Days 14, 15, 16

Day 14: Much needed grocery shopping was done at the Naval Base. We snagged up some brown sugar for more of Dominiques baking needs and headed back to Tony's flat. Later that day we 'walk down to Exihibition Avenue' and take pictures as we pass the mosque, the kings old castle, and enjoy the beautiful weather and arabian sweets that we picked up on the way.

Day 15:
Tree of...life?
The day was spent driving from the far west coast of Bahrain, across to the East. This trip took a good 6 hours to accomplish (about a car ride to Canada from Seattle non-stop). Along the way we stop by the 'Tree of Life' which is thought to be THE 'Tree of Life' grown by God in the Garden of Eden, due to its location and the hypothesized location of the Garden of Eden. Whether or not this is the actual Tree of Life, it was highly disappointing.
The tree itself shows signs of wear and tear, not naturally occurring, but obvious vandalism; giant limbs have been broken, and its covered in grafitti and "Harold was here's". Surrounding the tree are scattered plastic bags and bottles which careless sight seer's have strewn about. What others have done in disrespect to such a monument is what is disappointing. The hope's one has for seeing a 'Tree of "life"' have been scribbled on with 'T+L=Forever' and 'Henderson 9-5-2001'. It is, however, most impressive to witness a tree that has survived so much destruction. The constant stuggle it takes to heave the weight of the slightly obese visitors as they scamper up its limb for a photo has earned this tree the right to the title 'Tree of Life'. Despite the violent weather and felt tip markers, despite all this tree has endured it remains alive. It remains standing. And probably (without much more damage) could remain so for a hundred more years.

Camels!
After such a shocking visit to the 'Tree of Life' we followed directions to where a camel farm was located. The buddy that had given Tony the directions obviously had no more of an idea where the camels were kept than Tony did. This was the majority of our trip, trying to find the camel place. It was, however, most amusing to watch the newlyweds-to-be handle such a situation (map in hand). With many "Babe what are you doing?"'s and "Honey, its THIS way"'s we eventually stumbled upon the camel farm. We got out of the car and were greeted by the camel attendents (no English) who, knowing what we had come for, showed us in the direction of the camels. In order: Dominique, Me, and Tony were able to sit on the camels. The camels didn't move around much, perhaps because of their inability to. Their front feet were cuffed together with rope, hindereing them from escaping out the front gate (which was wide open). After the camel ride, excuse me, "ride" we were about to board our vehicle, when one of the Arab men signalled for us to follow and mumbled "come". He lead us to a mat where all the men took off their shoes, so (being polite) we removed ours as well and proceeded barefoot. All the men sat down cross-legged and motioned for us to do the same. In the next few seconds a bowl of dates were set before us and coffee had been poured. With what little English they knew we continued to sit and silence and take pictures (they insisted). The fact that they knew no English and invited us for a sit on their mat to enjoy coffee (though black, possibly the most deliscious coffee i've tasted) and dates completely contradicts the word language "barrier". It's amazing how much can be communicated through a simple friendly gesture. A great cultural expeience was unravelled through a thermos of coffee and a bowl of dates.
That night after much driving about, we returned to the flat and reflected on the day over slices of homemade (thanks Dom) pizza.

Day 16: Tony had a fitness test early in the morning (he finished 2nd out of 66, congrats!) so Dom and I stayed at the flat. When he came back he crashed on the couch as Dom and I made nachos then ventured out and went to the Carrefour (market inside the mall). We finished the evening off by going to get freshly made schawarma's at...Schawarma's. (schawarma's are delicious filled wraps, chicken or beef?)