TOP TIPS:
- Fill your car fuel before crossing the border.
- Use 'Zahma O La' app to monitor traffic at the border (it can vary from 15 mins to 2 hours)
- National Bahrain Museum (beautiful sculptures and real pearls inside)
- Visit the Grand Mosque (Closed on Friday's)
- Shabab Avenue is a must go for diverse food selection.
- Enjoy a body massage at Sherry Wellness Centre.
Two months into our daily routine, and we were becoming restless for a new adventure! Luckily, Manama, Bahrain is only four hours drive (450kms) from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. B took Thursday off and we started our weekend trip at noon. It is a straight road with not much of a view except a dry desert and a few farms with camels. Visa is free and on arrival so you don't need to stress about online or embassy issues. You do have to pay for car insurance at the border which is only 25sar.
We arrived at Asdalgulf Inn Boutique hotel in the evening. After a few hours of rest, we got dressed and went to Bahrain City Center for a light dinner at TGIF's.
Due to the Vox cinema in the mall, it was quite crowded with young men and women, but that's expected on the weekend. The good thing is, Saudi Riyal is accepted everywhere as payment so you don't need to exchange currencies if you're travelling from Saudi Arabia.
One of the most alarming incident before we left Manama was M losing her phone. She has to take a picture every time we are about to eat our meals and placed the phone in the tray while she ate her burger. She forgot about it and we left the table to roam around.
We stopped off at Baskin Robbins for some dessert. Fortunately, she takes pictures of all this so when she tried to look for her phone, it wasn't in the purse. we ran around the mall recounting our steps. We were just in time before the janitor was about to throw the trash on the tray and with it, M's phone. We had a good laugh in the car afterwards, but now we know to count our belongings at all times.
Overall, the trip was really short but we managed to squeeze in a movie (Thor: Ragnarok), visit the Grand Mosque and enjoy the warm breeze at Amwaj beach!
