Lebanon-European gateway to the Middle East

Ahhhhh Lebanon! I'm not sure whether my love for Beirut has been amplified, due to the fact that I have been living in a "city" with no streets and devoid of atmosphere for 9 months or whether is just plain fabulous! For a holiday destination I cannot think of a thing Lebanon is missing, it has beaches, mountains, scenery, museums, architecture, nightlife and cuisine! The moment I arrived in the city I fell in LOVE!

We were picked up from the airport by a taxi driver that the company I work for uses- tony! Now if you have never been to the middle east and you are a nervous passenger you may want to pop a few diazepam before embarking on the drive to your hotel! To say the traffic is crazy is an understatement! After living in Kuwait it didn't seem all that bad to me but a few things did strike me.....instead of the lines of HUGE shiny new expensive cars I have become accustomed to, the traffic jams were made up of cars full of rust and chipped paint work....hooray for old cars! My experience of Beirut literally did start with the journey to our hotel. During the cab ride we were accosted by begging children, who had been trained to stare into you eyes like sad puppies, our driver made incest jokes and drove in to parked cars and responded to our chorus of gasps with a simple "whoops"-amazing! Lol! 

As we entered the city centre I stared in marvel and the character filled buildings crumbling with bullet holes and spectacular graphiti in tow, a piece of history themselves; the old city is a complete contrast to the clean wide streets of the modern side of the city which houses the likes of le gray hotel (class and cocktails......and a glass rooftop pool) and skybar(hand raisers, beautiful people and grey goose vodka)two places I visited that evening!

 Lebanon is not short of nightlife, if you are visiting in peak times do be sure to make reservations as most venues require guest lists, if you are five girls in short dresses you may very well get walked to the front of the queue but better to be safe than sorry! 

The sights....... Besides wondering around the different quarters of the city we decided to get away from the hustle for a day and visited some badass limestone caves (jeita Grotto), the small village of Byblos and took the cable car up to "our lady of Lebanon" a huge white statue of the Virgin Mary which overlooks the Beirut; I'd highly recommend all of the above! 

 The caves are situated in a beautiful valley, they are a cluster of interconnected caves, the upper galleries of which have had a walkway calved for the tourists. The caves are full of different stalactites and at the end of the tour you are taken on a little boat ride through one of the lower galleries- a little spooky, I felt like I was being taken by the ferryman of the dead. As well as being a popular tourist destination the caves also provide over a million people in Beirut with fresh water! 

 Byblos is just great! It is a UNESCO world herritage site and is said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. We visited the ruins of the castle and a small market full of lots of weird and wonderful items( I purchase a tambourine and some coasters)!

 The cable car is well worth the ride, not recommended if you are scared of heights, even I was gripping the sides if the car at points! The view from lady Lebanon is pleasing and if you arrive in hot pants and a belly top they will provide you with a number of blue blankets/cloths to cover your modesty! 

Cuisine, Wowzers! Everything I ate I loved, we visited a few recommended restaurants and just asked the waiters to select dishes for us, I was not disappointed. You can also find a number of cuisines beside the typical Lebanese deliciousness, we tried a part Armenian restaurant where I sampled sparrow- not bad but a little crunchy! 

Frosty in Kuwait

Last week all employees of my company were provided with an emergency contact number to use in the case of arrest! It has been noted that there has been a significant increase in the number of "police checks", I myself have been stopped 3 times and asked for identification during my 6 month stay. 

69% of Kuwait's 3.8 million population is made up of expatriates! Recently the Kuwait ministry of interior announced its target to deport 100,000 expats annually for the next 10 years. There has been a recent deportation campaign which has seen many (exact numbers appear to differ across all sources, but it's is said to be in the thousands ) expats deported! Expats are being deported for any violation of the law- traffic offences, unmarried couples sharing accommodation, and incorrect visa or residency papers. I have seen footage of men in hoods raiding apartment blocks and "gathering" people for deportation- a little mental! 

The government has stopped issuing work/commercial visa's and rumour has it that when residencies run out many may not be renewed with the aim of filling many expat positions with Kuwaiti citizens. 

The Kuwait ministry of interior have stated that this decision comes as they fear the number of expats is causing a demographic imbalance. For me it seems to come at an odd time as Kuwait has a 30billion dinars development plan which includes construction of a new airport terminal, hospitals and a metro system, I cannot imagine Kuwaiti citizens performing this manual labour, 94% of Kuwaiti nationals are employed within governmental positions. Rumour has it by deporting expats costs will be cut however a  kuwaiti citizen will be paid a salary of up double that of an expat for the same position, most companies in fact have payment structure based on nationalities! 

Recently the government has been heavily criticised for restricting visiting hours for foreigners to the afternoons only (except in the case of an emergency y).........  

subsequently  the atmosphere in Kuwait seems to be a little frosty for expats at the moment!

Bypassing obesity

Since arriving in Kuwait I have met 3 people who have had gastric band surgery...and I don't get to meet many locals! The surgery has become so popular that the government has put a 3 month suspension on performing the procedure whilst it sets up a medical board to deal with obesity problems! Kuwait is now the 7th fattest nation ; 74% of its citizens are obese according to recent sources! Wow! 

Average morning in Kuwait

So I'm all set for my first dive in Kuwait and suddenly it dawns on me...if I'm skin diving can I really wear this bikini,it is over 45 degrees outside but I think back to the girl in her paisley burkini doing her pool dives last week hmmmmmm dilemma! I decide to risk it! I continue to get dressed rummaging through my wardrobe trying to find something practical that is not" too sexy", a question I ask myself most mornings! I leave the house in some knee shorts and a t-shirt- would I ever wear this ensemble in the uk, NEVER! On a daily basis I thank god for the maxi/midi trend! 

Leopard walking

I have just learnt that recently a colleague of mine stumbled across a man walking a leopard in salmiya...... Yes a man walking a leopard! This is all, end of post! Pictures to follow ASAP!

Boat trip with a Kuwaiti

Recently I was invited to spend the day with a Kuwaiti guy on his boat,this is not a rare occurrence as every Kuwaiti seems to own a boat, it never normally seems like a wise idea to accept such invites, however this guy is a friend of the French girls I have become friends with, they are all teachers and get to meet lots of locals via their classes.
The owner of the boat was refreshing to meet, he was a true gent religious, patriotic and western minded! He/his cook had prepared us a feast and we even had a little dub step blaring out of the sound system at one point, most pleasing!
We headed out towards the smallest of Kuwait's 9 islands, qaru. We didn't swim near the island as it was quite cool that day, however the waters surrounding the islands apparently have a rich biodiversity , with coral reefs, 2 species of turtle and even pods of dolphins have been sighted on occasion! As we approached the island I could smell and see oil in the water, I researched this layer and found that this oil is naturally occurring, it comes from oil seeps, which are quite common in these areas and man has been exploiting these seeps for time for products such as tar-which is where the island's name originated from-qar is the Arabic for tar. This oil disappears in a matter of hours and adds to the organic wealth of the area, fascinating! Apparently it is not uncommon for people diving at night to emerge from the water "as black as tar" and apparently it is a bit of a biatch to get off! I shall hopefully be diving here in the not so distant future!
When we returned to shore I discovered that the guy who had been driving the boat all day is a "protector" of the sheikh of Kuwait, I was gutted I only learnt this post spending the whole day with him, he has invited us to spend the day on his new boat, which arrives in 3 weeks and is apparently impressive....I am preparing my inquisition as we speak! Haha!

Hungry bunny spotted....

So I have spotted a fast food chain named hungry bunny..... I don't get it?! Are bunnies really that hungry?! And even if they were I'm pretty sure they are not carnivorous, in fact they eat so much cellulose that they reingest their own droppings to fulfill their nutritional requirements......hmmmmm

Really?!

So today I'm visiting the private beach again, so far no sign of our flashing friend however we have been greeted with the presence of a noisy Arabic horse-yes that's right a horse, apparently this is standard behaviour in Kuwait! I think it's some sort of  strategy to pick up ladies, the men seem to have tied the poor animal up next to us and are proceeding to pose in order to encourage me to take more photo's ......odd! I can add this to the list of bizarre advances, a few I can remember from the last few weeks are as followed:

Arabic man: can I have some of your water

French girls and I: why you have two bottles of your own by your deck chair 

Arabic man: attempts to lead in to small talks but gives in, laughs and walks away. 

Whist reading on the beach....

Arabic man: can I borrow your book

Me: no I'm reading it. 

Arabic man: looks shocked: no?

Me: no 

Arabic man: ok I'm sat just over here, walks away to a spot near by.

Whist sitting on the beach- baring only arms and lower legs;

Arabic Man: nice body

Me: Glare 

Arabic man: ok my towel is over here I'd like you to come with me

Me: silence

Arabic man: retreats. 

Lise and I are also guilty of causing a car crash; as we were walking to a restaurant for dinner last week an arabic guy stopped his car so abruptly in order to allow us to cross the road that the car behind crashed into him. Ooops! We fled the scene and watched from a far as the drivers exchanged insurance details! Haha! 

I'm sure there are more, as I have returned to the 21st century now and purchased a smart phone I can  blog on the go, most pleasing! 

Full Frontal Affair

I recently visited a small, very private beach approximately an hours drive from Kuwait city! We drove through the desert via highway to reach the small inlet of sea, I enjoy drives through the desert!

Kuwait's deserts are not the most picturesque, you can't help but note the sea of pylons and large industrial looking oil refineries however it still retains that sense of vastness! I really want to get involved in some desert trekking, I don't think people do it here in Kuwait, I think the landscape is quite bland so I dont blame them but there are definitely lots of treks in Jordan! I'm trying to remember if I have ever been in a setting where I am just surrounded by barely touched land before, I grew up near moorland so I think I have, the desert is just so unyielding, in the UK countryside you have streams and lots of visible life....it is hard to describe the feeling the desert evokes, it has a strange beauty; I think it renders you feeling inferior,you are more than aware of how merciless it is! I guess being in the depths of the desert is similar to being in the middle of an ocean, when you can see only salty sea water all around! You know you'd be a little bit screwed if someone just plonked you there, popped your dingy and said swim for it biatch!HA!

We reached the beach eventually, after taking a few wrong turns- how anyone remembers what road to take is beyond me, everything looks the same to my untrained eyes- the beach was surrounded by big houses and I spotted a number of diplomatic number plates! There were only 3 other parties in the whole area so it felt quite serene! A lovely escape from the city!

As we left the area for the day we were followed by a young Kuwaiti boy on a quad bike, he must have been no older than 14, he drove right up alongside the car, one of the girls I was with stuck her fingers up at him and in response he decided to give us not only a full frontal flash but also a little performance to go with it....he should really consider investing in some tassel's!HA! Needless to say I left the serene landscape feeling a little perturbed!

Dust Storm Madness

So this weekend my dust-storm virginity was abruptly taken! I awoke, stepped out on to the balcony and was met with a wall of dust! I could not see past the building across the road from my apartment! Naturally I was excited and wanted to explore in the dust however it was actually quite uncomfortable to breathe in so I opted for a day in the mall! I did however see a number of people wearing the small surgical type masks people wear during a flu epidemic or in cities like Shanghai, I might invest and explore in the dust next time...I'm thinking it will be eerily quiet! I'm sure the novelty will wear off pretty quickly!

 

Mayadeen Shooting Range

Mayadeen Shooting Range is one of the two public shooting ranges in Kuwait. I went a long to give it a whirl a few weeks a go with a very petite friend of mine who had already visited twice in two weeks; she had become some what of an addict . 

  On arrival there is a  small selection of both rifles and pistols to choose from. The largest rifle available is an AK-47, which is a rifle that was used by the Soviet Armed Forces, how cool! Naturally my very petite friend had already requested to shoot the AK47 and not surprisingly had been declined the opportunity....probably had something to do with the recoil; we opted for a slightly/much smaller rifle.
The range is in a stable type building and you get to shoot live ammunition at targets, I enjoyed the experience a lot! I am not sure why it feels so good to shoot a gun but I'm guessing it has something to do with the adrenaline, for me it was the same sort of feeling as winning a race! I thought I would be terrible however turns out I was pretty good! I will definitely be returning and next time I would like to shoot a pistol too, I have never shot a pistol before! Next time all shots will all be in the 10!

Proud to be Kuwaiti P2BK 2013

Last weekend I visited the local annual event "proud to be Kuwaiti". The event is held at the Kuwait International Fair Ground which consists of 8 halls and an outside space where different exhibitions are held- not really of the art variety, just food, books, industries etc. Normally this event is held in one of the halls, however due to it's popularity this year they decided to hold the event in the outside space and a souk was built especially. It was a pretty cool place to wander round, there were lots stalls full of Kuwaiti business', fashion boutiques, some displays of local crafts and a big stage with live performers. The things I enjoyed most were the huge sand sculptures and the art, there was a lot of cool graffiti, I found a book called "The Illustrated History of Kuwait"", the illustration reminds me of tin tin :-)! I would love to see a sand sculpture being made, I think they mix the sand with glass or something! Definitely worth the trip! I will be looking out for future exhibitions, I think they are hosting one with wedding dresses soon which could prove interesting to say the least, judging from the shops I have stumbled across! ha! A few pictures to follow....although I did not manage to get many......too many people :-(!

The Avenues Mall/Nightclub/Match.Mall

The Avenues Mall is the biggest mall in Kuwait and is pretty much the "place to be" for the locals, especially the younger generation. As most of you will probably know people pretty much do all their socialising in malls here as in the Summer it is too hot to be outside (so I hear) so the malls are full of places to eat and entertainment- similar to Dubai but not quite as grand yet- no ski slopes.
Thursday evening I went along to Avenues and enjoyed dinner in Benihana, a chain of teppan-yaki (teppan meaning- steel grill, Yaki meaning "broiled"- cooked on a steel grill) Japanese restaurants, the chain started in New York I think. It was my first time and it was yummy, our chef was rather amusing, the highlight of his performance was probably him making the shrimp dance Gang Nam Style. I'm not sure if all venues are the same but the decor basically had you sat in forest, I MISS NATURE, coming from London it seems bizarre to be saying this but living in Kuwait makes you appreciate how green Europe is with all it's parks, heaths, and rivers that are present even in the big cities, maybe I am a bit of a country bumpkin after all, HA!
 Post meal we had a little wander, avenues by night is a very different place, there were so many people just walking around, nobody was carrying shopping bags and the girls were all glammed up, I went in to the bathroom and it was like stepping in to the ladies in a nightclub, there were just rows of girls applying tons of make up! The young Arabic girls here like to wear a lot of make up, they must literally spend hours! I felt quite out of place with my bare face and casual harem pants! The men in the Mall were also quite keen to try their luck, I had one young guy come up to me and just state, " I want to F**K you", I think perhaps his English was limited but who knows.... ....maybe he has had luck with this line in the past! I conclusion I think avenues could roll with a new slogan....something a long the lines of "50% of relationships in Kuwait now start in Avenues Mall" ha ha.

Advert least likely to be shown in the UK

So I was sat watching some awful rom-com on one of the 5 or 6 english channels I have last night, kind of forgot I was in Kuwait for a minute or two....then came the advert break, the usual beauty products etc etc, followed by an add about domestic violence?!!(not sure if they have a domestic violence problem here, I feel some research coming on).... followed by an advert for an ABAYA SHAMPOO, with the slogan "keep your abaya black"...not sure why I found this so amusing, but I did, so I thought I'd share! Persil even stock an abaya shampoo, called "persil black".

Insha'Allah-God Willing, the reason for the lack of punctuality in the middle east!

Now I'm sure I am not the first one to write about this but I am going to go ahead and make the correlation between the term "insha'allah" and the distinct lack of punctuality here in the middle east- particularly Kuwait! The term insha'allah is used when speaking about events/meetings planned to occur in the future; it is written in the Qur'an that a Muslim should never make plans for the future without following with "insha'allah"- god willing(the same concept is also in the bible somewhere). Muslims believe that everything is already written "maktub" and therefore we should not say "we will do bla bla bla", as we do not know what god has planned for us, technically we could be lying. This belief may, in part, explain the ridiculously laid back attitude here when it comes to getting anything done, in my 2 months in Kuwait 80% of my scheduled appointments/meetings etc have been at least half and hour late, to get anything done, especially when it involves administration, generally takes at least twice as long as the time frame given, and nothing gets done unless you take responsibility of making sure it does! It is something you have to learn adapt to quickly, especially in the work place where it is likely to test you most!
  It is kind of a nice concept though really, don't stress, what will be will be!

Ajmal Arabian Stud Farm- Arabian Horse Farm

Today I visited Ajmal Arabian Stud Farm, owned by Mr. Mohammad Al Marzouk. With little interest in horses and having not researched the farm at all my expectations of today were low; I was more than pleasantly surprised. Mr. Mohammad Al Marzouk states that his" purpose is to make Ajmal Arabian Stud a sanctuary, a place of serenity dedicated to the perpetuation of beauty and excellence." When I arrived it felt so peaceful, it was the first time in weeks I have not been able to hear traffic! The farm was beautiful both inside (inside looked like a home catalogue and was full of hand crafted goods, It was like Arab decor done with taste, I wanted to own everything, there was a map on the ceiling, sigh!) and out and the animals and land were all extremely well kept and everything was CLEAN- Kuwait itself is filthy so this was refreshing!
 We sat in a viewing area and the horses paraded in front of us. Each with their own little performance! The horses are a little smaller than the normal jumping horses we are used to seeing in the UK and they were much, much more graceful! Each horse was so full of character, at points I was laughing out loud at their behaviour, they were all so very proud. They were just so god damn pretty :-), I could have watched them for hours!

Arabian horses are bred for both their appearance and character, as the Arabian horse was once a companion to the Bedouin people they were bred for there good temperament- they could not be spending all their time with bad tempered little rogues! The Characteristics they say they look for are - a great heart, a prideful spirit, abundant charisma, cute ears, expressive eyes, a very well arched neck and flying movement- they say Arabian horses should "fly without wings"........uh oh westlife you've been busted!haha!
  The farm also put on a very impressive lunch spread for us, I felt like I was at a banquet! I had lobster, salads, good cheese-something I'm missing- there was a mini chocolate fountain and I got to try a whole array of Arabian deserts :-)! All in all an amazing day, for all the senses!

skyfall 414 base jump- Chris McDougall sets the record for bas jumping in Kuwait!

Happy international Women's day; as a gift to the women of Kuwait Zain, Gulf Bank, Domino's Pizza, Go Sports ,Torino Lamborghini and Camco Global Events are throwing men off buildings! Amazing! Chris McDougall today set the record for base jumping in Kuwait by performing Kuwait's first ever base jump! He jumped from the tallest building in Kuwait Al-Hamra Tower, it is 414 metres high, a total of 80 floors! I stood in the audience and watched him jump twice from this tower! It was so exhilarating! Some how during the second jump I managed to stand with the photographers, the security guys were really nice, and sort of ushered me forward (maybe it was my professional looking camera :-)), when he landed everyone swarmed around him, I felt like I was photographing David Beckham or something, it was weird, it must be so annoying to be famous! Post papping I also got to have my photo taken with Chris (feels slightly odd referring to him by his first name, but hey..), he was really chatty, he said he was more comfortable up at the top of the building than down in front of the press but really I think he was a bit of a natural, very charismatic!
Definitely my best day in Kuwait so far! AMAZING! I would kill to have his Job.....I think, nobody has given me the opportunity to jump off a building with a parachute before, maybe i'd have second thoughts about risking my life over 4000 times, i'm not sure! Pictures to follow.....

Prayer call- Quality control?!!

So after bolding stating that I actually enjoy the prayer call I have discovered that the skills of each Muezzin (the dude that calls prayer) are vastly varied.The words of the call to prayer normally stay roughly the same however the rhythm and melody change according to the Muezzins personal style; apparently each Muezzin is selected solely on his ability to recite the Adhan (call to prayer), but I think maybe they are short of people that can sing in kuwait haha.Whilst most prayer calls are indeed beautiful I have been in the city a number of times now and I have borne witness to the most horrific sounding prayer call, when the call stopped it gave me the same feeling of relief I experience when I have been listening to a nieghbours car alarm for 20 minutes and it finally stops! Yikes! I think prior to moving in to any property in Kuwait I will make sure I hang around for a little listen of the local prayer call!

Park Life- Human Nature?!

So over my five day national day holidays I hunted down salmiya park- with the distinct lack of pavements and no I phone, this was harder than it sounds, this was actually my third attempt! When I found the park, i'm not going to lie, I was a little dissappointed, it was a reasonable size for a park in kuwait but it was not big enough to absorb the constant whir of the traffic and it was a little arid with only a small variety of plants, not quite the sanctuary I was looking for!
 Despite my intial dissappointment, soon enough I was fully engaged in people watching, it was like being in any park in london-with lots of women in abaya's and a few shisha pipes thrown in to the mix- there were men playing cricket and football, children skating and just generally making too much noise, women "power walking", people running  (I think I would get dizzy running round and round this park; it must take perhaps 3 minutes to run round the perimeter), people having BBQ's, it was great! It seems park culture is some sort of universal human behaviour!

Happy National Day :-)

This week Kuwait celebrated National Day on 25th of Feb. National day marks independence from Britain back in 1961, it is the date that Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Al Sabah was crowned ruler of Kuwait, he is said to be their most loved Sheikh as he paved the way to independence and set up the constitution. National day is followed by liberation day- 26th of Feb, which marks liberation from the 7 months of traumatic Iraqi occupation, liberation was enforced by multiple nations,led by America on the 26th of Feb 1991.

There were celebrations going on throughout the city such as kite flying and there were attempts to break 4 world records;
1- Most People singing National Anthem of Kuwait Simultaneously. (70,000+)
2- Largest Human Flag, Flag of Kuwait (32,000)
3- Largest Human Picture, Picture of Amir Kuwait (6,000)
4- Largest Human Mosaic, Shuhada Al Kuwait (5,000)

Unfortunately the events were not particularly well advertised and I only found out about them after they had occurred :-(!

Despite all this the main form of celebration I found most bizarre, the locals cram into their cars- which are all decorated with flags and pictures of Kuwaiti Rulers and then basically sit in a traffic jam on the gulf road for hours on end?!!!! They also squirt water pistols and foam at other cars and people passing by-people used to squirt foam in the colours of the Kuwaiti flag but it was banned two years ago as it was causing damage and health problems :-0-many people wear the flag colours or masks etc, it is all good fun but I cannot imagine why anyone would WANT to sit in a traffic Jam! I guess people really do not like to walk here so in a way it shows local tradition/culture haha! Either way it does bring everyone together and as the 25th and 26th fell on a Monday & Tuesday this year so I was given the Sunday off and so had a total of 5 days holiday- PLEASING!

The Friday Market (take one)

So on friday I visited the Friday Market here in kuwait- which is actually open on saturdays, or so I have heard- the market was not full of antiques and handicrafts from Iran that filled my dreams the night before but was more like a cross between a market and car boot.  Being a cultivated market and car boot I arrived ready to spend hours systematically tackling this beast of a market row by row, section by section; this certainly did not happen, I was too distracted by all the colours, hilarities and unfamiliar objects..... and at certain points running away from market stall owners trying to make me buy things I really did not want or need....but would have probably ended up buying if they had got me chatting, a weakness of mine I am more than aware of!
  The Market sells absolutly everything, beds, matresses, electrical appliances, sofa's, rugs, materials, second hand clothes, gym equipment and general bric-a-brac. You could basically kit out a whole house-if you wanted it to look like aladin's palace that is!
 The clothes section was intersting but was filled mainly with what looked like old factory stock .....a lot of polyester; so this did not excite me too much; what did make me extremely happy were the rolls upon rolls of fabric! It was AMAZING....of course this is where I made my first purchase! Other sections which could have bemused me for hours had I been alone were the traditional arabic sofa's and the ginormous rugs!
  My second purchase was made at a stall run by two pakistani gentleman, the stall to me was not disimilar to one found at typical english car boot filled with old bric-a-brac that the owners had accumulated,items no common theme or origin. My purchase was an old globe, not an antique with value by any stretch of the imagination but as soon as I spotted it I grew attached! The globe's previous owner obviously used it a lot as countires of significance have been erased by pointing fingers and the re-written by hand, I think I'm a sucker for an item with it's own history!
   Upon visiting the market be prepared to haggle for a bargain, I stood at each stall and before purchasing listened to see what the stall owner was asking other customers..... just to make sure I was not getting ripped off, I then asked the price (of course nothing has prices on) and then just proceeded "haggle" The material I got for 2kd- original asking price was 3kd, and the globe I purchased for 4kd and the original asking price was 8kd, normally by skills for bargaining are poor so I was quite pleased with myself.
  The Friday Market also has an animal section which sells pets which we did not venture in to on this occassion, I will be sure to visit at some point but I have a feeling it is a place I will only want to visit once from the stories....I fear I will leave with my own small army of animals!

The Old Souk

Sigh, this place I found enchanting! I only had a few hours to spare this time but it is defintiely a place I could idle a whole day with my camera! The old souk is the oldest souk in kuwait, everything seemed to be reasonably priced so I did not feel the need to haggle here, although I think most do!
  It was great to just watch the locals go about their daily business, everybody was so relaxed. Again there was a vast array of stalls all housed in different sections, here there were also substantial fish and meet markets, alongside lots of date and spice stalls....all with very strong aroma's, which all adds to the atmosphere! Part of the Market is housed in a charming building in which stalls are housed in a small room each with its own large, heavy wooden shutter.
  I did not see any westerners here, at first it was a little intimidating but I soon felt I was just a part of the bustling, everybody was happy for me to take pictures and I felt most people were welcoming! A handful of locals struck up conversation and were only too pleased to tell me about local items being sold or to ask me questions about London and what I was doing kuwait, I am in love! I hope to make it back soon!

Underground Kuwait

So I briefly mentioned in an earlier post about my first experience of underground Kuwait, I feel this was a relatively tame evening in comparison to yesterday evening! Never the less I will elaborate on both stories.

So the first bar I went to, as I said previously was run by an European architect who was sponsored by a Kuwaiti guy, they had bought space in small office building which is pretty much empty, the place had free food and bar with a big screen with music video's playing, the vibe that evening was quite relaxed but I had been warned that at times the place turns in to a bit of a "sexy party"....there were a few Kuwaiti guys there with their "girlfriends", whom I can only assume were being paid for their company... getting pretty full on! Anyway the bar was pretty empty that night and we left at around 12. The guys that run the place invited me to spend the day with them on their yacht in the summer and to go for a ride with them the next day on their Harley's.......ridiculous. It all felt a little seedy though...


Thursday evening I was invited by a friend to a party, this party turned out to be in a building that was rented out -by a Kuwaiti of course- you can only own property here if you are a Kuwaiti- to various people to throw parties. The whole place was just full of sound proof flats in which everyone partying. We entered a party on the fourth floor and it was an experience to say the least, the room was rammed full of bodies and there was a sea of scantily dressed Filipino women, grinding on or against western men, those that were not with men were trying to grab men or dancing in front of mirrors in similar fashion to those dancing on men. When I first entered I was instantly surrounded by men and it was all a bit much, kindly an American guy-with Filipino girl in tow- who had witnessed my frustration,took a second to take a breath and inform me "you can't look at anyone, just dance" fortunately this advice did seem to help a lot! We wanted to explore the other parties but the guy running the party we were in said that they were full of Kuwaiti's and Filipino girls...I have heard in Oman there are many brothels/harems of this manner, apparently they say that Chinese or Filipino girls offer the "best fit" for the average Omani man........needless to say we did not visit any of the other parties! I went home to my feather duvet and emperor sized bed :-).As we left we did see a guy in traditional dress leaving with an asian lady who barely dressed.

Riding Taxi's in Kuwait

There are a vast array of nationalities here in Kuwait that make a living driving a taxi cab. Every taxi I have ridden in here has been a new experience; from the Indian husband who had a good old feel of my leg, the guy that whipped out his whole collection of Michael Jackson (AMAZING) to devout Islamic Egyptian who I spent an hour and a half with in a traffic jam, in this time he taught me some Arabic and prayed, he recited along to a prayer on the radio for around 15 minutes......whilst i'm on the subject, I'm just going to put it out there, I actually quite like the prayer calls, I find them quite relaxing, they have the ability to really calm me!

I quickly learnt that taxi drivers try to charge blond and little British girls double the fare that they would charge for say an Indian man or Filipino woman....I learnt from Lise that the best thing to do, at least for short journeys, is know what the fare should be before you get in and then at the end of the journey just pay them that amount.....always have change! I have encountered few problems this way, I have had a few drivers protest but I just say sternly, I have been here many times and I always pay this fare. Another thing you learn quickly is that few cab drivers speak good English or have any idea where they are going, for this reason it is always good to know a few well known places near to your destination, my first week was a nightmare, and you feel so stupid for not knowing any Arabic.

Having said all this one of my favourite people in Kuwait at the moment is noor- this means moonlight- a taxi driver from Bangladesh. He speaks great English and Arabic and is just such a touching character. He works so hard, he is always on time and is trying to start a business with his brother, he used a saying the other day he said " god will help you but you must try", I'm not religious but his determination and patience is really inspiring! He is one of those people that you meet and you just feel they deserve to have good things happen to them! If I won a large sum of money I'd definitely give him a million because he is just so moral and he has so little!

Sharq Souk.......chicken anyone?

 

Today I visited Sharq Souq, which is a souq attached to one of the older shopping malls selling mostly food; you can find a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, fish and dates in every possible form alongside a vast array of spices and teas, which all looked and smelt yummy! The stall owners were super friendly and we got lots of freebies! One of the fish mongers ushered me to pose with the fish when I requested his permission to take a photo!  Everyone found me and my photo taking rather amusing! The souk proved to be much cheaper and better quality than the super markets where the fresh food is often too ripe; no expats seem to use the souks...not sure why, habbit I guess.Sharq Souk has sold souk shopping to me! Next friday I will visit the friday market which sells evrything including clothes and trinkets :-)! It is a little more intimidating, I have been told to expect attention and maybe some tag alongs!

 

 

 

                                                                         Chickens :-(

 

 

Me as a fish monger...these tuna were HUGE!

 

Fishing boats just outside the souk!

Jahra, Site of War....

 

  

Red Fort Palace, the site of the battle of Jahra, 1920, conflict between Kuwait and Saudi forces! This building was a palace built when the once small oasis village had grown in to a small town and notable trading point.....for camels mainly. The outskirts of this town were also where the US army defeated the Iraqi convoy's, the highway is known as the "highway of death" because it was bombed as the Iraqi soldiers retreated, the highway post bombing is stated in documentation to have been more horrific than the war scenes of Vietnam....a quote from the General that gave the order to bomb the highway "The first reason why we bombed the highway coming north out of Kuwait is because there was a great deal of military equipment on that highway, and I had given orders to all my commanders that I wanted every piece of equipment that we possibly could to be destroyed.
 Secondly, this was not a bunch of innocent people just trying to make their way back across the border to Iraq. This was a bunch of rapists, murderers and thugs who had raped and pillaged downtown Kuwait City and now were trying to get out of the country before they were caught." Yikes! Army Generals Fascinate me!





On A lighter note.....Inside Marina Crescent AKA Kuwait's ST. Kathryn's Dock, 5 minutes walk from my house YAY!

A few photo's.....Still no Decent Camera....3 weeks to go till I make that purchase. Hold your breath!

                                         jelly fish at the aquarium....where I found no giant spider crabs as promised :-(! I was hoping to gain some inspriation to develop my arab crab dance!

                                       The Iraq border, seen from the desolate red fort palace

 Me and Lise

 

 

                                                    Marina Crescent from Marina Beach

                                                Kuwait water front on a cloudy day...sitting on the dock of the bay....