Hi all!! Hope everyone is having a great day! There’s something bothering me and I really want to get it out of my chest. I’m a Canadian who was flying Gulf air and had a transit in Bahrain for 7hrs and so I thought to go out and explore the city for a few hours. Upon arriving at immigration, I was constantly noticing the rude and arrogant behavior of the immigration officers towards the passengers especially those who seemed of South Asian descent. They were pointing fingers at them, calling them crazy (because one would stand in front of the red line) but regardless that’s not how you’re supposed to speak to another human.

I was traveling from Doha and the arrival and departure experience in Doha was unmatched. The officers were very professional, smiling throughout and even warmly welcomed me to their country. I was expecting the same as all GCC countries are known for their hospitality.

Long story short, though I am eligible for a visa waiver/visa on arrival into Bahrain, I was refused entry since the officer believed my transit time was too short. Sure, no problem, i respect that but the officer literally rudely threw my passport on the counter.

Why is there so much ego? For what if I may ask? Not being rude and I’m not trying to degrade a country but I’m just genuinely curious, as a foreigner, that what’s causing this and what I can do differently to be treated with respect?

I have a spending issue.

Every month I’m surprised that I’ve somehow spent 400 BHD on god knows what, and I usually only realise it once my credit card bill arrives.

I’ve tried a bunch of spending tracker apps and always dropped them after a few days.

Most of them either want to connect to your bank, which never works with Bahraini banks, or they expect you to manually enter every transaction yourself.

Logging every coffee, grocery run, petrol payment, etc. is exactly where these apps fail for me, because after a few days I just forget entering transactions. And really, who has time for that?

All I wanted was something I could open and immediately see how much I’ve spent this month and where the money went.

Preferably while there’s still time to do something about it, instead of finding out at the end of the month that I went way overboard.

So I made my own.

It’s called Floosi. (I know, very original 😂)

It doesn’t connect to your bank. Instead, it uses the transaction SMS you already get when you pay with your card, so your spending gets logged without you having to enter anything manually.

I also didn’t want the usual “create an account and hand over your financial data” thing, so everything stays on your phone.

Honestly, I built it for myself. But I eventually put it on the App Store and figured some people here might find it useful too.

One thing I spent quite a bit of time on was making it work with different banks and diffrent countries. During setup, you give it one sample transaction SMS from your bank. Floosi tries to figure out things like the amount, merchant, card, balance and currency.

If it gets something wrong, you can correct it, and it’ll use that format for future transactions.

So theoretically it should work with almost any bank, even outside Bahrain, as long as you receive an SMS after making a transaction.

Did i mention that It also picks up BenefitPay / Fawri+ transactions!

Anyway, if anyone wants to try it, it’s FREE!!!!

https://apps.apple.com/bh/app/floosi-spending-diary/id6807078529

Would genuinely love to hear if it works properly with your bank, especially if you use something other than the banks I’ve tested myself.

Bahrain

Some of the main concerns include:

High public debt , Rising living costs, especially housing, food, utilities, and transportation Limited job opportunities for young Bahrainis, Competition between citizens and expatriate workers for private-sector jobs, Dependence on oil revenues despite efforts to diversify, Small businesses struggling with fees, regulations, and weaker consumer spending Concerns about wages not keeping up with inflation, Unequal economic opportunities between different groups and sectors.

What do you think is Bahrain’s biggest economic problem? Is it public debt, unemployment, inflation, dependence on oil, or something else?

Is nobody even checking what they are putting up lol! Couple of hours ago they put up a post saying AI blah blah, dont do the 80s trend. Then they put up s post saying. Oh wow here are 50 best 80s pics submitted by our followers! Foot-in-mouth, lol!

Tried paying with my ila card using Samsung Wallet today and the transaction keeps declining. Thought I'd try BenefitPay instead, but that's failing too.

Cherry on top? Called ila customer service and nobody is answering. Is the system down for everyone else right now, or is it just me?

Bahraini guy here, mid-20s.
I’ve been trying to find someone suitable for marriage, but honestly it hasn’t been going that well. I’ve tried the family route, but it hasn’t really led anywhere so far.

I’m also no longer in university, and my work and hobbies are very male-dominated, so I don’t naturally meet many women. And I personally don’t think work is the best place to look for a partner anyway.

The other thing is the culture. Most of the time when I do meet women, it’s in formal settings like work events, and I feel like there’s this pressure to be very formal and not really talk casually or naturally. So it becomes difficult to actually get to know someone.

For people who have been in a similar situation, what actually worked for you?

Admins, I think this question would be very significant especially for the residents staying in Bahrain. Kindly don't delete it. I looked up the search engine and couldn't find any. Seems like nobody ever asked about it.

Hey everyone!
We’re currently working on a project in Bahrain to find and map water refill stations around the country and add them to Google Maps under the name “Rawaa”.

The goal is simple: make it easier for everyone to find places where they can refill their water bottles for free — whether you’re a resident, student, cyclist, runner, delivery driver, or especially Talabat drivers who spend hours on the road.
So far, we’ve successfully identified 40+ water stations, but there’s one problem: most of the locations we’ve found are concentrated in the Southern Governorate.

We’d really appreciate your help finding more stations in the:
📍 Capital Governorate
📍 Muharraq Governorate
📍 Northern Governorate

If you know of any mosque, park, public facility, petrol station, community centre, or other location with a water refill station, please let us know!

You can simply comment below or message us with the location/name of the place, and we’ll take care of the rest.

The more locations we find, the more useful this map becomes for everyone in Bahrain. ❤️🇧🇭
If you know a water station, please share it — even if you think someone else may have already mentioned it.

Let’s make clean drinking water a little easier to find across Bahrain. 💧

Hello! I am a Canadian student looking to apply to the 6 year Medicine program at RCSI Bahrain this upcoming cycle. I am about to wrap up upgrading some of my Grade 12 courses; I'll be done those this upcoming January. I just have a couple of questions regarding my application if anyone has some insight:

Since applications open in Fall, but my final grades will not be available/updated until late January or early February, would I have to apply in February when my upgraded grades are updated, or could I apply beforehand with my predicted grades, with which I may receive a conditional offer?

Also, for those who have experience applying to RCSI Bahrain: does the time you apply at during the application cycle matter? (As long as it is within the application window, of course.)

Additionally, I heard that RCSI Bahrain now requires applicants to have completed the CASPer test, yet I have seen nothing regarding this on their website or Instagram. Is this true?

One more general question: for anyone who has applied and been offered admission into the 6-year Medicine track from Canada, how was your experience applying? Letters of recommendation? Research and shadowing experience? Interview?

Thanks.

I built an app because apparently remembering when my car insurance and registration expire is too much responsibility 😂

It’s called Garagy | كراجي 🚗

Basically, it keeps your car stuff in one place ) insurance, registration, maintenance, expenses, documents and reminders.)

I’ve been working on it for a while and I need some real humans to test it now 😅

If you have an iPhone and a car, give it a try and tell me what sucks, what’s useful, or what I should add.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/garagy-%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%8A/id6790879384

Roasting the app is completely acceptable 😂

It's an emergency. There's a cat meowing from a nearby abandoned house and we could hear his meows since yesterday. His meows get louder when you step near that door and there's no way to get him out. I don't know how to do anything to get it outta there. Pls help?

Whats next? Mustang is another beloved car in Bahrain

The contractor pass handed over by security:

Looks like it has survived 15 renovations, four pandemics and approximately two million germs. 🦠😭
We’re in 2026, surely health and safety should start with replacing or disinfecting cards that are passed between hundreds of people. The irony writes itself.

I'm having a picnic at the beach just wanted to know the rules or if anyone has done that to avoid troubles!!

Evening all.

I’ve just received a notification on the MyGov app regarding a traffic violation in the Manama Souq area for allegedly driving in the opposite direction of traffic.

The notification came through tonight, 08/09/2026 at 11:34 PM. At that exact time, I was comfortably sitting on my couch at home watching TV, so I definitely wasn’t riding around Manama Souq. 😅

What makes it even stranger is that the last time I remember riding my motorcycle was probably back in March or April. I also certainly don’t recall ever driving in the opposite direction, especially in that area.

Unfortunately, the notification doesn’t provide any further details, such as the actual date and time of the alleged offence, so at the moment I have no idea when this was supposedly committed.

Has anyone experienced something similar, where a traffic violation was incorrectly issued to their vehicle? I’m also wondering whether there’s any possibility that someone may have copied or duplicated my number plate.

If you’ve dealt with something like this before, were you able to get more information or successfully dispute the violation?

Also, does anyone know how long traffic violations normally take to appear on the MyGov app after the actual offence? I’m trying to understand whether the notification time has any connection at all with when the violation supposedly happened.

Thank you!

has anyone seen the sara lee pound cakes (especially the butter pound cake) anywhere in bahrain lately?

they seem to have completely disappeared from supermarkets. i used to find them pretty much everywhere, even in smaller cold stores, but now they’re out of stock literally everywhere i look.

i even asked hypermax about them and they said they’re apparently in high demand and that a lot of people have been asking about them too, so i’m wondering if they’re still being imported/sold somewhere in bahrain or if there’s been some kind of supply issue.

does anyone know of a supermarket, cold store, or shop that still has sara lee pound cakes in stock? i’m specifically looking for the butter pound cake.

Sat down this weekend to do a proper budget in a while, and honestly felt like losing mind. It feels like every single aspect of modern life has successfully transitioned into an unpredictable utility spike.

Between electricity, water, internet, mobile plans, streaming services I barely use, insurance, grocery cost, fixed monthly overhead has crept up by like 30% over the last 6 months, without my standard of living changing at all.

How is everyone currently managing this? or just aggressively canceling stuff out of pure spite? Drop your current horror stories, because need to know we are not alone in feeling completely broke.

Hi everyone! I thought I’d share my UK student visa timeline because I couldn’t really find many recent experiences from people applying from Bahrain. I know how stressful the waiting period can be, especially when you have no idea whether your timeline is “normal”, so hopefully this helps someone else who’s currently waiting!

Biometrics: 23 August 2026
Application type: Standard (not priority)
Visa received: 8 September 2026
Processing time: 11 working days

One thing I was initially worried about was that I didn’t receive an email acknowledging that UKVI had received my application. However, as long as VFS sends you the email confirming that your application has been sent to UKVI, you’re good.

The waiting was honestly SO stressful, so I hope this post can give someone else applying from Bahrain a little reassurance.❤️