It all started as a bit of a joke- "Can you take some visiting friends around Bahrain?" asked my former colleague , Nathan. In return he promised to buy me lunch. So we met at his house, down the road from mine, ans set off on the Pearling Trail in Muhurraq. As I was showing them around Shaikh Isa House an American lady mistook me for a tour guide and asked where she could find another building in the trail. I had a spare map of the trail and gave it to her. They had great fun and played some local board games, and got some great photos before we adjourned for Sushi at Muju on Amwaj Island.
A few years later my colleague Crystal asked if I could take her Children , who were visiting from South Africa and we headed off to the Tree of life and ended up on Karabad beach as the sun set.
Various other friends have been taken to Bahrain's beaches, forts, markets and gardens like Thang, Ariel, Joshua, Corleen, Gabriel and so on. Corleen got taken on a very long three hour walk to Riffa Fort, Riffa palms and Back to Awali. Thang got taken to Bussatien beach in winter, and others to Karabad/ Seef Beach and Bahrain fort.
Then I had many of my
own Visitors in my 11 years in Bahrain who have all been taken on
Neil's Tours. These have included Jane Frost, twice, My brother Richard,
twice, Phil and Di once ( it would have been twice but for COV 19, Self
Quarantine and British Airways cancelling their flight for my 60th
Birthday) and Pav and Jeyboy.
Not all my tour groups have been fully engaged by my long historical lectures on Bahrain!Another MUST for my long staying guests is an overnight stay at Al Dar Island , as you get the place to yourself at night when the day trippers leave, and spectacular sun rises and sunsets with the fishing Dhows heading out to sea.
One of the magical moments on the Pearling trail was when Phil gave us a tune on the piano at one of the auditoriums.
Jane loved Shaikh Isa House , and the opportunity to get out of the sun in the shady passages! She was also my only guest ever to be wined and dined at La Fontaine for which I was rewarded with this beautiful Portrait by Jane back in 2012 in the days when I was still slim and had brown hair rather than gray ( I was still working for Peter then!)
My favourite three ( free) beaches in Bahrain , Malkiya, Busstaien and Seef ( Karabad) are on every tour, usually at Sunset where some magical photos can be taken. I particularly like this one at Malkiya in 2020 when I was showing my new Care Giver, Julz, around the island.
Some of my guests are really grateful when I show them around, others less so. My Brother, Richard, came twice to Bahrain and after the first visit bought me a Sat Nav so I could find my way around!. He eventually sent me some of the photos he took here in 2010 and this is one of my favourites:
Pav visited twice from Dubai and proclaimed "Bahrain was too quiet" for her, but then when you live in Dubai which is like London on Acid that's a fair comparison, and one of the reasons I loved my 11 years in Bahrain. One week she stayed, fro a friends wedding, we ate at home very night ( me cooking of course) and worked our way through her favourites from my 2014 Recipe book. It was in the winter and we managed to get some quality time chatting in the garden on my ( then) new Arabic cushions made my Corleen.
Pav with my home made cake ( opps that went fast!)
Another place that is a must on all my tours is the wonderful National Museum ( and there are some other smaller museums at the different forts and at the Burial mounds at Barbar and the Quran Museum which are all worth a visit). One of my favourite exhibits is of the Quran teacher teaching the small Arabic boys and girls the Quran with a big cane in his hand!
Thang was a bit scared of the cane as he had it a lot at school growing up in India! He was a very naughty boy he told me after we visited the museum. As I am writing this blog and searching through my old photos from my 11 years in Bahrain it is bringing back so many memories of the places I took my many friends lie the Camel farm in Janabiya. I remember when I was taking a photo of Ariel there and the camel wanted to get a little closer so put his head next to Ariel's! He had never seen a camel before!
Crystal's kids loved all the activity at Karabad as the sun set with the locals setting up their food trucks and beach side restaurants, The Donkey rides, and the stalls selling sweetcorn and popcorn etc.
One of our favourite places is the Tree of life ( photo by Phil Gregory) which stands in the middle of the dessert and is one of Bahrain's "must see"attractions! The South Africans also loved witting in the sun there
In short supply in Bahrain are nice Sandy beaches but Phil and Di struck lucky as Marisai beach had just opened and they had not started charging so we paddled in the ( fake) sand there.
As well as the day time tours we also did a few night time tours, until my sleeping habits changed , so I will end with one of those, with Mr Thang ( Movenpick and Marriott hotels Bahrain and then Dubai) at Seef Fort
Thang at Seef Fort at night, when its coolest to walk in the summer
I hope you have enjoyed this Blog as much as I enjoyed putting it together and if you have not been to Bahrain it is well worth a visit, Since Neil's tours closed when I retired to Palawan the Bahrain Tourism authority has now taken over my role as tour guide with their little red vans offering full day and half day tours.
So until the next time ....Kita kits, Ingat....
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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