wikitravel

Does ten dinars for a taxi ride in Bahrain sound cheap? At US$2.67 to the dinar, it's not!

• original URL: http://wikitravel.org/en/Bahrain

Bill-on-the-Hill

So what's an "eephus ball"?

wikitravel

With the Loot of Lima worth in excess of $50 million rumoured to be buried there, Cocos Island is the perfect destination for any treasure hunter.

• original URL: http://wikitravel.org/en/Cocos_Island_National_Park

wikitravel

One of Riyadh's more macabre sights is Chop-Chop Square, where public beheadings are carried out on Fridays.

• original URL: http://wikitravel.org/en/Riyadh

bigface

Like many cities in developing nations, Manila is not without its pollution and traffic, nor the conspicuous divide between rich and poor. Nevertheless, this bustling Philippines capital, situated on the west coast of the island of Luzon, is a remarkable melting pot of Asian and Latin cultures, thick with history and flavor.

• original URL: http://worldstepper-daworldisntenough.blogspot.com/2008/05/manila-melting-pot.html

wikitravel

More than 10,000 people are reported dead after cyclone Nargis slammed the delta region of Myanmar. The capital city of Yangon, the main gateway into Myanmar, is reported to have been seriously damaged. Some reports state that it will be years before the country and capital recover.

• original URL: http://wikitravel.org/en/Travel_news#Cyclone_causes_havoc_in_Myanmar

wikitravel

The head office of the Longaberger Baskets Company in Newark, Ohio is a building in the shape of a gigantic basket.

• original URL: http://wikitravel.org/en/Newark_%28Ohio%29

jani

Public transport in Saudi Arabia is about as developed as you'd expect in a country where oil costs $0.10 a litre, so it was with no small astonishment that I spied the sign for an airport shuttle service at Dammam's little SAPTCO bus terminal. We were at the terminal already and the next hourly departure was in 20 minutes, so why not give it a shot? After all, it was Friday afternoon and the noon prayers were droning on outside, meaning that absolutely nothing was open.

jani

Manama reminds me of Abu Dhabi: they're both smallish and filthy rich cities on the Gulf, relatively liberal by Gulf standards, have city centers dating to the 1970s but with huge amounts of construction now adding modern skyscrapers into the mix, and have virtually nothing in the way of attractions.  Bahrain's unofficial symbol is the Pearl Roundabout, which is, you guessed it, a roundabout which has a large statue of pointy things (supposedly dhow sails) holding a pearl aloft.  Yay?

jani

Up at 10 AM the next morning, we demolished the complimentary fruit basket in lieu of breakfast and had the hotel drop us off at the SABTCO station. We were in luck: there are only six buses a day, but the very next one had free seats at SR50 a pop (~US$12) and was leaving in half an hour. Although it wasn't exactly a bus: the Khobar-Bahrain service uses little minibuses seating perhaps 20 and pulling along a dinky little trailer for luggage.