Kuwait City

Arabian Sea

Huge Soccer Stadium

We got to take an MWR trip into Kuwait City on Sunday.  It was great to not only get off base but also to see some of the local sites and get a feel for how the locals live.  It takes about an hour to get from Camp Virginia into the city.  Along the way we passed the brand new soccer stadium, GREEN trees and BLUE water, all of which was beautiful to my eyes which have only seen brown desert for the past few months!!!!

The Kuwait Towers

Danika, me and Becky at the top of the Tower

The Kuwait Towers that you see above were built in 1975 and were originally to hold water.  They have turned the large one into a viewing sphere, tourist attraction which spins around and has a little cafe.  We were sort of rushed here because it was our last stop.

With our Army friends Tasos & TJ

Our first stop of the day was the Science Center and Aquarium.  The science center part is really for little kids so we just went to the Aquarium.   It was pretty cool with a lot of exhibits on native animals (and some that aren't very native to Kuwait - like the Penguins).

Outside of the Aquarium which was right on the Arabian Gulf.  It
was very foggy the day we went.  Normally you can see the other
side of the city across the water. 

Next to the shark sign inside the Aquarium.  Everything was very modern and clean.  Kuwait is a very wealthy country so everyone inside the Aquarium was dressed extremely nice and had designer purses and sunglasses.  I could fit in easily in this country!!

You can see our tour guide 'Big Mama' (she insisted we call her that and refused to answer to anything else) in the background.  According to her this is the largest wooden boat in the world.  So of course I had to get a picture next to it.

Next to the penguin exhibit.  

Below you can see a beautiful leopard print stingray.  It was trying to avoid the persistent advances of a male stingray while we were watching.  Those men are relentless!!

 

They had pretty big sharks in this large tank.  We even got to see them feeding the fish and sharks.  It was a true 'feeding frenzy'.  The fish were swarming everywhere.  They were using a white pole to keep the sharks from getting too close to the aquarium workers.  There was also a pretty aggressive sea turtle in the tank who was fun to watch.  

Tasos, T.J. and me and the Restaurant 

Trying out Hookah 

After the aquarium we went and had our own 'feeding frenzy' at a true middle eastern restaurant.  It was wonderful to eat food that wasn't from the DFAC and they had lots of vegetables, hummus, pitas and tabbouleh so I was more than covered.  They also served hookah at the table which was a new experience for me.  Everyone in the restaurant was smoking hookah with their lunch, like it was the normal thing to do.  Quite interesting.  Overall it was a great trip and just nice to get off base and see something different!