Q8alicious

Well, I've enjoyed my break from writing in the blog.  I love writing, at least in my head.  I'm always writing out posts.  But when it comes to physically typing it all out, I've gotten really bored with that part.

Anyways, I've taken my adventures to a new country, at least temporarily.  We are now in Kuwait for an unspecified amount of time.  Or as some people write it, Q8.

I hope to take a lot of pictures and post them up here.  And Also hope to write down some of my thoughts about things here and how they are the same or different than things in Cairo.

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I have to say, the trip didn't start off so well.  The plane we flew on had a perfumy smell and there were also a lot of passengers that were heavily scented.  It was actually irritating my throat.  So I spent the two and a half hour flight trying to doze as much as possible and just not think about it.

But aside from the flight, things went well.  I got my visa at the airport after we landed.  It took less than 5 minutes, though we had to go by two different desks.  And it was free.
Funny thing was, at every point we went through after that in immigration, they barely looked at my passport.  Once they saw I had an American passport they basically just waived me through.  Although this was a nice change from the scrutiny I get when entering the U.S., it was also slightly worrisome.  What if I had had less than good intentions when visiting here?   In any case, the airport didn't take too long.  All baggage arrived intact and we were met by a friend of hubby's who picked us up and stopped so we could get some food and then dropped us at our hotel.

It was after 2 by the time we got to the hotel I think, and there was a slight problem.  They had us booked for a single room, which is extremely small.  But they were fully booked and couldn't switch us to a bigger room until the next day.  So we had a night of very little sleep in a cramped bed.  No windows in the room and it felt slightly claustrophobic.  Even if it was just one person in the room it's too small!

Saturday afternoon we left the hotel and walked down to the sea, which is just 3 or 4 blocks down from the hotel.  Very nice to be so close and I would love living here if we could be so close to the sea, but most likely if we moved here on a more permanent basis, we would be a little further away.

So we had a nice couple hour walk on the hmmm... promenade?  There's a sidewalk that runs along the sea.  There's no beach to speak of, at least in the area we are at, there's just a kind of rock area that's built up and then some benches all along the way and then the sidewalk.  Lots of people out walking or jogging, or families with kids on bikes and such.  It was a little chilly but a nice day to get out.

One thing that's very obvious here is how diverse it is in the nationalities of its population.  There are many many Indian and Asian people who work here.  I think the entire population of Kuwait is only around 3 million, and quite a large chunk of that is made up of migrant (immigrant?) workers.  It's actually quite a big change from Cairo, where you mostly just see Egyptians.  It's rare to see other nationalities, at least in the more average areas.  There are some areas that are known for their population of ex pats, but even then I think it's a lot of people from the States or the UK.

Another thing that's easily noticeable here is how much more money there is here than in Egypt.  Lots of pricy cars here.  Tons of SUVs.  It's hard to have an SUV in Cairo because the streets just aren't big enough for it.  Seems like the majority of vehicles here are SUV.

And so far, it's much much cleaner here.  I haven't seen piles of trash all over the streets like I see in Cairo.  That doesn't mean it doesn't exist mind you, there could be some trash in some areas, but in our little area I haven't seen any.

There is a difference as well in the kinds of clothing you will see here since there is such a large immigrant or ex pat population here.  You can see women wearing a face veil but also women who are dressed in clothing that you would not consider modest in the slightest.  And because of the money, lots of people seem fond of expensive clothes and such.  And looking like they have a lot of money.  And with that comes that attitude that they are somehow better because they have money.  lol   I can't stand it but whatever.   And, different than Egypt is the men here wearing the head scarf.  Turban?  It's a cloth and they wear the ring around it.  And wearing the long dress that would be called a gallabiya but I think westerners would just think looks like a dress.  lol

One other thing of note, and not something I'm fond of, its actually been a big bother for me, is that everyone here, even more than in Cairo which I didn't think was possible, LOVES to wear a scent of some kind.  Perfume or cologne or musk or whatever.  It's too strong and too much and everyone is wearing it.  Even in the hotel the lobby has some scent.  This is a problem for me since I'm so sensitive to smells and it's really quite a bother.  It's not just smelling them, I can also taste them when they are too strong and it irritates my throat as well.  Not sure there's anything I can do about it but you can bet I'll think on it.
 
So, it's been interesting so far.
Hubby is off working for a few hours and after he comes home we'll go out later on.  I'm not sure if I'll get any pictures since it might be dark but who knows, maybe.
Oh, and our new hotel room is on the 10th floor, so we have a super view.  It's really great.  If it wasn't so overcast today I would be able to see the sea.

Alright, so here are some pictures.  I did post some of these on facebook so you might have already seen them, but I'll try to post some others as well.  I'm showing them on the page as a small size but if you want to see them larger, just click on any image and it will take you to a larger size of that image.

The image above is along our walk at the sea.  I believe the city further out is to the north of us?  Not positive.    See how there are rocks built up and then the benches?  It was like that for quite a ways.

And here is the only sand I saw along the whole way.  Not even sure what the sand is there for?  Not much you can do with it.  But there was a couple there enjoying getting their feet/legs wet.  :)

When we got to the Science Center, they had an area where it appears that they repair or work on boats.  So this one was there in the little docking area for some kind of work.  Looks like a neat ship.

Hubby and I posed and put the camera on timer.  This was right at the area where the ship was.

I just love the blue reflective windows they have on buildings here.  I don't see too much of it in Cairo but I really like it.

Funny sign at the Science Center.  You could do all this stuff at other areas of the beach, or most of it.  Well, I know you could ride bikes and fish in certain areas.  Not sure about swimming.   But I thought it was funny that they included no shisha smoking.  They really had to put that on a sign?  I mean, was it happening so much they wanted to make sure no one was doing it there?  lol

And a picture of me standing next to something that is reminiscent of sails?  Not sure what they were.  But I'm standing next to them!