Whirlwind

*Click photos to enlarge

Gentle Readers,

I have just returned from a weekend in the Kingdom of Bahrain with Sara and Max. Its a small Island nation in the middle of the Arabian Gulf maybe 20 miles across. This little jaunt was, I consider, the pinnacle in my beginning to enjoy the thrill of extreme spontaneity. Thanks to a generous transportation agreement, we were able to decide where we wanted to go when we got to the airport so long as we gave our crew ample time to prepare for the journey. We decided upon Bahrain which was the original plan.

The "World" islands off the coast of Dubai as seen from above

Poor quality I know, but being in a moving vehicle at nighttime is not conducive to taking photographs, the new world trade center building in Bahrain will be self sufficient thanks to these wind turbines and photo voltaic cells lining the entire building.

We arrived around 630pm on Thursday and had a vehicle waiting for us which took us to a villa that had been made available for our stay. Per Sara's Uncle's suggestion, we went to a restaurant at the Ritz-Carleton called Trader Vic's. It was right on the beach and had amazing food. Naturally, I went for the duck breast again which has become my favorite meal. After the meal we went to a club called BJ's which was quite interesting. The music was a flashback to 1993, and while people complained about the music selection we all secretly enjoyed a trip to the past. I mean, who WOULDN'T enjoy a good dance to Jock Jams Volume II?

The living room of our house in Bahrain

Cars at the Saudi border. Which of these does not belong??

On the Causeway to Saudi

The next day, we drove around the to see what it had to offer and went for lunch and sheesha. The evening brought dinner at the Island's most exclusive lounge with Sara's Uncle. Again, amazing food and drinks. The Dom and Crystal was free flowing in that place.

Sara with her uncle, our gracious host Mohammad

Yesterday, Saturday, we did much of the same. We ended up at a yacht club and had the most amazing seafood meal of my life. Squid, oysters on the half shell, mussles, hamour, lobster, the whole works.

Saw this in a mall, and though it will only mean anything to three people, I couldn't pass it up.

At the yacht club. Our car and seafood restaurant on the left.

Bahrain, though it does not have much oil of its own is heartily supported by its close neighbor, Saudi Arabia. Since its Independence in 1971, Saudi has sent millions of gallons of oil to the nation free of charge in order to buy its support. It is widely known that this agreement was made by the Saudis so the Iranians could not do the same which would procure a militarily strategic location for the Iranians, with whom none of its Arab neighbors are comfortable with.

Saudi Supported Oil refinery

In a last hurrah at the airport, the Dom Perignon made another appearance before catching our plane.

In other news, today is also bringing unknowns. Holding true to the spirit of spontaneity, this afternoon I'll either be making my way to the country of Oman, or I might be taking off with Max for Azerbaijan for a week or so. We'll be making up our minds in a few hours I suppose.