Price of gasoline – 100 fils per liter
Price of water (bottled) – 200 fils per liter
Temperature at 12:30 pm – 40*C on the Bahrain-Saudi Arabian Causeway
Bahrain is another oil-rich, turned banking country in the Persian Gulf. Because of the oil, Bahrainis work in the more professional jobs. Like in the UAE, only 20% of the population are native born citizens. The other 80% are workers coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asian and African countries. The immigrants are guest workers who come in to do the labor. All of our tour guides in these ports are what is called “ex-pats” or ex-patriots. They live in compounds with other people from their home country or job affiliation. These gated compounds had fitness centers and a pool. The monthly rent for foreigners is about $4500. Our guide in Bahrain was from Greece and the wife of engineer. They have lived in Bahrain for 26 years. Unlike in the U.S., neither the immigrants nor their children will ever be able to become citizens of Bahrain.
In Bahrain, when a male citizen turns 25 years old, he is given a plot of land and roughly $250,000. This is given by the government.
While in Bahrain, we took the ship’s tour of Ancient and Modern Bahrain were we visited ancient burial mounds (dating back 3000 B.C.) that looked like a 2-3 feet tall pile of sand and rocks. There are over 100,000 in fields throughout this small country. Later that day we saw the royal burial mounds which were right in the middle of a residential/business area. It was a shame to see people living and working so close to these ancient tombs. We also visited a local handicraft center where people showed how pottery, shipbuilding, weaving from the past. This reminded me of the craft areas of Williamsburg. One interesting stop we made was to the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This is a 15.5 mile long bridge connecting the two countries. We were able to go only half way across the bridge, but we did stop, go up into a tower and view the other side. The Saudi side of the causeway had a McDonalds. Interesting info is that we saw a long line of trucks waiting along the side of the road. We were told that to enter Saudi Arabia, each truck had to be searched to illegal products.
Something we learned about the Islamic mosques: The Sunni mosques and minarets are very plain in design and the Shiite mosques are colorful.
This is an interesting part of the world to visit.
Price of water (bottled) – 200 fils per liter
Temperature at 12:30 pm – 40*C on the Bahrain-Saudi Arabian Causeway
Bahrain is another oil-rich, turned banking country in the Persian Gulf. Because of the oil, Bahrainis work in the more professional jobs. Like in the UAE, only 20% of the population are native born citizens. The other 80% are workers coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Asian and African countries. The immigrants are guest workers who come in to do the labor. All of our tour guides in these ports are what is called “ex-pats” or ex-patriots. They live in compounds with other people from their home country or job affiliation. These gated compounds had fitness centers and a pool. The monthly rent for foreigners is about $4500. Our guide in Bahrain was from Greece and the wife of engineer. They have lived in Bahrain for 26 years. Unlike in the U.S., neither the immigrants nor their children will ever be able to become citizens of Bahrain.
In Bahrain, when a male citizen turns 25 years old, he is given a plot of land and roughly $250,000. This is given by the government.
While in Bahrain, we took the ship’s tour of Ancient and Modern Bahrain were we visited ancient burial mounds (dating back 3000 B.C.) that looked like a 2-3 feet tall pile of sand and rocks. There are over 100,000 in fields throughout this small country. Later that day we saw the royal burial mounds which were right in the middle of a residential/business area. It was a shame to see people living and working so close to these ancient tombs. We also visited a local handicraft center where people showed how pottery, shipbuilding, weaving from the past. This reminded me of the craft areas of Williamsburg. One interesting stop we made was to the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This is a 15.5 mile long bridge connecting the two countries. We were able to go only half way across the bridge, but we did stop, go up into a tower and view the other side. The Saudi side of the causeway had a McDonalds. Interesting info is that we saw a long line of trucks waiting along the side of the road. We were told that to enter Saudi Arabia, each truck had to be searched to illegal products.
Something we learned about the Islamic mosques: The Sunni mosques and minarets are very plain in design and the Shiite mosques are colorful.
This is an interesting part of the world to visit.
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