We went to Bahrain for the Desert Challenge round of the V8 supercars, something I've been looking forward to for weeks. The V8s had a round in Shanghai last year and this year was the first foray into the Middle East. For non-petrolheads the Supercars are the Holdens and Fords that race in Australia, for some readers I guess I should explain that Holdens and Fords are different makes of car.
Flew Air Arabia to Bahrain leaving from Sharjah Airport. Sharjah is about a half hour drive from Dubai, driving there is like going from one suburb into another as there are no borders or anything like that but it's another emirate with its own laws and head of state. Air Arabia is like Virgin Blue or Freedom Air in that its cut price and if you want any food or drink during the flight you pay for cash for it. We arrived in Bahrain only a bit behind time and immediately had our first experience with Bahraini taxi drivers who are world class ripoff artists from what I saw. Meter? What's that? You have to agree a price before starting out, heaven help you if you don't. But even the agreed prices were daylight robbery. Soirse, I'm sure you're nodding your head here.
The races were held at the same track as the Formula 1 earlier in the year. Apparently over $200 million was spent on the track and the facilities and it looks fantastic. There are lots of stands for spectators and the facilities for the teams look good too. We were able to get into the Team Kiwi Racing workshop and wander around thanks to the nice mechanic from Timaru who invited us in. There was one V8 race on Friday along with a full support programme. On Saturday there were two V8 races and again a full programme of supporting races including a race for less experienced drivers using identical V8 Luminas (Commodores). During the major races the Big Boys certainly weren't holding back at all and there were plenty of prangs and near misses to keep the spectators happy. The noise when the cars rev up just before the start is deafening........and wonderful. If they ever put it on a CD, I'll buy a copy! I phoned my brother in the UK and held my mobile out through the safety fence so he could hear that full throated roar (ok it's genetic!) There were a couple of guys dressed as kangaroos bouncing round the place too. We were able to walk down pit lane just before the final race which was great. There was a heritage tent with musicians in traditional dress playing Arabic music most of the time. V8s, live Arabic music, there was coffee and a place where you could smoke shisha, so it was just about my idea of heaven!
I haven't seen rain since I left Sydney so it was a bit odd to wake on Sunday morning to find a storm raging with thunder, lightning and rain bucketing down. Sunday morning was time for a bit of culture and after a further battle of wits with a taxi driver we went to the Bahrain National Museum. What a fantastic place, lots of interesting well laid out displays and tableaus and we ended up spending a lot longer there than originally planned. Dancers will be interested to know that there was a big section devoted to thobes, their different styles and purposes. We flew back to Sharjah at 6pm on Sunday evening and with a tail wind it only took 45 minutes. I was frisked on my way out of Bahrain by a female security dudette the size of Viscera, then in Sharjah I was picked out of the passport line to have retina (that's eyes folks) scanning done - just me and an assortment of very seedy looking gents from the sub continent and certain Eastern European countries (I was only wearing one contact lens so I gave them that eye haha!!). As we were leaving the airport I was asked to stop to have my bag checked a-bloody-gain! I had lost all sense of proportion and humour by that stage and as they yelled "Madam, Madam come here" at me I just walked out of the terminal. To hell with it I thought, if you want me, come and #*^`ing get me (but they didn't).
Today I picked up an application form for a liquor licence, in Dubai you need a licence to even have alcohol at home. Technically, the police could come to any expat's home to search for alcohol. If the expat doesn't have a current alcohol licence it could be quite serious if the authorities chose to make it so. You are given an allowance on your licence of how much you can spend. The amount of alcohol you can buy is worked out on a proportion of your salary or something like that. The cupboard under my kitchen sink is almost full of cans of VB and in another small cupboard behind piles of CDs and half used packets of shisha tobacco lives my collection of champagne - all purchased without a licence from the "hole in the wall". I've drunk more champers and eaten more dates in the last 3 months than I've done in my entire life! There are also authorised places that sell alcohol, though the prices are higher than the holes in the wall. The closest 'legit' alcohol store to my place is next to the local supermarket. The entrance is through an unmarked door which is hidden behind an arch so nobody sees you go in and more importantly nobody sees you coming out with your purchases, all very furtive. Had a chat there today with a guy from Wanganui who'd also been to the Bahrain races.
It's another long weekend coming up as its UAE National Day. The Dubai Rugby 7s are on Fri/Sat and then the Kiwi Ball is on Sunday night at the Grand Hyatt.
That's it for the moment - a lot of the shops are full of Christmas trees, decorations and, aaaaggghhh, Christmas songs playing. I've been looking for Christmas cards with a Middle Eastern theme and all I can find is cards with snow, robins sitting on miseltoe and jolly St Nick; not appropriate somehow!
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