The global tour | I was in Bahrain
Hello everyone, I am Shen Dianqi, a field traveler who travels the world and pays attention to Chinese people around the world.
Last night, Auman and I went to Bahrain with the pharmacist.
The Cross-Sea Bridge at Night, which connects Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Cross the bridge to Bahrain, the smallest country in the Arab world. In the middle of the bridge is a man-made island, which is the border crossing between the two countries.
The journey from Dammam to Bahrain takes a total of 40 minutes and the transit process is very smooth.
First of all, there is a toll station at the head of the bridge to pay the bridge repair fee, and then go to the cross-sea bridge.
Then, drive ten minutes to the artificial island in the middle of the bridge, first out of the Saudi border, without getting off, the customs in the toll booth-like pavilion, glance into the car, and the passport photo corresponds, two minutes later, stamped the exit stamp.
Half a minute later, I arrived at the Bahrain immigration office, and since the two nationalities were Saudi arabia and Egypt, they were visa-free to go to Bahrain, and I was the only one who needed a visa.
But it is a visa on arrival, the price is about 85 yuan, a minute of the border inspection comrades printed out a supermarket receipt like a note, this is the visa on arrival, paid the money to successfully enter Bahrain ...
On the way to Bahrain, I talked to the pharmacist (the Saudi girl in the back seat), and she said that she had been to more than 20 countries, all with her family, including to Syria in 2010, to Iran in 2015...
I was shocked to hear that because the Saudis I came into contact with were very disgusted with Iran.
I asked her why she was going to Iran, you went to Iran as a Saudi, you were too brave.
She said she liked Iran a lot, and Iran is beautiful.
Then I asked her, are you Shia?
She said yes.
(Then I reacted, she was indeed dressed differently from mainstream Saudi Wahhabi.) ）
Here I just want to tell you about the distribution of Shiites in Saudi Arabia, in fact, about 10% of the Saudi population is Shia, but these Shiite populations are basically concentrated in the oil-producing areas around Dammam.
Therefore, Shiites are a destabilizing factor in Saudi Arabia, mainly because the Shiite settlements just cover the main oil-producing areas of Saudi Arabia, and Iran, as the leader of the Shiites, has been influencing the Shiites in Saudi Arabia to some extent.
And the Saudi Shiites are also very fond of Iran...
Many of Saudi Shiites have this idea: "If they were independent, 90% of Saudi Arabia's oil revenues would be enjoyed by only 10% of the Shiite population, and it was the Sunnis who stole Shiite oil..."
Therefore, the reason why Saudi Arabia is wary of Iran is not only external factors, but also factors within Saudi Arabia.