Bab Al Bahrain at night

We just went for a lovely meal at Swagats which is an Indian restaurant in the souq. Real Indian food not the western expat version. A real no frills place, with metal cups and plates. There were 11 of us and the bill came to Bd21! About £30!

The photo is of the Bab Al Bahrain, which means gateway to Bahrain. Many years ago this was on the coast and it housed the custom house. Nowadays with all the land reclamation it is probably nearly a mile from the coast and getting further away all the time. It has recently had a revamp and they have built a new air conditioned "souq" behind it which feels a bit plastic. Behind that still resides the original souq, which I love as it's the only old bit of Bahrain although even this isn't that old, but it's all tumble down buildings and wires hanging down and torn awnings and I have done quite a few paintings of it, including one which is called "Torn Awnings" and which was selected to be part of Bahrain's permanent national art collection and now hangs in the office of the Deputy Minister of Culture, for which I am very proud.

We managed to catch a moment walking back from the restaurant when there were no cars.