The usual suspects ate out Thursday evening, but at a very swishy Persian restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel called Shahrayar. Excellent food, and as usual the chatter was fun. Ildiko, in honor of the one of the Hungarian revolutions, bought for all ? a pleasant surprise. Did I say the food was excellent ? yummmmmy!
Saturday, Marjorie and I decided to try and find the bridge to the island of Bubiyan, up towards the Iraq border. We had heard that you could see Failaka Island from the top of the bridge, so what the heck… One turns off the main road at Jahra (about 20 miles northwest of Kuwait City)) and heads northeast. The area is very uninhabited, and the further you get from Jahra the less there is – that is, with the exception of camels. We must have seen around 1,000 camels, many of which were albino. The camels all looked well-fed, so no problem with food. The road out to Bubiyan is being re-done in a way which is hard to imagine – a new, 4 lane highway with bridges and overpasses is being built, yet there is no there there – it is very strange, to say the least. Even if it is a military road, it is way overdone. Money and brains are often strangers.
We drove for about an hour and came across a pink (yes, he did say pink) mosque in the middle of nowhere (picture attached to this diary edition). Wonders and surprises are a large part of the joy of knocking about this region. We drove past the mosque on up to the military area near the coastal border, turned around and then went south a bit and finally found the bridge. But… it is now a military area, and you can’t go on it. I tried, asking the armed guard if we could drive up or walk on it ? ?La, mafi, no,? he said. It could very well be that the way on up to Iraq for ships is via this channel, rather than on the east side of the island which is much closer to Iran – that could account for the military presence. Did I say surprises are fun – hmmmm. Anyway, the ride was fun, Marjorie good company, lots of miles of ‘nowhere’ to be seen – at least you had the feeling you were in a desert country.
