Thursday 27 February 2014

KUWAIT NATIONAL DAY AND LIBERATION DAY CELEBRATION AT AL KOUT MALL

We decided to check out the celebrations at Al Kout Mall on Liberation Day. I was a bit worried if we might get stuck in traffic. Anyways, the route my husband took comfortably landed us near the demolished part of Al Manshar right opposite the Kout Mall, avoiding all traffic. We parked our car in the parking area on that side, rather than worry about parking space in the Al Kout parking lot, which was anyway full. We just had to across towards Al out.  My husband pointed towards this crane and said, they are having bungee jumping. And yes they were. Right outside the Mall, the side that faces the boat harbor and the Starbucks building. Courageous and adventurous ones took the leap. I don't have a good photo of that, because it was sort of dark by then and my Nikon point and shoot has its limitations capturing pictures in the dark from a distance. The charges were 30 dinars for bungee jumping. They tie your legs securely and take you to a height with the help of a crane. After sunset, there would be this huge spot light focused on the person taking the plunge, and the big number of audience standing below can see and enjoy the bungee jump. So once you reach that height,  they ask you if you are ready to jump and if you change your mind out of  last minute fear or whatever reason, you don't have to jump. Will you get your money back if you don't jump?. I don't know. And if you are game and ready to go ahead, they help you jump and you just dangle and sway upside down, hanging from the rope for a few moments and slowly the rope is lowered until you reach the ground. Sounds like fun? If my daughter was with us, she would have definitely gone for it. 

There was quite a crowd at the mall. As a part of the celebration, there was a tent set up with seating, and people could just go in there and relax. Gahwa - arabic coffee along with assorted dates and black tea was being offered to all the visitors. At the entrance to the tent, to my surprise was two falcons, with their head covered up till their eyes. They looked magnificent and quite healthy. Adults and kids were having fun getting their photos taken and touching the birds. And beside the tent was a nice looking white camel.  People and kids were taking photos with the camel. I didn't see any live performances like music or traditional dance yesterday. I knew they had the live performances on National Day though. The part of the Al Kout Mall outdoor food court facing the fountains had national flag colors reflected on them. The fountains looked lovely, they always do. Its so peaceful and soothing to just watch the fountains at Al Kout. And this time, they looked more magical than before. Two huge lights decorations in flag colors adorned the buildings, that looked beautiful. We walked through the mall and down the beach before we headed for home. A lot of shops at Al Kout are having a sale. 

The celebrations at Al Kout Mall will continue until Saturday 1st March, 2014.































1 comment:

Blogger said...

Did you know that you can shorten your long urls with LinkShrink and make money for every visit to your shortened links.