Katie in Kuwait: Day 5: Failaka Island

11:30pm-

Another thing to cross off of my bucket list: swimming in the Arabian Gulf! My first reaction - extremely salty! But also very warm, which was kind of a bummer since it was over 110 degrees outside today (again), and a swim in cold water would have been quite refreshing. Failaka Island was beautiful, but strange (as are most of the things I've encountered in Kuwait). Failaka Island is about a 30 minute ferry ride off the coast of Kuwait that was the first part of Kuwaiti land to be invaded by Iraq in 1990. 22 years later, Failaka is the definition of a ghost-town.

Very unhelpful map of the island

There is one hotel with a swimming pool, restaurant, and miniature golf course (who in the world would want to play mini-golf in this heat, I have no idea). Everywhere else is abandoned. Near the hotel there is a kind of historical museum that had some neat exhibits:

Clay model

Incense and Latern

Bridal Bed

Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah

Some Traditional Cloth

We ate in the hotel's restaurant for lunch, swam in the hotel swimming pool (which is actually air conditioned because it is so hot!), took a short bus tour around the island, and swam at the beach. The interesting thing was that pretty much everything has stayed exactly the same since the Iraqi invasion. Kuwait has done absolutely nothing to revamp and improve what could otherwise be a beautiful tourist destination.

Back of the island mosque

Collapsed buildings

Desert!

During the bus tour, we visited an old junkyard that housed Iraqi military equipment. According to Professor Bailey, these tanks were provided by Russia:

Next, we visited a camel farm! All of the camels walked right up to us, it was so funny! If we got too close, they even started nibbling on our hair!

Serious Teeth

Making friends

Missing Sadie and Cooper, but these camels are pretty fun!

Our new friend!

This guy needs some lip injections...

Zoo Tycoon would definitely give a warning about too many animals in this exhibit

Driving to the beach, we saw a lot of buildings that had been destroyed by the Iraqi invasion. We also saw the one new part of the island - the mosque.

Bullet holes in the island police station

The Island Mosque

Ruins

It was very strange to see this entire island left in the disarray caused by Iraq more than 20 years ago. You would think that the government and royal family would not want to leave it like this, but apparently not.

Next, we finally made it to the beach! There were a bunch of jetskis, but it was very expensive, so Professor Bailey rented one and would be the driver for the entire 30 minutes. As Eric knows, I only love jetskis when I'm the one driving (otherwise I get incredibly frustrated), so I didn't go out and instead swam in the beautiful Arabian Gulf...quite an experience.

A Dream

So many jetskis!

Deserted beach

Ducks!

Overall, it was a great day! We took the ferry back and cleaned up after a long afternoon in the heat and sand. We were on our own for dinner tonight, so the group of 7 decided to venture out into the streets and find a local restaurant. We found a great place called Saraya Palace, where we were able to sit outside and enjoy a nice, relaxed meal together. I have a confession...I ordered Italian pasta! The food here has been great, but I needed a break from all the different spices and wanted to try some Middle Eastern Italian. It was pretty darn good - I even saved the rest of have for lunch tomorrow!

Tomorrow we are visiting the Grand Mosque of Kuwait in Kuwait City, which is going to be incredible. I've never been in a mosque before and am so excited. I want to leave you with some extra pictures that aren't from today, but that I wanted to share with you nonetheless!