thedrifter
03-06-03, 06:23 AM
Differences between Kuwait, U.S. go beyond a nightstand
March 04, 2003
FREEDOM ENC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Freedom Eastern North Carolina correspondent Peter Williams has been on assignment with Camp Lejeune-based troops deployed to the Persian Gulf region.
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, Kuwait — The Gideons don’t visit here. The Bibles that are common in nightstands in hotels and motels across the United States aren’t in rooms here.
The Quran is.
What’s more, in the same drawer with the Quran, there is a round sticker pasted to the bottom showing the direction of Mecca. That is so the devout know where to face when praying. A prayer rug also is standard, just like ironing boards in some American hotels.
The religious and cultural differences between Kuwait and the United States extend far beyond a book by the nightstand.
Spires from mosques dot the skyline, and there are calls to prayer. Not everybody stops and prays at once, but some do.
Men and some women stare at Western women who leave the hotel. The men’s stares are not of a sexual nature. Rather, they look because the women are clearly Western and aren’t fully covered like many women here.
This hotel, The Crowne Plaza, was built in 1982, well before the Gulf War. Photographs show the scars of the Iraqi occupation some 12 years ago.
The Crowne Plaza is a posh hotel by most any standard. The price proves it. It costs $200 a night to stay here, but then everything in Kuwait is expensive. But when you don’t have a stamp on your passport, you can’t be picky. Many hotels won’t allow you to stay unless you have the entry visa stamp. And after two weeks in a tent in the desert, the leap to clean white sheets and a bathroom takes some getting used to.
Near the entrance to the elevators on the first floor, a case displays photographs and some things the Iraqis left behind, like typewriters and telephones burned black. The pictures show charred or looted rooms. The photos tell the story of how the Iraqis turned tank turrets toward major hotels and opened fire as the Iraqis were leaving Kuwait. It looks like they fired on more than just the hotels. Many older buildings here carry some scars of war or neglect a dozen years later.
It all isn’t in the past.
On the back of one city bus is a poster of an American soldier with Kuwaiti children along with the words, “We will never forget.” The U.S. role in the liberation of Kuwait clearly is in evidence. During Liberation Day last week, people stopped Americans on the street to say thank you.
Kuwait really is a place where East meets West. Many customs are Islamic, but on the elevator riding up to the ninth floor the music is plainly American: “Camptown races, sing this song Â…”
In the news
The top story in the Arab Times today was the Arab summit’s rejection of a U.S. strike on Iraq and the Turkish government saying “no” to a U.S. deployment there. I wonder how the Marines and sailors are viewing that news at Camp Fox. Maybe soon I will know.
For now, the passport fairy has brought me a present, an entry stamp on my visa. If all goes well, I will be boarding a plane at 2 a.m. Monday (March 3) and start the long flight back to North Carolina.
This has been an adventure, but it will be nice to be home so I can share some of the pictures I took here.
Sempers,
Roger
March 04, 2003
FREEDOM ENC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Freedom Eastern North Carolina correspondent Peter Williams has been on assignment with Camp Lejeune-based troops deployed to the Persian Gulf region.
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, Kuwait — The Gideons don’t visit here. The Bibles that are common in nightstands in hotels and motels across the United States aren’t in rooms here.
The Quran is.
What’s more, in the same drawer with the Quran, there is a round sticker pasted to the bottom showing the direction of Mecca. That is so the devout know where to face when praying. A prayer rug also is standard, just like ironing boards in some American hotels.
The religious and cultural differences between Kuwait and the United States extend far beyond a book by the nightstand.
Spires from mosques dot the skyline, and there are calls to prayer. Not everybody stops and prays at once, but some do.
Men and some women stare at Western women who leave the hotel. The men’s stares are not of a sexual nature. Rather, they look because the women are clearly Western and aren’t fully covered like many women here.
This hotel, The Crowne Plaza, was built in 1982, well before the Gulf War. Photographs show the scars of the Iraqi occupation some 12 years ago.
The Crowne Plaza is a posh hotel by most any standard. The price proves it. It costs $200 a night to stay here, but then everything in Kuwait is expensive. But when you don’t have a stamp on your passport, you can’t be picky. Many hotels won’t allow you to stay unless you have the entry visa stamp. And after two weeks in a tent in the desert, the leap to clean white sheets and a bathroom takes some getting used to.
Near the entrance to the elevators on the first floor, a case displays photographs and some things the Iraqis left behind, like typewriters and telephones burned black. The pictures show charred or looted rooms. The photos tell the story of how the Iraqis turned tank turrets toward major hotels and opened fire as the Iraqis were leaving Kuwait. It looks like they fired on more than just the hotels. Many older buildings here carry some scars of war or neglect a dozen years later.
It all isn’t in the past.
On the back of one city bus is a poster of an American soldier with Kuwaiti children along with the words, “We will never forget.” The U.S. role in the liberation of Kuwait clearly is in evidence. During Liberation Day last week, people stopped Americans on the street to say thank you.
Kuwait really is a place where East meets West. Many customs are Islamic, but on the elevator riding up to the ninth floor the music is plainly American: “Camptown races, sing this song Â…”
In the news
The top story in the Arab Times today was the Arab summit’s rejection of a U.S. strike on Iraq and the Turkish government saying “no” to a U.S. deployment there. I wonder how the Marines and sailors are viewing that news at Camp Fox. Maybe soon I will know.
For now, the passport fairy has brought me a present, an entry stamp on my visa. If all goes well, I will be boarding a plane at 2 a.m. Monday (March 3) and start the long flight back to North Carolina.
This has been an adventure, but it will be nice to be home so I can share some of the pictures I took here.
Sempers,
Roger