I can see Bahrain from my house.

Driving on King Fadh Bridge

The Arabian/Persian Gulf
This morning we woke up and climbed on the bus.  We drove over the King Fadh Bridge towards Bahrain.  This causeway links the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the Kingdom of Bahrain.  We drove across the bridge, turned around before we had to go through the border patrol, and stopped to take some pictures.  We were seeing the Arabian/Persian Gulf for the first time.  It was beautiful.  The water was blue and clear. From our location, we were able to see Bahrain.  It's hard to believe that just beyond the water was Iran.  We had a fun time enjoying ourselves and the view.  

I can see Bahrain!

After going to the bridge and to see Bahrain from my house, we went to a really neat restaurant for lunch.  It was very traditional.  It had its own museum that we enjoyed looking at while our lunch was prepared.  We learned how you make Arabic bread in a brick oven.  When it was time to eat, we sat on the floor around a table covered with food.  We ate all kinds of traditional Saudi food.  That was really intimidating to me.  I am a very simple eater, but I greatly enjoyed the different things that I tried today.  At one point, our male guardian called to me by my nickname, South Carolina, and told me that I had to try this one dish.  He told me it would be like grits.  How he knew about grits I do not know, but I he did know that I would like this stuff.  I certainly enjoyed my “Saudi grits.”  The lunch was delicious and left us all wanting to take naps.  That was not the plan though.  Instead we went to the mall and enjoyed shopping no different from any in the States.  I did learn about Carrefour, essentially a French Wal-Mart of sorts.  It was a fun little adventure before heading back to the hotel to get ready to leave for Jeddah in the morning.  It’s been a fun visit in the Eastern Province.  Looking forward to what’s to come in Jeddah!

 

Traditional Tent Room similar to where we ate our lunch

"Saudi Grits"