“goozi” and some very good art
I have returned from my short trip to Bahrain, safe and sound. Despite the fact that I was going on business and not pleasure, I really enjoyed the visit. Sadly one night is not long enough to get a true sense of a place but I liked it nonetheless. Bahrain, or to be very correct, the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island in the Persian Gulf, joined via a 25km bridge to Saudi Arabia in the west, and a planned fixed-link (which will be the longest in the world) will link it to Qatar in the south. It’s a a mere 55mins by air from Dubai, not counting all the unavoidable “hurry up and wait” time at the airport of course. I was warmly welcomed by my airport transfer guy, which was gracious of him considering that the flight had been delayed by an hour and he had been waiting for me a good while by the time I arrived. The first thing I noticed on leaving the airport was the weather, definitely cooler and more temperate than Dubai. Happily the trip to the hotel took all of 15 minutes, there is certainly less traffic in Bahrain, and nothing seems very far away. The chaps in the local office told me they even pop home at lunch time, it is that quiet and that close. The hotel I was booked into was on the beach once but as they have reclaimed some land in front of it now you get to look into a construction site. You can still see the sea in the distance but that part wasn’t great. We had a good meeting with our customer, well I think we did, and then we went to the mall for lunch. I stumbled across a local fast food spot called the Yum Yum Tree. Almost like a deli concept, large dishes of ready made meals on display and they serve you a portion of what is displayed. I didn’t know what was what so pointed at something that looked good and seemed popular with the locals. From the receipt I can now tell you that the dish is called goozi. Yes sounds weird but its very nice, rice with lamb, raw peppers and raisins. I had mine with a Greek salad. Very yummy.
I returned home quite late on Thursday night so sadly we missed the firework display on the palm for the opening of the Atlantis Hotel, but you can see a video of it here if you fancy..[sorry the video is gone (16 Jan 2013)]
Friday we chilled out big-time, on Saturday we went to see an art exhibition Stu had spotted advertised in the Gulf News, mostly because the art done by this young Syrian artist, Sara Shamma, reminded us here and there of pieces done by Andrew, my very talented younger brother. Her pieces in real life are very impressive, a little more than we could afford for the most part, but we have made an offer for this one featured below, hold thumbs.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at home with some friends, had a few drinks and a good chat, and then it was time for the rugby! Happily the Springboks won, resoundingly, and proved to the English and everyone else that the World Cup win last year was not luck or a once-off. After the game we headed out to dinner with some other friends, and to meet an SA couple that are moving up here in January. The meal at the Al Basha restaurant (Habtoor Grand) was ok, nothing to write home about so I won’t bother to bore you with it, but the company was great!
Yes, its a short effort this week I’m afraid. I have loads to do before our trip to London on Thursday. I am SO excited to meet my new nephew, and also seriously worried about the weather there, what am I going to wear to the Christening?
Still no idea!!
Help!