London and Bahrain

Hi Bloggers,

Well, I've finally arrived in Bahrain after a long delay in London due to the volcanic ash. And what a palava that was (no pun intended)! Surely it was obvious that by the time the ash was over the UK and Europe it would have dispersed enough to have little effect on plane engines. But I suppose they were correct to err on the side of caution.

Anyway, I had a few extra days in London. The BC put me in the Strand Palace Hotel, which quite frankly was rather disappointing. I've had better facilities and services in Thailand. But at least it had a decent view. See pic above.

My first impressions of Bahrain are pretty positive. Apart from the financial area, it's relatively low rise and everything is in shades of beige or sand colour, making things look like they have come out of the ground itself. So far it seems pretty unstressful and laid back. It's very different from Thailand in that not much happens outside on the street. It's all behind closed doors. In fact, there's an element of that glassed off feel like in Dubai. Apparently 49% of the population here are foreigners, cf Dubai, where it's a whopping 80%. Anyway, now I'm focussed primarily on looking for a flat before starting work on Tuesday.

Will update as soon as I've got more to say.

Cheers,
Robert