Saudi Arabia - Halfway to Bahrain..

The other day we went to check out the King Fahad Causway.. its a 15 mile bridge that connects Saudi Arabia with the Island Kingdom of Bahrain. I couldnt actually go into Bahrain because I dont have a re-entry Visa for Saudi Arabia.. Anyways.. it was interesting...

If you take the Thuqbah exit you will find an auto-mechanic town.. if anything in your car needs to be fixed.. or "fiddled" with.. thats the place to go..




The bridge was pretty long.. and we only went halfway. In the middle of the bridge there's a small island that lies along the actual border between the two countries. There are a bunch of government buildings.. a park and of course Mc Donalds..





When we got to the middle island we didnt really know where we were going. We ended up in some sort of government building compound.. As we were driving out of the compound we heard someone yelling.. A small scruffy, pudgy security guy with well-polished shoes was waving us over.. he resembled a teddy bear in military fatigues. He was very talkative and friendly.. Teddy gave us the inside scoop on the island then directed us to a prime parking spot in the compound.



We wandered towards this tower.. it has one of those rotating restaurants on top (Sonu you can take me for lunch here! hehe) The sign at the entrance of the tower said CLOSED.. but when we walked up to the doors the guys inside saw us and turned the sign to OPEN.. I think we were the only people on this island! They let us in and we went to the top! :)



In the picture above you can see the Bahrain side of the island







In the picture above you can see most of the traffic is going one way.. from Saudia to Bahrain!! Saudis flood to Bahrain on weekends.. Many Saudis head over the bridge to enjoy all the pleasures that are banned at home... it's like their island playground.. and much of the economy in Bahrain is designed to satisfy this demand. Now I'm curious to actually go INto Bahrain!




and this is the Saudi side.. do you see the golden arches?




We also found a small beach area.. although I doubt its the "official" beach area..



heading home... and yes i know i take a lot of pictures of signs.. but i like this one!