So many Middle East myths exist. My experiences in this region of the world almost always effortlessly debunks them. The Kingdom of Bahrain was a just tad more difficult in one area.
The world’s oldest and ickiest profession, unfortunately, is legal in the tiniest nation in the Middle East. Renting yourself out in this otherwise nice little archipelago in the Arabian Gulf is so common that the many locals hanging out of car windows as they drove by me seemed to indicate that they believed I was a member of the lady of the night club. At one point a man with huge ugly yellow teeth followed me in his gold automobile down street after street for upwards of ten minutes to the extent that I thought he might try to kidnap me. I have never in my life inspired such reactions in casual passersby. This is not the Mid East I know.
These men I encountered on the streets of Bahrain are not entirely representational of the country’s population. For every guy hanging out of the window I encountered ten more as polite and friendly as can be. Onward and upward from the prostitution scene, Bahrain has plenty of prettiness. I spent all of my time on Manama, the main island. On the way from the airport, I stopped at the Al Fateh Mosque, where I took a free private tour. As I looked around the interior, I was amazed when the conversation with my guide veered off into Judaism, Israel and suicide bombers. Outside of Israel, I never thought I would stand anywhere in the Middle East discussing these topics at all, much less without any degree of fear or even discomfort.
I love forts, so I next drove the short distance to Arad Fort. Built by Arabs in the 16th Century, it was soon captured by the Portuguese. As this European country centuries ago seized as many forts as possible to protect their passing ships, Portuguese forts are pretty common in this area of the world. Alas, the Arad Fort was soon ripped from the hands of the Portuguese by the country of Oman.
I also love souqs so I made sure to get to Bab al Bahrain Souq, in the old section of the city, where I entered into the typical Arab marketplace scene of narrow streets jammed with shops with goods overflowing onto the streets. Even for a non-shopper like myself, souqs are always a fascinating, and quite scenic, experience.
In my opinion, Bahrain doesn’t offer much in the way of sights or things to do. I found myself floundering after several hours. It was during this time that I discovered the city/state does have some interesting and delicious food. I stumbled upon many large sweet shops filled with tiny treats. I didn’t want to buy anything sweet, but I got to taste a bit anyway when a man behind the counter at Saadeddin Pastry cut a piece of a coconut delight in half for me to sample.
I also found Melh al Zaad, the oldest Iranian restaurant in Bahrain. Here I ate an Iranian dish called dholma, consisting of grape leaves wrapped around minced meat, rice and spices. It was delectable. My waiter told me I was making a cataclysmic error by not taking a taxi out to see the Tree of Life. Standing all alone in the desert, how this 400-year-old tree manages to live is a total mystery to everyone. “This is the one thing you should see in Bahrain,” he said, as I was munching down on the dholma.
I had written off this Tree of Life when I learned even the relatively cheap hotel transportation to and fro would cost approximately $30 round trip. Now I struggled briefly with my decision. I’ve traveled around enough to know, though, precisely how I would feel if I were to go see this lone tree in the middle of nowhere. I would regret the expensive taxi fare the entire way, be repelled by the never-ending brown desert landscape, and finally, upon my arrival at said tree stand and look at it for one minute and take two photographs. I decided to stick to my decision, save the money and see more free sights instead.
great post, uv put it on the hit list for me
johnny recently posted..The Benefits of Studying Abroad
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 06:41
I’m glad to hear that, Johnny. It’s not a bad place
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Hi there,
Sorry about your bad encounter with some tourists in Manama! I think you didn’t get the REAL Bahraini experience especially since you limited yourself to parts of Manama.
Nearby Muharraq (where the airport is) has a much better and more traditional souq and has more historical buildings and beautiful architecture. It also has the Arad Fort (based on your pictures, you went to the Bahrain Fort, not Arad Fort).
How long did you stay in Bahrain? If you are still in Bahrain, I’d gladly give you some suggestions of where to go
Yacoub Al-Slaise recently posted..Lessons I’ve learned from my father
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 06:52
Hi Yacoub,
I’m glad you wrote. I looked online after I read your message, and of course you are right – there is another fort called Bahrain Fort and it does appear to be the one I visited. The fort I went to was very near the airport, as I asked my taxi driver to take me there on the way to my hotel. On my tourist map the Arad Fort is very near the airport and there’s no Bahrain Fort on the map itself or in the legend. In the photos I’ve seen online, though, the actual Arad Fort appears to be not much more impressive than the Bahrain Fort. Do you possibly know why the Bahrain Fort isn’t on the map I have?
And I don’t know about the men being tourists – they looked like locals to me
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Hi. I like Bahrain – spent 6 months there in 1998, working and living there with a female partner who had spent her life there. And she showed me the way.
Yeah, it is small but some other things to do include a number of other forts, beaches, old pearl houses of Muharraq island, an excellent city museum, the Shiite villages, the ancient burial mounds of Ali, the long – 24 Km ? – causeway bridge to Saudi Arabia with the needle-tower immigration crossing on an artificial island.
Prostitution, when I was there, was dominated by Ethiopians and Russians …
Best night out was often drinking with off-duty US servicemen at certain bars …
Regards – MRP | the candy trail … a nomad across the planet, since 1988
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 8th, 2010 at 06:54
Hi Michael – I thought about taking a taxi across the causeway but, again, the expense didn’t seem worth it to just see a border with a country I’m sure I’ve flown over anyway. I was only there for about 30 hours, and I would have seen more if I’d had more time
Funny – a lot of people in the Mid East are surprised when they hear I’m American – they think I’m Russian. Uh-oh.
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lol I guess you would say they looked like locals but you could tell where they were from from their car license plates, now not to say all Bahrainis are angels but most likely your encounter was with a Saudi tourist.
I think the map you received was pretty old. Up till recently the Bahrain Fort was under heavy renovation and was still under expedition digging up some of the old towns surrounding the fort thus wasn’t ready nor safe for tourists to visit.
Yacoub Al-Slaise recently posted..Lessons I’ve learned from my father
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:00
Thank you, Yacoub, for clearing up the mystery of the Bahrain Fort. I might have never known if you hadn’t told me.
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i am loving your posts about the middle East. they are very informative and your photos are
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:01
Thanks a lot, Zablon. It is a never-endingly fascinating part of the world.
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A similar thing happens on weekends near beaches in Dubai, I can say almost every car that has harrassed me has had Sharjah or RAK plates. These guys come into town to cruise the beaches and oogle foreign girls on the weekends… plus my friend in Saudi says it’s a bit of a hobby for some people to cross the causeway and cruise around Bahrain of a weekend…
The dholmas seem to be very similar to a dish my grandma makes (except she uses cabbage leaves or a stuffed pepper) and that post has me wishing I had a plate right now!! I was talking about these with a colleague & he’d said to me that it sounds like ‘dholma’, now I know what he meant
Greta recently posted..Parisian Pink
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the candy trail ... | Michael Robert Powell Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:56
True. Saudis – some males – get a very bad rep. They drive over to Bahrain, take hookers, hassle other women, drink alcohol, be arrogant and throw money around, and get pork – which is forbidden within Islam – labeled and wrapped as “beef” to take thru customs; home.
I know this cos I would get drunk sometimes with a cool Saudi air traffic controller, over for weekend binges … luckily, no crashes to his name …
Regards – MRP | the candy trail … a nomad across the planet, since 1988
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:14
Hi, Greta – I did not know that!! I’ve never been to a beach in Dubai. And yeah, the dholmas I would definitely like to try again.
Hi, Michael – Everyone is telling me the men in Bahrain weren’t Bahraini but Saudi, so I’ll go ahead and believe that
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MRP, you call to mind a photo of a sign in a Saudi ATC centre… or maybe it was Afghanistan. Anyway, I’ll have to find it, as it’ll make sense when you see it…
Greta recently posted..Blog from Bangkok
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Nooooo, how come? I am really really sorry about those men giving you a buzz here.
We locals even have problems with them, they are just sick homeless people, like the ones in NY. Well not homeless but not working just sitting in the streets.
Anyways Bahrain is much more than what you experienced. You missed camel riding, formula 1, waterpark, the new huge mall and just too much. And the great people of Bahrain.
Trust me, they are the nicest. In the future I really hope so you come visit again, give my country a second shot. I can help you out, from touring to rides. Thanks.
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Sabina Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 03:06
Yusuf, thank you! I liked it just fine but didn’t have the best time there, that’s all. I might just return some day
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THE LAST PIC ITS THE PLACE WHERE I SPENT MY CHILDHOOD
I WENT INTO FLASH BACK AFTER SEEING THAT
THANKS FOR THAT
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Sabina Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 03:06
Really? I’m glad I posted it, then
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