Exploring Arabia

So were entering summer or what I will refer to as sweat season. It hit 45 degrees today! Left the comfort of my air conditioned house to be greeted by a blast of hot air! A quick sprint to my car where the steering wheel is actually too hot to touch. After manouvering around and managing to start the engine (holding the steering wheel with my jacket) I am again greeted by another blast of hot air as the a/c revs up again.

Its now actually too hot to walk anywhere and I have to drive from one shop to another on my shopping spree refreshing myself with water, ice cream and pinkberry every 5 minutes. And I know its only getting hotter from now on!

You cant stand still anywhere, unless you want your perfectly applied make up running down and your hair turning into a frizzled mess, you sweat all over and more frustrating than all of that, the shops start closing for mid day siesta's as its too hot!

Frustrated, I return to my house and the cool cool air! Shopping will have to wait!

Roll on fall!

So I'm a bit new to the idea of blogging my travels but thought why not give it a try. I moved to Kuwait about 9 months ago for work and have been busy living in and exploring the Middle East. So here goes......I chose the topic of driving in Kuwait as my first blog

Rules for driving in Kuwait
1)There are no rules
2) Drive on the right unless driving on the left is faster
3) Green light means go,Orange light means go,Red light means speed up and go
4) Driving whilst holding a mobile phone is mandatory
5) Seatbelts and Lights at night are optional
6) Its fine to cut across 4 lanes to turn off the highway
7) Flashing lights in any other country means give way, in kuwait it means "get out of the way"
8) A 5 seater car seats 10 people
9) A 3 lane highway is actually a 5 lane highway in disguise
10) Putting your hazard lights on means "expect the worst".........

Guess your thoughts at reading this were the same as mine when I moved here. Why would anyone drive? However something about the craziness of it all makes it all the more of an experience. After 3 months of endless lifts and taxis, I couldnt face the prospect of being driven around any more, got myself out into the maze of arabic car showrooms and bought myself a car woohoo! Finally a bit of independance and freedom. With it came the challenge of understanding the endless roads all which come with two names, the first a number (used by all the expats 30, 40, 2nd ring road etc) and the second an arabic name too long to read until its too late and you miss the entrance.

The roadsigns are straight to the point, (my favourite include 'Speed = Death' & 'Be Aware of Drugs'). However learning to drive here has allowed me to experience all sorts of new and exciting everyday activities. I mean how else would I have visited an abandoned village by the border of Iraq bombed in the last attack, seen camels crossing the road or visited an arabic police station (when some not so clever lorry driver hit my car ). All I can say is it has encouraged me to drive in any country I might travel to, honestly if you can learn to drive here, I'm pretty sure anywhere else in the world would be a breeze.

Right off to fill up the car with 12p a litre petrol.....some of the benefits