Happy New Year Everyone,

Well this is the first of my three 'overseas' trips in three weeks. I did drive across the King Fahd Causeway from Saudi Arabia which crosses the Persian Gulf so I am overseas.

I left on the 30th and came to the Gulf Hotel again. Dinner this time was in the Chinese restaurant here with a very nice red. Served in a wine glass without ice and lemonade. I prefer it that way. I was actually shattered and had and early night. The effects of a week of night duty with only one day off.

New Years Eve I went for a walk through the Persian carpet district with the idea of maybe buying one. I thought I would leave it until today as I would have to store it and was not sure if my pay would come in on time to spend. Plus if the shops closed for New Years day I would be able to look again in Muscat later in the week.

So far the weekend here was going well, and then things turned a bit pear shaped. I asked the Concierge desk for a good resort Spa. He rang the Doorman and said a taxi would take me to one. I went down stairs and met the taxi. After he received instructions from the doorman, he immediately asked me "Where did I want to go?". This kind of stupidity I like to leave behind in Saudi. The doorman had just explained and had to give the taxi directions. I should have been suspicious at this point. Why would a taxi to a 5 star hotel not know how to get to a 5 star Spa.

I discovered why as the taxi pulled up in a back alley in the adjoining suburb and charged me 3x the meter and directed me up stairs to a dodgy looking Thai massage place. The waiting area was a collection of cheap cane chairs; they offered no spa, no sauna, no treatments apart from massage. I could not get an appointment so I was left to walk the 45 mins back to the hotel as flagging a taxi in this neighbourhood was impossible.

When I walked into the hotel I must not have looked as 'relaxed' as the doorman may have expected and I let him know I was not pleased in no uncertain terms. I hated this as I come to Bahrain to relax and am happy to pay for decent hotels, restaurants, transport etc. On a second attempt a different Doorman suggested the Ritz Carlton had a Spa. He actually sounded like he knew what a Spa was. I got a taxi there and found it to be exactly what I wanted, with one exception, it was booked out for 2 days.

At this point I was feeling very down on the whole Bahrain experience and decided to shout myself a trip back to the hotel in a London cab. The concierge at the Ritz called one who said he would be 20 mins. Excellent, I shall sit and read my book for a while. 1 hour later the cab finally turned up.

Back at the Gulf I went to my room and decided to have a sleep until my dinner booking for New Year and hopefully feel better and have a good night. I built my hopes up too much.

I booked for dinner in the new Mexican restaurant at the hotel. So new it seems all the ingredients had not arrived. Oh well go for something very Mexican and very simple, Guacamole Dip entree and vegetarian enchiladas for a main. Sorry sir we have no guacamole tonight. New Years Eve banquet and a restaurant cannot produce one of the most traditional dishes of the country. It would be like a Chinese restaurant running out of rice, or a Sushi Bar running out of seaweed. OK I shall just have a main. Perhaps I will feel better at the typhoon lounge with the African Reggae band.

To give you an idea how that went, I was in bed a 10 pm watching a movie on cable TV. I had a drink, the band was running late and the atmosphere being created by the 2 loud mouthed Americans at the next table was not my idea of fun. Perhaps I am not really a New Year kind of person.

So I sent some texts and received some texts and considered a bottle of water and block of chocolate from the mini bar while watching 'Titanic' to be the best the Gulf was going to offer for New Year. I think I am also tired of the Arab region and things get on my nerves perhaps quicker than they would otherwise.

Anyway I went for a walk back to the carpet district after being told it would be open on New Year's Day. It was all closed. Strolled through a nice park and came back to the hotel. I have booked in for a massage at 11am here and my driver is coming at 3pm.

I am not looking forward to going back to Saudi, but I am not so much upset at leaving Bahrain. I hope Muscat turns out to be better this week.

Happy New Year to Everyone, Hope all are well and not too hung over.