Our excellent Tour guides from Mad Bastard Tours inc. (NOT Fat Bastard Tours as first stated 🤭) took us on another sight seeing tour of Bahrain City Centre, with the air con on. Life is soooooo tough when its 28 degrees ... in the shade! On our way in we passed a sign for the Pearling Path. Sadly its not easly accessible for Wheelchairs but you can read about it here and here its fascinating. Well I enjoyed reading about it anyway, and one day i shall return and do it.
First stop a sports shop to replace the flawed orange bag. This time we've gone for a boring blue, industrial strength backpack with a substantial 10 year guarantee. This means we will have to travel for another 10 years to make sure we get our moneys worth, and test the guarantee promise. To be fair she's a substantial beast, and is more roomy than the flawed one. We even have a rain coat for it with its own storage pouch. The excitement is real!!
The Mall is huge, with every shop you would expect to see in the uk, including Debenhams and Marks and Sparks ! Christmas is coming but instead of a Black Friday sale it's a white Wednesday Sale which amused me greatly. Lots of lovely Christmas lights are up which pleases me no end and it was nice to have a mooch about.
Inside one of the entrances, there is an awesome stand that rent out cuddle carts which are push along cars for kids. I imagine there are more than just the one rental place, at least I presume they are for rent. Could be free for all I know!! We'd left Bob keeping an eye on the motor, so unfortunately he missed out on a photo opportunity. soz Bob.
There is constant building and construction going on in Bahrain, despite the fact that a lot of the buildings are empty. The majority are massive high rise buildings and the majority of them have unusual architecture with really clever engineering that are seriously impressive.
The Bahrain World Trade Centre (BWTC) is one of Bahrains first Intelligent buildings that incorporates wind turbines into its design which help reduce the overall power consumption of the building. Its located reight at the centre of the financial district, is instantly recognisable and adjoins a luxuary high end shopping Mall. I'm pretty sure we wouldnt get a backpack in there for less than the cost of a high mortgage... Just behind the BWTC is the lovely Bahrain Bay, a residential and business area with some rather nice looking eateries. Mad Bastard Tours inc. took us to FM Location Restaurant and cafe for a lovely lunch. The menu is a mix of middle eastern and westernised foods, and all very very tasty. The surroundings are lovely, and service is excellent. After lunch we took a boat trip around the bay, its a short trip, but is recommended as you get to see some of the more interesting buildings close up with little obstruction. Life jackets are supplied and are not optional. No complaints from me on that front! Alternatively you can take a trip in a donout shaped inflatble thing that is engine powered. Not for me thanks. After our boat ride we returned to the car to find we needed a tin opener to actually get in it. Some loon had parked so close there was no way we could get in. How Rude. Dave climbed in over the passenger seat to reverse out so we could all get in. There are Parking Wankers the world over.
Our next stop was the Arad Fort which is located by the sea behind Seef Mall. There is a small entrance fee to get in and you could probably be in and out in 20 mins (I'm guessing) with sunset being the best time to visit. Once night falls the Fort is illuminated. The Fort is a 15th Century Islamic Fort and is well preserved. It was built using traditional Islamic building techniques (palm trees and coral limestone found on the beaches) There is a path around it, and up to it, but we didnt do it for various reasons. It was nice to see some of the history of the Kingdom. I love that word, Kingdom.
On our route from Muharraq Island we drove along palm tree lined roads, and saw a stunning statue of an eagle. At the next set of traffic lights a waterfall. so much beauty adorning the roadsides. Whilst sitting in the traffic, there was a small child standing on a front seat (i think) of a car and hanging out of the sun roof. I kid you not. The children are not requirerd to wear a seatbelt, although adults are. Can you imagine getting away with that at home? You would end up with a visit from social services! Also pets dont need to be secured. either. Dai and Caz were in traffic a while back, and in the front seat of a car in front of the were two small fluffy dogs, hanging out of the passenger window, ears flapping and tongues drying out in the wind. As the driver took the roundabout, one of the dogs flew out of the window! I believe the dog was ok and had been clipped by the car on its way by!
Time was ticking on and after managing to avoid most of the traffic we returned to Dai and Cazzies in time to watch the sunset on their balcony with a cool drink. For the peeps who know me, you know how much I love sunset and sunrise, there is something very special about them. Expect to see a large number of sunset and sunrise photos in future posts. Sorry not sorry.
Due to heading to Dubai early in the morning we packed and had an early night. To keep our clothes organised iIpurchased packing cubes from amazon. We used the larger ones of the set and in hingsight the smaller ones would have probably packed into rucksack better. When we pack for Mumbai we'll see if it's better to not use the cubes. Although, I do love the fact that everything is nicely organised and it keeps everything together., mine are pink (obviously) and Si's are purple. just becauser. They're also brilliant for keeping dirty clothes and shoes seperate from the clean stuff.
Bob is back in the Rucksack pocket, the mesh one so he can breathe ok and we are ready for the next leg..
Much love Flairey. x
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