Kuwait looked very different from the air than I expected. The sky scrapers looked modern, in an bad 80's sci-fi movie sort of way. I was expecting it to look more like Amman, but it felt surprisingly similar to Dubai - maybe like one of Dubai's elder, less-successful, but more pious siblings. I had about two days in town on business to explore the place.
It took just 10 minutes to walk from the plane to collect my visa, pass through immigration and customs, and find the Sheraton Hotel courtesy shuttle. We had landed at 6:40 (about 30 minutes early) so by the time our flight was supposed to be landing, I was already pulling up to the hotel. That would never happen at Heathrow...ever. This was key because it also allowed me a few precious extra minutes of sleep before my 10:00am meetings. The flight was less than 5 hours so getting a full nights sleep on board was not possible.
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| Mini-bar included a non-alcoholic Bud. |
I stayed at the Sheraton on Fahd Al-Saleem street next to the Al-Jahra roundabout. Security consisted of a bored looking guard instructing people to walk through the metal detector between the two sets of doors that led from the street to the lobby; it beeped every time someone walked through, but nothing happened as a result. He just waived everyone in. Maybe it was a "good beep." Or maybe there was some serious racial/ethnic profiling going on and the metal detector was just for show.
The hotel lobby was covered in mirrors, gold, and huge chandeliers - the expected level of gawdiness for upper-end places in the Middle East. Most interesting were the pictures of the hotel as it looked following the 1990 invasion by Iraq. The hotel (in the pictures) looked as though it took a few direct hits from Iraqi tanks, but it was left standing.
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| No TP...just a hose. No one eats with their left hand. |
The Kuwaiti Finance minister was also giving a talk at the hotel that day so the lobby was buzzing. It seemed to be a 50/50 split between western guests and locals. I went straight up to my room and slept for about an hour before heading out for my meetings.
I took a taxi with a colleague to the Ministries Complex, a huge multi-building campus in the middle of the city. Once inside, the percentage of westerners dropped to about 5%, at least as could be judged by dress. It was actually a cool day for Kuwait in early November, but with the temperature in the upper 80's it was enough to make us sweat through our suits. The flowing white robes (called thobes) looked like a nice alternative given the climate.
That evening I ate alone at the Iranian restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. Kuwait is a dry country so I started with a "cocktail" called the Energinger which involved blended carrots, ginger, and who knows what else, but it was delish. The lamb kebab with rice was pretty good too. I think everything on the dessert tray included custard and I sampled it all anyway.
The wake up call the next morning at 6:30 felt early, but I was eager to get to my meeting for the day. I was responsible, with a colleague, for providing training on "mergers and acquisitions" for a group of about 20 recent college graduates. It's a service we provide to some of our "most special" clients. Unfortunately for the students, I know nothing about M&A, so we taught them about fixed income and money market investing instead. No doubt it was the most interesting day of their lives. The class was three-quarters male and they were, as always in the region, very respectful, appreciative and polite. About 6 hours into the day, a few rain drops started to fall outside and the class participants walked over to the window and just watched. A few of them texted friends about the fact that it was raining. Hopefully some of them will get a chance to visit London so they can get all the rain they could ever want.
Jason and I finished our work day, but my flight out wasn't until 1:20am the next morning so we had about 6 hours to kill (note the choice of the last word). The previous day I had discovered something interesting in the hotel guest services guide in my room. I was looking for the hours of the fitness center, but was drawn to something else on the same page. It said something to the effect of "Shooting range: guns are free, you just have to buy the bullets." I don't know that I've ever even shot a BB gun so it sounded intriguing to me. Also, I had to find something to top the indoor skiing Jason and I did the prior year in Dubai.
We drove for about 15 minutes toward the Iraq boarder and pulled into the Kuwait Hunting and Equestrian Club with our special membership card from the Sheraton. Upon entering we sat down at the welcome desk and were handed a laminated paper which listed all the guns to choose from. Pistols on one side, rifles on the other. Rifles seemed like a safer starting point so we picked out a .22 caliber something or other and headed to the rifle range. We were the only two people on the range when we entered. They handed us the rifles, gave us a 30 second demo on how to load rounds into the cartridge and the cartridge into the gun. They they pointed in the direction of the range...as in, "aim that way." I'm sure it was the American in me, but I guess I was expecting a safety briefing, a waiver to sign, or a pamphlet to read about gun safety. Not in Kuwait. They prefer to keep things simple - just hand across the guns and some ammo and let the guests figure out the rest.
I was a better shot than I thought I would be. Even with the distraction of another group who had entered the range (and were handling guns right behind my head,) I was able to take some decent shots. The funniest/scariest moment came when we finished and started to leave. The guy collected our rifles and told us to wait so he could get our targets for us. He motioned to another guy who then made his way down the range toward the targets at which we had just fired....while the other group was still firing! There were 8 targets lined up, probably about 50 meters away. The target collector got all the way to target #5 while the other group continued to fire away at target #7. There were probably about 3 meters of error before the target collector took a hit. We could not believe what we were watching. It was a little bit like the teenager who goes out onto the driving range with his helmet to collect golf balls - it's just a given that everyone on the range is going to start aiming for him. We were hoping that would not be the case here...especially considering the rifles are a little more accurate than a weekend golfer armed with a four iron.
We exited the rifle range and returned to the welcome desk. It was time to try out the pistols. We selected two based on the size of the rounds, with the largest two being a .45 magnum handgun and a .44 magnum revolver. Having a couple of rifles set in front of you is one thing. It just feels (I imagine) like you're going hunting. Having someone set down a couple hand guns (and knowing there is a range full of other people sporting the same thing is unsettling.) I started with the revolver. After one of the employees showed me how to load it (and hold it and stand and aim and to "lean into it, it's not an air rifle") I took my first shot. Relative to the rifle, this thing had some serious kick! It literally felt like a canon going off in my hand, probably because that's kind of what it is. I shot six rounds, missing the bull's eye all six times, then reloaded and fired off another six rounds. I think my last shot hit home. This was pretty sad considering I couldn't have been more than 20 meters from a stationary target. Jason and I switched for the last few rounds. Compared to the revolver the hand gun felt light and firing it seemed easy. I could finally understand why one shot with a revolver was so deadly when playing GoldenEye against Jordan on the Nintendo 64 at White Street. That thing is a beast!
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| Kuwait Towers |
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| Buffet dinner at the Kuwait Towers |
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| Kathleen preparing for Saudi boarder security. This was actually taken during a separate trip to the region. |
See Jason's accuracy here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syVSmU07CN0
