Indoor Sky Diving - Adventure Activity #OnSiteVisit

To 4 years back, when I rewind my life.. this story got some life on 'Tripoto'

Hearing the term 'Onsite opportunity', any software professional would be delighted and excited for sure.. I am not an exception when I heard the same!

Then the question arises, where - is it US or UK? If the answer is Middle east, it may not sound so pleasant to anyone in general. I was grown up under the myth that middle east or Arab nations means restrictions, lack of attractions, less entertainment etc.

'Kingdom of Bahrain', an exception to my belief.. It was a great experience at Bahrain, which changed my perception towards middle east

Airport:

Stay

We got an opportunity to stay at Fraser Suits, cost per day stay in service apartment here is same as one month rent I pay for my home at Bengaluru. As the company sponsors it, we are lucky to stay in such a beautiful service apartment located at diplomatic area, Manama

Amenities:

We used to get complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Vegetarians always face a bit of hiccups while abroad for food, luckily while here we had variety of options to explore everyday.

Below are some of the pics complementing the food we can get there

Buildings clicked while travelling along the marvelous roads of Bahrain

Attractions

Designer buildings:

Saudi Border:

Though, Bahrain is an Island its connected to Saudi Arabia via bridge. We can just travel over that bridge, view the border area (its just like any toll plaza in India from distance) and cannot cross unless we have a valid Visa to enter Saudi

Camel farm

This place is open to visitors without any charges and we can get to taste the camel milk if we can make it in the morning at specified timing, that too for free !

Fishing yard:

We can get to see people going for fishing if visited in right time, we were not that lucky, but could get to see nice boats tied in fishing yard. We can visit this place for free and spend some time taking nice pictures, we have few shops in case we need any snacks, juice or water

Museum:

Bahrain Fort:

Another major attraction here is the Bahrain fort, which is spread over large space/area making it a wise spot for jogging for locals here. It is built like any other fort in India but the stones and material would differ and concept looks alike. Entry to this fort is free and can be visited during day or evenings as well based on our convenience

Summer camp:

During our visit, we were lucky to be part of summer camp arranged in tents

Malls:

There are various malls in Bahrain which remains one of the free attractions you can visit here. Being an island and desert area, walking in these A/C malls will give you a different feeling overall. We can get to see many Indian regional movies in theatres at malls, so a must visit if you are a cinema fan

Caution: Please do not to consume more liquid before going to movie as we do not have a interval break in movies here

We call this a walking mall (The Avenues), as its very long and can spend an evening just walking and without shopping anything. It has lots of brand shops and can attract any person who has craze towards shopping

There are more than half a dozen big malls that are must during the visit. I was lucky to visit around 5 malls during my 2 visits together. We can experience shopping, movies, walking, window shopping and bird watching.

Shopping dry fruits specially Dates is a next level experience here. We can get hundreds of varieties and anyone can get confused 'which one to buy'??

Indoor Sky Diving:

Most awaited part of this article is here. If at all there is anything called adventure activity I have done so far, its indoor sky diving at Bahrain. We have very less places in the world where we can experience indoor sky diving, here is one such activity center

This is the glass chamber where you will fly and experience indoor sky diving. We will be trained with required suit for about 30 mins before we are asked to move into the glass chamber to experience the real thrill

"The experience cannot be expressed in words", one has to feel it actually

If I am not wrong, it costed around 18 BHD each as we were in group (got around 2 BHD discount each) for one session. We will be charged extra (around 5 BHD) if you want guide to take you along till almost top of the glass chamber which is not covered in the initial fee. That is the best moment you will feel thrill, do not hesitate to take it even if its coming at additional cost

These are the several attractions (free of cost, except for the last one) we visited during our onsite visit to Kingdom of Bahrain. There are many more places to see, which are still pending in our list yet. I will list down them in my next update to this article

Transportation:

Most of our travel was sponsored by clients who used to take us to different places each time we visit

Few hotels (including the one where we stayed) provide shuttles to visit shopping malls daily at specified timing, we can make use of this also

 However, we can avail taxi service in case we need to travel on our convenient time and we can even walk for certain places on our own if climate and our body fitness supports us

Food: 

We have many Indian restaurants in certain locations, we can go there and enjoy both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food at our convenience. If we are strict vegetarians (no egg and mushrooms also), its highly recommended to check the ingredients before placing an order

Please feel free to comment and list down other attraction you are aware in Bahrain, so that it can benefit other travelers