Blogs from Kuwait, Middle East
February 27th 2012
It was another of those not-so-auspicious starts. First, I had mistakenly paid for a set of visa stamps I didn’t need, as I stumbled through the very unclear visa process – head up to the departure lounge (really?), get a copy of your passport made, take a number, fill out this form, buy the visa stamps from a vending machine (oops, except if you are from the UK or US!), get an 8x11 paper that serves as your visa (don’t lose it!), get your entry stamp, and THEN head downstairs to immigration. Second, I couldn’t, at first, get a taxi driver to take me into town. The first guy, a grizzled old Kuwaiti man in gutra, puffing away on a cigarette, took one look at me, and, before I could explain where I wanted to go, ... read more
February 27th 2012
When I walked through the door I was almost blinded. Outside, the day was quite uncharacteristically – for Kuwait – grey and rainy. Inside this house, tucked into the non-descript residential area of Qadisiya, all was ablaze in light and color, refracted off every possible surface.There was no hiding the fact that this was the House of Mirrors. The life’s work of Lidia al-Qattan, an Italian-born, British-educated woman who married a Kuwaiti man (Khalifa al-Qattan, who became one of the most famous Kuwaiti artists), the House of Mirrors is just that: a house covered inside and out in mirror-fragment mosaics. This vivacious septuagenarian woman, a widow since 2003, gives private tours of her home if you ring ahead. Originally, I had planned on joining my hosts, Hamlet and Anita, for an excursion... read more
September 16th 2011
Now that my good friend Scott has moved out to Dubai, we wanted to take advantage of our location and get exploring some of the countries in the Middle East and it was also a good excuse to get some geocaching done. First on this list was Kuwait and it would be a very quick visit as I only had the weekend to fit it in. So as with any trip it started with a plane, and this particular plane for some unknown reason even to Jesus himself didn’t have the ability of air conditioning until take off. So for a good 40 minutes I was sitting there sweating my ass off to the amusement of Scott. Anyway a minor speed bump and we were on our way to our destination. After some confusion at the ... read more
August 29th 2011
Greetings from Kuwait! I made it here in one piece, all bags in tact, ready for the next phase of my life. My vanilla extract also made it through. We were met at the airport and given an allowance, water, and porters took our bags so we didn’t even need to touch them once we got off the plane. There were about 38 new teachers on the plane, most of whom I met in Frankfurt, but about 10 had already arrived or have just recently arrived since. We got through the 40 degree nighttime heat and to our apartments—mine is huge with enormous windows and secret access to the roof between two buildings (even though I’m only on the 3rd floor), but it has gold fabric on all the couches, with gold curtains, and light blue ... read more
February 8th 2011
Leg One- Flight was London to Kuwait which involved an 8 hour wait in Kuwait airport…only to be told that it would be delayed for over another hour. All this is an airport where there’s only Costa coffee. So we stayed awake and had 2 lots of paninis. The flight involved a woman coughing her guts up (who Laura kindly described as the ‘Exorcist Woman’) and 3 screaming babies- all in all we’ve had better flights. Leg Two- Kuwait to Delhi- we were so knackered we slept throughout the whole 3 hours! All in all a really long journey and no in-flight entertainment; suppose that’s what you get for paying only 300 pounds! ... read more
September 5th 2010
So the annual trip went on fabulously, and days seemed to have just whizzed past. Feel quite blessed that we were able to the countless things, we got to do. Ofcourse being with family and friends being the best part, and the endless drives and short trips and long ones too; catching up with the gol gappas,kachoris and paniyarams and vada paavs!! The amazing part was that we were able to enjoy and savour, the best of all the places we visited, as a visitor. But strangely enough was left with this rankling feeling of, trying to grapple for our roots and maybe branches too, while we seem to drift along with the currents, to some unknown destination!! Well, back to more prosaic sections of our trip, ofcourse touched and lined with unfathomable beauty and pleasure; ... read more
August 14th 2010
Dear all, I decide to resurect the blog to keep in touch, but by almeans email me direct. I hope you are all well and enjoying the summer, whereever you are. Please see attached some pics from Kuwait. The titles should be self explanitary. Things are fine here, if a little auster. I was allocated a car and an apartment upon arrival, which was just over a week ago now. It is hot, 47 degrees generally, but the humidity is lower than the UAE and so quite bearable. Presently we are in the holy month of Ramadan and so that means no eating or drinking in public, nothing at all from dawn until dusk. This means that all cafes and resturants are closed during daylight hours. Work takes most of my time what with a 40 ... read more
August 6th 2010
Friday, August 6th Touch down in Kuwait without a visa or hotel reservation to our name. The visa was a no brainer with our new spiffy non-Israeli stamped passports and $11, we were good to go. Assuming they would have a tourist information booth we didn’t make reservations for a hotel. Surprise surprise! We were greeted with “hey lady, wanna a hotel? Cheap!” as men covertly asked us. Not a good scene. We ended up booking with the Holiday Inn that was lovely. *Kuwait got its Independence in 1961 from the UK *Has 2.6 million people and in terms of land mass is only slightly smaller than New Jersey. *Petrol is 95% of its export and government income and ½ of its GDP *Unemployment is 2.2% *Women got the vote in 2005 and one needs ... read more
July 3rd 2010
College is Over .Now I am A graduate in computer Applications. I went To Attend Delhi hacker's Meet and i gave presentations on few topic . Then one fine evening i got a call from a big Security Research organization and they asked me if i would be ready to work in Kuwait as Information Security Trainer . I grabbed the Opportunity and now i am going through a lot of paperwork . Hope to relocate in Kuwait soon for 1 year .... ... read more
June 21st 2010
When Robert Louis Stevenson proclaimed, “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move”, he may have prophesied the great affair of business class travel. Whilst planning my holiday, I happened upon a remarkable offer - a business class ticket from Bangkok to Dubai with Qatar Airways (recently awarded the World’s Best Business Class) for only several hundred dollars more than an economy seat. Thinking the price was in error, I re-entered the flight details and the same price was displayed. A tantalising prospect of luxury awaited, and so a few web clicks later my dreams of business class travel became a reality. Months later, I departed for Bangkok in my usual economy class. An added benefit was the stopover at Changi ... read more
