Exploring the Gulf

Went on my first business trip while over here last week, to visit an exhibition in Bahrain, and it's capital Manama. Bahrain is a Kingdom in it's own right, just like Saudi, but was invited to join the UAE when it was formed, but declined and chose to be completely autonomous and independent. I was only in Bahrain for 13 hours, so it may be being a little unfair, however as I have mentioned in earlier posts, first impressions count.

So, I didn't really think that much of Bahrain, from the moment I got off the plane and the experience of going through passport control, which included being charged for a visa to get into the country, to getting a feel of the place in the 30 minutes taxi ride to the exhibition hall. Bahrain was a very dusty and bland place, there were redevelopments going on, but it was very much at the early stages compared to the two main Emirates in the UAE (AD and Dubai). Two things really stood out, firstly the quality and opulence of the cars was not as I've seen in the UAE, which clearly says a lot about the wealth each has, and secondly he virtual lack of greenery compared to AD.

I'm sure that there's a lot more to Bahrain and it is a nice place, other wise i don't think Bernie Ecclestone would have taken his roadshow there. However if they're finally spending, 560m doing up New Street Station in Birmingham because it's the first thing visitors see, then clearly first impressions count, and in my opinion Bahrain is years behind AD and Dubai and needs to continue it's investment.