It has been a long time since I have been Al Zoor to visit some of the guys. I have been getting caught up with a lot of things in the city, but this time it was a special occasion. A lot of people were invited and I haven’t gone in a little while.
It was around sunset on Friday when I wanted to set out to the beach house, but the ridiculous storm came in and shook things up. After checking that everything was ok, I left home around an hour later but the roads were an obstacle course filled with trees, some signs, and some other debris. In the Landcruiser I was driving around them heading towards the gas station, it was open with some tenants working, I didn’t know what they did during the storm. Filled up with gas and headed towards Al Zoor, you could see where that Hurricane hit and where it didn’t cross.
I was taking my time driving to Al Zoor, there was no real schedule other then the dinner would be later in the evening. The best part about driving a long distance is the open windows, music blaring, the cool breeze and enjoy the driving. Cops were parked on the side by Julai’a and Malik Fahad Highway, before that there was a camera car parked on the side of the road. It seems they wanted to ticket as many cars possible, I just had it cruising at 120 kph for once so no ticket for me.
A few cars were parked outside by the time I got there. Walked in and dropped my bags in my room, I haven’t been in there for ages. The room seemed brand new and unused compared to other rooms, my room mate is my cousin and it seems he hasn’t been out too much either.
Walked out and headed towards the sitting room to chill with the guys, then we transfered outside. The weather was amazing and the storm didn’t come close to the beach houses, but you could see the storm in the distance. I was getting hungry by the minute and the shawarma was the main thing I was looking forward to. It was a special day so lots of people were invited to the gathering other then the usual people.
Five shawarmas later I was sitting on the couch about to pass out since I was up early in the morning. The funny part was that some people were getting very annoyed with me being the paparazzi that I am at these events, I tend to take pictures to remember the moment. Slowly passing out on the couch while some people were talking to me, I couldn’t keep my eyes open even for a moment. I headed to my room and watched an episode of Chuck before completely passing out, the best part was that my room was 17C, it was cold and easy to fall asleep around 12:30 am.
Around 2:30 pm I could here somebody say something about lunch. I woke up comfortably feeling that I caught up with all the sleep I was lacking from the past couple of weeks. I took a shower packed, my bags, and had a really good meal. I had a lot of errands to take care of so I had to leave a little early, I headed it out by 3:45 pm and the best part was driving with a full stomach. When I’m full I tend to drive really slow, I was cruising at 120 Kph and everyone was flying past me so I moved to the right lane with music at full blast and the windows open. It was a fantastic time, I need to go there more often, maybe next time I take my bike.
The desert is a beautiful place! We went to a bunch of our friends at a Mokhayam (Camp grounds) which they setup a couple of days before Eid. This was the first day of the year going to our friends mokhayam for lunch. 1/1/2007. I have to say that day was a beautiful day, it was cold and sunny with a cold breeze. I was driving my landcruiser with some good music, and then when we had to turn to the sand area with no roads I drove that SUV like a rally car! It was a lot of fun!
I have to say that camping does take a good amount of preparation, and the guys have a really good job of organizing the whole thing. They even put up a volleyball net, but it was too damn cold to play. Some people brought their buggies, I got on a yamaha Banshee for the first time in a while and I remembered why I enjoyed that machine so much. Flying around in the sand it was a fantastic experience! I really enjoyed it riding in the dirt! There was also some skeet shooting going on, and they even had this machine which would launch the discs. I have to say that the guys took care of all the necessary activities. And there was a nice hot duwa in the middle of the main khaymah (tent) which they were using to make the tea and that was some damn good tea. They showed me a little gadget which is used to get the temperature and other weather details and the lowest it had was 0 degrees on 31/12/2006. It must have been damn cold on other nights as well.
I know a lot of people had crazy nights for new years and some people stayed at home, but we had a relaxing New Years. It was freezing outside towards the end of the night, I know it was close to zero and when I asked my friend who just drove in an hour ago he said it was 3 degrees and we just wanted to light up some fireworks. They called these specific rockets the M80, and he said its the type that will blow up 16 times in the air, thats what the guy on the side of the road said would happen, he also said when you light it run for your life.
At this point we put it all the way in front of the shalaih and most the guys were sitting back and watching. It was only me and a friend who were willing to test the waters with this rocket, it was big and I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of it. We had some music playing with a lot of hot tea being made nonstop it was pretty good. And we had music going, and we were all pretty relaxed nobody was thinking about work and you could see the moon clear as day and the moonlight hitting the water. It was a fantastic feeling, we were freezing though even with the duwah (metal coal container), and so me and my friend lit the fireworks and we ran for our lives almost stumbling over each other. It was a scene from Lethal Weapon, and then boom that rocket launched like a NASA rocket. It was a hilarious scene. Of course everyone was wishing the other person a happy New Year and we were laughing, but at that point we all decided to go inside. By 1:00am at 1/1/2007 I decided to go to sleep while watching some anime. It was good night with good friends.
On Sunday night just after sunset on the 31st of December I’m getting in my car to head towards the shalaih. I like driving, and I enjoy long constant drives. I don’t like traffic, but I don’t mind long drives at all. The best part of it is the good music and the comfortable drive, I took my beanie with me because of the damn cold, I heard it was going to get ridiculously cold and I just wanted to keep my head warm.
As I was driving the roads were packed with people going to Mukhayamat (camps) or the shalaihs. The roads were filled with police and so many cameras were switched on. They even had two or three mobile cameras parked on the right side, one of them went off on me while I had my Landcruiser set at 140kph which surprised me. At that point I was relaxed and too lazy to look for them, 20kph over the limit was going to be too much but I was surprised that they made it that sensitive. After that I set it at 120kph cruise until I reached the shalaih, and it was pretty damn cold. When I got there it was 7 degrees and it was only 7:00pm so there was many hours to go to freeze later in the night.
Since today is the last day for me to post I hope everyone has a fantastic night! Im going to the shalaih to relax and hang out with my friends and Im taking Gears of War to play with some people! I want to get them addicted.
Its going to be a good few nights of relaxation and chilling. I dont even know if we have fireworks! Maybe I shall find some on the way there. Its going to be freezing cold and I’m taking my beanie with me, and maybe a jacket. Im betting its going to drop below zero tonight.
Happy New people, Enjoy your nights!
Need a break! Time to relax in front of the water! Away from too many things! So I decided to head towards the water!
So Im meeting up with some friends to have some fun in the sun! Even those of them who work at the banks! hehehe! Some of my friends are going to work and coming straight back from the shalaih!
That means nonstop water and tv! I wonder how cold or hot the ocean is right now! How great is this, its towards the end of October and you can still swim! And ofcourse Im going to take a million pictures!
After a hectic week a visit to the shalaih was exactly what I needed! I had a bright idea to take my bike with me so I can enjoy it there too! So I towed my bike with my landcruiser! I love my landcruiser! Its like my own little tank! When I was towing the bike I know that I cant pass 100Km/h, and I felt like I was driving slower then the water tanks! Everyone was passing me, but I didnt care. I just made a new music cd which was extremely enjoyable, and so I didnt care. I had lots of time to make there for dinner! I left on thursday around 4pm and reached AlZoor around 5:10pm.
I havent been to the shalaih for a couple of months and seemed like the guys have redone a lot of the place. And I have a room with my cousin to redo which a pretty cool project. Its a nice thing the guys are doing. Its a friend’s shalaih, but the guys have been going for years, I used to go a lot before college. And now im going to start going again. And its nice to sleep on a bed now! hehehehe.. not on the floor like back in the day! hahahaha!
The water was really nice, it was hot outside and the water was cool. And we were eating like pigs! I came to the realization that I need to cut back on food! Im going to start hitting the gym like a I did before my travels! hehe! My swim shorts didnt fit me like they used, but I still jumped in the water! And damn it felt goooood!
And while we were visiting Khairan’s Marina I was taking pics of some boats and these maintenence guys working on the boats. Everyone is having their boats prepared for these coming hot days!
I never thought that I would be jumping in the water in April! I forgot how hot Kuwait gets! lol! But it was a nice relaxing weekend!