Early morning Bahrain run

I get a text message at 5:45AM this morning that says, "R u game wana go 7 - 11 camel hunt ?" Like any self-respectable person who passes out on her couch at nearly 2:30AM after a late night of watching Golden Girls on YouTube, I really have to ponder this question. On the one hand, sleeping in until 11am sounds pretty good. On the other hand, my multiple exit/re-entry visa will expire in ten days, so I need to make the most of things. I reply back to confirm 7am, not pm. A little over an hour later, we're on our way to Bait Al-Donuts to get some Joe and 'breakfast.' By the way, Bait Al-Donuts at the Farm 5 square in Doha, KSA has a Nespresso espresso machine to make the non-Bunn approved coffee mixes like cappuccino, etc.

King Fahd Causeway was a breeze at such an early hour on a Friday. Our first stop was the Jasra Handicrafts village, but it's closed on Fridays. No worries, we went to Bait Al-Jasra, which was also closed, but the friendly guardsman, Mr. Ibrahim, let us in to have a walkabout. I realized that I had been there before during Ramadan 2008, but this time it was a shade cooler - only 105 instead of 115. After clearing up that my driver and I weren't a married couple (By the way, even 50 year-old Saudi men can be assumed to be my hubby ;P ) and revealing that I'm an American, Mr. Ibrahim, was very friendly and gushed information about the grounds (fyi - the current Sheikh of Bahrain was born and spent his childhood at the house). He even let us have a taste of this weird fruit that looks like figs from a tree that the laborers had put in to the grounds. Apparently, it helps with coughs, but I firmly believe that it just gives you dry mouth -- same same?

What I like about Mr. Ibrahim is that he's a simple man from the Riffa area. From the questions that he asked:

Mr. I: What's the weather like in Khobar? Is it hot there, too? Are your dates ripe in Khobar [which is 25 km from Bahrain, separated by the Arabian Gulf]?

AM: No, Mr. Ibrahim, they've got two more months to go.

Mr. I: Oh, just like us!

It was clear that he's never been outside of the Kingdom, but has probably heard tons about Khobar. Maybe people he's talked to have told him that Saudi is very different from Bahrain. I would argue that Riffa looks very similar to Qatif or Darin.

We said our goodbyes and thanks to the guardsman, and made our way north to this massive commercial camel farm not more than a kilometer from the causeway exit. Note to self: Just because a guardsman has a serious mustache and an armed weapon, does not mean that he won't let you in to the camel farm area to pet the camels.

At the farm, there were literally hundreds of camels just hanging out, either tethered or in pens, eating their breakfast. The camels in Al-Hasa are, by far, friendlier than these camels, but I was satisfied enough to have my hand get the sniff over and lip smack from one in particular. If the number of thousands of date trees, the number of camel heads, and the shiny red Lexus sedan coming out of the owner's house are any indication, these people are LOADED.

The sun and humidity were getting to be too much, so we went farther north to search for the weavers' village. The building we were looking for is, essentially, in the middle of a large Shia cemetery and, quite misleadingly, has a handful of tour buses parked near it's perimeter; my driver and I were the only visitors. Inside the weaving building, was a man weaving cloth for an abaya, an assistant transferring thread from large spools to smaller spools for the weaver's tool, and a handful of neighborhood men hanging about on the majlis benches, catching up on the scuttlebutt.

We stayed at the weaver's place for nearly 30 minutes, asking all sorts of questions about the weaving apparatus, what his steps are, where he sells his stuff, how much his cloth is, etc. Apparently, his weaving business has been in the family for nearly 200 years! They still use the old method, but with a few metal additions now that they can't find wood replacement parts.

Before the Juma'a prayer, more men from the neighborhood came in. I saw that there was a TV with a satellite receiver on top of it. I asked the men if they were going to watch the World Cup here, but they said, "La, fi bait [No, at home]." The satellite in the workshop is on the fritz, so they can't watch it. When we asked which team they were going for, it created a flurry of conversation and friendly trash talk. Sadly, they don't have the confidence that I do that team Germany will have moderate success...

Again, we said our goodbyes to these men, thanked them for the tea they provided, and carried on farther north. We attempted to explore the Barbar Temple, but it proved to be a 35-minute fruitless search. By the time we found it, we were pushing 11.00AM, and we needed to get back for rd's birthday lunch, which consisted of sushi and sashimi courtesy of Soul Kitchen (but not that kind of soul).

For a jam-packed day and despite the really hot and humid weather (38 degrees with 70% humidity), I really enjoyed myself and am grateful for the opportunity to help Mr. AM with his tour reconnaissance and see the sides of Bahrain that are bearable (not the stale, material debauchery of Manama). Thanks be to God for early-morning text messages!