Blitzing Bahrain…Part 3.

The Chaise Cafe and Art Gallery which belongs to Ahmed's uncle...

Ahmed’s uncle turned out to be an artist of some repute…!! He has two restaurants with the “Cafe and Art Gallery” theme, and is in the process of opening another…

He is also a very keen biking enthusiast, and that is why Ahmed wanted me to meet him…

His passion is for wood carving specifically, and he has a large number of pieces which he has sculpted from driftwood or solid tree trunks that he has imported to work on…

His son showed me around the workshop at the rear of the restaurant, where a employee was busy carving a huge mirror from laminated Oregon Pine beams…A mound of them stood outside the workshop, a playground for a few cats that playfully chased each other up and over the stack…

From up on the catwalk above the workshop, I looked down on the few scattered machines and almost began repositioning them in my mind to make the production flow more smoothly…

“Almost“, I said… Caught myself just in time…!! Furniture manufacture was a thing that belonged in my past… I had spent too long chasing my tail and after 20-odd years, had very little to show for it… Never again…!!

A “Mug’s Game” if ever there was one…!! And that’s all I have to say about that…!!

One of the many "collect-ables" that are scattered throughout the premises... Imagine an RTW trip on this little bike...!!

After enjoying one of the best Beef Burgers that I had eaten in a long time, Ahmed and I said our goodbyes and left… There was still two hours before I was due to check in for my flight to Qatar, and a number of places on the list that I still wanted to visit…!!

All the trees and shrubs that line the highways are watered with recycled effluent...!! Do NOT drink...!!

Our first stop was the National Museum, where we walked past many of the exhibits detailing places that I had already visited that same day…

Entry to the National Museum is via this entrance, guarded from behind bullet-proof windows...!!

This is a branch from the Tree of Life... So we could have got some firewood from the site after all...!!

We spent some time checking out the history of the burial mounds, and then wandered over to look at the lovingly preserved 1934 Buick…

To celebrate the 60th annivrsary of the discovery of oil, this 1934 Buick was presented to Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the late Emir of the State of Bahrain...

The museum is spacious, unlike many of those that are cluttered with row upon row of dusty exhibits of duplicated items…

My advice to museum curators everywhere…??

“One arrowhead or spear or broken piece of pottery is enough to show what the things looked like…!! No need to have fifty identical arrow-heads lined up next to each other… Keep the rest in a drawer somewhere in case the one on exhibit goes missing…!!”

A huge map of the State of Bahrain is inlaid in the floor of the main entrance hall, allowing Ahmed and I to trace our route through the country… I had to smile as I thought how much we had covered in a single day…!!

Normally I would avoid the “Modern Art” section of any museum, as my taste runs to things that I can plainly see and relate to… Splashes of paint on a canvas could have been painted by a retarded Orangutan for all I know and care, but as we still had plenty of time to spare, (according to Ahmed…), I followed him into the section that led off the main foyer…

The first room confirmed my feelings exactly, although the painting in the centre of the three below could have been of a woman, I suppose… But then I wasn’t inebriated enough to be sure…!!

After taking in all the historical exhibits, we went into the Modern Art section of the museum...

Ahmed and I agreed that we could knock up something like this in a few minutes... All that was required was a handful of Amphetimines and a few tins of paint...!! Clearly we had chosen the wrong line of work...!!

Now that's more like it, see...!! Heads, with faces...noses, eyes...everything...!! In this case, past and present rulers of Bahrain... Sheiikh Hamid bin Al-Khalifa, second from the right, and son of the late Emir, is the current ruler of Bahrain. His uncle and cousin are on the right... It would seem from these painting that the current rulers have more access to food than their predecessors had...!!

“There is another fort close by if you are interested…!!” Ahmed advised as we walked back to the car… How he knew this beats me, as by this time, I felt that I was guiding him…!!

Be that as it may, we hurried across the causeway to Muharraq Island and the village of Arad, after which the fort is named… I had read details of the history of the Arad Fort  while in the museum, so once again I was able to tell Ahmed what it was all about…

The Arad Fort, another held by the Portuguese after they invaded in 1622 A.D. ...

Before going on to the airport, we made a final stop in Arad-Hidd...

A Gulf Air jet comes in to land at the nearby airport...

It was built by the Arabs in the 15th century to guard the southern and eastern parts of the islands…

It is a small fort when compared to the far larger Bahrain Fort we had visited earlier that same morning, but built as sturdily as any other…

Cannons were placed on the towers on each corner and the trench which surrounds the fort was in this case filled with water… Wells dug especially for this purpose have been found in the grounds of the complex…

The Arad Fort is one of Bahrain’s better known landmarks, as it is clearly visible from the International Airport… It lies at the foot of the main runway. and as we stood wondering where the gate guard was, incoming jets screamed above us, landing barely a few hundred metres away…

We never did find the guard, so I was not able to see the inside of the fort…!!

We took a short drive into an exclusive development nearby, where Ahmed convinced the guard at the entrance that I was a guest of the Sheikh, and he had been ordered to show me around… I gave the guard a stern look to help our story along, and pointedly looked at my watch…

“What time do we have to meet the Sheikh…” I asked… This got the guard to shrug helplessly and wave us through…

The massive development comprises of half a dozen apartment blocks and an exclusive mall, which is still under construction… Got lotsa bucks…?? That’s what you will need to buy here…!!

I have a small confession to make...!! With all those Saudis popping over on the weekends to sow their oats, I saw a business opportunity that I couldn't afford to pass up...

After a rather hectic day, both Ahmed and I were understandably a bit knackered…!! We had covered most of the attractions that Bahrain has to offer and I had enjoyed the company of this studious young man…

He had quickly caught on to my twisted sense of humour, and by the end of the day had come up with a few gems of his own…!! Most involving the Saudis and there peculiar habits, which I will not repeat here, as they are barely a hundred kilometres from where I am now sitting…!!

"I'll take one of these and two T-shirts...!! Do you have a bag big enough...??"

Nah...!! At nearly R200 000, I'd rather get a brother for the Big Fella...!! Don't tell him I said so...!!

We said our goodbyes at the airport, exchanging addresses and contact details and promising to stay in touch…

I wished him well with his computer studies and his plans for the future… I had enjoyed his company and the insight he had given me into the Bahraini way of life…

Thank you Ahmed…!!

The airport was bustling, but the efficiency of the check-in process saw me through into the lounge and duty-free area in no time at all…

I hardly ever bother buying anything at the duty free counters, as I have discovered that the prices are often higher than that you can get outside the airport, but on this occasion my interest was roused by the Harley Davidson on offer…

I wondered what the point of selling such a large item as a motorcycle was…!! There was also a Mercedes Benz on offer…!! I have yet to see an overhead locker that would fit a motorcycle…!!

Although I did once witness an idiot trying to board a plane with a wooden giraffe that stood a good few feet taller that he was…!!

This is a mechanized model built into the wall of the Duty Free...!! The guys in the boat bend and cast the net every few seconds...!! Strange...!!

An hour later, I was airborne…

And an hour after that, landed in Doha, Qatar…!! Country number 68…!! Things were moving swiftly again…!!

It had been a hectic day, and I could hardly believe that we had covered so much in less than nine hours, including a leisurely lunch that took up more than an hour on its own…!!

It was well after dark that I finally found a hotel that did not sting my wallet too much, and after a quick shower, I was able to test the comfort of the mattress… It must have passed muster, as I was asleep within minutes…

©GBWT 2011