So Long, Farewell

No, that's not fireworks. This is night driving in Bahrain. I thought the photo is appropriate, as I am leaving tonight for home. This will probably be my last post on Bahrain Day by Day. I have kept my blog since arriving in Feb. I missed one day without a new post.
To all my friends and family, we'll keep in touch through conventional means of communication, such as e:mail, snail mail, and telephone. Thank you all for your comments and encouragement on the blog. Good night, for now.

Price of Gas

I'm getting ready to go home for the summer. Collecting a few gifts for family and friends, packing my bags. Wish I could include a couple of gallons of gas for everyone. Here in Bahrain we can fill up our car for about $12.00.

The two choices of petrol grades are Jayyid for Regular, and Mumtaz for Premium. It always amazes me that the gas station attendant must know at least three languages to pump gas!

Pet Souk

A section of the Isa Town Souk has a lot of birds for sale. It's a busy, noisy place on the weekend. Here a couple of boys are handling a small hawk.

There were quite a few parrots perched for sale.

Besides the birds we saw a goat, a monkey, and these bunnies (sitting on top of a cage of chickens).

There was also a Peacock walking around. Check out this short video for the
sound!

A'Ali Village Pottery

Years ago we lived in A'ali Village. The A'Ali pottery is one of the national crafts. The small factory is built on and around old stone mounds believed to be the original communal kilns.

Today we took a look at the old pottery site.

The pottery is still made in the traditional way on a kick wheel where the man's legs are in the hole below the throwing wheel.

Brings back memories of Ceramics 101 at Interlochen!

Here is a short video.

Rain in Bahrain

It is late in the season for us to get rain in Bahrain, but it was predicted, and we have had a couple of overcast days. Today it happened.
One way I could tell that it had rained, were the spots in the dust on our balcony, when I hung out our wash to dry.

It looks like it was wash day for some one else who drives this truck!

Bahrain Friends

Over the years we have made several great friends here in Bahrain. Some of these friends, of many different nationalities, have left Bahrain, and we visit them, or keep in touch by e:mail. Some of these friends are Bahraini, and I hope we will keep in touch with them, too.

Our good friend, Hussein, is the shop keeper, where we bought most of our household items to furnish and embellish our home here in Bahrain....a secondhand shop called Star Auction!

What a funny guy!

And now I'd like to introduce Little Hussein, "Ali" Who was born 2 weeks ago.

Another funny little guy? Congratulations, Mom and Dad.

Portuguese Fort

The Portuguese Fort is probably the most famous Tourist attraction in Bahrain, and has been for 30 years. Fifteen to twenty years ago there was an active French team of archaeologists at the site for several seasons. I believe they discovered many of the items that are now on display in the National Museum. Since that time the Portuguese part of the fort has been restored to show the towers and walls (of the moat), as they once were. The Portuguese conquered Bahrain in 1522, and were a presence until about 1600.

More recently they have excavated just outside the fort walls, and discovered at least two sites, which may have been villages from a much earlier date.