#65 KUWAIT

As I boarded my flight to Kuwait City, a friendly couple sitting next to me on the plane started up a conversation. "Where was I from?" they asked with perfect American accents that I would soon discover is a trademark of many well-educated Kuwaitis. Their next question, "why are you going to Kuwait?" was met with more perplexing looks when I replied, "for tourism!"

Over the next few days, I'd receive all sorts of weird looks when I'd tell people I came to Kuwait for tourism, with most people raising their eyebrows in confusion or replying that I'd better have gone to Dubai if I was looking for fun. But, I wasn't looking for fun; I was looking for adventure and was embarking on a ten-day trip through the Persian/Arabian Gulf that would take me from Kuwait to Bahrain, Qatar, and lastly, the UAE before returning home to Afghanistan. 

Sandstorm - Kuwait City, 2015

Kuwait City, 2015

I'll be the first to admit Kuwait is a hard sell for tourism. It's got painfully hot weather, is brutally expensive, alcohol is illegal, and life seems to revolve around sports cars and fast food chains. I've never before seen so many TGIF, Applebee's, Popeye's, McDonald's, KFCs, etc., in one place. I jokingly called it the graveyard of fast-food chains because it felt like the pinnacle of dining here was the mall food court. I won't lie, I ate at KFC -- something I never do -- but it did strangely feel like I was going local, even if the food was awful. 

Joking aside, Kuwait does have serious problems with obesity, with recent figures estimating that nearly 80 percent of the country is severely overweight or obese. That's a pretty shocking figure considering that in this small country of roughly 4.5 million people, only 1.5 million are Kuwaitis while the rest are foreign workers. Diabetes is a severe health risk in Kuwait owing to a diet heavy in high-fat and processed foods, combined with a mostly sedentary lifestyle. This is a fascinating case study in globalization, commodity consumption, gender, and capitalist branding from an anthropological perspective. Kind of like a dystopian Middle East version of Bladerunner, but a lot more boring.

Corniche - Kuwait City, 2015

Aquarium - Kuwait City, 2015

Corniche - Kuwait City, 2015

There's not much to do in Kuwait City, and I think I covered most of the sights in three days. First, I visited the city's center and went to the fish market. It's a small place with some fish for sale, but nothing quite as chaotic or spectacular as you might find in Tokyo or Mogadishu. Instead, it felt like much of the market was now just selling household wares and cheap imports from China, which were of little interest to me.

I also walked the whole length of the corniche, which was pleasant enough and certainly the highlight of my trip to Kuwait. Here I found beautiful sandy beaches lined with neatly organized rows of date palms, but nobody was outside enjoying the warm waters, and I met very few people as I walked the many kilometers of the coast. The corniche pedestrian road eventually ended at the Scientific Center, where I found a giant aquarium filled with all sorts of incredible marine exhibits. The air-conditioned break from the heat and humidity outside, especially after walking for a few hours, was also very welcome! I was reminded of the phrase I learned in Thailand, "only mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun."

Kuwait City, 2015

Kuwait City, 2015

Lastly, I visited Kuwait Towers to see their kaleidoscopic light show in the evening. These towers are emblematic of the city and actually form part of a 34-tower system of desalinized water storage essential for the country as it has zero freshwater reserves. An even more remarkable fact is that Kuwait has the world's highest water consumption rate at some 500 liters per capita per day!

And that was how I spent my three days in Kuwait. It certainly wasn't a country thumping with nightlife, but it did leave a lasting impression for its weirdness. I also think it was an excellent introduction to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group of countries that I'd continue exploring on this trip, with Manama, Bahrain coming up next!

TGIF, a GCC classic! Kuwait City, 2015