Kuwait - Part 3

October 13, 2007 | Filed Under Main |

One of the disconcerting things about flying roughly 4,000 miles to a country you’ve never seen and a part of the world you know very little about is to get off the plane and walk through the gate to the Immigration Desk, look to your right and see Ronald McDonald – with a Pizza Hut right next door. And this wasn’t the last time either, since my two days there consisted mostly of a slight ten-cent tour of Kuwait City – mainly highways, shopping malls and the coastline which is littered with American fast food joints. I was told by the people who at met at my possibly new office that – because it was Ramadan – things were pretty upside down. Many shops were closed because you can’t eat/drink/smoke in public and many people stayed indoors until sundown. None of this was a hardship, however, since the hotel still served room service and the office set aside an area for non-Muslim’s to eat lunch. Incidently, it was 103 degrees outside and 65 degrees in any building. Also – the Kuwaiti people drive only American cars – big, fat SUV’s, Hummers and trucks. Gas is cheap there (surprise, surprise). However, it is a dry country. No alcohol is served anywhere… except in people’s homes where it seems many people either make home-made wine or buy black market. Which only made me wonder what the serve at the Applebee’s and TGI Friday’s on the Waterfront (just down from the Emir’s Palace). I mean, they can’t serve buffalo wings – right? If there is no beer, what the hell is the point?

So – the new office and the people there are great and the work they do all over that area of the world is very important. But – outside of seeing some very nice apartments – the rest looked like a less green New Jersey. Maybe I can see a bit more next time.

share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.