I visited the above Henna studio during my day in Dubai at Souk Al Bahar next to Dubai mall. A souk is like an indoor market with the local products like perfumes and incense, fabrics, trinkets etc. Henna is more or less a temporary tattoo derived originally from the leaves of the Henna plant which is used to dye the skin.

I also got to walk around the Yas Marina F1 circuit which was pretty cool. They open the track weekly for cyclist and runners during non racing periods. There's a massive hotel and marina smack bang in the middle of it, very extravagant. Although it's only a 5.5km track next time I'd definitely hire a bike.


And we managed to squeeze in nine holes of golf at Yas Links. I didn't do too bad but I sure do think golfing is for people with terrible dress sense. Ari wore a cuffed work shirt with swimming shorts and runners which I thought looked hilarious lol only to find that we all had to be in a collar and no denim (even the ladies) and they made me go and change! Ari's colleague lent me a shirt so that I could look ridiculous playing golf in a huge shirt under a dress with tights and runners... Go figure!

Now urban dictionary has many hilarious meanings for the word douche/douche bag. I just refer to it as any common idiot and/or idiotic behavioural tendencies i.e. my brother sometimes or rather most of the time.. Oh! I digress, the point I am trying to make is, there are plenty of douche bag drivers in Bahrain.

A douche bag driver is one who speeds up in their lane after you indicate to merge into it. A douche bag driver also doesn't know how to use indicators (a serious problem approaching round abouts!). A douche bag driver likes to swerve into the turning only lane to cut you off 5m later at the intersection. A douche bag driver toots their horn at you just as the lights go green if your foot is still momentary on the brake.

Douche bag drivers double park when possible, park on the corner (like literally where the bend is) when plausible, park in round abouts and park on the freeway when cars are going 100 km/h plus! And they tend to double park in like rows of 4 or 5 cars taking up 6 to 7 car park spaces. I don't get it!

Ari and I have seen all these things in Bahrain already, lucky for them Ari is a patient, courteous and cautious driver and always behind the wheel (I haven't driven yet). The inner road rage-ist in me would go crazy on the horn, mental at their faces and totally postal on their cars - be it all in my head of course.

A message for the ones we love,

Ari and Linda will be home for an Aussie Christmas! Yay! :) Still unsure at this stage for how long but I am definitely due back on the 16th, Ari however has a few dependencies but returning no later than Christmas eve.

We hope to see everyone at least once since it will be a while until we visit home again. Wishing you all a safe and stress free lead up to the silly season or at least coping strategies to manage the crazy :)

Love Ari & Linda.

Relearning the days of the week is not fun! The world is an upside down, inside out place when the weekend is no longer Saturday and Sunday. Just think "TGI Friday" has no meaning here! One of the major pitfalls so far is adjusting to what we know as the weekend and depending on where we are it changes too. I've created a diagram below to illustrate for those who are more graphically minded :)
Ari and I keep getting into looping conversations about what day it is and what it actually means to be say that day. For example, Thursday is Saturday in Saudi, Saturday being the start of the weekend and Thursday is Friday, as in the end of the working week in Bahrain lol...

We visited the grand mosque on Thursday morning, this so happened to be the third choice on the list of activities to do in Abu Dhabi before returning to Bahrain but it turned out to be so breathtakingly amazing in every facet, I'm thankful we took the time to visit.

We say alcohol enthusiasts or connoisseurs even! Ari & Linda would like to present a new addition into our family :) We adopted this huge baby at Bahrain international airport on the way back from Abu Dhabi lol

Now rest assured this is not a novelty 3L bottle of rum, this is a tribute to how much we love mojitos. So in celebration of our newest acquistion, I am dedicating this post to how to make a delightfully refreshing mojito (Ari's way), perfect for a warm summers day in Melbourne!

For one serve, you will need...

• 1/2 a juicy lime, cut into two wedges (roll the lime in your hands or on a board first to bring out more flavour) 
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, packed 
• 3-4 sprigs of mint 
• 1 1/2 shots of rum (or free pour as required lol) we enjoy Barcardi 
• Splash of soda water 
• Ice 
• Cocktail shaker 
• Pestle 

Straw How to make a delightfully refreshing mojito:

1. Squeeze lime wedges into the shaker, add brown sugar and mint (clap the mint in your palms first) and muddle with a pestle. 
2. Add to this the rum and some ice, close the shaker lid tightly and shake vigorously. 
3. In a highball/tall glass add some ice and pour over mojito mixture with lime wedges and all. 
4. Top with soda water to taste, stir prior to serving. 
5. Finish with a mint spring to garnish and enjoy!

I really love these shoes, partially because they would pop my Zara cherry but mostly because they were green suede. But would I ever really wear them? Probably not. And wear them with what? Who knows. But do I love them? Yes. And do they make me feel all pretty and worth a million bucks? Yes :) Ladies if you feel me say hell yes!...

So if I feel a million bucks and paid only a hundred dollars then I'm obviously getting a bargain. It's a no brainer! But in the interest of happy relationships, they are currently in shopping limbo. You know shopping limbo right? It's when you (and by you I mean me) try and be non-impulsive and wait. Good things come to those who wait and I should not give myself into every pretty pair of shoes I see.

Every morning for the last few weeks in Bahrain I was able to say with a smile "Another beautiful sunny day in Bahrain!" :) My daily mood has always been severely weather dependant and back at home I was a self confessed devotee of www.bom.gov.au.

On a cloudy, overcast day in Melbourne I would feel neutral and indifferent, sunny with blue sky I would be super smiley and if it were rainy and miserable I would most definitely be grumpy. And! Given the multitude of weather possibilities in Melbourne hence our infamous "four seasons in a day" tag, some days I was somewhat unhinged lol...

In all our research we only ever came across how stinking hot it was going to be in Bahrain but contrary to popular belief it isn't actually that hot here (for the moment anyway). They have two seasons consisting of summer and winter, in the summer months (Jun - Sept) the weather is hot with high humidity being mostly high 30's all the time, they say you cannot even walk outside it is that hot. During the winter season, which is right now (Dec-Mar), the climate is cooler, a nice sunny 23 deg C very comfortable and more importantly consistent!

Before we left we had joked about how you can get everything over here bar rain lol (thanks Anf) it's pronounced Ba-ha-rain anyway, the joke still has merit-ish :)

Anyway, we experienced rain yesterday! Well sort of, it started spitting but the drops were so tiny, I guess they were evaporating on impact. And we drove through a sand storm too, when it gets windy here it just picks up all the sand and you really can't see a thing.

This weather report was brought to you by Ari & Linda :)

I like holding Ari's hand... I believe this is a well known fact, yes we are one of those couples who'll make you cringe, perhaps upset your tummy, maybe even make you throw up a bit in your mouth with the amount of public affection we display lol it's just the way we roll!

We did do the appropriate amount of research before leaving to see whether this was going to be acceptable or not. After reading a few (unverified) sources, one of which claimed a woman was thrown into the back of a divvy van never to be seen again, we decided it would be best to keep our hands to ourselves in public. Not fun and surprisingly difficult...

Over the first several days in Bahrain, Ari refused to hold my hand as we considered it the safest thing to do. It was so awful, there's an episode of HIMYM where Marshall says "What do I do with my hands? I don't know what to do with my hands!", it was exactly like that.

And just as I was coming to grips with the harsh reality of not ever holding Ari's hands again in public through fears of probable persecution, we spotted a couple in local dress holding hands! Thank heavens! And the more we sought it out, the more couples there were with interlocked arms and that were hand in hand.

Our conclusions are that the majority of people who hold hands are:

1. Parents and children, this one is obvious so the little critters don't get lost.
2. Young couples, like Ari and myself.
3. Old couples, yep the grandmas and pas :)

I'm a big advocate for hand holding, mostly due to childhood fears of getting lost (see point 1) and crossing the road (which I am now perfectly capable of doing without holding hands but still prefer it lol). I know a lot of couples who don't hold hands and I guess it comes down to personal preference at the end of the day.

So, everything is normal in Bahrain, Ari and I hold hands on a regular basis in public however, he definitely doesn't kiss me in public.. yet! lol

I was completely shattered at the thought of not eating pork ever again, it's one of my most cherished meats.

Now, this is not intended to be forum to debate which is the best meat (to my darling Ari, it's lamb hands down and I don't want to bring up that heated discussion again lol) nor am I meaning to offend/make uncomfortable our vegetarian and non-pork readership. It's purely about my love for a bit of pork on my fork. And! We found it, hoorah!

We were told that there were a few supermarkets with special pork sections that we could get our salami, ham, pork sausages and beloved bacon...

I was surprised at my own excitement levels when we found it, kind of felt like we were in a local deli back at home and it's comforting in a way. We also found Tim Tams (made in Australia), totally awesome!

I'm still not convinced that the surplus in properties for rent in Bahrain is a good thing. On one hand we are spoiled for choice and the prices are quite competitive (still expensive relative to Australia) but on the other it makes it so difficult to choose and we are being very particular since we've seen everything.




Basically, our criteria came down to:
1. Floor plan, in particular quality of bathroom and kitchen
2. On site facilities e.g. pool, gym, theatre room
3. Location relative to the Saudi causeway (the bridge which takes Ari to work)
4. Convenience of amenities e.g. supermarket, restaurants

We have a shortlist and will make the final call in the next few days! Wish us luck :)

It was completely accidental that I booked us business class fares to Nha Trang (oops!), luckily though it didn't break the bank since it was such a short flight. Fittingly, this began the luxury leg of our trip and doesn't Ari look comfortable :)

Nha Trang is a beautiful coastal city located a short hours flight from Saigon. The best thing about our stay was the gorgeous hotel with panoramic views of the ocean and island surroundings, the lovely Michelia Hotel.

Excuse the plug but I must make mention of www.booking.com which helped make our holiday possible. Seriously the most quick and easy way to find a bed anywhere to suit your needs - and I'm totally not being paid for saying that, though I wish I were lol...

Now some may refer to the term "underground" as a wild boozy night out in Melbourne (Oh, good times!) but in Saigon, I mean literally under the ground. Ari and I took a half day guided tour to visit the Cu Chi tunnels, a region hosting much bloodshed and conflict during the Vietnam war.

We didn't do many touristy things in Saigon, mostly lots of eating, getting full body massages and planning the remainder of our trip. We decided against booking a prepackaged tour so that we could have some flexibility in how we spent our time... Basically we were too lazy to sort it out beforehand so we winged it :)
One of the few things we did see was a traditional water puppet show. Although it was in Vietnamese, I couldn't understand what they were saying much to Ari's disappointment but it was clever and impressive nonetheless...

I'd definitely suggest get seats a few rows back unless you are prepared to get wet!



We also got a chance to visit my mum's side of the family which was awesome. As per most family reunions, they were obsessed with feeding us, so we ate at the restaurant beside aunty 7's house. Mr Hoang and his specialty game meats and my favourite okra and morning glory with preserved tofu sauce.Yum!

My darling grandmother made the trip especially from the country to visit, she humoured Ari with conversations in Vietnamese, touched him and petted his head the whole time lol it was very sweet to watch.


My aunts were nice enough to take us back to our hotel on scooters. As you can see Ari completely dwarfs aunty 10 on the bike lol when they were in front of us the only one I could see was Ari :)