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Josh and I have been traveling around since the 21st of April. Originally I planned on staying in the Ukraine for three weeks, but due to a convention, hotels were virtually unavailable. (Except for a $1000 USD a night hotel - the Hyatt - we stayed at for two days). So now I am writing from Bahrain. We are only a five minute drive to Saudi Arabia (just go over a bridge). Yesterday we flew on Gulf Air from Paris to here (Bahrain) and we were supposed to be on a flight one hour later to Bangkok, Thailand. The flight was delayed for 6 hours and due to depart at midnight, which meant I’d have to wait around the crowded airport and also miss my flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I decided to ask Gulf Air if I could just rebook for the following day and then we could at least sleep in a hotel for the night. It is extremely draining traveling with a toddler - I wish I had 2% of his energy! Gulf Air was awesome. Not only did they change our tickets, they also got our luggage and afterwards they told me to go to the Gulf Air Hotel desk. Gulf Air Hotel Desk??? That was something I had never heard of before. I didn’t expect them to put us up for the night - I just needed to rebook our flight. But, to my surprise, they put us up in a really nice hotel (along with 200+ others), had someone waiting for us who took us to the hotel personally. It was all free and all very nice and unexpected. So here we are in Bahrain. We stepped outside to go buy some snacks from down the street and the heat (and bright white sand) was so blinding I could barely keep my eyes open. Josh started panicking and said that he was itchy and hot and needed me to carry him. He then plopped himself down right in front of a travel agency office and I looked up to see all these curious faces looking at us in an amused manner! Josh seemed a bit confused and fascinated with the new culture. Here the men and women generally wear traditional clothing. The men wear a “Thobe,” a long flowing white ankle-length garment made of cotton. They also wear a square scarf (either white or red and white checkered) - it’s called a “Ghutra.” They also use a cord to fasten the whole thing into place. The women wear a long loose-fitting (non-flattering of course) gown that is all black. Some women are covered from top to bottom, with only a small opening to reveal their eyes. Josh saw all these new things and asked me yesterday (at the airport) if he had to wear a scarf. I told him that he did not. ….I wish I had some pictures to post but I forgot my camera/computer attachment cord. I will post them all tomorrow as we will finally be home in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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