Kuwait

I had my first trip to the Middle East two weeks ago in the form of a military charter to Kuwait and Germany. We didn't spend any time in Germany, but I did get to spend 28 hours in Kuwait and made the most of it.

We left DC at 10pm on a Monday night and landed in Kuwait at 6pm the next day. We hit the hotel, changed clothes and had the hotel bus drive us to the night market. Kuwait was actually fairly Western (for a Muslim country anyway). Many of the men wore western dress, and most of the women were not in a burka (although they did cover their heads). No one paid any attention to a half dozen American's wandering through the market. In fact, we got free tea!

We had a big dinner of grilled meat and hummus, then hit the hooka bar, which apparently is their equivalent of a sports bar. It was a huge outdoor patio with lots of groupings of couches (think conversation nooks) complete with hooka pipes. For about 3 dollars, one could buy fruit-flavored tobacco that seemed to last about 30 minutes or so. As they say, when in Rome..

It actually doesn't taste like a cigarette. Its very mild and while I don't think the tobacco contained anything narcotic, it did make one feel like propping one's feet up on the couch and lounge languidly, which was what all the men around us were doing, while watching soccer on the large screen TVs. The only women in the place were with our group, but no one seemed to really mind.

Off to bed and the next day several of us met at noon to be driven around town by the hotel van. The van driver actually served as translator for us as well, and his services were complimentary! This hotel really rocked!!

Our first stop was the Occupation museum which chronicled Desert Storm. The displays themselves looked like something that High School history students would put together for class, but we did get a kick out of listening to the English soundtrack and its continual discussion of the "barbarians to the North"

Our next stop was the water towers at the edge of downtown. As most of you know, if I see something tall, I must climb or elevator to the top (I simply must!) and of course we did that here. Unfortunately, between the dust in the air (very very fine sand) and the dirty windows on the observation floor, the view wasn't the best. Still you get the idea.

And then it was back to the hotel for a nap and off to work. I'm looking forward to visiting again!