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 :-(!