There is rain in the desert! I was dismayed this morning when I woke up to hear that I had missed an ever so brief episode of rain. However, Serena and I were excited to say the least when we heard thunder after lunch today and looked out to see the first drops of rain! It only lasted a few minutes, but we soaked it up ;)
Here’s some video evidence, complete with Serena’s squeals of joy!! Enjoy!
As I’d heard before coming to Kuwait, this is a country that unfolds slowly to newcomers. Thankfully, I’ve met lots of great people here so far who have helped to open up some of the cool experiences Kuwait has to offer. Amongst the best and most recent was a dance party in the desert. My roommate, Serena, and several of our friends rented a bus to drive out into the desert, to a location about 20km from the Iraqi border. We arrived at dusk to a group of buildings that had been heavily bombed during the invasion of Kuwait. It was a surreal experience to stand in a place that had been in conflict in my lifetime. It was also crazy to be standing out in the middle of a fairly decent desert.
The party was complete with a DJ and light projectors (although these did go down for a bit in a short blackout), with a dance floor on the cracked cement slabs that made up the floor of what was once an intact building. One downfall of a party in the desert on a humid, windy night was all the sand. Every time the wind picked up I was invariably caked in sand.
One fairly unusual sight compared to parties back home was the gas plumes lighting up the horizon from the oil fields along the border. This one was definitely a new and very refreshing experience for me compared to all the shopping malls and fast food around me here.
I’ll end with some photos, courtesy of Serena. Enjoy!
The adventure for this week was a trip to the Souk Al Mubarakiya. Basically it’s a big market with everything from fruit and fish to clothing and kitchenware. It reminded me a lot of markets I’ve visited in the Mediterranean with crowded, garage-style stalls, goods stacked to the ceiling, and all varieties of smells mingled in the air. It was a great place for people watching as well. Crowds of men seems to appear around shops and then disperse at random intervals. I never did figure out the rhyme or reason for these curious flash mobs. Five-minute sale, perhaps?
On the whole, there were lots of men (many of them wearing the traditional dishdasha), not too many women (most of them wearing the abaya and/or burqa). I had to be careful where I pointed my camera, as it is considered very taboo to take photos of Arab women in traditional dress. I found lots of other subjects for my photos though. One of the more interesting elements of this souk, which differentiated it from the European markets I’ve seen, was a series of sprinklers at one entrance that spray you with a fine mist of water. Great solution to the heat!
The souks don’t usually open until after 4pm, I’m guessing that’s due to the heat at the moment, so we had a wander through the market before having a delicious meal at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant my roommate had been to previously. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m loving the food here! And this was no exception. Now that payday has come, I expect I’ll be having many more food adventures this week!
I’ll leave you with some parting photos of the Souk Mubarakiya. Enjoy!
McDonald’s is everywhere
Apparently this is the oldest pharmacy in Kuwait (still in operation now)
The sprinklers
The Liberation Tower
The aforementioned “delicious food”
