Kuwait Things to Do

Ok, this was the first stop, when we arrived in Kuwait.... don't know why but it was.. anyways, we took 10 minutes to park just to be told that the observation deck was closed... so we decided explored the streets around it and had more fun there... the street were packed as the dusk prayer were coming to an end and everyone were on the streets having coffee and tea... walked around for about 20 minutes but it seemed our driver wasn't comfortable with us walking around on our own... I thought we were fine, was actually having a bit of coffee offered to us by some Kuwaiti elders when we were told that we had to go !!!! I thanked the elders for there hospitality and coffee and were on our way to another site.

If I told you you were in Europe, the United Sates or any advanced country in the west you would believe me... that's how modern this Souq Sharq is.... tons of western stores from Coach to Prada to Applebee's are here... don't know why we were brought here, but at least we know that Kuwait is as modern as the west when it comes to malls !!!! Saw lots of western foreigner's and extremely weathy Kuwaiti's here... spent 10 minutes here .... didn't come to Kuwait to see a modern mall !!!!!

Some of the best cultural experiences anyone can ever have are in the souqs of the middle east, we were looking for the tradtional street one, but Kuwait seems to have forgone that and built modern ones...we went into the Fish market by pure mistake... nothing out of this world but at least looked around for about 15 minutes and that was enough of the smell so we left..... if you decide to buy anything remeber haggle no matter what !!!!

This is the internationally known symbol of the country of Kuwait... located at the end of the pennisula facing the Persian Gulf, this is the first image everyone saw around the world when Sadaam Hussein invaded this small country in early 1990's. Today it has been fixed up after some descruction by the invading Iraqi army.

Admission is 2 KWD that includes a small cup of coffee or tea at the top observation deck. We were there at night so we couldn't see much but at least you can see the still evolving construction of modern building going up all over Kuwait.

One intresting thing was up on the observation deck the floor rotates a full 360 degrees. It takes about 10 minutes to sit there and go all around.

The small park at the bottom of the towers are very nice and clean, don't know if they would allow picnic's put would be cool if they did....

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I hesitate to call this "Kuwaiti Architecture" because what I'm describing is not in fact a traditional or native product of the country. Rather, it is Kuwait's current obsession with interesting and sometime weird (but usually quite unique and remarkable) architectural styles. First, the skyscraper truly is king in Kuwait, and it can sometimes feel rather awkward when you are walking through a city that has so much open space and yet so many high-density buildings. Clearly, they are not a function of space management or urban planning, but of the desire to make the city remarkable and modern. Secondly, Kuwaitis have a knack for building the impossible. They don't have the tallest buildings in the world, as in Dubai, but they do have plenty of skyscrapers that seem to twist and turn in wonderful ways. It is a great thing to take pictures of and a great way to remember the city. Lastly, Kuwaitis seem to like to have buildings that are patronized by wealthy people and families, so don't be surprised if a building that you would expect to have some sort of symbolic name is actually called the Behbehani towers - as most nearly everything in Kuwait is called.

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Unlike the Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry (Maktaba babTain al-markaziya lish-sha9r al-9arabiy), the Kuwait National Library is a clear project by the Kuwaiti government to invest in massive universal style cultural projects. This is, in a way, a Gulf-wide phenomenon that marks a general push to invest in higher education and culture. Even if the building itself looks like a city hall in a small Canadian town (i.e. it is functional and ugly), the exterior of the building is still softened by a diwaniya and a mosque that are obviously meant to mirror to traditional, simple aesthetic of Gulf life before the oil boom. These are actually the far more aesthetically pleasing parts of the complex, and worth most of your photography. I'm not sure what sort of collection the Library boasts, but given that poetry and not prose was the specialty of the Gulf Arabs up until the 70s, I can't imagine that it would be a place rich in the cultural traditions of the country.

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One of the common complaints you hear from people who think that they know Arab or Kuwaiti culture is that the people of Kuwait have never produced any notable novel or literary work. While it is true that the art of novel writing is fairly novel to Kuwait (no pun intended; the first novels came in the 1960s or 70s), this does not mean that the people of this country have no literary history. To the contrary, Kuwaitis have long excelled at the art of poetry and the country is fairly famous in the Arab World for its poets. To gather and preserve this tradition, the Kuwaiti government has invested in the creation of the Babtain Central Library, which is devoted to Arabic poetry. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to go into the Library (you have to save something for a second visit), but the sheer size of the building should give some indication of the role that poetry plays in the preservation of traditional Kuwaiti culture.

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The Heritage Souq sounds quite mysterious and Eastern, like something out of a Victorian novel. Unfortunately, the Iraqi invasion and occupation led to the destruction of pretty much anything heritage in Kuwait City. This is a resurrected version of the old souq, with some attempt at restoring its former glory. Fortunately, many of the merchants here returned to their stores after the war, so at least the types of shops here are somewhat traditional, even if Chinese-made garbage is widely available. The fact is that the structure of the souq is of little importance - what matters is the atmosphere and al-bi9, the prospect of the sale. I spent huge amounts of time in the souq, and my evenings back in Ottawa really do feel empty and boring because of the fun of spending them amongst the people in the market. Most men and women are in traditional clothes here and there is numerous shops that sell both abayas and dishadish. By far, though, my favourite experience is going through the various perfume and scent stores. Nothing is more fun than having the salesman smoke your clothes with sandalwood or jasmine incense. The entire atmosphere is magical and there is no better feeling than having spoken with the various merchants, even if you don't end up buying something. There is undoubtedly nothing more memorable in Kuwait than the time you spent amongst the tujjar (merchants) of this magical place.