Signs of Bahranis

Bahrain is a place of contrasts … here are some Signs of Bahranis

• The island is practically all desert with no natural water table yet they have golf courses and houses with lawns. Note I said “courses”, meaning plural.
• The nation has one of the highest average GDPs in the world yet also has a well known “indentured slave” situation.
• Those who wear all white are never seen doing manual or office labour, and those who don’t do all the office work. God forbid that you don’t have white skin, then you’re just doing all the labour in the desert or oil fields.
• Gas is cheaper than water or alcohol, yet there is no public transport system. It’s cheaper to rent a car than take the buses. Like most of South East Asia, your rental can come with an “Indian” for only 15$ a day.
• Manama City has constructions sites where the labourers never stop the work, yet outside of Manama, there are parts of the city with defacto curfews. There are also parts of the country where there is no police presence … Those places seemed to work fine.
• They have billions to make bridges, golf courses, universities but seeming nothing to put into signage and directions to get to those places.

 

• There are places in Trinidad that could use a goat or cow crossing sign. I think the sign that would be most thought about … Would be a sign for “big bottomed” women like you can find in Panama. 🙂
• On the matter of signs I.e. The lack of them. If you’re driving in Bahrain and you don’t know where something is, then you’re in for a world of frustration. If you speak Arabic, then you’ll obviously be able to talk to Bahranis or Saudis who know where things are. Asking an Indian or Filipino the location of anything tourist oriented is a complete waste of time. They don’t get vacations or weekends off, so why would they be sightseeing. We had a perfect 10 out of 10 on asking workers where anything was. Also asking a Bahrain or Emirati for directions can also be a complete f’n waste of time, since they will never tell you if don’t know where something is. They’ll simply make up shit and send you along your merry, unaware way.
• The best sign for me on the trip would be a toss up between finding a “Pollo Campero” sign in Arabic or McDonald’s Spicy McArabia sign. (Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan/Mexican fried chicken franchise …my Guatemalan friends can rest assured in knowing that the PC chicken in Bahrain wasn’t as good as that in Guatemala. My Guatemalan friends also have something to look forward to, in me saying that KFC in Trinidad has a better tasting and way spicier fried chicken.

Here’s a tip for you … Souk should mean … Don’t attempt to drive in here , if you value your sanity and want to save 60 minutes going through detours, construction sites or vehicular homicide.

No one looks both ways when crossing the streets. Like no one … Pedestrians don’t assume they are made of titanium… They do assume that you will drive around them at all times. Hence they cross the streets with impunity, even though pedestrians get hit all the times and if a Bahrani hits an Indian, he can either pay blood money if he is caught or drive off if no one caught him doing it. True story!