After arriving in Bahrain yesterday, I woke up today with one goal in mind — visit ‘home’.
By home I mean, visiting the apartment building I spent much of my years growing up in Bahrain. It’s why I stayed in Awal Hotel, it was very close to everything I wanted to see in Manama (the capital of Bahrain).
As I was walking from Awal Hotel to my old apartment, I realized Bahrain Hotel was still standing
Although abandoned now, Bahrain Hotel was the first proper hotel in Bahrain, having first opened in the 1920s.
Where this empty plot of land sits, used to be an old petrol station… and the pick-up point for my school bus
There is a vlog at the bottom of this post which shows the path I walked, so do watch the video later.
There it still stands — Tawfiq building. My home for much of my childhood.
Where Omega Restaurant (left) stands now used to be a sandwich and tea shop during my time. And the cold store (to the right) is still there.
A ‘cold store’ used to be the local grocery store. The name ‘cold store’ came about because it implies the store had refrigeration, to store soft drinks and frozen foods. Cold stores were where my family did all our grocery shopping before supermarkets took over in the 1990s.
Next to Tawfiq building is… or was… Ambassador Hotel. Now turned into flats for bachelors.
I left Bengaluru past midnight and after a layover in Abu Dhabi, I am now on an Etihad flight to Bahrain.
Just an hour later, I could see the island of Bahrain in my sight
For those new to my blog — and me — I grew in the island of Bahrain. Me and brothers, we all finished our schooling, before leaving the island in the early 2000s. I hadn’t been back to Bahrain in 23 years. So why now?
My 1999 school batchmates created a WhatsApp group in 2024 and once the group got large enough, discussions began about organizing a reunion celebration to commemorate 25 years since we graduated. I was initially hesitant as after my Mumbai trip to see Coldplay, embarking on an international trip for a week, was going to cost me a lot. But my friend Jassim encouraged me and told me it would be fun, so I just said “fuck it” and swiped my credit card away.
So here I am, landing in Muharraq, where Bahrain International Airport is located.
My father worked on this airport’s expansion back in the 1990s (airport code: BAH)
But even Bahrain airport has also got a brand new terminal
I smiled when I saw the Batelco logo in the aerobridge 🙂 Batelco is Bahrain’s national telecom operator
My friend had gotten my Bahrain visa arranged beforehand, so I just had to walk straight to immigration.
Honestly, there wasn’t anything exciting to see inside the airport. BAH is nice, but nothing special.
Unfortunately, as I passed immigration and passed my bags through security, I ran into trouble for my DJI drone. As my luggage passed through the X-ray machine, the officer asked me if I had a drone, and pulled me into the security room. I was informed drones brought in from outside Bahrain aren’t allowed. So I was told I would have to collect my drone upon leaving.
The security officer wasn’t rude with me or anything. They gave me a form to hand the customs officer when leaving and collect my drone.
This is what the form looks like. So be warned, don’t bring drones to Bahrain.
As for why Bahrain doesn’t allow drones… the official reason is “security”. The real reason is Iran, their proxies in the region, and some smuggling of drugsvia drones. Other countries in the region have accused Iran of the same as per the linked articles.
