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Bahrain Pt 1

636 views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  spetsnaz56 
#1 ·
Well I believe I have been here in country almost 52 hours. Since then I have had the chance to see and/or speak with a handful of people. Below are a few pictures. Most all of my travels have been by car. Tomorrow I begin to travel by foot. I know where to get food, water and beer so far. Brothel location should be known by weeks end.

The flight from Chicago to England was uneventful, as was the flight from England to Bahrain. The only thing I noticed was that the women changed from the "western clothes" they were wearing into their traditional garb.

As a matter of fact, there are a whole lot more pictures I want to take. But, I am not sure what, or how to go about taking pictures of obtuse looking people without getting noticed.

My home for the next 27 days. I have to find a place a "real" place to stay. This falls within the allowance I get, but I would be a transient for the next 6-9 months.









(I haven't smoked a real hooka since 1995 :( )








(How the hell do you use these things. I'm scared to even test drive them :laughing: )






 
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#3 · (Edited)
Like I said, tomorrow I will start travelling by foot and hopefully have some more footage. I have seen quite a few things that have made me laugh. I am not sure if I can get away with taking pictures of them though.

For today's wandering around:



(The wind is strong enough on the south end of the island that it can cover the lanes in the road.)


The tree of life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life,_Bahrain




One of the financial towers in Manama center.




The round-abouts here are nuts. It is a combination of Chicago rush our traffic, less turn signals, copious amounts of "durka, durka" and many, many horns. Throw some LSD into the mix and it would definitely describe the driving here. There is nothing like the sight of an angry arab in full dress (to include head-dress) . He is screaming at somebody in Arabic an waving his fist. :laughing: Anyway, pearl monument is supposed to be one of the worst in Bahrain. You can actually feel the G's as you are looping around, only to look over and see the guy next to you ready to :biker2: loop it in a bongo truck.

Pearl monument/round-about.






Going to the liquor store, or as they call it here, the "bottle store" , is interesting. Though liquour is allowed here in Bahrain, it is not advertised or condoned. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but the scene was mayhem. There is cars going everywhere, the liquor store has zero signs. It is only a door (no name), with posted hours and a security guard escorting you in and out. There were arabs in full dress handing money to (I believe) indians to purchase there liquor. In all honesty it looks like a drug deal gone bad. The thing is, once purchased it can not be seen on the street. Cases, bottles, or cans all have to go into a bag that can not be viewed by anyone else. The only thing I have is apicture of the bag. I hope to get a picture of the liquor store and surroundings. I was a bit nervous doing it tonight. I was the only white guy, non-arab in the area.

Anyway, the bags used by the stores.





Hopefully you guys get a laugh out of this. It is surreal to be living in another country again. I am definitely digging it. Wednesday night should be a good night. I get to participate in a "meet and greet" with a few country managers and the Director of Operations for the Middle East, Northern Africa and Turkey at some local pub.

I've already met a fellow rider from my company. He is going to take me to look at a few bikes once Itad (?), the end of Ramadan holiday is over.

Cheers!

Paul
 
#5 ·
I just started with a major freight forwarding/logistics company as one of their "next generation" managers. I'll be an operations manager initially and then I should become a facility manager within about a year and half, once trained up. It is all greenfield ventures in second and third world countries. I am supposed to be there 2-3 years to establish the facility and then move on. It can be in potentially hostile, non-hostile, or depressed areas. I will be working out of either Eastern Europe (think of the -Stan countries or balkan region), the Middle East, or Africa (either northern or sub-saharran region).

The company's processes are established. Basically they need someone who can pick-up the phone in a possibly shit-hole area and say "I got it" and execute.

Should be a hell of a ride. If all goes well I won't be moving back to the US till I retire.
 
#18 ·
Yeah this place place is quite a bit different from my time in Iraq. When we were in Kuwait my most vivid memory is the wash rack. :thud:

I've always wanted to work internationally. Once I had experienced it in the Army I was addicted. I figure with me being 35, I'll hopefully spend the next 25 years bouncing around the world. We don't plan on having any kids, so that won't be an issue. My wife has already lived in 4 countries, so change is not a big deal.

I have to start looking for a car, they rented me a Nissan Tiida for now. Not a bad little car. It's pretty roomy and even with the A/C on, it can still get around.



LOL, I need to work on my photography skills (or lack of).

Last night when they took me out we went to some brothels. There were LBFM's everywhere. Really not my thing though. Good looking girls anyhoot. They were from the Phillipines, Vietnam and Thailand.

It sucks being without a bike. The 1000RR is in storage with my buddy till I move to my next location. I'll be here less than a year so it really isn't worth shipping here. I've been told I can pick up a decent 250 for about $1000. I'll look into that once stuff settles down.
 
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