The Sultan Centre

I've been surfing the net and reading accounts of life in Kuwait and finding nearly all of them mention the Sultan Centre. Most districts have a Co Op supermarket but the Westerners tend to shop at the Sultan Centre. The staff are certainly a lot friendlier. We live within walking distance of a Co Op but they stare at you as if you're an alien from outer space so I try and avoid it. Customer service was none existant when we came four years ago but it's improved a lot since.


These little pancakes (I'm not sure what they are called) are very popular during Ramadan. Our Palestinian landlady gave us some last week, filled with sweet nut mixture and some with a soft cheese, folded over, deep fried and served with syrup. She told me that it's traditional to break the fast with dates and a glass of water and these are served after the main meal.

If you go to the supermarkets during the day, you will see queues of people waiting for these. I don't know how they can bear the smell when they are fasting. It was very quiet yesterday morning so I asked the man making them if I could take a photo. He was happy to pose but the person behind wanted to be in it too. Then as I took the photo the man on the right wanted his photo taken and then...a friend of mine happened to pass so we all stood around chatting! These two men are from Egypt. They wanted to know if we'd been to Sharm Al Sheikh. I wish I could say I had, they looked very disappointed (I'd say tourism in Egypt isn't good right now).

You know, if you want to get talking to people, I recommend you just take your camera out and about with you. It's a great ice breaker! Arabs are always delighted to be asked where they are from and they are so proud of their home countries. That's something you don't see in the UK.