365/149 – Non smoking @ Hard Rock Bahrain

We went to Bahrain to chill out for a day, booked a decent yet not overpriced Hotel and looked forward to some cold beer.

As usual,Murphy was there ahead of us.

The heat in Bahrain was almost as bad as in Kuwait, which ruled a relaxing time at the pool out. I would have felt very watched there anyway and uncomfortable in a Bikini. It was much smaller than on the pics (what a surprise) and surrounded by the Hotel room windows.

The Sportsbar in the Ho0tel was a Non-smoking area – they announced proudly on a poster in the elevator. Great.

Looking through other choices we found the Hard-Rock Cafe. Not too big a fan of those places, I started to appreciate it due to their music though. I called them and yes, smoking is allowed there. Cool. Off we went to have a bite for Lunch and some beer.

Again, Murphy was ahead of us. What the friendly Lady on the phone didn’t tell was, that the Smokers have to go to an upstairs area. No big deal, right? Yeah, but not at the upstairs Bar. You get into a sealed off room, sit on a table, away from everything. Well, at least we had the music, beer and good food. But after eating we got the hell out of Dodge and enjoyed a relaxed day in the Hotel room.

For some reason, maybe since our favorite Restaurant/Bar (Krumtz) closed, Bahrain has lost some of it’s flair to us. Sad, but that’s the way it is.

And I am saying this as a Non smoker. I’ve never picked up smoking (a handful Cigs altogether when I was totally drunk is all), despite being surrounded by a family of smokers. My Dad was the only Non smoker besides me. But I grew up in a time when smoking was normal. You go to a Disco, Bar, wherever and it just belongs to the place and flair. Yes, I like being able to eat without smelling smoke. But there should be solutions in places like Bars. And I am not talking about an isolated room for smokers.

You know what’s funny (or sad, depending on the point of view)? In Kuwait we have a Hard Rock cafe that doesn’t sell Booze, in Egypt they played anything but Rock in the evenings and in Bahrain you can’t smoke. Maybe they should rename the chain into ‘Soft Pop Cafe’?!