Friday, October 31, 2008

Al Khamis Mosque Miniature


Yesterday I was posting the shot of Al Khamis Mosque at Jidhaf during the sunset time and today I am posting the miniature of the mosque displayed at Bahrain National Museum. Hope sooner I could get the same angle as in the mini one.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Mosque Series # 06 Masjid Al Khamis, The Oldest Mosque in Bahrain

Today's photo is Masjid Al Khamis or Mosque Al Khamis located in Jidhaf. It was already late afternoon and I heard the adzan calling for Magrib pray. I rushly took the photo and went to the car to get to the nearest mosque to pray. I will update this post later further about Al Khamis Masjid.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Arabic Number in Colourful Badges

Today's photo is the series photos I shot at Car Garage at Jidhaf Street. These pretty badges ( I am not sure if these are badges or stickers but since I am lost in translation now, I prefer to call them call it "badges"). These pretty badges are found sticking on the office window of the car garage. The old Baba (arabic for father or old man) invited me to come inside his office and these badges are the first one attratcing my eyes.

You can see that they are in different colour and there is an arabic number in each of the sticker with a beautiful striking colour. They are not in the normal numerical order but I am going to explain a little bit about Arabic numerals.

As what I found on Wiki, Arabic numbers or numeral are the 10 digits (0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9) were originally defined by Indian mathematician in AD 500, later modified and transferred to North African mathematician and transmitted to Europe in the Middle Ages, whence they spread around the world through European colonialism.

The reason that (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) are known as arabic numerals is that they are the characters used by western Arabs from Morocco to Libya, from where they were introduced to Europe in the tenth century. I will update this posting later on as I have found some interesting further web link about history of number and how great the influence and effort of Arab mathematician in defining our so called modern numbers.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Al Jazirah Shopping Center

Today's photo is Al Jazirah Shopping Center located along Al Fateh avenue. The place is quite cosy and modern actually. There are some cafes, cold store, restaurant and even they have post office. I might be going to visit this place soon this week, perhaps this saturday as this is my day off. I hope i can take some nice shot of the places and cafes under Al Jazirah building complex.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

The Mosque Series # 06 Blue Mosque in Manama

Today's photo is the beautiful blue mosque in Manama. This is one of the many Shia mosques in Bahrain. As some of you may be aware that Bahrain has some of the largest proportion of Shia Muslims in the World. While mosques specifically Sunni's are known for their architecture, Shia mosques in particular are very colorful and full of calligraphy on the outside.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

National Evangelical Church in Manama


Today's photo is The National Evangelical Church in Manama. Leah gave me this one as she reminded me earlier that I have not posted any place of worship from other religions. Well it is about time then. Thanks Leah!

Though having a small indigenous Christian community but Bahrain is one of the Gulf state where the minority communities of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other religions are allowed freedom of worship. Here is an interesting column at Washington Report about Christianity in Middle East. I hope it will give a better understanding for us. If you want to know further about who the christians are in the Middle East, please go here for an interesting reading by authors Betty Jane and Martin Bailey.

Here are the following Christian churches and other religious worship places in Bahrain;
  • St Christopher's Cathedral in Manama
  • The Community Church in Awali
  • The National Evangelical Church
  • The Sacred Heart Church here in Manama
  • St Peter's Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church
  • The Gospel Church of Philadelphia here
  • St. Mary's Orthodox Church
  • The Bahrain Tamil Christian Congregation
  • Telugu Christian Congregation
  • The Middle East Pentecostal Church
  • The Bahrain Malayalce Christian Congregation
  • The Malayalce CSI Parish
  • The Mar Thoma Parish
  • Sikh Temple(Sri Guru Singh Sabha) and many MORE!

    PS : I need to tell her that I need the high resolution picture then as this one is very small. I will change it as soon as possible and I should make a plan to cover all these worship places. Wish me Luck!)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Camel's Farm at Al Areen Wild Life

Today's photo is about Camel's farm located at Al Areen Wild Life Park.

Monday, October 20, 2008

To The Blue Sky!


Lea amazed me again with her vision. Today's photo is also taken by her.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Al Fateh Avenue

Today's photo is a bird's view of Al Fateh avenue. It was taken by Leah, one of my Indonesian friends in Bahrain. We both have been dubbed as the twin photographers as at any outing or trip we make, we both always talk about what to shoot where to go. During the driving, we both always ask "can we stop here for one minute please, It is beautiful here and I need to shot it?". I hope that they will never get tired of our desperate pleas now and then.

It is very funny some time and I owe a great deal to whoever in the driver seat. They give a great contribution to Sanabis DP. Hip hip hooray to the drivers!!! Thanks Lea, Adi, Dian and the taxi drivers.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Going To Barbar Temple

Today's photo is the road sign to go to Barbar Temple at Barbar district (ofcourse LOL). I have posted some postings about Barbar temple earlier in September here, here and here with some friends during our day off together. I did not get enough light during that trip when taking the photo as it was late afternoon and the sunset was near. So here is the good one.

For you who wants to know about Barbar Temple, please go here!

Enjoy your browsing then as there are more about Bahrain on the linked site!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Mosque Series # 05


Beautiful Sunset above the Mosque

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Grey Clouds in the Blue Sky Above The Buildings


In Bahrain, we do not have mountains and that is why we can see the clouds clearly. Today's photo was shot somewhere in Juffair. After doing some research. Lol browsing actually, I found that clouds are coming in variety and its ever changing formation happened by some fantastic and amazing facts and substances.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Good Morning Juffair

Every sunrise is a present, a gift from God above,
Gift-wrapped with scarlet ribbons and tied with bows of love.

Each day's a new beginning, a time to start anew,
While all the stars are sleeping, and the rose is fresh with dew.

Every day's a new creation, too lovely to ignore,
And we may find a blessing, just outside our door.

We cannot keep the past, like fireflies in a jar
Nor journey to the future by wishing on a star.

Every sunrise is a blessing, a gift for just today.
Rejoice, my friend, embrace it before it fades away!

~ Author Unknown ~

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Shawarma, The Middle East Sandwich

Today, I am posting the picture of Shawarma. Shawarma is a Middle Eastern Arabic style sandwich usually composed of shaved lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef or a mixture of meats. Usually Shawarma will be consisted of Pita Bread, Hummus, Cucumber, Tomatoes and shawarma. Next time, I will be posting the process of preparing Shawarma.

Shawarma is a popular dish and fast-food staple across the Middle East countries and it has also become popular world-wide. Shawarma is originated from Turkey but Shawarma is mostly introduced by the Turkish migrant workers, Middle Eastern community and the non-residents workers in Gulf countries who brought and introduce Shawarma in their communities.

For further reading, please here at Wiki and if you want further to make your own Shawarma, please go here for your tips of how making a Shawarma. Need more recipes? Please go here for Chicken Shawarma.

I am going to eat my Shawarma now and I hope you will enjoy your Shawarma soon! Let me know how you do it!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Al Hawaj and Sons Store at Salmaniya


This is a night shot of Al Hawaj and Sons shop at Salmaniya with my cellphone N91. Not a beautiful shot but I am putting it as today's photo as this store had just made a huge rush last week as it was having a Sale. Next time I will post the day time shot as now there was not much to see. LOL

This store is owned by Al Hawaj family; one of the prominent famiily in Bahrain. It is one of the friendliest retail store in Bahrain dealing in luxury products. They have varieties of high-market items sold here, such as make-ups, accesories and more. Name anything in the market, they will have them here. In short, I got a bottle of Lacoste for myself and a bottle of red box Bluberry for my wife.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

DP Theme - Lines

Today's photo theme is Lines. One could interpret this differently and this is what I see on these scaffolding lines.