I recently travelled to Bahrain, which is in the Middle East. It's a tiny little island which is 34 miles long and 11 miles wide. It is so close to Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatar. In fact, when flying out there your flight would be to Doha (the capital of Qatar) via Bahrain. This shows how little it is! The capital of Bahrain is Manama, and I stayed around this region whilst I was there. Here is a map to show this!:
On the 29th of March, 2015, I flew out to stay with one of my best friends from university and her twin sister. They have lived in Bahrain for coming up to 7 years - a long time!. I was unsure of what to expect when flying out there, as I had visited both Saudi Arabia and Dubai before. I kind of expected Bahrain to be like Dubai, only smaller, but it was not like this at all. Instead, everyone lived in compounds which were compromised of huge houses, each with numerous living rooms, large kitchens, and equally as large bedrooms. Each house I visited was fancy, and made me very jealous! The roads were still being developed, with some being completed and others just ending suddenly. At the side of some of the roads would be little pop up shops, which sold fruit, animals or even popcorn. The capital, Manama, was developed and built up, and there was one super mall which was completely developed and lovely. So, to me, Bahrain was just kind of a load of built up buildings and then undeveloped buildings.
I flew out on the 29th of March and took this photo whilst I was travelling. I had a day flight, so it wasn't bad at all. I found myself having to get to the airport around 8.15am, so I could check my bag in and print off my boarding pass - because you need a visa for Bahrain you aren't allowed to print a boarding pass without airport security doing relevant checks. The flight itself is 7 hours from Heathrow if you get a direct flight, which tends to follow on to Doha (in Qatar) when its dropped the plane passengers in Bahrain.
On some of the first days I was there, my friends took me to a couple of bars and this was interesting for me to see as I didn't think that it would be easy to get alcohol in the country, at least not being a female under the age of 21 (although the drinking age is 18, but still..). It deemed easy enough and led to some interesting nights. One of the main things they did out there which I found very bizarre was "Ladies Night", which meant that for a specific price, you could drink as much as you would like for however long you were there.
I also spent a lot of days by the pool, trying to build up a tan which I didn't quite achieve. My friends live in a beautiful home (which can kind of be seen in the image at the bottom), and it was so lovely to just sit around the pool with some music and relax. Our holiday song was definitely "Cheerleader" the Felix Jaehns remix by OMI, as well as "What I did for love" Morten Remix, by David Guetta. Everytime I listen to these songs now, all I can think of is sitting around the pool!
Sitting around the pool led to many 'pool days' and it was nice to be able to meet loads of my friends friends. From going to university every day with someone, you learn a lot about their life and home and their friends and family, and it was nice to be able to put names to faces and create friendships with some of these people as well. The likelihood of me seeing them again is very high!
We also went to a few restaurants for dinner. The first was this beautiful little Italian just round the corner from my friends compound, which we went to on one of my first nights in Bahrain. Out of the compounds, and in public places, you have to be respectful of the culture and the way they dress. This meant that I ended up wearing my leggings a lot (which I had been warned about) with a t-shirt which covered up my shoulders. However, when going to the bars, hotels or restaurants, this dress code wasn't strict, nor fully necessary, so whilst still dressing respectfully, it was okay to still wear playsuits and dresses.
Another restaurant we went to was a place called 'Traders" which had an extortionate menu, and was absolutely delightful. They have these restaurants all around the world, so if you ever come across one I would definitely recommend going!
On the first Friday I was there, my friends decided to take me to something they called "Brunch". I had already been warned about this, but decided to not listen to them and to take on a completely new opinion. Brunch, let me tell you, is held in a hotel. Within the hotel, you pay a specific amount of money and get unlimited food, and wait for it, unlimited alcohol - a selection of cocktails, wine and beer. At one point, I was sitting around the table with a plate of hummus and pitta bread, 4 glasses of wine and a cocktail. Safe to say I didn't quite handle brunch (except I did last till 11.30pm, brunch and 2 bars later..)
On one of the days, My friends mum took me on a tour of Bahrain. Whilst I chose not to go to any of the mosques, we drove past plenty and they looked magnificent. In addition to this, we went to the Souk which was a market place. Inside the alleyways were loads of little shops owned by locals and selling everything you could think of. This was the only place that reminded me of somewhere, and this was Turkey.
We also drove round the Island to see numerous different view points, and this is what you can see in the first image out the car window. A lot of Bahrain is man-made land, which surprised me. There were lots of controversial places, some having lots of wealth which was very obvious, and there were others so poor you could almost see them falling apart any time soon. They had a very americanised road near the army base, with all types of fast food shops and a few bars. This seemed very out of place to me, as the area surrounding this road was not like this at all.
On the 8th of April at 1am, I flew home. This flight time was so unfortunate and wasn't fun, except I did sleep the entire time home so I guess that was a good thing! My poor mother having to come pick me up at 6am from Heathrow Airport was probably not her favourite thing in the world!
Now I'm back at University, just sitting in the library trying to get through the mass of work I have to complete before I break up for the Summer. It probably doesn't help that I've been drunk 6/7 nights for the past week - ey, we all have our own ways of coping!
On Thursday night, I travelled into London and went to a concert at Heaven (under the arches). I went to see an American band named Echosmith, and I had so much fun!! It was honestly one of the most incredible nights of this year and I will be sure to remember it. If you've never heard of Echosmith, please go and listen to their album. You will not regret it!!
I'd love to answer your questions about Bahrain if you have any! In the meantime, I hope the after easter blues aren't too bad for any of you - and for those of you in the UK - Enjoy Bank Holiday!!
Love,
Lucy Victoria xo
