Thursday, November 30, 2006





Girls weekend out!!! Destination: Bahrain

A favorite nearby getaway for expats living in Kuwait is the small island Kingdom of Bahrain. It is situated in the Arabian or Persian Gulf (the name changes depending on which ethnic group you are talking to!) off the coast of Saudi Arabia. There are TWO ways to reach Bahrain if you are a single male, but only ONE way to reach it if you are a single female... If you are a single male, you are allowed to drive through the kingdom of Saudi with minimal problems and a four hour drive. You would cross this causewaywhich bridges Saudi and Bahrain, one of the world's longest such structures. The red tower is on the Bahraini side of the causeway, and the green marks the Saudi side. We took a midnight ride on the Bahraini side, and of course turned around halfway across, because women are STILL not allowed to drive in Saudi NOR are they allowed to be in cars with men to whom they are not related (except for their employed chauffers). So my girls and I flew to Bahrain, which still takes four hours. It's just a lot more expensive than driving!




My favorite hotel in Bahrain is the Novotel Al Dana Resort. It's quiet, has a beautiful swimming pool, the service is generally quite good, and the buildings themselves which comprise the resort are designed in the traditional Arabian style of architecture complete with wind towers. This is the view from the balcony of our room at night.









We celebrated Dianne's birthday (funny, she never did tell us how old she was!!??) at a fabulous restaurant called "Upstairs, Downstairs." It is designed to look like Bourbon Street in New Orleans and has live jazz music on the weekends. We were lucky enough to enjoy a Bahraini band playing Calypso music the evening we dined.




The birthday girl gets her groove on!!!













After dinner, we visited one of Bahrain's famous "souks," or traditional shopping areas.

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