The Kuwait Orientation

I reached Kuwait on time and there was a representative waiting for me at the Arrival Gate to receive me and help me with the Paperwork and getting my luggage, I got the immigration stamping on my Visa and the Company Driver came to receive me and that too in a Chevrolet Traverse, don’t know to call it an SUV or what but it was a fantastic vehicle nonetheless, reached the Kuwait Hyatt Hotel at 10 AM and went straight to have my breakfast and I tried all the Arabic Dishes, the ones which I had never tried and loved each one of them, after that just hit the bed as had not slept properly through the night and I was dead tired, put the alarm for 1 PM as I had the Kuwait Orientation Tour organized for me to know more about Kuwait, the places to shop, to stay and generally about the culture.



This was the view from my Hotel Room's Balcony...it was on one of the main arterial roads which are known as Ring Road here...all the roads are connected through Flyovers and meet at final point in the country.

Got ready and there was Shebina Amlani from my organization who was my orientation guide and she welcomed me to Kuwait and we started our trip, firstly went to see some apartments and saw some 6 of them, big, small, furnished and non-furnished and also got a basic idea about the rents for each of them, all of them were quite luxurious better known as Studio Apartments, best for a bachelor like me.

Next on the agenda was a showroom, it is the biggest showroom in Kuwait (not a mall), it has various areas for Home Furnishings, Automobiles & Electronics, and it was an amazing one, saw the Hummer & Corvette for the first time and it was a ravishing sight for sure, to see them from so close, just went through the motions while browsing through the Furnishings division as had no clue neither interest in it.



Then I saw the Starbucks Coffee Outlet and had a coffee & a sandwich there, my first Starbucks experience after hearing so much about it, and to be honest the coffee was nothing special for the exorbitant price I was charged but still for a first-time it was a good experience, the last on the agenda in the showroom was the Electronics Section and I was simply comparing prices between Kuwait & India and the prices were really cheap in Kuwait, as there are no Import Duties for any good sold in Kuwait, that’s the only reason for the low prices, lucky people these Kuwaitis are and the people who stay here…

After the retail therapy the next one was the Beach Therapy!!! Saw the cleanest beach I had ever seen in my life and the weather was simply superb to be on the beach, everywhere there were families relaxing & enjoying and I loved the moment as I was on a beach after an year, the last one was the Kanyakumari Beach I visited while on my West Coast Ride in January 2009…though am not a beach person but still enjoy being on one and miss the good-old times I spent on innumerable beaches of Goa while doing my MBA from 2001 to 2003…



The structure you see on the right side of the picture is the personal Island Pad of the King of Kuwait, it has 2 Helipads and all the luxuries you can imagine one needs !!!

All this while Shebina was giving me loads of cultural information about the life in Kuwait which was extremely interesting to hear and she was a great help for getting me acquainted about the life in general as culturally Kuwait is miles apart from India and anyway just to for general knowledge sake this information was nice to know…

We went to the Marina Mall after that which is the second biggest Shopping Mall there and all the designer brands had their outlets there, some of which I had never even heard about, there was a Virgin Store as well and I went to try my luck to get the “Che” movie’s DVD but sadly even they didn’t have one, I have been looking for this DVD for so long and I wonder when I would finally lay my hands on it…nonetheless had a good time there.

Infront of the Mall there was a huge parking lot for Yachts which normally all Kuwaitis own and it was a first time for me...really fascinating to see so many luxury yachts parked in such a small place...wonder how they get them out in that crowd !!!





I was getting curious about the same perfume fragrance everywhere, yes everywhere in Kuwait there is a same fragrance which is in the air, I smelled it at the Airport, my hotel, the Mall and the Retail Store, finally I asked Shebina about it and she took me to one store selling various kinds of fragrances and there I got to know more about it, it is an Arabic Tradition and mostly every Kuwaiti uses it as the perfume, I wanted to buy the same but it was damn expensive, some 2000 odd bucks and I didn’t buy!!! I was sure if I use the same one in India I surely would have been termed as an Alien!!! An Arabic-smelling Alien!!!

Next we went to The Radisson Hotel as I wanted to buy some Kuwaiti Magnets for Pravin for his collection and we found 2 beautiful ones and then we went to Burger King, another first for me after hearing so much about it, in fact during my MBA I had researched a lot about BK and it’s origins and it was nice to enjoy a burger from BK…finally…I took a Beef Burger and loved it to bits, it was very heavy but amazingly delicious…

Finally the Orientation Tour came to an end and it was a day well spent, my first day in Kuwait and truly memorable for all the first-time experiences…Starbucks, Corvettes, Hummers and the Burger King!!! Before Shebina left I bought some Arabic Style Jewellery for folks back home, I loved the design and the colours…bought it for my Bhabhi, Arunima and Bandita…

Reached the hotel and took a hot shower bath, I was feeling really sleepy and sleep was all on my mind but there was one final agenda left for the day, my future colleague named Peter was to come to meet me at the Hotel and have dinner with me, another way of getting to know more about the Organization & it’s people, I must say the things were well-planned for me and I had never seen this anywhere else, an Orientation Tour is for tourists and not for a candidate!!! But I loved the courtesy and the planning and surely it went a long way in making my decision of moving to Kuwait if I succeeded in the Interviews and then getting the Offer…

The day finally ended at 10 PM, a very long day indeed and I slept with palpable excitement in my mind, the next day was the Interview Day and I was a bit anxious as had not given any form of Interviews lately but was pretty confident to face them…and then I just crashed out…