The Journey: I reached the Bahrain International Airport after a rather enjoyable flight from Mumbai which watched over spectacularly lit-up towns of Muscat and Dubai. I was stopped at the immigration counter and was made to wait for about 45 minutes which scared me a little. The Airport staff was rather rude and refused to answer any of my questions (I personally feel they would've behaved better if I could speak Arabic). My uncle managed to communicate this problem to the higher authorities and my passport was finally stamped with a Welcome to Business Friendly Bahrain stamp.
Bahrain airport, at least the part that I have seen so far is smaller and quieter than Sahar. My uncle, aunty and their helper had come to pick me up. After filling a rather empty stomach with Fried Chicken and Rice, I resigned myself to my first night overseas that consisted of a long chat followed by some much needed sleep.
Day 1: I visited two places this morning - Fateh Mosque and The Museum of Bahrain. Fateh Mosque was definitely the better one though the museum was worth a visit too. This Mosque was bulit in 1973 and is the largest Mosque in Bahrain with a capacity of about 3000 people at one time. It's a soothing place with friendly staff always ready to show a newcomer around. Fateh Mosque is a beautiful structure embellished with Italian marble, French lamps, Indian teak wood and a ravishing Austrian chandelier.
The museum is much smaller and cleaner than Prince of Wales, it was virtually empty, in contrast with almost everything in Mumbai, and was well-maintained. A Palestine art exhibition surprisingly looked interesting to me.
After a short visit to a local market where I bought Chicken Puffs and a Turkey Sandwich from, I went home and lunched. We - me, uncle and aunty - relaxed and discussed what happens in the US though none of us had ever been there.
In the evening, me and my uncle went for a walk in the whereabouts of Umm Al Hassam. This walk told me a lot about the country of Bahrain and its attitude. It's a hopelessly laid back yet fresh, attractive town. Life is slow. People (men) meet up at Sheesha (hookah) shops and chat over sheeshas and various board games. The shops were well-planned and the density of the restaurants and good looking shops was quite high in the area that we covered walking. This place reminded me of Goa, of course barring the alcohol and tobacco.
The restaurants were predominantly South Indian, Chinese, Italian and North Indian. There were also densely placed Arabic eateries which serve Shawarmas, Chicken and Salami sandwiches and Hamus. I then went to a sheesha shop with my uncle where I smoked a double apple hookah. It was perhaps smoother than, or at least as good as, any other hookah I have smoked so far. The coffee was good too. People in these places were friendly so far. One thing that I could not miss noticing was that there wasn't even a single girl or a woman in the hookah shop, although it gave me an impression of being an ideal college hangout. My uncle says that's quite normal in Bahrain.
I feasted on Lamb at the dining the table, and then followed time to another interesting session of random chat with uncle and aunty, and then to write my first international blog.
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