Heading to Oman (and happy holidays!)

Christmas season is already here and school holidays too. In Kuwait, as you can imagine, people don’t celebrate Christmas here, but the international schools take three weeks of holidays, to let their staff (normally from Western countries) to have a rest. As there are many foreigners who don’t come back to their homes and they stay here these days, in the shops they still can buy Christmas trees and other decoration so they can feel somehow at home.

I don’t know if it is always like that, but the decoration of the Souk looks like Christmas Style

Due to I was in Spain just few months ago, I have decided to spend these next days traveling. This time I go to Oman some days, where I will meet Arturas, a good friend from my Lithuanian period, who is working there right now. I have been planning the route I’ll do and I saw already some spectacular pictures. As I heard, this land is awesome and there are a lot of interesting places to visit. I think these thirteen days are not going to be enough.

Amazing

This is basically everything I wanted tos ay in this post. I will be back with new chronicles and experiences in Oman. I wish you a merry Christmas and an excellent beginning of the year. I am finishing it in good mood, positive and curious to know what will happen in 2018. In this 2017, I feel I achieved many of my goals and I feel quite satisfied. Thanks to all for being there supporting me and helping me to reach my wishes. All the best!

Over the hump

Few days ago, AWARE association organized another great activity for foreigners in Kuwait to discover some costumes and particularities in this country. This time were the camel races, an event which is celebrated between November and April, and it normally attracts both locals from all kind of social sphere and visitants who want to know more about this peculiar tradition.

Camel races are not just taking place in Kuwait, but they are also popular in other countries in the Middle East. The main difference compared with other places is the use of remote-controlled robots instead human jockeys. It was normal before that short height people and even children do this role. Humanitarian organizations used to be provoked into outrage by this and their pressure convinced the organizers of the races to use new technologies since 2005. The robot is a small artifact with a plastic stick emulating a whip, which is hitting the camel on the back during the race. Meanwhile, the owner of the camel follows the race inside a car, directing robot’s movements using a kind of remote control.

The distance covered by the camels (although I think it is better to call them dromedaries because they only have one hump) in a race depends on their age. The youngest ones run 3 kilometers, while the oldest ones can finish up to 11 kilometers tracks. The maximum speed this animal can reach is around 65 km/hour. Normally light complexion camels are selected for this competition, and they are usually trained in special farms with a strict diet composed basically by milk, corn and some vitamins.

The fact of using animals for races, considering that they can suffer, outrages logically animal rights groups. However, although without any intention of justify this cultural practice, the camel is one of the most valued, beloved and well treated animals in Kuwait. I don’t have any doubt if I think of everything camels can contribute, such as means of transportation through the desert or providing food, like milk and butter, which we could try just there.

 

  I have to admit that the races didn’t make feel too many emotions; actually I felt a bit uncomfortable watching those devices shaking their sticks, but at the end it was not so bad. It was a good opportunity to leave the city, reaching the border of the desert, and having the chance to see closer these animals. Some of them are quite tame and you can stroke them, but with others you have to be careful. If you have some free Saturday, don’t hesitate and go to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to have a look, it is actually a curious and different experience.

The thousand and one pleasures

As I already did in other countries before, I always find some addictive goodies which I will finally miss when I’ll leave. These ones I include here are not exclusive from Kuwait (actually, I think none of them are originally from here), but you can easily in any country in Middle East. For me it is the first time I live in this part of the World, that’s why I feel so pleased when I try them. I have already tried some of them but I never had such a easy and affordable access to them till now.

Kebab with muttabal (it is like a kind of hummus made with eggplants) and big bread, the perfect lunch

One of the first thing I discovered when I arrived Kuwait, making me so happy, was that I could find here all kind of cheese everywhere. After such a long time living in a country like China, where this product is not so usual, it is very comforting for me when I know I can buy a half kilo of feta, a packet of mozzarella or cream cheese every time I go to supermarket. Definitely this is my drug.

Labneh, a kind of cream cheese

This is very delicious too

Other section I normally visit in the supermarket is the pickles area. Here you can find all sort of olives and other products like mish, one of my favorite ones. It is a kind of cheese, from Egypt, salty, creamy, fermented for months and it is normally eaten with pita bread (at least I do like that). My Palestinian friend says that sometimes you can find little worms, hidden in the lumps, but they are harmless and they are not for bad for our health (what doesn't kill you, makes you fatter).

Continuing with the milk products, in this case beverages, here there are two which makes me crazy. One of is laban, a kind of liquid yogurt which reminds me the Ukrainian kefir (one of my passions in my Lithuanian period). The other one is ayran, originally from Turkey, also made with yogurt, but less creamy and more sour than laban. My favorite one is one mixed with mint, a pleasure for my throat.

Finally, a small paragraph to talk about the super addictive Arabic sweets. Here is quite easy to find delicacies such as the baklava (a cake filled with nuts from Turkey) o the kanafah (a kind of cheese cake typical from Palestine). It is also very usual to find terrines of halva, a sweet made with semolina and pistachio (I really like a type with chocolate). And finally my favorite dessert, the basbousa or hareesa, a kind of sponge cake made with semolina and it is normally served hot. Wonderful, really.

Dipping a piece of pita bread in hummus, feeling the pastry of the baklava crunching, licking the rests of laban in the corners of the lips… These little pleasures, maybe are not so important in order to change the opinion or the feelings about this country, but they help to make a bit easier the daily life here. Certainly, you have to look on the bright side.

The sun behind the clouds

It is difficult to imagine that in a such a modern city where high buildings, highways and malls with futuristic decoration are venerated, can be something we could call “old town”. There are almost no vestiges remaining of that small fishing village in the seventeenth century but, if ones explores carefully, it is possible to find historical treasures which are well worth visiting. Last weekend I could participate in one of the guided tour organized by AWARE in order to make known those few urban remains which survived the fierce construction fever in this country.

The first spot in our itinerary, just next to the Grand Mosque, was Al-Khalifa mosque. It was built in 1714 and it is one of the oldest in the country and one of the best conserved from this period. It is a small building, without too many ornaments, in which the minaret is one of the most remarkable parts. There are several mosques belonging to this age around the city center, contrasting with the modern buildings next to them, resisting the unstoppable urban development.

Inside the mosque

Another place among the most ancient ones in Kuwait is Shamiya Gate, one of the original entrances in the first city walls. It was built in the eighteenth century, when the city started to be popular and it became the target of rival tribes searching for resources. The first oil wells were not discovered yet, however, at that time the city of Kuwait was already quite famous as a commercial port, being one of the most important in the route between India and East Africa coasts.

The next place we visited was the Naif Palace. It was built at the beginning of the twentieth century in the interests of security and defense of the city. It was considered as a paramount part in the second defensive line after the city walls, hosting a big amount of military troops, weapons and ammunition. Nowadays it is still an important political and social center. During the visit we could see the cells where the war prisoners were guarded and a small museum about antique objects, old photos and other memorabilia from the Kuwaiti past.

Main yard inside the palace with the Liberation Tower in the background

Raise your hand if you ever used this before

After Naif Palace, the tour ended but I continued exploring the surroundings by myself until I arrived to other of the main landmarks, Al-Mubarakiya Souk, one of the most genuine places in the city. Here you can spend easily several hours among all kind of stalls. It is also one of the best areas to enjoy local food for very affordable prices. Maybe I should dedicate a special post in the future for this place, one of my favorite ones since I arrived so far.

One of the entrances to the Souq

So, if you come to pay me a visit, you already know that you will be able to see more than malls. I still have to visit Falaika Island, where I am thinking to go before than the heat comes back. Now it is the best moment for going out, no doubt, but people say that it will really cold soon, and I may need some extra warm clothes, let’s see.