Hot And Humid

About 10 days ago we went for a long walk. It is really one of our favorite things to do - just walk with no aim, get lost in narrow side streets, turn whenever there seems to be something interesting to look at. Unfortunately the weather has stopped us from taking these walks for quite a long time but then the temperatures dropped a bit and it was not humid so we walked for a couple of hours (stopping of course at every corner store to buy yet another bottle of water).

We found the 'Little India' of our area where most of the population is Indian migrant workers and where the restaurants serve traditional Indian food and the little clothes shops sell colorful saris. We also found the area where the very poor looking Arab migrant workers seem to cluster (many Arab migrant workers have office jobs but some are really at the bottom of the hierarchy here cleaning the streets for example).

In one street we found the Kabul Restaurant - a tiny place with no tables, a small menu/price list written in Arabic on the wall and a friendly Afghan man serving up portions of hearthy take-away food to the neighborhood people (mostly Indian residents and taxi drivers who stop by).


(Kabul Restaurant - keeping the food hot)

I am never very brave when it comes to taking pictures of people I don't know. I always fear that they might think I am doing it with some bad motive or to expose them in their state of poverty or hard labor. I'm afraid they think I regard them as a 'tourist attraction' - although this is in no way the case. Anyway, I got K to ask the Afghan restaurant owner if he would mind me taking a picture and he was happy to oblige:


(The owner of Kabul Restaurant and his young helper)


(Posing for the shot - the Kabul Restaurant owner and his helper)

Across from Kabul Restaurant there is a small hole-in-the-wall place that we almost walked past without noticing it. It has no signs of any kind and it is so narrow that you could almost reach from one end to the other. Inside these men are baking large, round bread known here as Iranian bread. The temperature inside is almost unbearable with 2 large fires burning inside the ovens.


(The 2 men baking the Iranian bread and placing them on a table - when someone buys them, they will be wrapped in a newspaper sheet)

The dough is spread out (like a pizza) on the white round thing next to the oven - then placed inside the oven on the wall. As you can see there are 3 people working in this tiny shop - I wonder how that is a viable business. I am sure the rent - as well as their salaries - is low but at 20 Fils for a bread (7 US Cents/5 € cents/40 øre) you need to sell a lot of bread to make a profit...


(Working the oven)


(Iranian bread baking)

So in the end we had a lovely meal for KD 1.080 ($3.73 / €2.93 / Kr. 21.80) and there was food enough for 3-4 people. I know this isn't cheap compared to street food in many other countries but in Kuwait where life is expensive and prices quite high, this is a bargain!


(A very nice and simple meal - the bread is lying on the sheet of newspaper we got them in)

So, the owner of the Kabul Restaurant had asked us in his broken English if we would bring him the pictures. We figured that if he asked for them it would be quite impolite not to give them to him - so we had a few copies printed and yesterday ventured out to give them to him.

The humidity is really high these days - it feels like you cannot breathe when you walk outside - a bit like walking inside a sauna. We had left home little after 6pm so we were not allowed to drink in public for the first half an hour or so due to Ramadan. As soon as the call to prayer was heard (indicating that the sun has set) we saw the staff of many of the local restaurants gather outside to eat huge plates of food and drink large bottles of water and soda. It's the first time I actually see anyone break the fast.

We only walked for about an hour in total to reach the Kabul Restaurant and go back home but the humidity made it feel like we had walked for hours and hours (even if we were taking it slow). I think it was only 35-40 degrees Celcius (95-104F).


(The shop window of a shoe shop in Salmiya - humidity blurring much of the window)


(Sweating in the humidity)

It is an interesting time of day to be walking around - the streets are almost deserted and you get that feeling that there has been a nuclear attack and you are the only one left in the world. Then some time after the sun has set, people start to come out into the streets - but mostly migrant workers and other expatriates (most of the Kuwaitis are at home with their families breaking the fast and only come out much later in the evening).

More humidity:


(The office window in our building)


(The entrance doors to our building)

I know this is not charming in any way but this is what a small evening stroll will do to you (mind you, without sunshine and daytime temperatures):


(Off to the shower...)


(Off to the shower...)

Ramadan Is Right Around The Corner

The Holy Month of Ramadan is hours away.

It is expected to begin from tomorrow (11 August) based on astronomical calculations - although some argue that it should begin on the 12th as the crescent moon cannot actually be seen until tomorrow.

Either way, people have been shopping more than usually for the past couple of days, decorations with lanterns and inscriptions wishing people a blessed Ramadan have been put up, stores are posting their changed opening hours for the coming month and I can clearly feel that there is something in the air. Although the two are in no way comparable, it feels a bit like the anticipation for Christmas.

During Ramadan, Muslims all over the world are expected to fast from sunrise to sunset. I have always found this quite an accomplishment but considering that since the Ramadan falls earlier every year they will now have to endure the August heat often above 50 degrees Celsius (122F) without a drop of water from sunrise to sunset. I could probably go without eating but I am not sure I could survive not drinking.

Non-Muslims are not required to fast, however the Interior Ministry of Kuwait has made it very clear that anyone who eats or drinks in public will be fined KD 100 ($357 / €262 /Kr. 1954) and/or a month in jail (that should very efficiently prevent you from eating again in public during Ramadan). Last year during Ramadan a foreigner who hadn't done his homework on 'do's and dont's during Ramadan' got jailed. Not dressing conservatively supposedly lands you in jail as well.

Although supermarkets stay open, cafés and restaurants (including delivery and take-away) will largely remained closed until after sunset (my local Starbucks will be open from 6.30pm to 2.30am for the next month). My local mall will open at 11am (when people have had time to sleep after eating in the early morning before sunrise) and stay open until 4pm. Then people will head home to prepare for breaking the fast (including a number of specific prayers) and shops reopen at 8pm staying open until 1am. It really is a change of day (and night) rhythm for a month.

To make it a little bit more bearable, official work hours have been cut to 6 hours per day (typically 9am to 3pm) and I have heard that some places unofficially accept their people not showing up to work every day. I have heard a few people (Kuwaiti Muslims) raise this issue over the past days on blogs and in newspapers - that the month of Ramadan is supposed to be difficult to endure (that's the whole point) and that by making it easier by reducing work hours and allowing people to rest inside in air-condition or sleep for much of the day, the point is being diluted. It is not in my place to judge this - I understand their point but I am also sure that it is very hard even with reduced work hours.

Since 'eating and drinking in public' also includes smoking, dissolving a mint in your mouth or chewing a piece of chewing gum I'll make sure to empty my hand bag before going to bed - of anything that could land me in jail for a month (I always carry chewing gum, mints and a bottle of water when I venture out of the air condition).

To those who partake in Ramadan I wish you and your families 'Ramadan Kareem' and to those of you who have to deal with a somewhat special month I wish you the best of luck...

An Afterthought On The National And Liberation Days

During the long weekend (25 - 28 February) we also took the time to walk along Al Soor Street - the innermost ring road around the central part of Kuwait City. It's a couple of kilometers long and in a few places parts of the original wall that surrounded the city can be seen - or at least the reconstructions of the city gates that were destroyed during the Iraqi invasion:


(An old city gate, Al Soor Street)

The walk also offered a nice view of the Kuwait City skyline:


(Kuwait City skyline at dusk)


(Another city wall gate along Al Soor Street, high rises in the background)


(The Liberation Tower at dusk)

We walked into the city center after having done the entire ring road, had a bite to eat in the souq and used the last chance to see the light decorations on many of the government or large corporation buildings in downtown:


(The Liberation Tower dressed in red, green, and white)


(Buildings in downtown, displaying flags as well as the number of years since independence from the British and since liberation from the Iraqis)


(The Kuwait Stock Exchange displaying the '26' for the 26 February Liberation Day)


(See the '49' in the background - celebrating 49 years of independence from the British)


(Close-up of '25' displayed on the front of the Kuwait Stock Exchange)


(Another office building displaying '19' and '49')

On a different note: this must be the first time we have seen an electrical socket in a curb (we are standing on the pavement looking towards the road and a green area with palm trees)... Well, I guess they need power to light up all those decorations...



We also finally got to try the local item on McDonald's menu here - the McArabia. It's not bad but certainly not great either compared to the food you can get here. Idea is not bad though: flatbread with chicken and salad - made like a shawarma.



And in Kuwait you don't get regular ketchup with your fries - ohhhhh no, you get FANCY ketchup!! :-) (Maybe someone who speaks Arabic can help solve this mystery?)


(Fancy ketchup with your fries?)

All in all we had a very nice long weekend and I'm happy we got to see how the Kuwaitis (along with many of the foreigners who live here) celebrate their national and liberation days. I do hope, however, that with time there will be something else or more going on than just spraying foam on people and cars - something displaying the Kuwaiti culture and heritage that can be difficult to spot in between all the American style malls and Western restaurant franchises.

According to Arab Times Online, the holidays resulted in 11 people dying in road accidents, 13,821 citations being issued, 724 cars and 68 motorbikes being compounded. In addition, 143 people were treated - 46 hospitalized, 97 treated on the spot. Of those hospitalized, 26 cases were due to quarrels (Arab temper, I guess), 6 due to road accidents and 14 due to tumble and fatigue injuries in various sites including the Gulf Road (where they were spraying the cars - but with the efforts they put into it, I'm not surprised to hear of the fatigue cases).

(Source: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/150231/reftab/96/t/11-die-13821-citations-issued-724-cars-68-bikes-seized-in-24-Feb--27-Feb-bash/Default.aspx)

Let's hope next year will be more peaceful (although I doubt it).

National Day Madness

So, Kuwait's National Day is here and even Google knows it:


(Google, 25 February 2010 - in the colors of the Kuwaiti flag and the 'e' in the shape of Kuwait)

National Day means many Kuwaitis decorating their cars in the colors of the flag (black, red, white, and green), with pictures of the royal family, the shape of Kuwait or anything showing patriotism and love to their country and appreciation of their twice-won freedom:


(Car decorated with the Kuwaiti flag and pictures of the Royal Family)


(Car decorated with hearts in the colors of the Kuwaiti flag)


(A mustang that has it all: the royal family on the back window, the shape of Kuwait above the back wheel, the numbers 25 and 26 indicating February 25 (National Day) and 26 (Liberation Day), the colors of the flag and - last but not least - Louis Vuitton logos in the colors of the flag...)

Apparently there used to be parades and processions through the city with music and all but they were suspended following the Gulf War in honor of the martyrs and the prisoners of war whose fate have not yet been revealed and are still listed as missing.

Instead, another trend has escalated through the years to a complete madness: kids and teenagers spraying foam at cars!

They started already yesterday - dressed in special clothes for the occasion and armed with foam cans and 'super soakers':


(Kids yesterday waiting for cars to pass by that they can spray water and foam on - notice how their maids are standing to the left ready to wipe the kids with towels, while the mothers observe in safe distance in the back...)

As soon as a car drove by, it got sprayed:



Things did not get too much out of control yesterday - especially since the police was very present. Spraying the cars is illegal except for the 25th and 26th so they were handing out a lot of fines... Didn't seem to stop many people though, and the partying continued into the late evening with cars blocking the Gulf Road, people playing music, singing, shouting and hanging out of their cars:


(Cars blocking the Gulf Road heading into Salmiya, Feb 24)

It was close to midnight before the police - using roadblocks - managed to disperse the traffic.

Today they were at it again and it seems that whoever ventured out had it coming... A (very) few adults, however, managed to make the kids too scared to spray them - like this man who raised his finger at the kids and did not get sprayed:


(One lucky man avoiding the foam)

And the more obvious exception:


(A police car not getting sprayed...)

But everybody else could do nothing but try and keep the windows closed:


(Young boys and a teenager spraying a car with foam)

Even the narrowest opening in a window is enough:



And apparently it's not enough to just stand on the road and spray the cars - if you can get onto them it's even better:


(Teenager on the hood of a moving car spraying its windscreen)


(Boys clinging to a 4x4 and one sitting on top - a vantage point for spraying at others as well)

Some kids had engaged their parents to help them out in the fight - like these two boys who are firing their water guns through the sun roof of their parents' car:



On National Day no one should feel safe - including this poor delivery guy on a scooter who had to go to the nearby hotel and deliver something (and this is the only road leading to the hotel):



...He made a narrow escape with minimal damage:



There a few rules to follow on National Day if one cannot avoid to drive - whatever you do, keep your windows closed and your doors locked! This delivery van had forgotten to lock the back door as these kids are soon to find out:


(Kids foaming a delivery van - after lifting the windscreen wipers so that the poor guy inside has no chance of wiping away the foam)


(The kids realize that he has forgotten to lock the back door and his delivery gets sprayed...)

A private car forgot to lock its side door and the kids - who pull all door handles even on moving cars - soon found out and completely sprayed the people inside and the interior:



What looks like a celebrity arriving is what happens when the kids quickly find out that there is an opportunity to empty their cans inside the car - the national television was on the spot as well filming:



One of the reasons this foaming thing escalates is that many car owners have had enough and have started to fight back:


(Fighting back: kids getting sprayed from inside the car)


(Fighting back from inside the car with a can of foam)


(Fighting back with a super soaker water gun)


(Fighting back with foam)

After a while it had become trivial to spray the cars and the kids turned on each other instead:


(Local girl covered in foam - courtesy of her brother)

...And even some of the adults got involved:


(Local man with a spray can in his hand)

Some of the younger kids got brave and sprayed the older boys:



...which led to some serious revenge:



The resulting fighting included many combinations of 'young against the older', 'boys against the girls', and 'everybody against everybody':



You really should click to enlarge this one (below): superman boy sprays the girl in red stripes, the older boy with the wig sprays the red striped girl from behind while he is himself being sprayed by another older boy, the two to the left spray into the crowd and the boy in the bottom of the pic is rushing in on his roller blades with a spray can in his hand:



In Kuwait, teenage boys and girls have very few chances of interacting with each other as it is considered inappropriate. When the rare opportunity to interact presents itself, they go all in - whether completely foaming this girl is going to make a positive impression on her, I don't know but for sure they got some interaction:


(Local girl looking like a snowman as the boys ganged up on her)


(Younger boys against teenage boys)


(Local girl covered in beige foam)

One boy was clever, though and decided to sell his cans as he saw the mayhem and resulting lack of full cans. I'm sure he got a good price - and it only took him a minute to find a box and a quiet corner to sit:


(Boy selling foam cans)


(Empty cans left on the beach)


(An elderly gentleman videotaping the madness)

After all the action we went to the nearby beach where there had been several attempts during the week to fly the biggest ever Kuwaiti flag. The dust, sand and strong winds made it impossible but the flag was still lying there spread out:



And then a well-deserved watermelon mojito - non-alcoholic, of course. Unlike places like Dubai, no hotels and no restaurants here have liquor licenses (not even for foreigners). It was still yummy, though. We had bought a few Kuwaiti flags that we carried in our camera bag - it seemed to be appreciated and we got a few remarks from people asking if we liked Kuwait. And we do!



We were asked a couple of times during the day to give a short interview to national television - about how we experienced the day, our opinion about Kuwait etc. but we politely declined - we are not quite ready to be 'local celebrities' yet :-) Apparently they thought it was fun that we were observing the foam fights - most foreigners (at least European and North American) either travel out of the country, stay at home or go to one of the resorts further down the coast to spend some quiet family time. We figured we have to experience the National Day at least once - how can you ever understand a country if you do not?


(Local boy and his grandfather being interviewed for television)


(Young girl celebrating National Day)

This is as close as you will ever get to snow in Kuwait :-) :



The celebrations continued well into the night as kids, teenagers and probably a few adults stood all along the Gulf Road and sprayed the cars:


(Traffic on the Gulf Road at a standstill (towards Kuwait Towers))

Police had a busy day - not least because some celebrators seemed to not understand the limit: there were reports of kids filling their super soakers with tomato sauce and others spraying hair removal cream instead of foam!! All in all, though, it was a fun day!