I’ve got a job opportunity there, and it looks like the country has been surprisingly under-discussed on these boards. (The most popular hit when I searched was about Michael Jackson’s having moved there!)
Anyone been there before and care to share what it’s like, from either a tourist’s or an expat’s point of view? I’m all ears!!
No but I kinda like the music.
I visited for a few days and I thought it was fine. If I were given a choice between living in Manama, Doha, Kuwait City, or Dubai, based on my limited experience, Manama seems the most normal. I went there prior to the Arab Spring, so I can’t say to what extent things may have changed in the last two years or if the protests and unrest have turned into a simmering problem or not.
Thanks. I’ve been to Dubai and being more “normal” than that place isn’t hard. 
Good point about the Arab Spring…I’ll have to read more carefully about the political situation there.
Manama? Nah. 
I have been to Bahrain, if by “been to Bahrain”, you mean “lived in the city which passed for a fantasy Bahrain in a famous TV commercial” (see YouTube video in linked thread).
I hated it. Nice people. Plastic country, like nearly all the gulf statelets.
Where was that really, before they moved the buildings around?
Been there many times for months and months. Love it. Except for the crazy summers–99% humidity and 120 degrees. Great restaurants and (IME) the people don’t hate you.
Aside from the summer heat, the other pitfalls are how isolating it is there. There are plenty of Westerners, but there’s not a whole lot to do on the island. Once you’ve seen Manama and the souks, well, there’s not much left, and it’s not like there are great beaches there. I’ve seen more than one sewage truck emptying its contents into the Gulf. I never wanted to go anywhere near the water. Another thing that bothered me is that, while a lot of the buildings there are great to look at, the actual workmanship, when you closely inspected, is total crap. They buy great materials, but the people doing the building have no idea how to do it well.
Bottom line: I wouldn’t want to work there unless there was a finite duration to the gig. That’s the main reason I enjoyed being there–I knew I’d be leaving in a month or two.
Downtown Toronto, circa 2009. That last big drop that the skateboarder makes, for example, is down the south face of the Ritz-Carleton Hotel… but the park he lands in is not the one in that location. The subway entrance is on University Avenue, but the station appears to be on the Sheppard Line. And so on.
Toronto, according to the post the video is linked in.
Hmm - thanks for the assessment. On the one hand I’m encouraged by your immediate reaction of “Love it,” but the isolation factor is something I was already wondering about. Looking at the map it’s daunting how many unfriendly countries surround the place. As for Bahrain itself, in searching around the net it does seem like a lot of people love the place, though it also looks like there’s not a whole hell of a lot to do there.
I’ll probably take the job; there’s not a definite end date, but after 6 months or a year or so there’s good opportunity for re-transfer.
Anyway, impressions/recommendations are still most welcome!!
Doot doot do do do.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only other one… 