Bahrain

chillibreeze writer — Janet George

Need an editable PowerPoint map of Bahrain

It’s so tiny that you wouldn’t be able to spot it on many world maps. And yet, I assure you, it exists. Considered a tiny pearl, it’s made up of many tiny islands all linked together. It is the tiny kingdom of BAHRAIN.

Its closest known neighbour is Saudi Arabia. So, you may ask, if it’s so tiny, is it really worth talking about? Why bother? Well, for many reasons, the least of which is that, in its very minuteness lies its beauty.

Bahrain comprises a group of islands that are connected to each other by bridges or causeways. (I’m not giving you the statistics or the geographical details; you can always ‘Google’ that and find out for yourself! What I am trying to do, though, is to give you a resident’s view of the place and tell you why I think it’s a place worth visiting!)

Bahrain is ruled by the Al Khalifa family...an old, old nomadic tribe that won its claim to the land from the British a long time ago. The main wealth comes from oil reserves and the pearl industry.

I believe the best time to see the place is during the month of Ramadhan (especially if you’re not fasting!). You can set out of your hotel / apartment at around 3.30 or 4.00 in the afternoon, when most people are resting at home, getting ready to break their fast in a couple of hours. The streets are sleepy and quiet, the shops are shut, the restaurants are closed and there is a comfortable silence in the air!

Get into your car (it’s easy to hire one) and just drive (maps are easily available) out into the desert...see the famed ‘Tree of Life’, where the Biblical Abraham was said to have rested. Or explore the burial mounts in A’ali. If you are more interested in the old forts, it’s not difficult to arrange for a local guide to take you around. Walking in and out of these old ‘beauties’ that are rated as ‘tourist spots’ immediately makes you feel you’re in another timeframe, another world where loyal warriors, using their ancient weapons, defended what they believed was their rightful property.

The childhood home of the old king is now open to the public...walking through it, you can almost smell the spices they used and hear the cries of the ‘mullah’ as he called out that it was time for prayer. You might want to remember that the people of this land did a lot of trade with India in the ancient times so much so that many of the older locals speak Hindi fluently; even their currency has “baisa” as part of the vocabulary. You will see traces of many Indian customs, habits, traditions that got mixed with local practices - the evidence is clear in these old ‘spots’ as well as modern day Bahrain.

And the beaches!!! Oh the beaches!!!! You are certainly spoilt for choice. You can have your pick of the ‘civilized’ beaches with paved walkways leading you all the way into the sea or if you can drive a little farther out (about 40 minutes from the heart of the city) you will reach the Zallaq beach...untamed sea with sand that stretches farther than your eyes can see... with its own little cottages that can easily be rented. You can spend the whole day there, even a night or two, have a barbeque on the beach, swim, play music and dance on the sand and enjoy a completely different world for a little while!

Speaking of driving, another interesting fact about the place is that it takes a maximum of two hours to drive from one end of the country to the other! This may seem a bit of an exaggeration for those readers who need a whole night to travel from one end of their city to another!!! But it’s certainly true!!

A tourist also needs to shop, I hear you wonder. Again, you have plenty of options to choose from. The huge (‘huge’ by Bahrain standards) commercial shopping malls sell international branded products.

But if you really want a taste of Bahrain when you shop, you have to go to the ‘suq’ (market place)- that’s one of the oldest authentically traditional places of the land. The entry to the ‘suq’ is called ‘Bab Al- Bahrain’, literally, the ‘door of Bahrain’ (a long, long time ago, this was indeed the place where ships berthed and thus the name!). Put on your walking shoes and walk through the maze of shops and narrow streets. You won’t know where to look and what to buy. Vendors standing on the doorsteps, calling out their ‘prizes’, tempting the wandering buyers - clothes from different parts of the world, shoes, toys, little trinkets that you can’t identify with but at the same time can’t help adore!

Deep in the heart of this confusion is the silver suq, a treasure house of rare finds...Persian silver, Indian silver, shells, pearls, gems of all imaginable colours and sizes, set in silver, gold, cheap, expensive...there is a price to suit every buyer. The best part of the process is the haggling. It’s a game that you play (and hopefully enjoy) with the salesman. You might find yourself being served a cup of tea so that you can concentrate on the process of bargaining and deciding on the right price. At the end of a purchase, I have often left wondering who enjoyed the bargaining more!

I haven’t mentioned the camping or the sailing or the horse and camel rides or the newly developing islands that have to be explored... but that’s another story!

Dear reader, if you find that you can spare 2 – 3 days, perhaps enroute to some other place, I would strongly advice that you pop in and pop out of this “pearl” in the middle of the sea and discover some Arabian magic of your own!

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JGS believes that everything happens for a reason; even if you can't figure out what that reason is! Oh! and she enjoys playing with words too!!

Bahrain

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