Our Trip: Kuwait

Flying into Kuwait was an eerie experience. I looked out the window and saw nothing but sand. It was difficult to distinguish the wing from the ground. Everything was the same color. I also saw, what I thought was several large bonfires. I find out later that this is where the oil drills are.

After a long, but extremely pleasant flight to Kuwait from London, we were escorted through security by a guide who took care of all the paperwork for us while in the airport. After security, she took us to the taxi line for us to get to my sister's abode.

The taxi ride was ... interesting. Lots of horns and starting and stopping. People merging into each other, but no accidents, surprisingly. Evidently, if you are not aggressive in Kuwait, you will not get anywhere.

We found Cathy's apartment complex and were escorted up to her place. It is a lovely three bedroom apartment. Here are a couple of views from her place.

Cathy had several great ideas for our adventures in Kuwait. The first day we went to what is called, "The Towers." This is a landmark for Kuwait. One of the towers is a communication tower, one is a water tower, and the other is an observation area and restaurant.

Views from the Observation Area.

After returning to earth, we took some pictures around the Towers.

Here I am with my beautiful sister, Cathy!!

Sophia and Rob joined us!

We drive from the Towers to the Souk for dinner. The Souk is a marketplace where they sell everything from junk to gold or rugs. It was quite fascinating to watch the people. It is a very social place. We ate a large and tasty dinner there.

Here are some sites on the way to the Souk.

The next day we went to the Grand Mosque. We had to dress in the traditional Hijab and Burka to tour the Mosque. Cathy had one I could borrow. The burka was quite comfortable, but I needed some pins for the hijab so it would stop sliding off my head.

The Grand Mosque was quite beautiful. Here is our guide telling us about the mosaics and the artistry of the sections. She was so informative and easy to ask questions. It was an enlightening and enjoyable tour.

Our guide talked about how the various aspects of the mosque were from many different countries. The chandeliers were from Italy, the tiles from another country, the windows from yet another. She felt as if the world contributed to building this place of worship.

She stated that they were environmentally aware and had these skylights put all around the exterior for lighting. The lights are generally not on during the daytime because it is quite light enough without them. However, she turned them on so we could enjoy their beauty.

The dome was beautiful to see. The main color scheme here is blue and brown to represent the sea and sand. The colors are quite rich together.

Here we are in our modest attire. We were told the reason for the garb is that the Quran encourages modesty. This is how tradition has decreed the women can be modest.

This niche was where the speaker/prayer leader would stand, facing the wall. The niche is facing Mecca and when the leader speaks toward the niche, his voice amplifies throughout the hall. The acoustics for this place are incredible. Much of their design is incorporated specifically for acoustics.

Here is a copy of the Quran. This is located in the area where the King comes to worship. He has a waiting area there for him to sit with his leaders.

It is a beautiful room. Lots of intricate designs and colors.

This chandelier came from Germany. She said that one could tell because of all the straight lines!!

After visiting the King's area, we returned to the main hall.

Then she led us to the outdoor part.

She said that the exterior of the mosque was designed to be modest while the interior is beautiful, to represent how our exteriors should be modest with beautiful interiors.

They had a genealogy chart available for anyone. We took a picture of it. The chart follows both Muhammed's line as well as Jesus'. This tour was quite eye opening.

After the mosque we stopped by my niece's classroom. Everyone was quite energetic because of the upcoming celebrations. We were here during the celebration of Independence for Kuwait.

After visiting the classroom, we ventured on to another tourist attraction, "The House of Mirrors".

We did not know what to expect, but it was not this. The owner has made mosaics throughout her house using mirrors. This is her kitchen.

This was where she served us tea and cake, and began our tour.

She made this mosaic for her daughter.

Here are some paintings of her husband.

Here we are in the planet room.

And here is Cathy with our hostess!

On another day we went to the kite festival. So many beautiful and fun kites were flying.

These were my favorite kites, Flying Cows!

They also had these slides set out for the children to enjoy. It was fascinating watching these children slide down. Some would jump, and when they hit the slide, they would bounce before continuing down the slide. Some of these children were quite small!

This is an earlier version of the Kuwait flag. Now the flag is striped with red, white and green with a block of black.

The next day we went to the camel races. Our first sight of some camels.

Many of the camels were free to roam around.

They also had these camels available for one to ride, which, of course, I had to!!!

It was quite difficult getting on the camel, me being so short. My brother-in-law, Shahid, had to come over and pull me from the other side to help me on the camel.

I was warned about how a camel gets up. I was told to hold on tightly and lean!

It took a few moments, but I eventually got comfortable way up high on this camel!

And then the racers came into view! Of course, the first thing one sees is the cars that are following the camels so they can remotely control the robotic jockey.