"RaPael"? Yes, that's also me.

Because not everything in this life is work and suffering (sigh...), we also go out at night to bars in Bahrain and yes, we do drink alcohol (!). Well, I don't drink it at all, not a single drop since I am here, but it is there if I wanted to. Bahrain is quite open and it is very easy to find alcohol and even some foreign restaurants with pork. The way we go out in Manama is a bit special, I never did it like this. Most of the bars are actually in hotels, which have several of them on different floors. These bars are entirely dedicated to the foreign communities here, so we've been to Nepalese, Indian, Bengali and Phillippino bars. The first three bars are almost the same, at least for the eyes of a westerner like me. Since I can hardly see the cultural differences between countries in the Indian sub-continent, I can hardly tell you what the nationality is unless someone tells me once I am in one of these bars.

They have usually plenty of tables and chairs to sit down and the waitresses are serving drinks everywhere (there is also food). There is always live music and dancing. The band plays traditional but also modern typical songs from their countries. Some of the songs may last up to 20-25 minutes! The people (only men from these countries, of course, and sometimes a lost westerner or an Arab) sit down to listen the music and see the dancers. Whenever someone likes something, he pays one of the waitresses and she puts a garland made of -plastic- flowers on the singer or dancer. If you want to give a tip to the waitress, you better do it personally in hand because if you just pay a bit more when you receive the bill, that money will go to the bar, not to your waitress. The music, lights, decoration, aromas, environment, clothes, movements, etc. are entirely Bollywood and being there is like being immerse in an Indian film!! Certainly a funny and different experience that I like to have from time to time. Unfortunately, it is not allowed to take photos.

The Philippino bar is our favourite by far and we go several times a week (Cyclone in Aradous hotel). Although most of the clients are from Philippines, there are some more westerners than in the others. It is just a normal bar with western music (also Phillippino music but western style). Women can wear and behave like equals and the decoration is what we are used to in Europe. It is on the top floor and the views of Manama are great! But the key of this bar is the band: Love Child. Don't let the name put you off! They are an amazing band composed by 3 girls and 5 guys. We must count also the dj of the venue (so they are 9). When you order a drink, the waitresses will bring some blank cards and a pen for you to write your request. They will take it then to the band and they will play the song if they know it, what happens 90% of the times. Their voices and performances are absolutely superb!!!!! They are extremely talented and really nice, always very kind with the audience. They can play songs from Bob Marley, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, The Cranberries, Europe, Shania Twain, Aerosmith, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein... All kind of music you may think about: the classics, the 80's the 90's, heavy metal, pop, ballads... They can even play a song in Spanish!!!

After so many nights going there, we receive a VIP treatment. We have become good friends with the people from the band (also the manager and the rest of the staff). They always play our songs, come to greet us when they have a break, they sit down with us to chat, always welcome us when they see that we arrive and we have even met some of them out of working hours to have lunch and bring them to the Portuguese fort. They are extremely nice and kind people and it is great to spend the time with them, either out of work or when they are performing (by the way, they do it EVERY NIGHT).

I am discovering plenty of things about the Phillippino culture thanks to them. First of all, the food is great. We go often to a restaurant they showed us where the food is not only excellent and affordable but the portions are huge (if you can not finish, they pack the leftovers to take away). The menu surprises us with plenty of words in Spanish (the Philippines were part of the Spanish empire for several hundreds of years). They don't use knives, I don't know why, so you have to manage with the fork and the spoon, haha! In fact, it is the only country in the Far East in which they don't use chopsticks. Their writing is also with Latin characters, not like in the rest of Asia. And one of the most surprising and funny things: the sound f or ph is not in their language and they replace it with the sound of the p. Therefore, for the Phillippino community here, I am Rapael (and very pleased to meet them all).