Gulf Crisis, confidential （１６）　

１６) Coming home

On December 3, 1990 after a one month stay, I left Saudi Arabia for Japan. The date of homecoming differed among members. I left with Mr. I, a diplomat working with our medical team. The itinerary was Riyadh→Bahrain→Hong Kong→Narita. Since we had 6 hours of transit time in Bahrain, we decided to visit the Japanese Embassy there. Mr. M, a diplomat and a friend of Mr. I greeted us at the Embassy. Bahrain is one of the richest oil countries, but it has much less strict religious rules than Saudi Arabia. You can drink there, for example. Therefore, a lot of foreigners living in nearby Arab countries with strict religious rules visited Bahrain to relax.
Mr. M showed us the inside of the Embassy and then took us to a chic Chinese restaurant. We ate delicious Chinese foods with ‘real’ Qing-dao beer. During our conversation Mr. M gave us a interesting and timely information; Japanese diplomats could get upgrade from business to first class, if the carrier was Cathay Pacific.

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