KLAPPE TRIPS

Kuwait City, KUWAIT

Late Friday night, February 4th, we arrived at Kuwait City. First item on the agenda was to find where to obtain our visas. Once found we realized that we needed Kuwaiti currency to pay for the visas. I noticed an exchange and quickly and quickly headed for it. In the meantime, Al was able to exchange some money with an American that he had been talking to. Once the visas were obtained it was time to pick up our luggage. We had to do a little searching as it had been moved to a secure area as we were not there when the belt stopped turning. That accomplished it was time for a taxi to bring us to the Ibis Sharq Hotel. Once again there was a bit of a hassle. When that was finally figured out, we were finally able to go to bed around midnight.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

I really had a good sleep for a change. Al woke me up at 8 am by knocking on my door. I guess it was time for breakfast. Then we had to get a plan, where do we go today? The lady behind the front desk was very helpful and suggested a few choices. I also had looked up what to do and where to go on Google Earth. We opted out to see the Kuwait Towers.

At one time these towers had been the pride of Kuwait. Then came the invasion and destruction by the Iraqis and things changed. These towers were restored by the Kuwaitis, but by looking them over, they are not the pride that they once were. It took us around an hr to walk here (had Lenora been here it might have taken ½ hr). then it was time to explore other parts the city. Another 3 hr walk took care of that in a hurry.We returned to the hotel for a rest.

The weather has been unacceptably cool the last few days and it has been hazy as well. After a couple of hrs we decided to walk to the TJIF Restaurant. That too was a fair distance. This had to be one of the largest restaurants I’ve been in. I asked one of the waitresses how many employees were on this shift. She wasn’t sure but knew it was over 50. It seems the customers were all Kuwaitis and the employees were mostly Pilipino, Indian Egyptian etc etc.

On the way home, Al suggested that we take a taxi. We told the taxi driver what hotel to go to but he had no idea. Heck we could almost see it. I could yell and scream at him and call him names and all he would do is say “hotel”. This driver reminded me of an episode on the Amazing Race. The one team had taken a taxi to go to the next point but the driver had no idea as to where it was. Instead he just keeps driving totally clueless. I stead of stopping and phoning, since all of them have mobile phones, they just drive. I now know how that couple felt, it cost them the race. You talk about a dummy.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Today we would walk south along the Bay. It was a clear day although rather windy and with the wind coming from the Arabian Sea it was cool. We walked for approximately 4 hrs getting to where I thought we ought to get to. This was a leisurely walk mind you. We stopped at numerous places of interest along the way and at the end of the walk were rewarded with an antique car show. The cars were the latest Bugatti’s Massaretti’s Ferrari’s and Rolls Royce’s. As well as some of the oldest cars such as the ’21 Ford Model C, 1913 Peugeot Model Phaeton 139 A. Every car was in show room condition. On top of that, every car driven by the last six or seven rulers of the countries of the UAE were also there. Then it was time to take the taxi back home. An hr or 2 later I went for a walk, as Albert wanted to have a snooze, to find a small store so we could have a snack as soon as I got back. I was even able to buy 2 bottles of 0/0 % beer, what a treat that was. problems. Then we watched a few shows and went to bed.

Monday, February 07, 2011

This is the morning we were dreading as it meant an end to our adventure. Al got up rather early so I too got up.  As always I got the coffee perking and got ready to check the e-mail. Between a coffee, breakfast, going for a walk and taking a last few photos it got to be 10am. We headed down, checked out and called a taxi. We went through security, waited around, another security, waiting around and passport control we finally got into the waiting hall to wait for our departure. Unless something out of the ordinary happens this will be the last blog that I will send you as tomorrow we will be home again. Thank you for bearing with us, reading and commenting. I find this so much easier than to send and reply to individuals. Once home we’ll reply to you individually if I get a message of course. So Long