Trip to Bahrain

I've had a two day trip to Bahrain this week. Bahrain is part of my territory for business and I've been there 4 times now. It's a slower pace than UAE and seems quite away behind in some ways, but more advanced in others. The place hasn't been developed to anywhere near the same degree, but then I think this has been deliberate. They don't aspire to be like the UAE or it's closer neighbour Qatar. There are now some larger scale developments coming, but on the whole the island has not been overly spoilt by development. Most of the hotels are business hotels, with only really one notable beach resort, although there are many being developed. The Bahraini people are very nice and welcoming and on the whole very down to earth (local people occupy jobs at all levels, including most of the taxi drivers). I usually use a driver to take me from visit to visit, as taxis can be a bit sparce in some areas out of Manama (main city) and I'm not familiar enough yet to drive myself.

I have used the same driver and his brother (Hassan and Ali) each time. This time I was greeted by Hassan with a kiss on each cheek (hmmm this is going to take some getting used to lol). He managed to take me to the wrong place for one of my meetings and we ended up on totally the wrong side of the island. I eventually got to where I should have been (one of the worlds largest aluminium smelting plants) an hour late. This was fine except it made me too late to go to my last appointment before I needed to go to the airport. So I phoned my contact to tell him. No answer. Left and tried again. No answer. So I tell Hassan to take me straight to the airport. Eventually get a text back to say he couldn't make the meeting anyway! Another Middle East no-show - but just as well this time.

One thing you see in Bahrain all the time, but not so much in UAE (although sometimes in Dubai) - Arabs in traditional dress drinking pints in the hotel bars! Bahrain is way more open than UAE and as there is a direct causeway linking Bahrain with the Saudi mainland, it becomes a playground for the Saudi's every weekend. Wine, Women and Song in a dish-dash!