I've heard of 'California Dreaming' but never of 'Bahrain Dreaming'. How many times have you caught yourself dreaming of going to Bahrain? Me neither! As a matter of fact, I don't think I even knew there was a country called Bahrain. I often think, or "dream", of places I really would love to visit, but Bahrain was never one of them. There is a quote by Susan Sontag, “I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list.”  But . . . Bahrain was never on my list! Nevertheless, here I am!

From Thailand I caught a flight back to the United States in June . I still have blog posts of some interesting things I saw while in Myanmar, back in March 2015. But, I decided to skip ahead and get my readers caught up to what I did over the summer months. 

I am now back in Cambodia (September 2015) and plan to leave for Vietnam in a week or so from now. I wanted to spend a month in China. I spent a lot of time researching the route I wanted to do there in October, but China makes it difficult for American citizens to get a Visa. So eventually, after hitting so many roadblocks to get into China, I decided to go somwhere that seems to want American tourist dollars more than China. So, back to Vietnam for a month.

After a month in Vietnam I plan to return to Cambodia and hopefully spend the winter months, which are like spring time here. During that time I will not be sightseeing so much since I have spent a lot of time here already. But, it will give me time to catch up on the rest of the entries about Myanmar and other destinations outside the U .S. and work on plans for future travels starting in early spring. At least, that is my plan for now, but things might change! (I can do that - I travel solo).

Now back to Bahrain!
While traveling the last few years, I have learned a lot about the world. Before then I did not know much about some of the places I have visited. I had not even thought about visiting many of them until another traveler told me I should go there.

So, after I changed planes in Bahrain, I did some research to learn the history of the country. Here it is, if you are interested. Otherwise, skip on down.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island country! It consists of 84 islands in the Persian Gulf. It's located east of Saudi Arabia. Iran is about 124 miles away. In the Middle Ages Bahrain was the region of Arabia that included part of Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif and Bahrain.
 
Bahrain was the site of worship of a shark in the 200 AD era . The shark god was called Awai and for many centuries Bahrain was known as Awai.

By the 5th century Bahrain became the center for Nestorian Christianity. Later, the Christians were persecuted as heretics by the empire.

In 628 AD, Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam. Before that the population consisted of Christian Arabs.
 
In 899 AD, a Muslim sect seized Bahrain. They wanted to create a utopian society based on reason and redistribution of wealth.

As I have traveled around the world, I have been surprised at how many places the British have colonized or occupied. In the late 1800's Bahrain made a treaty with the United Kingdom to give them military protection. Then, in 1971, Bahrain declared independence from Britain. Bahrain became it's own kingdom in 2002. The 2010 census put the population of Bahrain at 1,234,571.

The government of the Kingdom of Bahrain is a Monarchy Dictatorship . Maybe I should have taken a few days to see a little of this small archipelago country since I had to stop off here anyway.
End of Bahrain history notes!
 
In the U.S.
After changing planes in Bahrain, I changed planes in Paris (I've visited Paris, years ago) and changed again in Chicago. Finally, I arrived in the Memphis airport and was met by my cousin, Billy. I spent a few days with him and his wife, Luzetta. They are a wonderful couple with a great family and can't be beat as wonderful hosts. I haven't seen them since I started traveling, so it was a real treat to visit for a few days.

Back with one of my brothers, Johnny and his wife, Karla, in Arkansas, we sat in the front yard one day enjoying a parade put on every year by the local community. They have this fund-raising event once a year to fund their community center. After the parade the day is spent at the community center with some games, performances and lot of food.

I usually base myself at Johnny and Karla's house while in America each year . They are fun to be around (and they let me have my way!). I try to get them to meet me in some foreign land for some sightseeing but haven't convinced them yet!

Later in the summer we attended a Monster Truck Race together, along with some other family members. I included some photos of that night.

Before I caught a plane back to SE Asia, at the end of the summer, we made it to Little Rock to watch a Arkansas Razorback game. Although the hogs didn't play very well in the game and lost, it was still a fun trip. It will be the only American football game I will get to attend in 2015.

The next few blog entries will be about how I spent the summer in the Good 'Ol USA, a couple of which have been on my "Bucket List" for a few years!


****  TOTALLY EXTRANEOUS *****
My mom has a lead foot, so I was not surprised when a state trooper pulled us over as we were driving through Georgia . Hoping to get off with a warning, Mom tried to appear shocked when he walked up to the car. 

"I have never been stopped like this before," she said to the officer. 

"What do they usually do, ma'am," he asked, "shoot the tires out?" 
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NEXT: "The Bucket List . . . Less One"