everyone howls. Another Arab translated it. The first guy basically said, "Of course she is broken down-made in China!"It was a Chinese girl. ]
After this, I headed back to my buddies car...so he could drink straight from a bottle of tequila he had stashed there and TOOK A CAB back to my hotel. The next day consisted of a trip to the market, a nice hotel bar, a local shopping center (Geant), drinks in the room with my buddy and a workmate who had flown his Columbian gf in for RnR, and then it was off to a Korean restaurant and some pork.
The meal was great and it was also a very "lubricating" experience, complete with beers and soju. From there it was off to the usual suspects, a skybar (I think named The Skybar ), some weird Arab place with whores who had completely immersed themselves in Arab money, ahem, culture, and I was off to bed again.
As this was just a weekender, it was now my day to depart and I had planned to treat my buddy to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet in Bahrain. Pretty much as soon as I saw him, however, I didn't know if that was going to happen. His eyes were just swimming at checkout and the only notable thing he said was, "I need to hit the pharmacy". And the second notable thing was actually when I told him that he should have showered and he would have felt better, to which he replied, "I already did..."
Since I had a late checkout, we decided to go drop our bags back in my room, play some tunes, and finish off the bottle that I brought. The trip to the pharmacy was replaced by a trip to the corner store for mix, and we were both back in the game and with a clear head before late checkout at 2 p.m. Since we decided to pass on the buffet, we instead decided to hot the golf course, where we could have some drinks and he could inquire about membership. The place was nice.
It had older white meat eyeing us "young stuff" up, expensive (but at least available) drinks, and a good atmosphere. For the next few hours we hang, and then I was off to the airport, on my flight, and back to the "real world".
*cough*
My general thoughts and impressions of Bahrain were that it could be a "whatever you make it" place. It has the dirty bits, but also nice places (golf course), and probably everything in between. If people live in Saudi, it is a no-brainer to get out there for a break. It is even worth flying in or doing the drive from slightly more distant parts. For those considering flying in to "just see the place", I wouldn't bother. I found Dubai to have better bars, hotter (and more broke down if that's your thing) whores, more reasonably priced taxis, and just a more interesting all-over feel.
All that said, I will probably make the place an "every 60 day destination" and would even consider flying my gf in as my work buddy did. It is still worth it for what it is and for what it offers...
From another place but a good read.
The airport was pretty much like any other airport, but the arrival, immigration, and duty free experience was world class. [The bottle of Jonny Walker Red certainly met and exceeded my expectations in the coming 48 hours]. Outside in arrivals, I was to be met by a driver arranged through a friend...and he wasn't there. After a period, I was finally able to get ahold of him and met him in the parking lot, where we were then on our way. One word about the taxi drivers in Bahrain, they are scum. Taxis are overrpriced, and if you have no wheels, you will be at their mercy.
Quite a proportion of the METERED taxis over the course of the weekend would quote a rate of "Meter PLus 1 BHD". I think that kind of defeats the purpose of a meter, but if you question them how they can charge meter plus one, you will get a response along the lines of, "Because we can..." Anyways, along the path to my hotel, I asked the driver the price. He noticeably paused and then replied, "5 BHD" That is about $13 USD for a 10-15 minute drive along nice paved streets. I replied, "My friend told me the rate is 3 BHD", to which he smilingly replied, "Hmm up to you, as you wish".
He got 3 BHD.
Anyways, soon I was in my hotel room, showered up, and met up in another room where a couple of friends had already arrived. We caught up for a short time and went to a well known bar called Diggers. The bar was supposed to be a pretty rocky place full of live music and broke down whores, yet it was simply full of broke down whores and a giant screen playing footie or some such nonsense. The whores were mostly of the Chinese variety, with some Thais, almost all over the age of 30, some definitely over the age of 40, and NOT lookers for the most part. Almost every one looked like the had been around the block and missed a few turns along the way. The only great looking one was a Chinese girl who looked more Korean and who had flown in on Dubai on a visa run.
The reason for the lack of live music and (as I was to find out) more subdued atmosphere in Bahrain is that the government is trying to do an image makeover. They have prohibited booze being sold at 3 stars or less hotels and stuck their finger into the pulse in other ways. This has led to (a) the lack of live music I mentioned and (b) quite a bit of construction going on, which is essentially an attempt by the "lesser" hotels to upgrade to 4 star or above status, so that they can begin to sell booze again!
Anyways, after a period of time in there, I moved on with my cohorts and tried to track down an Ethiopian place that I had heard about. Just as we got there, everyone was spilling out due to the reduced hours. It was only about 1:30 am, but god were the people a mess. One girl was being carried out by her friends and was just in a right state. This led to the best joke of the weekend.
[Upon seeing this girl, one Arab guy says something to another and everyone howls. Another Arab translated it. The first guy basically said, "Of course she is broken down-made in China!"It was a Chinese girl. ]
After this, I headed back to my buddies car...so he could drink straight from a bottle of tequila he had stashed there and TOOK A CAB back to my hotel. The next day consisted of a trip to the market, a nice hotel bar, a local shopping center (Geant), drinks in the room with my buddy and a workmate who had flown his Columbian gf in for RnR, and then it was off to a Korean restaurant and some pork.
The meal was great and it was also a very "lubricating" experience, complete with beers and soju. From there it was off to the usual suspects, a skybar (I think named The Skybar ), some weird Arab place with whores who had completely immersed themselves in Arab money, ahem, culture, and I was off to bed again.
As this was just a weekender, it was now my day to depart and I had planned to treat my buddy to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet in Bahrain. Pretty much as soon as I saw him, however, I didn't know if that was going to happen. His eyes were just swimming at checkout and the only notable thing he said was, "I need to hit the pharmacy". And the second notable thing was actually when I told him that he should have showered and he would have felt better, to which he replied, "I already did..."
Since I had a late checkout, we decided to go drop our bags back in my room, play some tunes, and finish off the bottle that I brought. The trip to the pharmacy was replaced by a trip to the corner store for mix, and we were both back in the game and with a clear head before late checkout at 2 p.m. Since we decided to pass on the buffet, we instead decided to hot the golf course, where we could have some drinks and he could inquire about membership. The place was nice.
It had older white meat eyeing us "young stuff" up, expensive (but at least available) drinks, and a good atmosphere. For the next few hours we hang, and then I was off to the airport, on my flight, and back to the "real world".
*cough*
My general thoughts and impressions of Bahrain were that it could be a "whatever you make it" place. It has the dirty bits, but also nice places (golf course), and probably everything in between. If people live in Saudi, it is a no-brainer to get out there for a break. It is even worth flying in or doing the drive from slightly more distant parts. For those considering flying in to "just see the place", I wouldn't bother. I found Dubai to have better bars, hotter (and more broke down if that's your thing) whores, more reasonably priced taxis, and just a more interesting all-over feel.
All that said, I will probably make the place an "every 60 day destination" and would even consider flying my gf in as my work buddy did. It is still worth it for what it is and for what it offers...
From another place but a good read.