Chris and Cole Goodbye to Saudi

The departure wall at Dammam Airport, just prior to passport-exit-check: we bid farewell to Chris; then we all drive to Bahrain (typical 90-minute crossing time at the frontier), check in at Holiday Inn Express, walk to dinner at the nearby Arirang Korean restaurant, then drive Coleman to Bahrain airport to bid him farewell. Ironically, due to the vagaries of air-ticketing, Chris flew to Bahrain to make his flight connection--he passed through there an hour before Coleman. Then back to the relatively-conveniently located hotel for an easy night's sleep (too-smoky bar, cough! cough!), a pleasant breakfast meeting a Saudi ex-military guy (apparently visiting Bahrain in order to boost his blood alcohol content, now hungover, still quite red in the face, and very amicable).

Barb is at Ellie&Jean's Beauty Salon to get her hair done while I wander through Bahrain's business district looking for lunch with wi-fi. There is a McDonald's clone -- even the logo is a yellow lightning-bolt that resembles golden arches...but they don't have wi-fi, so it's not a real clone! (Yes, Bahrain has real McDonald's, too, across the street--the local clone probably is owned by the Crown Prince's cousin).
And I found a pleasant Indian buffet tucked away in a multi-story shopping mall, with wi-fi to boot, so I can write up my blog entry.
On to Bangkok this evening...

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