Bahrain!

Last weekend I finally got to escape the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, if only for one day. It was quite a nice change of pace :-) The days events were full of little things and explorations ... and I was given some great tips from some fellow expats on where to go. The first stop was breakfast for some bacon and eggs at Ric's Kountry Kitchen in Jafair, which is just south of Manama. It was a nice little stop with some great  service, decent coffee, and yummy bacon - something I cannot get in Saudi Arabia due to the ban on all port products. The next stop was the City Center Mall, the newest one in Kingdom of Bahrain. It was a nice place where people were far more westernized, although I did hear the call to prayer while I was in the mall. It had plenty of high fashion stores and gave a great opportunity to look at some options for furnishing my cave in Dhahran at some later date - I now call my home a cave since it has virtually no natural light. Anyway, this was all possible thanks to having the car - a nice little Mazda 3 that I rented from Hertz and eventually got the paperwork necessary to travel ... but I am now ahead of myself! I neglected the joys of driving to Bahrain ...

Driving in Saudi Arabia is an experience that many should avoid; you may think you have seen bad drivers, but you have seen nothing! You can be driving along the roads at 100 km/h, which is the speed limit, then have someone pass you like you were standing still - even if they have to use a shoulder to pass. These are crazy drivers, apparently with the highest per capita deaths from traffic accidents!

Now the trip to Bahrain is around 50 km from Dhahran, most of which is at highways speeds. Leaving early has some advantages, particularly since the stores are close to western hours. The last part of the trip is a 26km causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, which is an island. In the middle of this causeway is an island which has customs and immigration for both countries ... the causeway is like this:

1. At the beginning, you stop and pay a toll of 20 Saudi Royals (around US$6) the continue to immigration (12 km down the road)
2. Saudi Arabia customs check. They verify your car can leave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3. Saudi Arabia immigration check. They check if you can leave the kingdom then stamp your passport if you can. This is also where the verify and/or validate your exit/entry visa.
4. Saudi customs checkpoint. This is where they check your car to make sure you are not taking anything unauthorized out of the country.
5. Bahrain customs check. This is checks documents to make sure you have a properly licensed vehicle and such.
6. Bahrain immigration check. Here there check your immigration status and any authorizations.
7. Bahrain vehicle check. Here they make sure you are not bringing in anything unwanted.
8. Bahrain insurance check. This is where you buy auto insurance for Bahrain (unless you already have it) at a price of 20 Saudi Riyals per 3 days.

After those steps, you get to travel the rest of the way to Bahrain - it will generally at least 30 minutes but can take upwards of three hours in heavy traffic! You also get the same experience on the return trip, only reversed.

So after all that, I finally made it to Bahrain, ate well, went shopping then wandered the Manama Central Market area for a few hours, then drove back to Saudi Arabia.

It was a good first visit - the architecture was absolutely stunning and very modern! I will get pictures on my next visit :-)