Manama, Bahrain. 8th May 2025

Having finished with all the sightseeing at Al Hofuf I headed to the border with Bahrain. There isn’t much to see in Bahrain but when I was in India I had met a guy from there and had a standing invitation to visit. He had a friend who owned an apartment block who had made one available to me for a few days.
On the Saudi side I was directed to the customs office by the guy at the entry booth. A nice woman was in there but it took her and a colleague over one and a half hours to sort my bike out. It seems that her colleagues at Durra, where I’d entered, hadn’t put it in the system properly, or possibly at all. Meanwhile she was dealing with other people who needed some kind of piece of paper for their vehicles. I think it was a return slip.
Eventually she got it done and gave me a piece of paper. But that was collected from me at one of the booths. At the end of it all I have no confidence that things will go smoothly when I return. Immigration quickly stamped me out.
The two countries are linked by the King Fahd Causeway, a 25 KM long collection of bridges and embankments. The Bahrain immigration centre is on a small island, halfway across. I paid the £5 toll and headed on over.
At Bahrain immigration I the paid £10 immigration fee, for a two weeks stay. Then I got stopped at customs and was, once again, sent across to an office. Here, I messed up. The customs officer in there showed me a piece of paper which I didn’t realise was a slip from a Carnet de Passages, asking me if I had one. Her male colleague said something about a yellow form and I still didn’t latch on.
So I was taken across to the cargo office but the guy there asked me if I had a CdP. When I said yes he said, in so many words, why the hell didn’t you tell the other people! Go back there and they’ll sort it out. Which they did, in about 5 seconds flat. Idiot! My excuse to myself is that I hadn’t needed it since Iraq.
The last hurdle was to pay for insurance at a booth, which cost me nearly £30 for one month. Finally I was free to go.

In Bahrain’s capital city of Manama I found the apartment block easily enough and met Hussain. He showed me up to my apartment and we sat down and chatted for a while. Hussain used to work as a civil engineer for the government but then he became a lecturer at the local university. He got a phone call and had to leave, with a promise to come back later.
When he returned he took me to a friend’s restaurant and treated me to a very tender lamb shank plus rice. Then we went to an ATM where I drew out 10 BHD. That doesn’t sound like much but the Bahrain Dinar is worth £2. He dropped me back to base with plans to meet for lunch next day.
And that was the last time I saw him.
What happened? He had a car accident. No-one was hurt but the police got involved. It was his fault, which I’m not all that surprised about as he’s quite an aggressive driver. That tied him up for the rest of the day.
He had to go to the police station to make a statement next morning. Then he spent the rest of the day sleeping. And after that, what with work commitments and a requirement to visit Doha, we ran out of time to meet again. That was a shame as we’d got along very well. Chatting to a resident of where you’re visiting is always a great way of getting a feel for a country.

I had time to kill so I went to visit a couple of local places. A half hour walk got me to Bahrain Fort. It was a very interesting place. It was in very good condition although it had fallen into disuse in the 17th/18th century. It was built on a ‘Tell’, a man made hill created by building activity.
Within the Tell archaeologists had discovered many layers going back to the Iron Age. It had been the capital of the ancient city of the Dilmun people. They were superseded by others over time, who extended and strengthened the fort until it took today’s shape. It was this layering activity that created the tell.

It was positioned at the centre of the area’s trade routes, and had a copious supply of fresh water from artesian wells. The water meant that plenty of food could be grown. Add that to the gap in the coral that provided access to a natural harbour, and it made it a valuable trading post. It had been in use since the 3rd millennium BCE.
It was a good place to wander around, with plenty of info boards to explain things. It was mostly intact.

Then I walked across to the museum. Except that it wasn’t where Google said it was. Or, it wasn’t actually the museum. I’m not sure.
I walked back past the fort and found the museum down by the sea shore. It was also very interesting, with plenty of things to see inside. The city was a major trading port throughout the centuries until the gap in the coral, that had allowed access, silted up. That was when it began to be abandoned.
There was a café attached. Amusingly, the exit stairs went down to it. I had a latté and a date muffin. £10, but so what?
In the morning I went out on the bike and had a good day. First visit was to the Sheik Salman bin Ahmad fort. Google reckoned it was temporarily closed but they were wrong.

There was a security guard there and he was happy for me to come in and pointed out the direction to walk. He did hang around while I wandered around, but that wasn’t an issue. I asked him the opening times, which he told me. I updated them on Google.
It was in good condition although it wasn’t possible to go to the upper floor. Several rooms were open but there wasn’t anything in them. No info boards of any kind apart from the one outside.

Next door to that was a military museum. They told me it was best to come back in the morning because it was going to close in 20 minutes. But I said I was happy to take a chance so they let me in. I had to show ID.

The most notable thing was the strength of the British connection. Most of the armoury was British. There was a nice looking Land Rover series III on display. Plenty of interesting rifles etc. A horse section. An ammunition section, even. I was told not to take photos but I sneaked a couple anyway.
I was part way through reading about a terrorist attack in the 1990s when my time ran out and I had to leave. But an interesting visit.

Out at the bike a soldier saw me and pulled up, blocking the traffic. He’s connected to the museum and we had a nice chat and took photos.

Next visit was to the Tree of Life. This is a 450 year old Acacia tree, out in the desert, completely on its own. It’s notable for having survived all that time in extremely harsh conditions.

I walked up to it to find it was fenced off, with a security guard there. I took some photos then sat down in its shade to eat lunch. Built into the surrounding wall was a display of other large and old trees in various parts of the world. It included the co-ordinates and distance.

On Google maps I’d seen a curious set of islands right at the bottom of Bahrain. Having driven through an area filled with oil and gas infrastructure on the way to the tree, including lots of nodding donkeys (which were non-nodding), I wondered if they were berths for oil tankers.

So I rode down there, expecting to get turned back at any moment. I had to go through a security gate, which wasn’t a problem. Some of the islands were fish shaped, some horseshoe shaped. They weren’t anything to do with oil. They were very expensive looking residences, each one with access to the sea. They looked beautiful in the bright sunshine.

The road went around them all in a circle and partway round was a supermarket. I wondered if there was a café there – and there was. Coffee and a cookie were what was required, so I indulged.

I stayed one more day in Manama, undertaking research. I was trying to sort out some travel insurance. UK companies are utterly useless to long term travellers over seventy years old. They won’t cover motorcycle riding and policy lengths are never longer than six months. The options seemed to come down to an EU based company that would cover me for 12 months, but I wasn’t sure about cover for riding bikes. And a US company that didn’t really seem to care what I did, and was quite reasonably priced. I decided to sit on it for a while.
The other issue that needed resolving was getting my bike to Africa. There is a well trodden route from Arabia to Kenya. The options were to ship the bike from Oman to Mombasa. Or fly it from Oman or Dubai to Nairobi. I’d been given the contacts of some shipping agents and sent enquiries to them about time and cost. Flying will always be quick. Shipping will always take much longer, but usually costs less. I sat back and waited for answers.

Then came departure day. I’d enjoyed being in Bahrain even if it hadn’t quite worked out the way I’d expected. I was gone by 9.30. An easy ride to the border. Bahrain customs stamped my Carnet but didn’t give me the slip of paper that the guy at the exit booth was demanding. I went back there and sorted it out.

That got stamped as I left Bahrain and was then collected by Saudi customs. Immigration was easy.
I hit the road south and just kept going – sort of! The bike kept losing power, then overheating. I stopped for a few minutes each time to let it cool down. Eventually I stopped beneath a bridge and let it cool down properly. There was an Asian trucker there too, in his Tata truck, probably doing the same thing.
I checked the level in the radiator overflow bottle and it looked low, so I (over) filled it. The rad itself was full to the top. The odd thing with that was that there was no ejection of steam when I took the cap off. And while I was waiting for it to cool down the fan wasn’t running.
After about 20 minutes I carried on. It was an hour before it happened again. It was strange when it slowed down because I’d drop to 5th gear and it would seem OK. It would speed up again and I’d go back into top for a while. Then the temperature light would come on and I’d stop. But the air temperature was stinking hot.
Eventually I came to a service station and refueled. I had a really crap cup of coffee too. It was there that I realised I had no internet. I rode on down almost to the nearby Qatar border post, looking for a hotel. No dice.
I rode back again and, on the other side of a big roundabout, I saw an STC shop. But it was closed. The supermarket next door had a phone counter which was selling SIMs. But he couldn’t top up mine. I’d been trying to log into the STC app but with no joy. While I was there it latched on and I got a code.
I’d run out of data. I tend to leave the VPN on most of the time but I realised it was soaking up data. Otherwise I’d have had enough. I tried to buy the smallest deal, at 40 SAR but it wouldn’t recognise my card. The STC shop still wasn’t open so I went to a hotel that one of the guys had told me about.
The price was 250SAR. I whinged about it. Then went back to the STC shop, thinking to get some data and look for another hotel. It was still closed. So I went back to the hotel and bit the bullet. I suppose it wasn’t bad considering I’d just had several nights for free. Once on their wi-fi I was able to see that it was the only hotel anyway,
Looking at the route I was planning to take, I wouldn’t be coming back into Saudi anyway. So the sensible thing was to go to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow and get a SIM there.
I was up early next morning and away by 8.30am. It was 1.5 hours to the border. An easy crossing. The Saudi side had all my details – at last. So getting the bike out was easy. He gave me a slip of paper which got me through to UAE.
At the immigration booth I was sent to customs. They entered the bike in the system and stamped my passport. Then back to the customs area for a quick baggage check. Finally, the insurance booth. They robbed me of £65 for one month. I swore! There was nowhere to get a SIM card or money so I rode 90kms to the nearest town.

This was a strange place. It seemed to be a big medical centre. There were hundreds of low apartment blocks, all the same design and colour, just plonked in the middle of the desert. A ‘new town’ I supposed. Little boxes on a sand dune. Miton Keynes in the desert.
I rode around looking for the shopping mall. I stopped at what turned out to be an office block and the helpful guy there put me on their wifi so that I could put the correct location on Google. Eventually I found it.
I went to Du, one of the SIM providers, and got the cheapest 28 day deal I could. The guy was trying to sell me £100 packages but I vetoed that malarkey. Even so, it still cost almost £40 for 20GB. Note to self: from now on keep the VPN turned OFF!
I changed up my Saudi money and drew out 500 AED at an ATM, which appeared to be free. Good news. I bought a pastry in the LuLa supermarket (bad news) and a coffee in Starbucks (dreadful news).
I located a hostel on the map and headed there. One more fill up on the way. It was full of Indian workers and the guy who runs it was also Indian. We had a very enjoyable chat. He comes from near where one of my Indian friends lives.
The hostel was OK except for having to be on a top bunk. The guy was very concerned about that because of my age, but I assured him I was OK.
In the morning I could have been away quite early if I’d had any idea where to go to. I needed to find a hotel in Dubai. Price wasn’t too much of a problem. But there wasn’t a focal point to the city for me to head to. In the end I just selected a reasonable place and rode there.
I found myself in Little Asia again. I got there at midday but I couldn’t go into the room until 2pm. I had to move the bike to a nearby public car ark, at £6 per night. City life, I suppose. I put it next to the entrance booth and locked and covered it up. I reckoned it would be safe enough.

I crossed over the main road and down a side street looking for coffee. I found myself in a street with at least fifteen Ethiopian coffee shops in it. I was now in Little Africa! I selected one and had a pot, which was OK. I had the definite impression that many of them were fronts for other activities but I didn’t like to speculate what.
There were three mosques nearby and when I walked back to the hotel Friday prayers was underway. All of the mosques had people outside on the pavement, praying. They were even knelt down in parts of the roadway. Lots of them on the entry to the hotel too, but they’d left enough room for me to get in.

I remembered that I needed some chain oil so I decided to visit the bike shops I’d identified on Google. The first one didn’t have anything. The second one was a Touratech shop. They’re an international bike accessory company. And there, to my surprise, I struck gold. I asked about chain oil and they had some because they sold Scottoilers. It was almost £13, but I was OK with that.
Then I remembered about needing a pump. They had one badged as Touratech, at £30. It connects to the battery and I decided to get it, knowing it would be more reliable than the cordless one. Which, when I think of it, barely lasted a year. There was a coffee shop upstairs and I blagged a free one.
Traffic was busy by then. A few things I noticed. They have light controlled pedestrian crossings, which everyone stops at instantly. I saw zigzag lines next to them, same as in the UK. Bikers here almost never filter in traffic even though it’s not illegal. But it is discouraged. And there’s loads of delivery bikes who don’t do it. Needless to say, I did.
Drivers were well behaved there, as with Bahrain and, mostly, Saudi. I’d seen a few nutters, but they were rare. Generally I felt safe on the roads there.
The hotel supplied breakfast to my room, included in the price. I selected a place to visit, the National Museum of Ras al Khaimah, up towards the northern end of the peninsular. I thought I might go to other places as well, but didn’t in the end.
The first job was to get fuel and with that done I set off. It was a good ride up there, teasing my way through the traffic and learning the local habits.
The museum was in an old fort and was very good. The original fort had been destroyed by the British in 1819 and then a new one was built. A treaty had been signed by then. It was a good place to see.
It showed the usual artifacts but the building was also interesting. I could get access to most of it and there were lots of info boards.

They showed the wind tower and a place where they collected date juice. One of the area’s main industries centred around processing date juice, gathered in from the surrounding date palm plantations. Most of these places I went to had an area where this was done. The method was to stack the hessian sacks on top of one another and let the weight compress the dates. As the juice ran out it was collected.

When I’d arrived I’d been able to park beneath a tree. I noticed that there was a nice breeze blowing so I decided to fit the lead for the pump to the battery. A straightforward job and it was sensible to do it while I had shade. The security guy came out and told me there was tea inside, so I went in and had one.
One of the info boards had mentioned another building, known as the Queen of Sheba’s Palace. It sounded intriguing so I rode round there. But it was on the top of a hill. I felt the heat, looked at the steps and restarted the engine.
I gave myself a day off and spent it not doing much. Some more research on shipping and I’d more or less decided to use a company based in Dubai and fly the bike to Nairobi. But no final decsison just yet.

I went out exploring again next day. The first place was the Dubai Frame. It’s big! It looks kind of odd and purposeless, seemingly built simply because they could. It doesn’t frame anything though.
Next was the Museum of the Future. The exterior design is futuristic, to match its name. I took photos but didn’t go in. It was far too expensive.

Then I went to the Dubai Mall. This place is massive. I parked down below in the car park, fortunately free. I walked from there across to see the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s famous skyscraper. Getting to it was a real pain because various areas were fenced off due to construction work.

But it’s definitely very high at 828 metres. It’s possible to go up it but it’s a lot of money to do so. I also wanted to see the Dubai Fountain but I just couldn’t find it. It has a light display in the evening but is reckoned to still look good in the day. Was it behind that fencing? I had no idea.
I walked around the mall, looking at various things. They have an internal waterfall, with sculpted figures appearing to be diving (flying?) down it. It looks very good.
They also have an aquarium, some of which can be seen from the outside. There’s an indoor section, with crocodiles and other things, but I didn’t go in.
I found an expensive coffee and croissant, which was dry. Then I wandered around a bit more. It’s an amazing place, full of expensive shops.

A few photos of nice things from inside the mall.

But when it came to finding the car park where my bike was, that became mission impossible. It took 30-40 minutes to find it. Useless signing and vague directions from staff. Then it took 15 minutes of walking around the car park to find the section I needed. I had a row with one bloke about it!
I had been planning to go for a look at the Palm Jumeirah. A man made island, similar to the one I saw in Bahrain. But I was too hot and tired so I went back to the hotel.

Dubai had proved to be a bit of a revelation. I was told it’s where people come to from all round Arabia to relax and unwind. The city definitely has that air about it. It’s very ethnically diverse, like all good cities are, and the presence of bars surprised me.
Traffic is extremely well behaved and I had to get used to vehicles in front of me stopping for zebra crossings. In fact, for anybody crossing the road at all. I wondered what Oman would be like.
I was up just before 7am and on the road by 9. I’m always pleased about achieving those times because I usually sleep much later. But I had a busy day ahead.
I had a good ride northeastwards. The first port of call was Khor Fakkan, a coastal town with an old port, which I couldn’t get to. There were a couple of old defensive towers up on hills for me to admire. It’s well known for its white beach and general air of antiquity. I found a café and sat and cooled down for a while before tackling the history.

Khor Fakkan has a museum, with artifacts going back to 3,000 BCE. Some interesting stuff. I keep forgetting that the bronze age goes back that far. It had lots of information about the trade in that area too. The maps of the terrain were good. They showed how close the mountain range is to the sea.
One odd thing was that the security guy took 10 AED off me when I went in and then I was given it back by a woman when I left. She said entry was free. Initially I thought he’d been naughty but clearly not as he’d left it on the desk.

I had a brief walk around the street nearby, which is dedicated to craft businesses.
Then I went south, planning to go to Madha. But I decided not to in the end as anything there was going to involve some walking. Far too hot for that.

Fujairah Fort was next. Sitting on its own on a low hill, small but perfectly formed. Another free entry place, with nobody there at all. The site was quite large as it also contained an old village. I just walked around the fort. There weren’t any info boards. Down by the entrance was a settee, with cushions on it. I sat down, then stretched out, then snoozed for 10 minutes.

Nearby was the museum. That was disappointing as it was quite small. There was an upstairs area that I wasn’t allowed into.

On the way to my hotel I passed the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque. A stunningly beautiful place that I just had to visit. I had to register on a machine to be able to enter. I had a walk round and was very impressed. I didn’t bother going into the prayer hall, mostly because it involved the hassle of removing my riding boots. I just took some photos of the interior.

My hotel was big, with 15 floors, and I was amazed at how cheap it was. The room was huge and had the essential kettle and fridge.
I saw an Iranian restaurant on Google, just up the road. So I went to that and had a chicken skewer and a salad. A bowl of soup came with it. Very tasty and welcome.
Back at the hotel I had a shower then happened across an article saying that it’s best to shower in the morning. The dude who wrote that clearly doesn’t ride a bike in steaming hot countries!
The next day I was going to cross into Oman so I made some plans for things to see and places to go.
That tale will be told very soon.