Friday, February 13th.
Unfortunately the young Yemeni tennis player told me this morning that he lost yesterday 6-2, 7-5. We boarded the bus at 9 and headed out to the Jaffar Mohammed Al Shughul Pottery Factory. This is the oldest one in Bahrain and we watched as two potters spun different objects and a third guy used the pottery wheel to spray paint patterns on vases. Very talented guys, but who would want to do that for a career? Outside the factory there was a local roadside market that is set up on the sabbath (Friday) and where people buy their produce before or after going to the mosque. I watched and talked to a couple of guys who were scaling and weighing fish that they were selling. Everyone is always friendly and almost all can speak enough English that we can communicate, because I sure can’t speak Arabic. Then we went to see the A’Ali East Burial Mound Field where there are over 2500 burial mounds. The island of Bahrain was used by the ancient civilization of Sumeria as a burial site. They date back to about 3000 BC and apparently most have never been opened. We saw a couple of them yesterday in the National Museum and they showed that the body was buried on its right side in the fetal position. Muslims are buried but never cremated.
As we drove around our guide Abdullah gave us more information about the country: we have 100 cents or our dollar, they have 1000 fils, which is why the prices look like 4.500 for example. He told us that most Muslims won’t eat American fast food because they are suspicious that the animal hasn’t been killed according to Muslim rules and the food is not halal. The Bahrain flag looks very similar to the Qatar flag both of which are white and burgundy, but theirs has five triangles which represent the five pillars of Islam. They have been reclaiming land here for a long time to enlarge their country using sand from the bottom of the ocean and limestone imported from Saudi Arabia. One can only imagine what it does to the environment. In the process they have destroyed several fresh water springs and now all their water comes from desalination plants.
We drove across the King Fahad Causeway, named after a previous Saudi king who paid for the construction of the whole 4 lane, 25 km project that connects Khobar, Saudi Arabia and Al Jasra, Bahrain across the Gulf of Bahrain. It reminded me of the causeway that connects mainland Florida to all the keys on the way to Key West. The Americans and the Bahrainis have a free trade agreement and there is a major American military base in Bahrain that provides this small country with protection from the Iranians. Bahrain also recognizes Israel and its right to exist. They have diversified their economy with the aluminum smelter and banking. Like many of the Arab countries, Bahrain was rocked by the Arab Spring but with American help they escaped the protests without regime change. We also visited the site of the Bahrain Grand Prix but, although we could hear the roar of the cars racing around the track in practise runs, we weren’t allowed to get close enough to see them. In the afternoon we visited the massive Qal’at al-Bahrain, also known as the Bahrain Fort, or the Portuguese Fort, which is an archeological site where excavations have been ongoing since 1954 and have unearthed antiquities from seven stratified layers, created by various occupants from 2300 BC up to the 18th century, including Greeks, Portuguese and Persians. It was once the capital of the Dilmun civilization and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. As always I am amazed at the amount of effort required to build such a fort, and wonder how they did it in the heat and who did they enlist to construct it…
After that we drove to the airport and flew to Abu Dhabi, which is one more hour ahead. The airports in both countries were new, clean, efficient and not busy, a nice surprise. We arrived after dark and had a 40 minute drive to The Royal Rose Hotel, which is much more upscale than the Ibis we had in Bahrain. They have a big buffet dinner at the hotel every Friday which made dinner an easy plan for George. I was in my room by ten and enjoyed the view from my balcony on the 17th floor.
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