Kuwait: The Country With Nothing to do?
Visiting Kuwait: An Introduction
You may be here because you’re considering visiting Kuwait. Did you know this is one of the most popular countries in the world?
By what metric, you may ask?
Well it appears on almost every list of “the worlds most boring countries”.
Kuwait is a small desert nation sandwiched between Iraq and the home of Islam, Saudi Arabia on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
It is best known for being an oil-rich state, having the world’s strongest currency (the Kuwaiti dinar) and Saddam Hussein’s invasion in the early 1990s which sparked the beginning of the Gulf war.
For travellers visiting Kuwait, it is known for the Kuwait Towers, a trio of quirky looking buildings which host a couple of restaurants and a viewpoint where you can see the city for around 3KD ($10).
Arrival in Kuwait
Visiting Kuwait put me on 65 countries en route to every country in the world. You can read about the others here.
I arrived at around 9pm local time, withdrew 20KD ($60) from the ATM and waited in the airport as my host Aladdin kindly sent a friend to pick me up and take me to his hostel.
Officially there are no hostels in Kuwait. However Aladdin is trying to change this by running a series of shared rooms on Airbnb which provide the same purpose. These rooms cost £25 ($30) per night which provide an excellent alternative to the poorly-rated cheapest hotels in the city which start from around £40 (almost $50).
The initial plan was to stay in a traditional Arabic-style tent. However Aladdin says this would have been too hot, with Kuwait hitting 37 degrees at the coolest hours of the night. Summers are uncomfortable with this being one of the worlds hottest countries where it is not uncommon to hit 50 degrees during the day.
Instead I moved to an apartment, and shattered since it was now 5am Malaysia time (where I had flown from), it was time to rest.
Mcdonald’s – The Travel Oasis
An early start beckoned at 7am. The reason for this was to avoid the worst of the heat.
Half an hour of walking took me to stop number one, the Kuwait Towers.
They were cool for a couple of minutes. But that’s it really. Once you’ve seen them you’ve seen them. Are they alone worth coming all this way and visiting Kuwait for? Not really.
I stopped in McDonald’s for breakfast, but also because it was a useful tactical stop.
Being Friday, many businesses were closed for the beginning of the Arabic weekend. The exceptions at this time were the western brands – McDonald’s, Starbucks and Costa Coffee leading the way.
However the main purposes for stopping at McDonald’s were to cool down from the already-sweltering heat, and to take advantage of not having a local SIM card by using the free wifi.
A general rule of thumb whilst travelling in many countries, is that Mcdonald’s is the place to go for free wifi. This works around 75% of the time.
Purchasing a SIM card made no sense for a 2-day stay in a very safe and “easy” country.
Like many buildings in Kuwait, McDonald’s cancelled out one extreme with another. The air con was so cold, that by the time you had cooled down from the outdoor heat, you were beginning to shiver and feel uncomfortable.
Unexpected problems led to my restaurant break lasting a couple of hours whilst I sorted them on my phone. This cancelled out the advantage of a 7am start and meant visiting Kuwait City during the “furnace hours” and facing the full force of the punishing Gulf summer.
The Fish Market – One of Few Things to do Whilst Visiting Kuwait
Another 30 minutes later and I found a shopping mall just short of planned stop number two – a local fish market. The problems from earlier required further attention and again, I sat near McDonald’s to connect to the wifi in order to work on these issues.
After another couple of hours, and a short trip through a supermarket which continued the trend of Arctic-style air con, I finally made it to the fish market.
The moment you enter, the smell hits you hard. It was so bad I breathed solely out my mouth whilst exploring the market.
Fish, crabs and shrimps were on display across the board. Seafood is big business in Kuwait with its position on the coast combined with a lack of land suitable for farming in the vast desert which forms almost all of the country.
The floors were slippery with merchants throwing buckets of water and ice over their catches to keep them cool. Thousands of shrimp lay across many buckets spread across the floors.
After a few minutes, I had seen everything the fish market had to offer, and it was time to head to the next stop.
Be Careful With Your Camera Whilst Visiting Kuwait
I walked past a mosque, but decided not to take photos due to its close proximity to government buildings.
Like much of the Middle East, Kuwait is on high alert, with security worries a regular concern in the region, particularly with Iraq next door, a country plagued by terror and war for much of the 21st century.
As a result, there are restrictions on what you can take photos of. Anything government-related is a big no-no. Also avoid photographing anything related to the police or military.
Kuwaitis themselves do no like being photographed without permission (women in particular), and you can expect a hostile reception if you take photos of someone without consent. Therefore I was very careful to avoid pointing the camera in anyone’s direction whilst taking pictures.
The Final Stops
The Liberation Tower was the next stop. A monument dedicated to Kuwait’s liberation from Iraq after the Gulf War. Not really worth seeing however.
Then came a quick stop at a shopping mall. Assima Mall is home to the world’s largest chandelier, as recognised by Guinness World Records.
And this chandelier goes straight into my list of “top 3 things to see” whilst visiting Kuwait.
But, erm… that says a lot more about the country than the chandelier. Exciting, Kuwait is not.
Sunset and the Beach
After another McDonald’s stop for wifi and a cool down, it was time to head back to the Kuwait Towers for sunset. Unfortunately the sun was setting on the other side of the city. This meant the views weren’t particularly spectacular, although the towers did look cooler after dark when they lit up in red and green.
After heading back for a much-needed shower, I joined Aladdin and three of his friends on the beach for a swim in the sea.
There was an Italian lady, who was in Kuwait on her way to take a holiday in Iraq. An older lady who only spoke Spanish, and reminded me how dusty my español was just ten months after leaving Latin America behind. And the most fascinating character of all, an Omani lady who must have been in her mid-to-late sixties.
A Contrast of Cultures
After a while the Italian and the Spanish-speaking lady went back with Aladdin leaving me on the beach with the Omani.
She told me stories of her culture and her life, sharing a lot of wisdom she had picked up over the years.
I learnt that it is very normal in Oman to marry cousins, first and distant alike. Although this tradition is fading in modern Omani society.
I also learnt how Oman is culturally a lot closer to Yemen than other gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.
The Survivor
But then came the most fascinating story of all.
This lady talked about her ex-husband, a “piece of s**t” as she described him.
She found this man had a secret family with another wife and six children she never knew about. Understandably, she was unhappy with this situation and requested a divorce.
Her husband did not take kindly to this. He would not let his wife divorce him, but things got worse. Much worse.
He pulled a gun and fired a shot right into her head. Miraculously this lady lived to tell the tale nine years after the incident which took place in 2014.
She said she got the divorce she wanted, but spent many months in hospital recovering from her injuries. And years processing the ordeal.
She grabbed my hand and allowed me to touch her head where the bullet had hit. It was hard to see in the dark, however I could feel a large dent where the bullet had gone through her skull. It’s miraculous that she was able to sit here and talk to me right now.
Most remarkably of all, was what happened to the man after he shot her.
Nothing at all.
She refused to go to the police because she said it would be unfair to take this man away from his other wife and six children. She said what use would he be to his family is he was rotting away in a jail cell?
The Power of Positivity
What struck me most was just how positive this lady was.
“Every day you wake up is a gift from God, and you should make the most of it and be happy, inshallah”.
She talked of how every single day is a good day in her life and how it should be good in yours too.
After all, your problems are almost certainly pretty trivial compared to what this lady endured.
She spends her days living a simple life. During the day she speaks with friends and drinks tea, like a true Arab. By night she cools off by going swimming off the coast and looking up at the stars.
A far cry from the western 9-5 culture which obsesses over money and sacrificing your best years on the alter of “career progression” purely to own a slightly bigger house and a slightly better car alongside paying off your boss’s mortgage.
Time to Leave. Was Visiting Kuwait Worthwhile?
Eventually Aladdin returned alone and I retreated ready for bedtime leaving him with the fascinating Omani lady.
The next day, I did little other than wait for my flight. After all Kuwait has little to offer and I had seen all I wanted.
After visiting Kuwait, did it deserve its “boring” reputation in the end?
To be honest, yes. And other travellers seem to feel the same way.
But I won’t remember Kuwait for its attractions. I’ll remember Kuwait for the people.
