at 2 am i was awoken by the fight attendant – everyone else had already gotten off the plane. i was sooo tired, having not slept at all the night before. dazed, i made my way through the amazingly nice airport, and when it got light out hopped on a random bus into the city. eventually found myself the hotel i had booked (apparently the cheapest accommodation in kuwait but still more than enough for me), where i could drop my huge bag and explore without 40 pounds on my back. kuwait is impressive to say the least. very much like dubai, except without the tourists. amazing architectural masterpieces rising out of the sand on every street corner. went to the famous kuwait towers to get a good view. inside are pictures of how they looked after the iraqi invasion in the early 1990s, along with colorfully hateful descriptions of how bad iraqis are. it seems like the kuwaitis may hate the iraqis almost as much as they hate the israelis, and that’s saying something in this part of the world.
but kuwait loves everything american. american cars, consumer culture – the bottom three floors of every building in the country is a beautiful mall. and they even love the concept of the ring road – there are about nine of them! and there are dunkin donuts and krispy kreme outlets and gourmet coffee houses on literally every corner. there seriously must be thousands of starbucks locations in kuwait city. it is amazing. walked through the huge national mosque. went to the kuwait stock exchange, which was really cool because you can walk right out unto the trading floor with all the traditionally dressed millionaires/billionaires? no one asking me for money here, that’s for sure! went to the fish market – probably the cleanest fish market on the face of the earth. spent the late afternoon exploring one of the nicest malls of all time, anywhere.
next day did some more of the same, along with lots of wandering and sweating while trying to figure out the public transportation system. then headed back to the airport.
