Anne and Maddy - Our Travel Adventures: October 2025

MIDDLE EAST

First two countries - Kuwait & Bahrain

We arrived in Kuwait City early Thursday 10/16 morning and were in our hotel room by 0200. It took most of the day to acclimate to the time zone. Friday was a free day, and we took a short walk to the north coast line of the Kuwait Bay in the Arabian Gulf just before sunset. It's warm here.

10/18 An interesting note: There are roughly 4 million people in Kuwait; 70% of those are foreign workers! The majority of those workers are from India and Egypt. So we mostly see Indians while we are out and about. We met our fellow traveler Josh from NYC today who'll be with us for the next two weeks. Our guide, 'Sid' Shaheen, is Pakistani/Indian who has lived here 30 years. Sid took us to see the mostly-Islamic collection at the private museum of Tareq Rajab and his wife Jehan. Then we went up 400' at the Kuwait Towers viewing sphere for a 360° view of the city and coastline. The view is disappointing because the sky isn't clear. Sid says it's sand in the air. Our lunch at the Freej Al Swaileh in the souk area was tasty; the light crispy bread was larger than our plate. The hummus was creamy. We enjoyed the Kuwaiti dish machboos, which was two rices, veggies and spices with a tomato sauce served with mutton. Anne's vanilla ice cream with fruit was yummy. We walked through some of the souk and a fish market.

10/19 Wearing hooded robes supplied by the mosque, we toured the very lovely Grand Mosque; it accommodates over 11,000 worshippers. Then we made a quick visit to the Bedouin Women's Craft museum. We had asked about a causeway we see from our hotel room. Sid drove us across the 15 mile causeway which ended at the desert. He says there's great family fun here in the winter; families go across to picnic. It's hard to imagine when we're used to green grass and trees. Since the Kuwait Oil Company museum was closed today, we went to a shopping mall you'd expect to see in the rich Middle East. We enjoyed lunch here. We stopped to see a huge old dhow sailing ship that's now incorporated into a Radisson Blu hotel. We finished the day seeing a home partially demolished by invading Iraqi soldiers in 1990. It's now a memorial site. We say farewell to Sid and wish him the best. I do hope we see blue skies when we arrive (by plane) in Bahrain.

10/20 After a short pleasant flight to Manama, Bahrain, we met our delightful guide Bharti (an Indian Hindu woman married to an Indian Christian man) who has lived here for 30 years. Today is Diwali; and she's here with us instead of her family. Bahrain consists of 33 islands with much mass being reclaimed from the sea. The name Bahrain means The Two Seas (the Arabian Gulf and a sea springing from artesian wells). The flag is white and red, meeting in 5 points which indicate the 5 tenets/pillars of Islam. We learn that of the 1.5 million residents, 50% are foreign workers, primarily from India! The USA has a naval base here. Our lunch offered several dishes for us to try. Everything was very tasty. After visiting the House of Qur'an museum, we saw the Bahrain National Museum and learn about the ancient Dilmun culture. We were in need of a pick-me-up by then, so we got an unusual Chai tea. I'm not a fan of tea, but this was very good. Anne thought it tasted like chocolate. We are very happy with our hotel. We were even happier to have a drink at the bar while chilling out with a Crossword and sudoku puzzle. No alcohol for the next two weeks while in Saudi Arabia.

10/21 Blue skies today! At breakfast, there are many teams of young athletes. We learn the Asian Youth Games will begin here this week. Our first stop is at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque; the Swarovski crystal chandelier is huge. We see remains of the Babar Temple from 3000 B.C. Artisans were carving wood, weaving and throwing pots at the Al Jasra Handicraft Center. At the Al Jasrah house (the birthplace of the king's father), we saw how old homes were constructed. The Saar Archeological site from 2500 B.C. was recently discovered under a lot of sand. Bahrain was surprised to discover the A'ali East Burial Mound field. The Bahrain International Circuit is a 3.4 mile motorsport venue; there's also horse racing. We saw the Bahrain World Trade Center with its three wind mills supplying its power. Before our quick visit to the souk, we walked around the Bahrain fort (which began around 2500 B.C.), known as Qal'at al-Bahrain, which is along the coastline. This was a long site-filled day. We thank Bharti and driver Mr. Singh for sharing Bahrain with us. Tomorrow we have a long drive into Saudi Arabia. We'll cross the 15.5 mile King Fahd causeway with its 5 bridges.

Flag of Kuwait

Maddy and I took a 10 minute walk from the Millenium Central Downtown hotel to see Kuwait Bay.

People were coming to enjoy a beach dinner and watch the sunset.

We saw the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway Bridge with a sail design in the center.

Sunset on Kuwait Bay

We visited the privately owned Tareq Rajab Museum, founded by Tareq Rajab and his wife, Jehan. They travelled all over the Islamic world collecting artifacts they believed could be used in a museum. It was really an amazing collection. Following are photos of some of the varied artifacts.

Kuwait Towers & different views

Visit to the Old Dhow Harbor Fish Market

Panflit fish is supposed to be very good and expensive

Visiting the Souk Waqif in Kuwait

Visiting the Grand Mosque in Kuwait

Entering it reminded me of Las Vegas!

Special room for King of Kuwait (Sheikh Sabah) to meet with his entourage in the mosque

Visited a women’s center where they learn traditional crafts and house examples of old artifacts

Bride sat on this type of camel saddle for going to her wedding ceremony

We took a ride on the Causeway which spans Kuwait Bay from Kuwait City to Subiya and Bubiyan Islands. Sid, our guide, tells us that families go the the islands (which are deserts with no permanent residences) during their winter months for camping vacations. The Causeway has restaurants, stores and even a drive in theater.

View of Kuwait City from the Causeway

You wouldn’t believe how many HUGE malls they have in Kuwait! We visited the largest one, The Avenues and only walked on part of one floor (there are 4 floors). Various themed areas with high line stores.