I had heard about the Kuwaiti souk (market) and I finally made the trip into the city to take a look. The souk that we went to was not the open air market I envisioned but rather a big cluster of stores selling everything you can imagine. Rugs, blankets, toiletries, electronics, food, currency exchange (I saw Iraqi money for the first time), gold, jewelry, and fake watches. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the souk until about 10am on Friday (the Muslim Sabbath) and a lot of the stores close down around 10:30 or 11 for Friday prayers. About half of the stores were closed by the time we made it around to them. I was told the better time to go is in the afternoon after the prayers are over, but it’s so hot in the afternoon it doesn’t make me want to spend a lot of time shopping. I’m sure I’ll go back.

The bottom picture is of people during Friday prayers (the Muslim Sabbath). I haven’t seen the people lining up on the street like this before and thought it was interesting.

I have left Kuwait to go on another adventure. I am meeting some friends from Chicago in Reykjavik, Iceland for a few days of vacation. We have a tour planned tomorrow that will take us snowmobiling on a glacier and we plan to stop at the Blue Lagoon for some relaxation. Besides that, I just plan to enjoy some place that is vastly different from the desert. I will have some good pictures in my next blog.

Hope you had a great 4th!