This week end, I'll be reporting from...

... and I'll probably be freezing! 

(If I survive the cold I promise you'll get a detailed report on Saturday!)

Drive!

This week end again, Bahrain didn't fail to provide us with thrill and fun as we went to have a ride on go-karts! The track is next to the Formula One Circuit and, to me, it seemed we were almost driving as fast as F1 drivers!

Looking like a F1 driver: check!

Waving and driving: that definitely wasn't me!

Overtaking a kart in the curve: wasn't me either!

Pulling in at the pit stop: great race Birthday Boy ;)

And to give you an idea of the mood I was in on the track:

Flying with both feet on the ground

We went to the Bahrain international air show yesterday, and while I was excited to do something different on a week end, I didn't really know what to expect. Let me tell you I was definitely not disappointed! I was probably as ecstatic as the kids around me, fascinated by the ballets of the military aircrafts, and actually pleased by the sound of the roaring engines!

Some pilots performed some very impressive free falls: they would fly right up (almost vertically), up to the stage where they would stall, then let themselves fall freely and finally regain a trajectory.

Drawing a heart shape

Can you see it?

Brass band

And an instrument I didn't expect to hear in Bahrain: bagpipes!

This is closer to what I would have expected! (on the air show, at the Heritage Village)

Have a good weekend! 

Where the rolls go round

Coming back from vacation and paying a visit to the local mall, we had a nice surprise: a new sushi restaurant had just opened! And not just any sushi restaurant: one with a 2-way conveyor belt and colourful little plates and nice waiters and lucky cats and friendly Japanese dolls painted on the window. Good enough reasons for Saudis (and expats) to flock to the newest place to try.

¿Quién quiere sushi?
¡Yo!

The sushi conveyor belt

The feast was only starting then...

Colourful plates piling up

Japanese green tea to wash the meal down

For those who live in the area, this is the Yo! Sushi in the Dharhan Mall, in Al-Khobar.

Open, Sesame!

Even if I mention them a lot in real life (not always positively, I must confess...), I realized that I have only talked once about the largest immigration group in Saudi Arabia: the Indians! This is definitely something I should remedy!

Representing over 1 million people here, Indians are virtually everywhere, but the place you are more likely to find them - apart from the construction sites - is the souk!

Their shops are like Ali Baba's cave: full of (fake) treasuries ranging from perfumes and shampoo to watches and leather goods. And if you're looking for something you can't find in that particular shop, the shop assistant will run over to his fellow citizens' shops and come back 20 minutes later, all sweaty, with the product (true story!)

Can you tell the smuggled perfumes apart from the fake ones?

Real fake Swiss watches made in India

Ali Baba's cave closet

Christmas (high)lights

This Christmas holiday was lightened up by: 

a giant snowman in Nantes

refreshing rain and wind like you can only experience in Brittany

awful-tasting tequila shots at the local bar

infectious laughs on Christmas Eve

long siestas

family board games

... and presents and crackers and delicious food and reunions and parties and friends and lots of love!

And now we're back in KSA, enjoying the mild weather, looking forward to post-X-mas reunions, family visits, trips, and lots of fun in this new year!

Happy new year!