Keeping up with the Kuwaitis - Part 2: Day 3

Day 3: Science & Symbols

Dress: French Connection / Top: H&M / Bag: Modalu England / Shoes: Vintage 
Sunglasses: Amazon UK / Earrings: Azuni London 

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Most Kuwaiti women I've seen so far wear an abeyya, or at least jeans or trousers with a tunic and a headscarf, so I was a bit unsure whether it was OK to wear a dress that didn't cover my lower legs (the Lonely Planet said I could), but after seeing a few expats wearing capri jeans or a dress I decided to go for it. Turns out nobody really cares, not with American or European people anyway. The only mildly disapproving looks I got were actually from women wearing abeyyas themselves, while the men didn't even seem to notice, or at least they couldn't care less. Pfew, that's a relief. Otherwise I couldn't have worn half of the outfits I packed :/

Joeri and I heard the Kuwait Scientific Center was quite a big deal. It contains a children's discovery place, a harbour with historic wooden dhow boats and the largest aquarium of the Middle East. So off we went....

When we got there we discovered the Scientific Center apparently is one of the main attractions for all the (mainly Filipino) nannies to take the Kuwaiti children they are taking care of during the day. The Center even has three different ticket categories: adult, child and nanny (which is the cheapest ticket btw). I must say though, the aquarium is indeed pretty amazing! Definitely something to visit when in Kuwait ;-)

After our visit to the Kuwait Aquarium we lunched at the Pizza Hut. 

On that note, something I definitely didn't expect when arriving here: Kuwait has probably more American fastfood chains than the U.S. have themselves. Or big ass gas-guzzling cars for that matter. It just amazes me how much the Kuwaitis want to have everything that is American (or European, but mostly American really). Kuwaiti social life happens in one of the many shopping malls in town, and all those malls are completely full with Taco Bells, Burger Kings, Starbucks Coffees, Chili's, Pinkberry's, Dunkin' Donuts, Elevation Burgers etc. It is actually almost impossible to find anything remotely healthy to eat. This day we were forced to eat breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at Pizza Hut and dinner at Elevation Burger. The fact that around 70% of the Kuwaiti population is overweight keeps making more and more sense....

To make our next fastfood meal a bit more bearable, Joeri and I decided to enjoy a virgin Mojito and Shirley Temple with our pizza. Pizza Hut in Kuwait is classy that way :'-) 

After our lunch we took a stroll along the beach, where we came across this sign: no swimming, no fishing, no BBQing and NO water pipe smoking. Just so you know, in case you were planning to dust of that water pipe before going to the beach...

Last stop this day were the Kuwait Towers, a famous landmark and symbol of modern Kuwait. Unfortunately, it turned out the towers are closed for renovation and when we asked a security guard at the gate when they would be opened again, he answered: "Maybe next year". Well, that's a symbol of modern Kuwait for you...

As we arrived there around sundown I was able to take some pictures of the towers during the process, and I must say, they are really pretty, with some sort of blue / green mosaic on the globes. Too bad we couldn't see the view from up there or eat something in the restaurant, but it was a nice way to conclude our day anyway!