Trip to Bahrain

Last week I was given the opportunity to go to Bahrain for a business trip. I got up at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday June 17th and went to the SEA airport. I started off flying to Orange County, California to meet up with a colleague from our offices in Lake Forest.

I thought it was funny they had security driving around on Segways. It would be hilarious watching a cop chase somebody on one of those.

I was picked up from the airport and the two of us went to the CA offices where I was able to meet several people that I have talked to a lot but have never met. After about an hour there, we took a shuttle bus to LAX.


Our only layover was at the AMS airport in Amsterdam.

The urinals were funny.

That's not a fly in the toilet...it's a picture. I guess it helps guys to aim better. Wonder if it works.

We got into Bahrain at around 9 p.m. on Friday evening. It was 100 degrees outside. Going through customs there was a guy from Spain that didn't speak English in front of me, so I ended up translating for him. It's always nice to use my Spanish in situations like that.

The airport.


My hotel room...

Gotta love the bidet.

The view from my room.

On Saturday afternoon a couple guys and I walked around a bit, but we couldn't go too far because of the heat.

World Trade Centers

Moda Mall.

About 4 p.m. we met up with the managers and supervisors from around the region for some team building exercises at Al Jazair beach.




It was nice finally getting to meet many of the people I have worked with over the last couple of years in person. And despite it being 100+ degrees it didn't feel that ridiculously hot like I would have expected. When I finally got back to my hotel room I began working on my presentation for the next day. Because my laptop only had a 10 minute battery life and the hotel didn't have an adapter for their 230 volt outlets I wasn't able to get any work done before hand.

I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30 a.m. but I was able to give my presentation the next day and it seemed to go over pretty well.


That evening, for dinner, we went to the Regional Director's house. It was a beautiful house and the food was delightful...though I don't know what most of it was.



Some drink with Saffron in it.

The next day was meetings until about 5 or 6 p.m. and then we went to a Lebanese restaurant with the group. Again, excellent food.

And it came with a belly dancer.

She made the Americans and a Brit dance with her.


The next day was meetings again. Afterwards the American I came over with and I went to the biggest mall in Bahrain.

The final day I was there I was able to see the Panasonic office located at the airport.

This is a video taken from the office back to the hotel.


In the evening a couple of the guys and I went to the tallest building in Bahrain where we were invited to watch the English play Slovenia in a private room on the 52nd floor of the building.

The view from the urinal.

I left for home that night at 1 a.m.

After a layover in Paris at the CDG airport I was off for home.

It was a good trip. Hopefully they let me go again next year.