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!