Our drive on the "freedom bridge!" -- the 21 mile causeway between Saudi and Bahrain. There are 6 check points to pass through along the way. A little glitch was created by the inept-ness of the processes (or lack of process) within Jim's company and it caused us to get turned back at one check point due to one missing piece of paper that would enable us to bring our car out of Saudi. So, we parked our car back on the Saudi side and got a taxi ... We were grateful that it happened on Wed. afternoon when there were still people in the office who could get the mess sorted out in time for us to enter with the car on Saturday on the way to the Bahrain airport for our trip to Paris!View out of our hotel window when we finally arrived.
Our hotel has a private beach with such high salt co
ntent that you couldn't sink if you tried. We tried.
And the sun was setting over the bay ...
Outside the fabulous museum. Truly a splendid place -- small but rivaling British museums, even, in quality. We must go back. We came back to the area in the evening for a concert. Equally fabulous. 7 male vocalists. A cappella. In Latin, French, and some Arabic. Amazing. They even sang many sacred Latin pieces with words that I didn't think were legal in a
muslim country. But, hey, Bahrain is called the "Las Vegas" of the middle east -- very open-minded!
The ceiling in one area of one of the many amazing malls.
Jim is ordering coffee and tea at ... get this ... Caribou Coffee!
Minnesota's influence is far-reaching! ;)
Floating ... effortlessly!
All in all, our trip was AMAZING! We've decided that we'll come here at least once a month, especially in months when we're not going elsewhere. We saw Inception in one of many movie theatres (theatres are illegal where we live). Oddly enough, it's the only movie I've seen in a theatre in many, many months and I've seen it in two places -- I saw it with my sis in Anchorage. Jim hadn't seen it. It was great to see it, again! The malls played music very tastefully. It was actually nice to hear music, even canned music, again. (Public music is illegal ... live and canned. Even not supposed to listen to it on car radios, I guess.) And that abaya? The tradition is to take it off while still in the car, on the causeway, as soon as passing immigration and customs stops into Bahrain! :-) Shopping without it was delightful! and being able to use a dressing room -- a treat! We saw quite a few black-tented, eye-slitted women. We've been told that most of them are Saudi women who are shopping with their husbands on the weekend. Bahrain is clean, modern, friendly ... the driving is smooth, safe, with drivers being incredibly polite (even as they speak derogatorily against the drivers from "that" place!) What a treat to see women behind the wheel ... maybe I should organize a group of gals to come over in a company bus for a day? We could rent a car in multiple names and take turns driving -- no shopping, no eating, just driving! :-) Crazy, I know!
Yes, that's my leg. No, it's not permanent. It's henna. I had it done at our ladies' meeting/brunch a few days earlier in our compound. Henna painting is extremely popular in this region. Proof, once again, of everyone's desire to have an individualistic voice. The popularity of the tradition is in direct proportion to the lack of freedom of dress, lower freedoms = higher henna painting.
So, I decided to post more photos from the ladies' event. I
didn't take pictures until most of the women were gone 'cuz you can't just take photos of women in groups -- you have to ask each person's permission. These are some of the more liberal women from countries in the area. Lovely gals! The final shots include the amazing artist. Notice her hands, she dips the tips in a bowl of henna and holds still for 15 minutes! She does all of her work free-hand, quickly assessing the style of the woman before she begins her work. It kinda emerges out of her mind as she works. Notice how conservative and subtle mine is compared with those of the gals who were more accustomed to getting the painting done and are from other countries in the region. It would really bug me to have it on my hands, I think. But hand painting is guaranteed to be seen even when the woman is in an abaya with face covered and all ... curious, isn't it? How we long to have our "voice" heard in an setting ... fitting in even while our voice is heard ...
