Of Islands and Gulfs (golfs!)

[Scarlett]

Breakfast was on the 24th floor, so that gave some decent views over the new Bahrain Bay developments.



I’d chosen a hotel in the diplomatic district as it was close to the Bahrain National Museum and walked over there after a lazy breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee and some work.







The museum has a large footprint but doesn’t really have overly much on display. Lots of space outside with various sculptures but without any info about them other than artist name. Some might say that the real art is in the eye of the beholder but I prefer to understand the significance of what has been created, or at least something from the artist to understand what they were thinking, commenting on or intending.

Something I hadn’t thought about in the past was the use of small individual burial mounds, which when you do think about it, makes perfect sense as rock was an available resource. Many of these were clustered in a form of a large necropolis and from the study of artefacts included with the burials, some understanding of Bahrains history can be interpreted.


This reconstruction was part of the ‘Dilmun’ period in Bahrain’s history; the era from the 4th millennium BC up to about 350BC. The museum clearly focussed on the role of Bahrain as a trading point between Mesopotamia to the north and the Arabian peninsula, Persia, and out toward India. Not stated, but likely, is that there were many such points all along the Gulf.

After the more indigenous Dilmun period, Bahrain fell under Greek influence and was referred to as Tylos. Alexander the Great never visited (you could just as easily read visited as conquered) Bahrain, Qatar or most of the Arabian Peninsula but the civilisational influence was very strong.



Bahrain was then an early adopter as Islam spread out from the Arabian Peninsula from the time of the prophet AD622 and on.


This is the kind of stuff I’m generally most interested in when visiting national museums: why did people settle there; how did their civilisation and culture develop; how has that influenced what can be seen today.

 

[Scarlett]

Another interesting feature was they had a reconstruction of a relatively modern (before they became malls!) traditional souk that would have been found in most towns and cities. They had music and sound associated with the various ‘stores’ and even some way of creating a smell, maybe just from the different materials.











Very interesting to see how men’s clothing hasn’t changed greatly but what is considered ‘proper’ now for women definitely has.

The last thing I noted in the museum was a large aerial view of the islands of Bahrain had been applied to the floor, so you could walk over the island. It was clearly recent enough imagery as my destination for tomorrow could be easily found.



With that, I headed back out the front and down toward Bahrain Bay in search of some dinner.

 

[Scarlett]

One of the iconic structures at Bahrain Bay is this piece of IKEA furniture:

It’s the Four Seasons Hotel and sits on its own reclaimed island. Very impressive.

A panoramic view along the very modern waterfront.


Behind me was a mall with about 100 different restaurants. There was an In n Out burger but I just don’t get the fascination as I’ve tried it twice in the past and they just taste like mediocre burgers… instead I had a lamb tajine which felt more regionally appropriate (and which was more food than I could have eaten twice )

Car mad Mstr Scarlett missed out on ogling the flash cars.


Apparently those wind turbines on the Bahrain WTC are actually designed to generate electricity for the building. In three days I barely saw them turning so maybe they are more a statement than a practicality.

 

[jase05]

In three days I barely saw them turning so maybe they are more a statement than a practicality.

In our two previous trips I’ve never seen them operate. A local guide told us that they cost too much to operate and that they can really only operate at night otherwise the vibration and noise prevents people from working in the building.

 

[RooFlyer]

Air looks really clear @Scarlett - wouldn't have been surprised if there was some dust haze.

 

[Scarlett]

In our two previous trips I’ve never seen them operate. A local guide told us that they cost too much to operate and that they can really only operate at night otherwise the vibration and noise prevents people from working in the building.

Yes, I imaging that might be annoying if the vibrations are conducted through the building. I also wonder if having a large rotating magnet induces anything in the electrical systems?

 

[Scarlett]

Air looks really clear @Scarlett - wouldn't have been surprised if there was some dust haze.

The dust haze was mostly in Saudi. Also, never really had any windy days so nothing to be picking up significant dust. Departing Riyadh on the way home it was definitely noticeable as a layer - like the smog and fumes of Jakarta, except with an orange effect rather than the gray.

I didn’t even consider wind and whether there were likely to be problems with dust before booking. Hopefully you’ll have similar clear weather.

 

[Scarlett]

Royal Golf Club Bahrain is the only grassed golf course in the country (there are also three sand courses) and annually hosts a stop on the European Tour. On the day I played there were stands being erected and giant marketing stickers starting to be applied as the tournament is scheduled in two weeks time.

As found in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, they had been smart with using the natural desert waste areas off the fairways and sometime amongst them. There were some small wadis (dry) that ran through the course as another thing to consider when planning shots.





The course was in great condition as you’d expect with a major tournament in the near future. Greens were slick but not hard: I guess tour pros would complain if they couldn’t ‘throw darts’ into the greens.

The par 3’s were all being played from a shorter distance than the card, likely to protect the back tee boxes which the pro’s will use during the tournament.


Bahrain as a gas and oil producing nation still had infrastructure requirements even around and through the golf course.


There were even some of those classic bobbing pumps visible. This is a stock image as they were too tiny in the photo I took. These things:


This was a really nice hole:

It was a short par 4, but the wadi ran diagonally through the fairway. First time I played the hole I hit four iron about 30 degrees away from the flag but up the main fairway closer to the tee box. The second time I decided to have a go with driver and cleared the wadi near the right edge of the photo above.


Water was only in play for I think it was only the last few holes of the round.

Grandstand being erected beside and behind the 18th green.




No prizes for guessing who the major sponsor will be:

The “911 driving range”

I rate this course as being better than the one in Saudi, but the Top100 ranking for all Middle East courses have Royal Greens, in KAEC, Saudi as being 11th and this course, Royal GC, being 19th. The preponderance of really good courses can be found in the UAE and especially Dubai.