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So if you didn't check out this thread in the general forum, then do check it. So Bahrain (my lovely country) has been named the world's friendliest country by some research. People were asking what is Bahrain? Where is it? Why is it number 1? So I thought of making this blog which pretty much gives you information about my country and what to expect when visiting it if you are interested!
Introduction:
Bahrain or rather "Kingdom of Bahrain" (Yeah we became a Kingdom in 2002) is a small Island country in the Persian gulf located near the coast of Saudi Arabia. Its called the pearl of the gulf because throughout history loads of people tried to take over it because of its strategic location for trade. Today many people consider it a "mini-Dubai" because of the huge growth in commerce and infrastructure. Bahrain is so important to all the gulf countries visit it quite alot during the weekends as it becomes pretty crowded because its the most liberal country in the Persian Gulf (YES! Got that right!).
Quoting from Wikipedia:
"Bahrain is sometimes described as "Middle East lite" because it combines modern infrastructure with an Arabian Gulf identity and, unlike other countries in the region, its prosperity is not solely a reflection of the size of its oil wealth, but is also related to the creation of an indigenous middle class."
"While Islam is the main religion, Bahrainis have been known for their tolerance, and Churches, Hindu temples, Sikh Gurdwara and a Jewish synagogue can be found alongside mosques. The country is home to several communities that have faced persecution elsewhere."
Climate:
Lets just say that in winters the climate is pretty moist and windy due to its location and temperature is around 5-20C (41-68F), while summers are pretty damn hot! 45 Celsius which is equivalent to 113 F!
Culture:
Bahrain has a culture that is a mixture of its old traditional culture and modernized . Its so awesome to live in a place where both of those exist together which allows its people to be one of the most welcoming to any foreigner. You could visit places such as the museum ,souqs(Traditional Marketplace), and historical sites in addition to your regular malls, shopping centers, theme parks, etc. From my experience every westerner that came and visited Bahrain especially loved THE SOUQS ( You can get anything there, they even sell crocodile eggs if you search lol!).
People:
The people of Bahrain are considered the friendliest of all the gulf, I am one of them right :3. Trust me, all the people that visit Bahrain usually find its people very welcoming and hospitable.
Tourisim:
An upward view of the highways of Bahrain
One of four Islands made through land reclamation in Bahrain. Epic island is Epic yes?
Pictures of Bahrain's biggest waterpark, called The Lost Paradise. Pretty fun!
The Grand Mosque is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bahrain, pretty epic and old.
wiki: The Bahrain World Trade Center (also called Bahrain WTC or BWTC) is a 240 m (787 ft) high twin tower complex located in Manama, Bahrain. The towers were built in 2008 by the multi-national architectural firm Atkins. It is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.
If you are into F1 racing, then this might be a really big attraction as this circuit won the award for being the best circuit in 2007! In April, tons of people from around the world come to watch the start of the F1 season!
I miss Bahrain so much =[, even though I am in awesome Canada <3! So I hope this might give you a basic Idea on the country :D! Cheers!
 
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oh wow that's really beautiful. I'd really like the visit that region sometime in my life 
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Incredible, this just put it on the places I want to visit list
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Thats freaking amazing. Thanks for the info and photos!
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Where in Canada are you? Can't imagine you're enjoying this weather  .
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I agree Bahrain is very beautiful and they are building like crazy leading the development in some construction areas. My only complaint is that they destory lots of EPIC corals, that's truley a shame.
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Oh my god. This place is amazing. What a beautiful country. I am definitely going to visit this play one day
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On December 11 2009 10:48 DarkShadowz wrote:
I agree Bahrain is very beautiful and they are building like crazy leading the development in some construction areas. My only complaint is that they destory lots of EPIC corals, that's truley a shame.
Yeah I know, land reclamation is so bad! But the people are fighting against it to save any corals. So Land reclamation is only happening in areas in which scarce corals are not on.
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On December 11 2009 10:46 3clipse wrote:Where in Canada are you? Can't imagine you're enjoying this weather .
I am in London,ON -10 is still not that much of a problem surprisingly xD! I am scared of -20-30 T.T!
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On December 11 2009 10:58 DragoonPK wrote:Show nested quote +On December 11 2009 10:46 3clipse wrote:Where in Canada are you? Can't imagine you're enjoying this weather . I am in London,ON -10 is still not that much of a problem surprisingly xD! I am scared of -20-30 T.T!
Yeah, it was -20 in Calgary a few days ago. There was crazy wind chill on top of it, too. Considering I have no car right now, I've been holed up in residence for the past week, ordering pizza and chinese. xD
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And if I remember correctly if you want to work there, there is no income tax last time I checked :s or it is super low.
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My sister's boyfriend used to live in Bahrain and wants to go back, I see why now this place looks and sounds awesome.
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I use to know a girl who spent summers in Saudi Arabia because her dad worked in the oil industry and lived over there. She would talk about how awesome it was to travel to Bahrain because it was the one cool place she could go to party.
Looks like a beautiful country. If I end up visiting the mid-east Bahrain is one country I would like to go to.
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Calgary25981 Posts
thanks for making this thread after my trip is ending. 
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oh shit, im totally going there. that place looks fucking awesome.
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I'd like to visit there sometime but traveling into the middle east just doesn't seem particularly wise nowadays.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
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Holy shit that building with the wind turbines is fucking badass.
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On December 11 2009 12:15 ghermination wrote:
I'd like to visit there sometime but traveling into the middle east just doesn't seem particularly wise nowadays.
They say Bahrain is the friendliest country in the world. That means they probably don't hate foreigners.
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are you getting paid for this? bahrain looks awesome (: is it very expensive?
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whoa man those islands look absolutely awesome
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Nice to see people proud of their country! I learned some new stuff about Bahrain and there's some really cool stuff there!
I know I can easily say I'm not that proud of my country T_T
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Man You are lucky to be able to live there. I'm so jealous!
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I don't think comparing it to Dubai is any good. Especially with all the stories coming out on how they treat their workers and foreigners. =(
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Looks like a cool place! how expensive is it there?
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On December 11 2009 15:06 Piste wrote:
Looks like a cool place! how expensive is it there?
opposite to the common thought, Bahrain is actually pretty inexpensive in prices. I mean, I now live in Canada and feel that the food + drinks are much more expensive than back home even though the exchange rate of 1 Bahraini Dinar is = .344 CAD. Finding a decent hotel is pretty easy and from what I know is not too expensive too. The only thing that is more expensive is usually the price of games (5-10bucks difference -.-) but obviously that doesn't bother me much as all the games I get I order from Amazon or something (or get from the local market, million pirated shit lol). Other than that, its pretty medium I would say, definitely less expensive than Canada though from what I saw.
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In addition, all the manual labor workers which are mostly Indian, Pakistani, Indonesian, Philipino are pretty happy with the conditions they are working here. I talk to alot since I get involved into alot of different situations. But I rarely heard any negative comments about workers. All the westerners that work in Bahrain love it so much! As I said we are pretty friendly .
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Zurich15348 Posts
So I will be there 2 weeks from now as it looks. I am actually based in Dhahran, Saudi-Arabia, but since Bahrain seems to be so nice I'll try to be over there as much as possible.
So the OP is in Canada apparently, any Bahrainians (?) left there who want to meet up some time? I don't know exact dates yet but I'll be there at one or more of the (Arabian) weekends 2-5 weeks from now I am sure. Anything I should definitely visit? I will check out the mosque and the markets, what else is a must? Can you recommend an area to look for hotels in? What is a local specialty to try for dinner?
Also, since I will probably be around there for a while, how much are short distance flights in that area? Like to the Red Sea or Dubai (gotta check out that tower...). When I was looking for flights Gulf Air offered to take me to Dubai and back for like 25 Euro (48 BHD?) which seemed a bit too cheap to be true.
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On January 04 2010 18:55 zatic wrote:
So I will be there 2 weeks from now as it looks. I am actually based in Dhahran, Saudi-Arabia, but since Bahrain seems to be so nice I'll try to be over there as much as possible.
So the OP is in Canada apparently, any Bahrainians (?) left there who want to meet up some time? I don't know exact dates yet but I'll be there at one or more of the (Arabian) weekends 2-5 weeks from now I am sure. Anything I should definitely visit? I will check out the mosque and the markets, what else is a must? Can you recommend an area to look for hotels in? What is a local specialty to try for dinner?
Also, since I will probably be around there for a while, how much are short distance flights in that area? Like to the Red Sea or Dubai (gotta check out that tower...). When I was looking for flights Gulf Air offered to take me to Dubai and back for like 25 Euro (48 BHD?) which seemed a bit too cheap to be true.
The only Bahrainian's left from TL is Samachking, give him a PM! About the other questions, yeah definitely visit the local markets and the grand mosque these are a must! As for really nice areas to stay at is Juffair which is known for its huge population of foreigners, night life, and immense amount of shops and restaurants! As for dinners, definitely go to Mohammed Noor (its a local resturant that serves local dishes, really great food! Be sure to go with Samach there, he knows it well, he also knows lots of restaurants since he is our sort of food guru if you may LOL!), also eat lots of turkish grills as they are the most awesome thing you want to experience there! Brilliant! Local Flights are so cheap! I saw ads for 10BD on low cost airlines, and its not bad cuz its like what 45min to dubai lol! Yeah Juffair and the seaf area ( ask for these) have great restaurants and great atmosphere! If I was there I would have taken you to more places and shown you lots of stuff! I can count on samach if he would may, so definitely ask him! I will think of more stuff and I will post ^^
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And I would have recommended the water park and some other stuff, but the season is so unpredictable with all the on/off rain and shit and its not so fun unless its the summer!
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United States22883 Posts
On December 11 2009 14:03 Dknight wrote:
I don't think comparing it to Dubai is any good. Especially with all the stories coming out on how they treat their workers and foreigners. =(
It's not. If you go to Dubai, you're unlikely to meet any native citizen.
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On January 05 2010 02:12 Jibba wrote:Show nested quote +On December 11 2009 14:03 Dknight wrote:
I don't think comparing it to Dubai is any good. Especially with all the stories coming out on how they treat their workers and foreigners. =( It's not. If you go to Dubai, you're unlikely to meet any native citizen.
100% true!
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Canada9720 Posts
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EPT![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Bahrain_fountain.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.overseaspropertymall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/manama-city-bahrain.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.ixpats.com/bahrain_expats_blog/media/1/20060923-Durrat-al-bahrain-06.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/bahrain/images/durrat_al_bahrain.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.alareenresort.com/v2/images/pictgallery/imglpod4_big.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1309/1340385265_822abd1859.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/photos/photo_lg_bahrain.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/bahrain1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.themotorreport.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/f1_bahrain-circuit_by_fareed-amin.jpg)
