Bahrain Burial Mounds

A'ali is located in the middle of Bahrain island, south of Isa town and north of Riffa [Latitude: 26.149011N Longitude: 50.511364E] and is famous for its burial mounds. These are considered to make up the largest prehistoric graveyard in the world (suggested numbers range from betweej 70,000 and 180,000) and date from between 3000 BC and AD 600.

The burial chamber in A'ali cemeteries consists of two rooms, one directly on top of the other. Built of dried adobe, plastered on the inside, and clad with limestone. The walls of the lower room were perpendicular, while those of the upper room were somewhat inclined near the ceiling.

Occasionally, the aisle would extend along the grave outside the northern and southern walls. The size of the grave would range from small to large. One specific grave was 40 feet long, 6 feet wide and 18 feet high.

The burial grounds are surrounded on the outside by a wall of large rocks located several yards from the base of the mounds.

Here's Mahmood {see MAHAMOODS DEN} explaining what they mean to him:

Hajj 1953 - around Jeddah

Here is the final set of photographs from the July 1953 edition of the National Geographic magazine, showing areas of Jeddah during the Hajj

Ramadan Kareem

Here's a picture of the sun setting, as we're going to the family house for iftar [if-tar] {see wgaw archive: IFTAR}.  Iftar is the meal which is eaten to break the day-long fast during Ramadan {see wgaw archives: RAMADAN}.

Why is the Weather so hot?

This was recently sent this from a friend in Yemen; is the weather hot and humid because of the weather reporter?


مهم جداً ............ قارن بين المنطقة العربية و الاجنبية


جوه تجيب المطر وكل الخير والبركة على البلاد والعباد وتخليك تتابع نشرة الاحوال الجوية ؟؟؟

لهذه ألأسباب موجود خير وبركه بوجوههم

وشوف تحت الوجه ببلادنا مقدمين النشره

ووجوه تجيب الغبار؟ والرطوبه؟ والسخونة ؟ وانفلونزا الحمير؟؟؟

Desert Rain: Floods in Jeddah

Last week saw lots of rain in the Gulf and floods in Jeddah. Someone was kind enough to send me these photos. Can't quite believe this is what Jeddah looked like after the rain. Here's a full news article

When I was a kid I was fascinated when I was informed most people died in the desert from the rain. Now maybe I now know where or why that happens. This place is usually full of sand and doesn't see rain from one year to the next.


Update, Saturday 5th Dec:
113 people have died in Jeddah, as a direct result of the rains last week. The Saudi media writes about it here





If you are in Jeddah and can help out with home suplies, food, school supplies, clothing, home appliances and/or money please call Miss Rasha Hifzi: 054 163 9486.

They also need people with 4 wheel drives to help deliver the items. If you can help with this please call Miss Sumaya: 050 551 7277.

Beautiful Birds: Cormoronts Flying

We've seen these birds whilst we were crossing the Bahrain-Saudi causeway and did manage to film them, but this video's far better ...

How hot did you say it was?

One of my favourite stories about the heat happened whilst we were in Jordan:

We were having breakfast in our hotel restaurant when a little girl from England threw her entire 3 foot body at the window and pressed herself as close as she could get to it. She raised her arms above her head and continued to press or wriggle her entire body into the window. Finally when she was sure of her vision and the warmth she was feeling, she turned around and said with some astonishment in her voice, "Daddy, Dad-dy, it's still sunny".


Summer's Here
It's the 11th July and summer is here.  Instead of talking about how hot it is and how it's impossible to do anything outside, today's post lists some of the ways you know summer has arrived:


1. In the lift you can’t tell if the fan is on or off, the temperature feels the same either way

2. The sweat starts building up on the top of your head and runs down your face, taking your make-up with it, then runs past your armpits and down the small of your back and ends up in puddles around your backside. Then if it’s really hot, it continues to run down your legs and past the backs of your knees

3. The temperature feels the same whether you are standing in the shade (55oC/ 130oF) or the sun

4. If when you open your car door you look at the shadows on the ground you can watch the heat leaving the car in curls. Then you enter the car, sit down and burn your bottom on the seat. You attempt to turn the steering wheel but it is so hot it burns the skin off the palms of your hand. And you think about wearing gloves so you can touch the steering wheel, but it’s so hot your hands have swelled and the gloves are now too small to put on. When you finally manage to sit on the seat you find all your CDs have melted in the heat so now you can’t play your music and the plastic ballpoint pens have bent in half so you can’t write with them.

5. The birds in the garden have their beaks open and are panting

6. The water in the open air swimming pool is too hot to swim in after 10am in the morning

7. Your glasses steam up when you go inside and hit the air conditioning

8. The windows in your house are full of condensation because there is such a difference in temperature between inside and outside

9. When you go to the toilet you can feel the heat on your bottom coming off the water because the water is so hot

10. You switch off the water heater and use the water from outside

11. The pavements are so hot they burn your feet through your shoes

12. When you enter your office building you’re soaked to the skin and everybody sympathizes with you over the heat. And they’ll also be able to tell you the last day it was cooler and will compare today’s heat with yesterday’s heat

13. You think you’re going to die from heat exhaustion

Jet Skiiing

And now for something completely different.

I was sent these photos today and I thought I'd share them with you.  What you see below is a completely clothed Qatari, jet skiiing.  You can tell he's a Qatari because of the tea bags hanging down from his agal.

It's quite normal to see women in the water fully clothed, but this is the first time I've seen a man covered up whilst on the water. I'd love to have some of his confidence ...

Dust Storms

We've been having dust storms for quite some time across the entire GCC and the house is coated with a heavy, sand coloured dust that just won't go away, no matter how many times you try and remove it.

Because it's been said so many times before, I'm not sure why I'm writing it, but anyway here goes; there is no word in Arabic for snow (the nearest description seems to be, 'fluffy ice' [thel-jH moo-gut-tan]). However, there are several descriptive words in Arabic for the various types of sand, dust and wind:


Sand & Dust
dust storm:
arsifa al ghubar [arrse-see-fah al GHu-barr]

sand storm:
arsifa al ramleah [arrse-see-fah al rram-lee-ah]

desert:
sahara [sa-ha-ra] rather than the English [sa-har-rah]

off road sandy area:
mutaqa ramleah [mut-Ta-Qa rram-lee-ah]

sand dune:
taaz [ta-aaz]

sand dunes:
kuthban ramlee [Kuth-baan rram-lee]


Wind
air:
hawar [ha-warr] (just enough to let you know it's there)

breeze:
nesmah [nes-mah]

wind:
reah [rree-ah] + rear [ree-arr]

north wind (cold-ish, april/may):
shamal [sha-maal] (weather reports on the radio will say something like, "strong shamal winds today")

south wind (hot, june/july):
kaws [cows]


Media Reports
Three weeks ago the Gulf Daily News (An English lanugage newspaper in Bahrain) wrote the following article:

A THICK dust haze brought work at many construction sites to a standstill for several hours yesterday, while five flights had to be diverted due to poor visibility at Bahrain International Airport. Health officials also reported an increase in the number of patients reporting to hospital with respiratory problems.

The extreme weather was the result of a severe sandstorm over Southern Iraq, Civil Aviation Affairs Meteorological Directorate officials told the GDN.

They said it blew in across Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, reducing visibility in some places to just 50 metres. The dust began to settle across the country at around 9am, but cleared substantially by around 10.30am.

Three Gulf Air flights - one each from Lahore, Kuwait and Muscat - were diverted, along with a Bahrain Air flight from Dubai and an Air India Express flight from Mangalore. However, sources said all flights reached Bahrain within a few hours after visibility improved.

Meanwhile, construction sites reported work stoppages for almost two hours, but supervisors said activity restarted at around 11am when the weather began to clear

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=242793&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31329