Bahrain used to be a collection of islands, each surrounded – obviously – by water. That virtually stopped when the King Fahad Causeway opened, and now it is further strengthened by the signing of the agreements to construct another causeway, this time between Bahrain and Qatar.
Apart from this being a huge step for business and travel between the two countries, it will also reduce the time it takes to get to the Emirates, some say (and I have no confirmation of this and would like to know if it is actually true) that this new causeway might shave off more than 5 hours from the trip which usually takes some 12 hours.
Now all we need is another couple causeways, one between Bahrain and Kuwait, and other between Bahrain and the Emirates and we would have had it sussed. Just imagine the marketing for Bahrain if and when that happens: “travel the Gulf without stepping into Saudi!” or “Even women can drive from Bahrain to Kuwait now” and all the other tag lines which could be coined.
Comments
i can imagine one thing …
” Traffic !!!”
And that is the reason why i think (twice * 1000 ) before going anywhere …
i leave home early at 6 even though we start @ 7 just to Avoid the traffic caused by our Well (huh) Engineered roads …
http://demo.firmsite.findlaw.com/photos/demo-images/trans-traffic_jam-v25_25148.jpg
You can also cut the King Fahd Causeway and get rid of Saudis altogether! 🙂 I think Saudis will benefit from such causeways too, as they can start their GCC tourism from Bahrain and then can go to Kuwait or Qatar without coming back home.
Author
That Saudi part was tongue-in-cheek (again!) as I am sure everyone would agree that without Saudi investment in Bahrain – which constitutes the majority of investments here – then we might as well forget the quality of life as we know it here! So the more Saudis who come over, the better.
I hate traffic. Look at what I have to go through every moring at King Faisal’s Road. Another new causeway you say? Boy ………..
http://static.flickr.com/65/165592847_6a3b67d887_b.jpg
mahmood, sorry to butt in here, but check out google earth. bahrain was added in hi-res. some very interesting stuff never seen before. hint a blocked off island and mega houses. 😉
Very interesting Anonymous.
Please let us know the co-ordinates of the interesting mega houses
follow the west coast of bahrain, starting under the saudi bridge 😉 plus north-east of the BIC..
wow this is awsome anonymous. This deserve a seperate post mahmood 😉
SHOW ME THE MONEY… did you know bahrain has 3 golf courses
How fantastic is this news? Bahrain to Muscat – half of it on roads across the azure Gulf on stilts – it’ll be one of the world’s all time spectacular car journeys. Gulf equivalent to California’s Route One.
Politically its highly significant – joining up the small Gulf states and keeping out the Saudis. Great. Anything that undermines Riyadh’s influence over the progressive Arab city states like Dubai and Bahrain’s for the good.
Tehran, Riyadh and all the crazies in between – it looks like the Gulf’s going places and thankfully leaving you behind. Adios amigos.
Great increasing the amount of drunk arabs on the road allways a wise choise.
Author
Would it be okay then if they were drunk Germans, Americans, Indians, Japanese, Fijians to be on the road?
What has that got to do with anything? Other that your supposition based on stereotypes?
I agree MooDy. I only imageine how traffic will be like when the causeway opens.
First Anonymous:
I just looked at Bahrain’s map in Google Earth. Wow…. Durrat Al Bahrain looks amazing. And yes, I see those Mega houses. I wonder who they belong to.
Author
I started a Bahrain Google Earth group on Flickr, so come on, discover interesting places in Bahrain, take a screenshot and share it there!
Please, the causeway to Bahrain is the only thing that keeps life sane here. What would we do without movies at the Seef mall, a REAL toys r us( the ones here have severely restricted toys, especially dolls,)and weekends at the Gulf hotel? Great pool ,great restaurants, etc. Not to mention Margarita’s at Senor Paco’s.
I can’t WAIT to drive all the way to Doha via Bahrain. You are so right about Riyadh’s current influence. Leave ’em behind choking on their dust!
hmmmm, travelling to Bahrain by car, cool, so i can start drinking again.
how long would the drive be? if its like 20 minutes with a plane travelling say 600km and hour… that means it should take max like 2 to 3 hours by car.. right?
Author
About 4 hours Mark, the distance is 400 kms approximately. I drove to Kuwait before and it took me 3 hours, but don’t try that… I was young and stupid! (and drove a 911! ;))
just a little advice , from going on the road in 2005
all printed maps of the roads in the gulf suck , saudi keep changing the roads
driving at night in saudi is a nightmare , there is no lights
driving in saudi isn’t for the weak hearted , its a war out there
Depending on GPS can be a problem , roads change and for some reason there is a big gap in GPS maps when you travel inside saudi
There’s a proposed causeway between Doha and Abu Dhabi, but Saudi is not happy about it so we have to wait untill this gets sorted out. Am surprised Saudi didn’t try to block the Bahrain Qatar causeway, maybe that’s why King Hamad was in Riyad a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah I am sure as hell that Saudi won’t be happy about other gulf states interconnecting, it would mean a hard hit for their revenues through their land customs points which means no more stealing for them. Ask all those who went to UAE via KSA “Al ba67a” and they will tell you how those corrupt Saudis “eb6a7ed” them!
forzaq8:
Kuwait  Area: 17,800 SQ KM (Roadways paved: 3,587 km )
Saudi Arabia  Area: 2 Million SQ KM (Roadways paved 45,461 km)
that makes Saudi 112 times the size of Kuwait
Try lighting ALL roads in a country like that!
LiB Team:
What revenuse does Saudi charge “through thier land custom points”?
Last I heard, countries didn’t charge visitors an “entrance fee”. If you are talking about the causeway fee then….
You have the right to hate, but don’t distort the facts.
over.
“Small minds are much distressed by little things”