TBK Travels - My staycation in Bahrain, Part two

 

I love this picture, taken at Arad Fort

In the end I produced an eBook with my designer friend, Chester, which I will give you the link for at the end of this Blog. That will give you more details and photos from my vacation in Bahrain ( stay-cation). 

From Al Najma club to Grand Mosque

I decided to try and walk twice a day but Summer was on its way with temperatures around 34 degrees in May. It was also during Ramadan so you could not drink water in public from sunrise to sunset so that was pretty difficult. When it was too hot I wrote the eBook, chatted to my friends on line, updated my scrapbook and wrote more blogs. I started taking naps in the afternoon and having massages in the evening. So typically my vacation days would look like this:

3.30 am awake ( still cannot stop that even on weekends and vacations) and have coffee and make bed etc. ( yes, I make my own bed in hotels!)

4.30 am chat on line to friends in USA ( 7 hrs. behind us) and Philippines ( 5 hrs. ahead of us) 

5.30 am head off for a walk- went to a few beaches, and Bahrain has several walking trails like from Al Najma sports club to the Grand Mosque or at Arad Bay.  

Walking around Bahrain in Cov 19

The lovely thing about Bahrain is the sun rises at 5 am and that's the coolest and quietest part of the day, and then it sets at 6 pm and goes dark very quickly. So most Bahraini's exercise from 5 am for an hour before work and at 5 pm after work. I work 7am - 3.30 pm and the Bahraini's ( in Ramadan) from 7 am to 1 pm. That way then can rise at 3 am to eat Suhoor and pray before the sunrise. Then at 7 am they go to work and then go home at 1pm to catch up on their sleep. Then they wake up at 5 pm  ,exercise, pray and break the fast at 6 pm , and then spend time with their families ( although there is less of that in 2020 due to COV 19) and celebrate the Holy Month until 3 am. The shops ( those that are open) and restaurants ( take away and delivery) are open from 5 pm to 2 am usually during Ramadan. 

Two Bahraini's exercising before the sun set

Where my life as a Westerner differs from those who follow Islam is that after my walk at 6.30 am or 7 I have breakfast while I am on Vacation. Then I would upload my photos, write the text for the eBook, or read / have a snooze etc. 

Salad, Quiche and Perrier water from Alosra for lunch at the Ramada

Around lunchtime I would eat again and on vacation I tried to stick to fruit or salads. Luckily there were supermarkets open selling this so I would go and buy a small quiche and salad , or some Melon, Hummus, Lebanese bread etc. and eat in my hotel room.

The map Chester created of my walks

In the afternoon I would usually read the paper or have a nap ( wish I could sleep at night instead of the day) and finally head out at 5 pm for my evening walk . In the first week of my stay-cation I would try and start each walk where the previous one ended, so I was slowly walking my way around the coast of Bahrain. However this is not always possible ( for example when you get to Seef Mall Muhurraq the coastal path disappears) so then I would go to other places to walk like Arad Bay ( a 3 km track around a tidal Bay with Mangroves by the airport). When friends came to join me on my walks I would try to take them somewhere they had not been so Jake and I walked on Al Jazeera  and Malkiya beaches and my Thai friend and I went to the Tree of Life and to Bussatein, Malkiya, Karabad ( Seef)  and Al Jazeera beaches . 

Malkiya Beach, my favourite, Photo by Jake

Finally around 7 pm I would return to the hotel for dinner ( usually collecting a take away after the walk) and then have a massage and fall asleep around 8 or 9 pm. I also used the chance of being on Vacation to catch up with my many friends who live in the Northern part of the Island ( At that time I lived in the south) and so had tea, cake, lunch or dinner with Coco, Corleen, Joshua, Lee, Daryll, and 3 Thai friends during my two weeks off.

Coco comes to help with the scrap books

I will end this blog here and add some of the wonderful pictures I took on my walks and give you the link to the eBook. Unfortunately we didn't work out how to make the links work in the blog so you will have to copy and paste it into your browser!

E book link: https://online.anyflip.com/dhzzg/icwi/mobile/index.html

In the next blog I will tell you about the second week of my vacation where I moved to an apartment in Juffair which is where the American 5th Fleet is based

Until then this is the British Kubayan signing out after reminiscing on his 2020 staycation in Bahrain 

Until the next time - Ingat , Kita Kits!