We left the camel farm and told to expect a short drive to see the King Fayad Causeway that links Bahrain with Saudi Arabia. The words were not prophetic since almost immediately we entered a queue of heavily laden lorries waiting on the slip road to the toll gates and there we sat for about 45 minutes. The lorries were laden with steel billet, fuel and all types of goods all bound for Saudi. I never did quite work out why but it seemed to have something to do with the better port facilities in Bahrain.
So we had our snack lunch – I never did find out what was in the sandwiches but it tasted OK – as the traffic cop arrived and began shifting the lorries into a single lane.
The 25km Causeway was completed in 1986 at a cost of $1billion and links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia with one of the longest bridges connecting two countries in the world and ending 25,000 years of separation.
The view is from the restaurant tower situated on a man made island in this shallow part of the Arabian Sea and at the midpoint of the causeway. You could just make out Saudi Arabia through the afternoon haze but don’t try in this photo because it is looking back towards Bahrain.
It was worth the climb up 300 steps in semi darkness courtesy of a fellow guest who pressed the wrong lift button and then swept us all out at the wrong floor because of claustrophobia – why get in the lift then?!. I didn’t go to the gym that evening!!
No comments:
Post a Comment