Friday, March 19, 2010

Kuwait National Museum & Planetarium

OMG! I went to one of the coolest museums in Kuwait. I've been in Kuwait for the last 6 years but really never to the initiative to go to museums. I read about the museum in many articles but never took the time to go, until yesterday. I was visiting different places for pics and I came across Sadu house so I took a sharp right turn (sorry people behind me about that sudden turn) and found the museum. Upon entering the guard takes your civil ID and gives you a visitors badge.

You enter the museum grounds which is really the old residence that belonged to the Al Badr family and once purchased by the government it was turned into a museum. There are two types of museums, the first museum is a display of artifacts found on Failika island during an archaeological dig. The next museum is my favorite. It's a museum of Kuwaiti heritage. It looks like Kuwait during the 40's and 50's, like a small village.

The displays include statues imitating the old ways of Kuwait. From merchants selling their goods to what a typical Kuwaiti house looked like before the invasion of modern technology. So simple were the olden days. There are old photos dating back to 1942. You would never know that Kuwait was once a simple trading hub and that a lot of people depended on the sea for earnings. It's too bad a lot of citizens have forgotten where they came from and want to be more European and up-to-date. Unlike other countries, Kuwait hasn't really preserved the past. Most of the old houses have been lost to skyscrapers and glass buildings. I really wish they would have preserved some of the old houses because they were simple and beautiful.

Other countries like Oman still have villages and people living life as it was a hundred years ago. They have fortresses you can visit and you still feel as if there is a since of pride of their heritage. There are so many palaces in Kuwait left to the elements. Why not bring them back to life for people to see? The old places have been replaced with Gucci and Prada outlets. Thank God they have Mubarakiya (the old souk) at least you can kind of get the feel of the old world. Of course that feeling is mixed up with guys yelling at you and trying to get you to buy a pair of fake clothing.

Let me stop rambling. There's also a planetarium at the same location as the museum which will be my next trip with the kids. A few feet away there is Sadu house which faces the Gulf street. It is a beautiful refurbished old Kuwaiti house and I must say it's amaaaazing. I will post information on Sadu house later. I highly recommend the Kuwait National Museum, it was a real great place to visit if you're interested in the past.

8 comments:

  1. Hi there. I was approving a pingback to my blog that just a minute ago and when I went to look at the site pinging me it seems to collate several different sites about Kuwait - yours being one. My family and I are here as well and blog at www.godwinsq8.com. Would you mind if I added you to my blogroll? I occasionally get a random visitor or two as well and it seems as more and more people post their thoughts on living here that I can usually send the visitor with the odd question to someone else if I don't have an immediate answer. Thanks
    -Stewart Godwin

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would think a post on "herb" cab be beneficial.

    Help..what to do to get some herb!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stewart feel free to add me to your blog roll and I will do the same with yours, it's always good to have friends in the world of blogging. As for the "herb" comment, how many times have Americans been busted for shipping drugs from home via APO? I don't think you would want to risk your cushy paycheck to light up. You don't know the jail system here, you get locked up and no one can help you, not even your beloved embassy. You can always take a trip to Amsterdam, I'm sure you can afford it, but hope that when you come back to work they don't do a random drug test on you. It's happened to many people who thought they were too slick to get caught. It's those selfish comments that make the locals dislike expats. Thank God they started to background checks from the US, maybe that will keep the convicts home where they belong. Companies should increase random drug tests, it's always fun to see the shock in the smoker's eyes when they know what's coming. Chicken or pasta?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pardon me, but it looks like you presumed wrong. What made you think am an American? Actually am Kuwaiti, with an uncle diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, and has 3-6 months to live...I read about the "herb" benefits for his case, and how it got legalized in Ca.. long story short, when I asked Kuwaitis how to get it...they said ask the Americans...

    And thanks for wishing me not to get tested by my presumed employer, yet wishing they do more random tests!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aha, sorry to here your uncle's prognosis but what makes everyone think Americans deal in drugs and alcohol? I'm constantly asked about alcohol being sold on base. Most of the time it comes from Kuwaiti suppliers. Maybe you should ask some of your fellow citizens to provide you some, they always have supplies of hash and weed. Didn't you read about your fellow citizen being arrested for growing weed? If you are Kuwaiti than you should know it's against your religion to do drugs or else your own government would supply it to you as they take care of their own people. You can always apply to your government to send your uncle abroad specifically to Cali to get treatment, there he can have your trip paid by your government as well as getting high. Why not save yourself the trouble and go to Amsterdam? Almohem, mali shougal. I will not engage in this tit for tat. Khalas. NOTE: I am not, nor was I ever a drug dealer in any country so please don't ask me for suppliers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can dissect your reply on the many points addressed(nationality, theology, medical procedures, travel, social, etc) but I am sure it is not going any where.

    That said, I do very much appreciate your kind wishes, and I do apologize for what was perceived as an insult to Americans as drug dealers.

    I do not blame you, A month ago if I was asked any thing about weed, I would have probably been more than insulted and would probably kick some behind.. but after I read about it.. it is clear that the social stigma was attached to hemp for commercial reasons more than anything... but again that is not the place for this debate.

    again, sorry and many thanks :)

    me too, mali shougal he is khali after all not me..

    ReplyDelete
  7. For the last time take a trip to Amsterdam sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I always enjoy a walk around the museum, all the historical value makes me feed my knowledge and i feel that i grow up like a person. I like to try what i want to prove. this is when i buy viagra for my husband. whenever i have a doubt, i mus to satisfy my curiosity.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome! Personal attacks are not. Thanks!