A nice sunny day in KuwaitThe Kuwaiti towers on a beautiful day
It is difficult to breath. The air is dry and causes your throat to tighten. The sun is overly coruscating, blinding the eyes. The sun instantaneously depletes your energy, making it difficult to get the motivation to do anything. It’s smart to wear long sleeves to protect the skin, but that only instigates the personal sauna made by your own sweat. Moisture is begging for release, opening every pore in the body. Beads of water escape, trickling down the hair line and small of the back. The level of discomfort has risen; along with being hot, you are now sticky too. Clothing clings to the body. There’d be more room for air to circulate if you’d have painted your wardrobe on that morning.
The next possibility of relief: a glass of iced water. The content of the glass is screaming to get out. As condensation collects outside the sacred H2O holder, it scampers down your arm, and a trail is left where the salty sweat previously resided. In one gulp it’s gone… if only it were a bigger glass. Determined to relieve the sensation of having eaten a package of cotton balls, as mucus collects at the back of the throat, you pour another. The excitement of the cold beverage, or perhaps the quickly depleting hydration, causes some of the content to accidentally spill onto the concrete. It evaporates quicker than sadiki (illegal alcohol) in a dry country. For a moment the water has helped, but only long enough for your pores to release the recently consumed fluids.
Kuwait has a desert climate, hot and dry. Rainfall varies from seventy-five to 150 millimeters a year across the country; actual rainfall has ranged from twenty-five millimeters a year to as much as 325 millimeters. In summer, average daily high temperatures range from 42° C to 46° C; the highest recorded temperature is 51.5° C. The summers are relentlessly long, punctuated mainly by dramatic dust storms in June and July when northwesterly winds cover the cities in sand. In late summer, which is more humid, there are occasional sharp, brief thunderstorms (Coutsoukis, 2005). By November summer is over, and colder winter weather sets in, dropping temperatures to as low as 3° C at night; daytime temperature is in the upper 20s C range. Frost rarely occurs; rain is more common and falls mostly in the spring (Coutsoukis, 2005).
Powerful sandstorm blankets KuwaitKuwaiti wrap up from sand
Kuwait sandstorm
Kuwaitand Riyadh,the capital of Saudi Arabia, were among the hardest hit by sandstorms, which in some cases last for as long as two hours, both had to shut down their airports, close schools and advise people to stay indoors (Dolasia, 2009).The storm came in so rapidly, that traffic halted to a stop, as drivers struggled to see the road ahead. Kuwait, one of the world's leading oil producers, had to even shut down its ports for a few hours, disrupting all exports. When the ordeal ended, the entire city was covered with sand and the bright blue sky had turned an eerie orange-brown (Dolasia, 2009).
As a result of the sand, a lot of people had difficulty breathing and were rushed to hospitals (Dolasia, 2009).Sandstorms occur when strong winds pick up a lot of dry desert sand and carry it across to populated areas. They are a common occurrence during spring in the Middle East, because the high desert temperatures, causes the air to get hot and create an unstable low atmosphere (Dolasia, 2009). This in turn, creates high winds near the surface, which lifts as much loose sand as it can, and blows it to other areas. The amount of sand lifted, depends on how dry the conditions are. In this case, Kuwait has had hardly any rain for the last three years - making the conditions optimal for such a massive storm (Dolasia, 2009).
As for me I felt pretty comfortable in Kuwait. Although the weather was hot and dry, I managed to stay cool and drink plenty of bottled water. I would dress appropriately and stay inside most of the time, where the air conditions were available (malls, restaurants, living quarter, and work areas).
There were some days when working and all of a sudden its starts getting dark, and you can actually see the sand storm spreading over the area. My first experience was in a sandstorm was just that an experience. I was amazed at how a sandstorm could develop so suddenly, then go away an only a few hours.
The Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) is the official currency of Kuwait. The KD (international currency code is KWD) is accepted worldwide and complies with International Monetary Fund regulations. KD 1 is equal to 1000 fils. Notes are issued in denominations of KD 20, KD 10, KD 5, KD 1, KD 0.500 and KD 0.250. Coins are in denominations of 100 fils, 50 fils, 20 fils, 10 fils and 5 fils. Since the beginning of 2003, the dinar has been pegged to the US Dollar. There is a small margin for fluctuation, so the exchange rate will always be somewhere between 289 and 310 fils to the dollar.
Exchange rates are published daily in all major Arabic and English newspapers (Kuwait, 2010).
Cash is the preferred method of payment although credit cards are generally accepted. Traveler’s cheques are widely accepted although it is recommended that you take travelers cheques in US dollars or UK pounds sterling to avoid additional exchange rate charges. The use of cheques is not common. Foreign currencies can be changed at any of the numerous foreign exchange offices, hotels and banks. A passport is not always required in order to affect a currency exchange, although it would make sense to have it with you just in case (Explorer, 2010).
Kuwait has an excellent, internationally recognized banking system with a wide range of commercial and personal services including money exchanges and transfers. A number of the banks have first-class online facilities.
The majority of banks are located in the central area of Kuwait City, with branches throughout the country. Kuwait is in the process of granting licenses to a number of international banks to open branches in Kuwait, including BNP Paribas, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Citibank and HSBC. Banking hours are from 08:00 – 14:00, Sunday to Thursday. Some do open for one evening a week but this varies from bank to bank (Explorer, 2010).
In addition to the services offered by the banks, there are a number of reputable independent money exchanges in Kuwait. Rates are better than those you would be given at major hotels. These exchanges will also transfer money to an international account for a fraction of the price that a bank will charge. The majority of the exchanges operate Saturday to Thursday, from 08:30 – 13:00 and 16:00 – 19:00. A limited number of exchanges open on Friday afternoons (Explorer, 2010).
Article Cited:
Kuwait. (2010). Explorer.Retrieved October 1, 2011, from http://www.liveworkexplore.com/kuwait/general-information.
