So, the end of January was upon us suddenly and what should occur again here in Bahrain but the Autumn Fair. This is basically a week-long shopping event where you can buy just about anything you need (and of course things you don’t need and never thought you would!), including: spices from various Gulf countries, fabric and intricate lamps from Egypt, honey from Oman, carpets from Persia, handbags from India, pottery from Turkey and some tat from China!
It’s interesting walking around and chatting to the stall owners from different parts of the world and Bahraini’s do love a good bargain so the place was always packed. In fact, a distance which usually takes about 3 minutes to drive took us over an hour because of all the queues to get in!!
Despite the massive traffic jams though there was always a good atmosphere with people searching for a bargain. Outside the centre, there were some interesting stalls for food and drink too. The guy below is a typical Syrian juice vendor, and he was singing a little ditty to attract customers to him. We thought he was selling coffee but he actually had tamarind juice in his ‘pot’. All the cups are stacked in front in his ‘belt’ and he tips forward to pour out the juice from the spout under his arm. Who knew that tamarind juice was so tasty?! What a fun afternoon.
Dan & Lou in Austria 
Honey from Oman sounds nice. What did you buy?
It was tasty. I bought olives, a bag, some embroidered sandals and moisturiser. Was only going in to look!