Its about 90°. Just the day to take a sweaty 5-mile walk. Went to another mall, and the fish market, which was amazing...

I so wished I could cook here, I would have bought so much fish. and dates, and fennel, and... well anyway I might go back tomorrow so if youre inclined, tell me if theres something you want that you cant get there that I can probably get cheap here, like herbs or nuts or something.
On my way back, I found this...

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I sat on the roof and just stared out at the Gulf... the oil tankers, frieghters, and naval patrol ships.. battleships, just a mile off shore. Iraq 48 miles away. The view was amazing. And I so totally shouldnt have been there. I was waiting for someone with a gun around evry corner in the place. My heart was in my throat. It was a good day. :)

Click any of them to go to the album. Im off to work now. Class 4-11. Dont ask.

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

From Kuwait

The airport is about 30-40 minutes from Kuwait City in traffic. The cab ride cost $20, not bad. I didn't get to see any gas stations yet so I dont know what gas costs. Stuff is mostly the same price as, lets say New York City. its $4USD to the Kuwaiti Dinar, but stuff costs about 1/4 as much. A breakfast combo at McDonalds costs .700KD.

The most surprising thing about Kuwait I think, is just HOW international it is. There's your standard assortment of Middle-Easterners... Lebanese, Syrians, Iraquis, Iranians, Saudis, etc, then your northern Africans like Morroccans and Egyptians, A large number of Russians, European businessmen and tourists (Does anyone LIVE in Germany, or do they all just travel from birth to death?) and a very large number of southeast Asians- Laosians, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodians etc. And Indians. Its the most international city I've ever been to, for sure.

And yes, Western influence is everywhere, form the music to the clothes to the billboards to the restaurants. The funny thing, whenever I travel, isn't how many American restaurants there are, but that the American places are the ones you never see any more in America, the ones you think went under years ago, like Lil Caesars pizza and A&W.

Now, with all of these nationalities comes all sorts of clothes. The people watching is fantastic. No, everyone doesn't wear turbans, and all the women don't wear Burkas. In fact, you see very few, but when you do, its freaky. Not in a "oh my god thats so horrible those poor women" kind of way, but a "oh my god, thats freaky and badass" kind of way. Seriously, no one wears black around here, so when you see someone in black, and I mean REALLY black, like just off the rack and never washed, they must have some secret detergent or something... but when you see three or more women in all black, head to toe except their eyes, its freaky. Remember those badass imperial guards all in red from Star Wars? Well these are like, the super secret imperial guards that you dont even see, man. Youre backed up in a corner, ready to tussle with the red guys, and these chicks come from nowhere, and it's lights out.

Chadors are pretty common though, or at least head scarves for women. And the men wear just about anything, though shorts are very rare, and shirts are long sleeves a bit more commonly than short sleeved. Even liberal Muslims typically believe in covering up for modesty.

I don't typically freak out when I see someone in foreign clothing. i just don't have that knee-jerk response. With a few exceptions- I don't care what you say, its freaky when you see someone wit ha checkered dish towel around their neck. One immediately thinks of palestine, and Palestinians are fucking crazy. Don't get me wrong, its not entirely their fault- if you put a puppy in a cage and poke it with sticks, its going to go crazy.

Also, its freaky when you see a guy in a thobe and a ghutra. He's always followed by two or three other guys that aren't. CNN had trained us to believe that these guys are oil sheiks with more money than god and they probably are. Theyre always followed by three or four other guys that arent dressed like him, and you just KNOW they've got bodyguards all over the place just dying to kick your ass.

The one thing I take away from all of this, is that, robe or thobe or cape or burka or toga... people in the rest of the world take pride in their appearance. They look like they took more than 5 minutes to get ready in the morning, and it makes you feel better inclined towards them. I think the Indians do it best. Indians look fucking fantastic when they go out in traditional dress, especially the woman. vavoom.