Bahrain
A steady stream of visitors to Amman left me exhausted. From the 21st of December to the 10th of January, I had guests and needed to show them Jordan. It was great fun seeing Eliana, Andrew, Teddy, Miss Petra's four friends, Duncan and Bren, but a vacation for me couldn't come soon enough.
So, off to the gulf for some much needed sunshine and...cultural perplexities. Bahrain is beautiful and weird. I first learned details about Bahrain about ten years ago. I met a girl from Bahrain who complained that Americans thought they wore hajabs in Bahrain. A Tunisian was with us and he said "they don't wear hajabs in Bahrain? I didn't know that. Where the fuck is Bahrain?"
I'm not sure if the Bahraini girl was mistaken or if times have changed, but Bahrain definitely has hajabs and abayas. My first impression when getting off the plane was that I had entered Saudi Arabia. Women were scarce and, when seen, they were covered in black. I decided to walk from the airport to my hotel to get a feel for the city. What some people call Saudi's Vegas seemed like Saudi's Saudi.
Then, I crossed the bridge to Manama and entered not Vegas, but Lahore. Pakistanis and Indians dominated the population. Their restaurants and shops everywhere in the alleys beneith the colorful waved skyscrapers. The food is fantastic, by the way. I've missed Indian food (Amman is a little lacking).
But where was this so-called party? There was noise coming from a hotel lobby so I went in to take a look. All of sudden, there were women. Filippinas, Thais and even Arab women in a abayas lined the bar looking for one thing - customers. Within seconds, the lady sharks saw me and swam toward me quickly. I made my way for the door and it suddenly occurred to me why the hotel reception guy was pushing me get a queen sized bed. I wandered some more and came to an Aussie pub called Diggers. A cloaked smoking Arab sat in front.
"What is this?"
"A pub. Go in, have a beer."
And so I went in. On the stage was a rocking Filippino rock band and at least ten Westerners lined the bar, but, alas, the room was also filled with over a hundred prostitutes. At least twenty tried to get my attention and one purposely bumped into me. I made a speedy exit.
"Not for you?" inquired the Arab.
"Not for me. Shukran."
"Welcome"
The following day, I decided to walk to some of the sites of the island. Unfortunately, the sites were spread out over a twenty miles. Nonetheless, I got some sun and exercise and met some interesting characters along the way. Outside of Manama, Bahrain becomes Arab again and they were all very curious what a foreigner was doing walking along the highway. "You want car? Taxi? It is long way." Shia posters for Hussein that looked like a romance novel cover lined the streets. I saw a fort and some ancient burial mounds. And there was the long serpentine bridge to Saudi which stretched out into the mist.
Bahrain was simply a puzzle - a Sunni ruled land of Shia filled with ultra-conservative acting ultra-liberal. Highly classist with Pakistanis and Fillippinos living under Arabs, yet everyone is so friendly and giving. Just weird and fascinating.
So, off to the gulf for some much needed sunshine and...cultural perplexities. Bahrain is beautiful and weird. I first learned details about Bahrain about ten years ago. I met a girl from Bahrain who complained that Americans thought they wore hajabs in Bahrain. A Tunisian was with us and he said "they don't wear hajabs in Bahrain? I didn't know that. Where the fuck is Bahrain?"
I'm not sure if the Bahraini girl was mistaken or if times have changed, but Bahrain definitely has hajabs and abayas. My first impression when getting off the plane was that I had entered Saudi Arabia. Women were scarce and, when seen, they were covered in black. I decided to walk from the airport to my hotel to get a feel for the city. What some people call Saudi's Vegas seemed like Saudi's Saudi.
Then, I crossed the bridge to Manama and entered not Vegas, but Lahore. Pakistanis and Indians dominated the population. Their restaurants and shops everywhere in the alleys beneith the colorful waved skyscrapers. The food is fantastic, by the way. I've missed Indian food (Amman is a little lacking).
But where was this so-called party? There was noise coming from a hotel lobby so I went in to take a look. All of sudden, there were women. Filippinas, Thais and even Arab women in a abayas lined the bar looking for one thing - customers. Within seconds, the lady sharks saw me and swam toward me quickly. I made my way for the door and it suddenly occurred to me why the hotel reception guy was pushing me get a queen sized bed. I wandered some more and came to an Aussie pub called Diggers. A cloaked smoking Arab sat in front.
"What is this?"
"A pub. Go in, have a beer."
And so I went in. On the stage was a rocking Filippino rock band and at least ten Westerners lined the bar, but, alas, the room was also filled with over a hundred prostitutes. At least twenty tried to get my attention and one purposely bumped into me. I made a speedy exit.
"Not for you?" inquired the Arab.
"Not for me. Shukran."
"Welcome"
The following day, I decided to walk to some of the sites of the island. Unfortunately, the sites were spread out over a twenty miles. Nonetheless, I got some sun and exercise and met some interesting characters along the way. Outside of Manama, Bahrain becomes Arab again and they were all very curious what a foreigner was doing walking along the highway. "You want car? Taxi? It is long way." Shia posters for Hussein that looked like a romance novel cover lined the streets. I saw a fort and some ancient burial mounds. And there was the long serpentine bridge to Saudi which stretched out into the mist.
Bahrain was simply a puzzle - a Sunni ruled land of Shia filled with ultra-conservative acting ultra-liberal. Highly classist with Pakistanis and Fillippinos living under Arabs, yet everyone is so friendly and giving. Just weird and fascinating.
posted by American Dilettante at
1:45 PM
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