World Cruise - Day 90 - Apr 11 - Manama, Bahrain

I’m bummed that I missed the sunrise today.  I set my alarm for 5a (sunrise was due at 5:16a since the clocks turned back an hour again last night), got up and looked out.  It looked overcast and hazy, so I figured there probably wouldn’t be much of a sunrise this morning.  Reset the alarm for 5:30a, got up and looked again, couldn’t see the sun, so went and took a shower, got dressed, went down for coffee.  Ken was there and he asked if I saw the sunrise this morning.  I said I looked for it, but hadn’t seen the sun break through the clouds.  “What side were you looking on?”  “Starboard.”  “It was on port.”  It never occurred to me that we would shift from going northwest (with the sun rising on the starboard side) to southwest (sun rising on the port side).  So I missed it.  This is the best I could do at 6:12a:

The sun is actually in the top of the frame, but it’s not visible due to washing out all of the light and color.  Interesting how the it changes so much in less than an hour, going from a sliver of light to a complete washout.  Still pretty with the glassy water.

Apparently we had to go around several small islands to make our entry into the harbor for Manama, which is the capital city of Bahrain.  Bahrain is actually a grouping of 33 different islands, although most people know only of Bahrain Island, where Manama is located.

There were some fishermen out with their nets as we arrived in the harbor area:

If you look closely at the guy in the middle, he is taking a pic of our ship on his camera.  Reminds me of the Jack Johnson song verse, “People taking pictures of people taking pictures of people…”

Sonia, interesting feedback on the backward swastika.  As you said, most people probably don’t even know of the two different meanings and how they have been used/misused throughout history.

Maria, thanks for your comments.  Dan is a mature young man and has noticeably grown in his maturity during this trip.  We’re looking forward to going out with him and your parents later today.

Patti, thanks for your feedback on the animal pics.  Krissie said that her most fun days are where animals are involved, so I’m doing my best to get animals involved somewhere in each port.  Maybe we will try to find some camels later today.  I still remember the impromptu camel races by our kids in Petra, one of the more memorable events of our travels.

It’s much cooler here this morning, probably due to the lower humidity of the dessert.  “It’s a dry heat.”  Also interesting to see and hear birds again, which is something you miss for three days at sea.

Last night, Princess distributed the following flyer to passengers:

-----

GENERAL DRESS AND BEHAVIOR CODE IN MIDDLE EAST

DRESS CODE:

Suggest that ladies do not wear revealing clothes when going ashore, level of acceptance will vary from place to place, hence it is better to be a little conservative.

BEHAVIOR CODE:

-       Public display of affection (hugging and kissing) to be avoided.

-       Do not photograph any females wearing the traditional Arab dress without obtaining prior permission.

-       Affection displayed by people belonging to the same gender is not accepted.  Therefore passengers belonging to this category should exercise restraint when going ashore.

-       Moving about ashore under the influence of alcohol is an offense.  Odd behavior as a result of excess intake of alcohol can lead to immediate problems with authorities.

-       Consumption of alcohol ashore and in the cruise terminal is not permitted and can lead to legal complications.

-       Possession of drugs/pornographic material is an offense and is punishable by law.  None of this should be found on any person when ashore.

-----

So hopefully no one will be arrested and detained.  Although I will probably work around rule #2 (“Do not photograph any females wearing traditional Arab dress…”) by simply putting them in the background of my pics of Krissie.  Hopefully the picture police aren’t reading my blog.

I will probably just take my pocket camera with me today.  Although it is smaller, it’s actually easier to take inconspicuous photos with the DSLR, since I can have the latter hanging around my neck and snap a pic in the general direction without people noticing that I’m taking a photo.  The pocket camera has the lens pop out when it is turned on, so it’s clearly in ready mode, where the DSLR has no visible sign that it is on vs. off.  Anyway, I guess I need to be careful about taking photos so that I don’t land in some Arab prison.

Dan is not the youngest on the cruise anymore.  There have been younger people getting on and off for segments or parts of segments, although Dan is still the youngest world cruiser (by far).  Nick and Thomas are both mid-teens who are on the entire last segment.  But the youngest person currently onboard is Drupad, from India.  He and his mom (Nisha) are onboard from Chennai to Dubai.  Here is a pic of Nisha and Drupad:

Emannuelle will be going swimming with the dolphins at Atlantis in Dubai on the first day we are there (tomorrow).  She said she would let me know how it goes, very much looking forward to hearing about her experience, which will be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for her!

As we got out at the port, there were several different offices in the port building, including this one:

On our drive into the city, we could see the skyscraper skyline of the modern part of the city of Manama:

Lots of new buildings on the skyline, as well as cranes actually working (an unusual site in most parts of the world):

The World Trade Center is connected with three tunnels that also have wind turbines attached at each level:

I think these are members of the ruling Al Kalifa family:

We spent time in the old souk (market) area doing some shopping:

I wanted to buy this outfit for Krissie, but she declined:

Krissie walking through the souk:

Some guys were having their morning coffee in one of the side alleys.  This same scene will show up in a later pic on the blog, see if you can identify who was still there two hours later:

Lots of clothing stores and other wares being sold. Note the guy on the right and the left.  There was typically a hawker that would come out of the store with an item or two and try to get your attention to come into their store.  “Hello, hello, can I interest you in…”  I always found it interesting to see what they would pick up for Krissie vs. me vs. Dan:

Spice souk products for sale:

Interesting building, although I couldn’t quite figure it out.  I think it’s a mosque, but there was no real entrance that I could identify?

Spice souk.  Krissie went in this shop on the left.  We bought some saffron and some cashews:

Different spices for sale.  The aromas were amazing!

These are different types of spices mixed together in layers:

Same place as before, some new faces, but also some old faces.  Can you identify who is still there two hours later?

Pizza Hut.  Yes, Pizza Hut (in Arabic):

We spent some time in the gold souk as well.  Krissie was trying on some gold bracelets and earrings:

KFC is everywhere (and McD’s and Hardee’s are right across the street):

Krissie bought some items from this seller of pashmina and cashmere:

We ate lunch at a local Arab restaurant.  We were the only westerners in the restaurant.  Dan and Krissie had the curry mutton, I had the biryani chicken, huge portions:

View of the new from the old.  View of the new city from the entrance to the old souk:

There is a mix of old and new dress in Bahrain as well, at least for the men (most of the women were dressed in conservative black):

Another view of the World Trade Center and its wind turbines:

Not sure what this building is (perhaps a mosque, that’s usually a good guess when a tower is involved), interesting Arabic writing on the side:

This statue is called “The Pearl” due to the history of pearl diving in this area, which has waned since the introduction of cultured pearls from Japan.  It represents two sails and a pearl of great price below:

We went to visit The Grand Mosque, a/k/a Al Fateh

So this photo was of Krissie, but it was mainly to get the women in the background, who are covered head to foot with black (even their hands and their faces are completely covered):

Krissie thought she would be OK with what she was wearing, that she would be able to put the scarf over her shoulders, but they require all women to put on full-length robes.  “We cannot just ask some women and not others.  Otherwise there would be fighting.”

Dan and I also were required to put on full-length robes to go into the mosque, since we were both wearing shorts (we thought we would be OK with our shorts that go just past the knees, not true).

A woman (note without her face or hands covered) gave us a tour of the mosque.  She explained that Muslims pray five times a day, at 4a, 11:40a, 3:10p, 6p and 7:30p.  Although it is not required to pray at a mosque, you apparently get “extra credit” points for doing so.

She also said that men are in the front of the mosque and women are in the back because if a woman is in front of a man (“Not all men, just some men…” she said) bowing down, it could get the man excited and would distract him from his prayers.  Oh yeah, those black robes are really sexy.  Especially the back part.

She recited the Surat Al Fatihah along with the English translation:

Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives, but they cannot have more than one wife in bed with them at a time.  If a Muslim man has four wives already and wants to marry another woman, he must first divorce one of his wives before he can marry another.  It is a great disgrace for a woman (but apparently not for the man?) to be divorced, so the women will do almost anything to avoid being divorced by their husband.  If a woman speaks out against her social state and condition, she is typically quietly and secretly put away where she can no longer be a problem (not sure exactly what that means).

Apparently it costs quite a bit to get married.  A young man has to pay for his wife, varying based on the age of the woman.  Early 20s is most expensive, but by the time she gets to 30 she’s inexpensive or free.  Many of the Bahrainian men are now marrying foreign women because they are less expensive.

The inside of the mosque dome is made of fiberglass and weighs 60 tons:

The mosque is one of the largest in the world and can accommodate over 7,000 worshippers (although Dan and I couldn’t figure out how you get 7,000 people in the building, unless they were all standing shoulder-to-shoulder).

As we arrived back at the port gate, there were US Marines on guard at the gate providing security.  Apparently there are a large number of US servicemen stationed her in Bahrain, in the heart of the Persian Gulf:

I have a secret photograph that I won’t display on the blog that I took recently.  It shows one of the safeguards our ship has against pirates.  I won’t post it here on the blog in case there be pirates reading my blog.  Aargh!

The ship docked immediately behind us is a US Navy ship.  Chuck told me that the ship is built with stealth technology so that radar signals are deflected from it, making it somewhat invisible to radar:

Doesn’t look like a US Navy ship?  Take a look at the flag:

As we got back onboard the ship, there was a gentleman there, just inside the gangway, wearing full Arab garb, greeting everyone saying, “Thank you for visiting my country!”  I thought it was someone from the local Bahrain tourist council.  I found out later that it was the rabbi onboard and he was wearing the traditional dress of rabbis in Arab countries.

After we got back to our cabin, I spotted two small boats in the harbor.  When I looked at them through my telephoto lens, I could see that they are US Navy boats, both with machine guns mounted on the bow:

Just spent some time out at the spa on deck 9 forward.  Finally gave it up after the sand flies (which look like common houseflies, but they have a real mean streak) won the battle.  I do not like the flies, Sam I am, I do not like them one bit.

Chuck and Lorraine were talking at dinner about moving to Bahrain.  Chuck is thinking about changing his name to Sheik Mohammed Weinberger and adding a few more wives to his harem, since he can have up to three more.  Lorraine didn’t seem as excited about the idea as Chuck, but we did have fun talking about it. :)

Entertainment tonight was magician/comedian Mel Mellers, whom we saw a couple nights ago:

Ken, Chuck and I sat in the front row for the show.  Mel tends to pick on people in the front row (and make fun of them), so there were plenty of open seats available.  He did pick on each one of us, but we all got off relatively unscathed.  It was a fun show.

Tomorrow is Dubai, although we do not arrive until 2p, but we stay there overnight, so we have both Thursday and Friday in Dubai.  Clocks turn forward an hour tonight, so GMT+4 (8 hours ahead of Eastern, 11 hours ahead of Pacific).