Kuwait -- 50/20

As the crow flies, Kuwait is about 2 hours' flight from Tel Aviv.  Since a direct flight isn't possible, I flew to Kuwait via Amman.  The head-shaking part of this trip is the less than 20 minute flight from Tel Aviv to Amman--and a bit of that is spent turning around over the Mediterranean Sea...

Special Year for Kuwait:  2011 is their 50th anniversary of independence from Great Britain and the 20th anniversary of their liberation from the Iraqi invaders.  Kuwaiti roads have circle-shaped signs everywhere commemorating the special 50/20.  In February, the Kuwaitis invited the U.S. military to participate in a huge celebration parade. 

Kuwait is all desert, with warm days and cold nights and, from what I saw, is rather flat geographically.  Our Embassy is a beautiful compound that has literally everything, housing, tennis court, swimming pool, etc--amazingly, the Embassy cafeteria is a Ruby Tuesday--you really do order from menus and they serve the food. :-)   One "prize" it displays is a T 54/55 army tank that was captured from the Iraqis, driven to the Embassy a few days after Kuwait's liberation, and presented to Ambassador Edward "Skip" Gnehm from TN-based National Guard troops--the tank's gun barrel reads "To Bulldog from Rockytop."  The mascot of the University of Georgia, in Gnehm's home state, is the Bulldog and a nickname for TN is Rockytop. Click here for tank photo.

For American fast-food, Kuwait literally has it all: Chili's, Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Friday's, Starbucks, Hardees, KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Auntie Anne's, Johnny Rockets, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Haagen Dazs, Baskin Robbins, etc....and Dean & Deluca.  As I have long been partial to B&R Mint Choc Chip, I had to have a scoop at Kuwait Airport; Dean & Deluca, which sells gourmet/fine foods, was a great surprise as I didn't know they had an overseas presence--was so delighted that I selected veal picatta, vermicelli rice, tabbouleh and a chocolate cupcake to go, and other assorted goodies to bring back--my hotel room had a full service kitchen--quite easy to assemble a "Dean & Deluca" dinner.  Yum, yum.

Kuwait is more liberal than Saudi Arabia--women drive, vote (first time: 2006), serve in parliament, work as immigration officers, shop at the mall alone with their children and have varied levels of  'hijab' coverage, such as abayas, or modest western clothing.  Somewhat disconcertingly, I saw several women attired in full niqabs covering the entire face, including their nose, with only eye-hole "cut-outs," simultaneously driving (solo or with children) and texting! 

Kuwaitis still love to drive big, American cars--I vividly remember the line of Chevy Caprices making their way to the Saudi border just as the Iraqis invaded--the Emir even had one back then. 

Alcohol is illegal in Kuwait, so was strange to see people in the hotel bar areas chatting and drinking only orange juice, cokes and water.  In the outside lounge areas overlooking the beach and Kuwait Bay, a cultural past-time for both men and women is to smoke "liquid" tobacco (the tobacco smoke is filtered through water before reaching the smoker via a tube), from shishas (see photo link below). 

Xray-land:  Before exiting Kuwait airport after arrival, they x-ray all of your luggage (presumably to check for alcohol and other banned items).  Departing Kuwait: just before entering the glassed-partitioned check-in counter area, they x-ray all your luggage; after exiting the check-in area, in front of you is the security-line for access to the "inner terminal," where they x-ray everything again.  To enter your gate's boarding area, there is a third, and last, x-ray procedure....  Interestingly, Amman airport has special rooms for female pat-downs as part of the gate security process; Kuwait does not.

The Avenues:  Kuwait's largest shopping mall with 400+ shops, located about 1/2 hour from Al Bida'a, where I was staying.  It includes an Ikea, Carrefour and many, many recognizable chain stores. They are building Phase III now.... Reminded me very much of the Kuala Lumpur Commerical Center (aka KLCC mall), with Westerners and Arabs meandering through the mall. Service industry workers in Kuwait, as in other Gulf Arab countries, are mostly imported from India and Asia.
 
Kuwait Photos: click here.